Know Your Enemy: FC Naples

FC Naples will be the first professional club to ever go up against Hearts of Pine. USL League One

On Saturday, March 29, Hearts of Pine will open their inaugural USL1 season against fellow expansion side FC Naples. In what is being billed as the marquee match in League One this weekend (at least according to this week's primer from the USL). Kick-off will be at 7:00 EDT and aired on ESPN+. The Dirigo Union will be hosting a watch party at Rising Tide Brewery in Portland (we are expecting a high turnout and the neighboring Portland Zoo will also be serving as an overflow location). A significant contingent of DU members will be making the trip down to the Gulf Coast for this momentous occasion as well. DU t-shirts for dues paying members who signed up before Jan 31st will be available at Rising Tide.

Team History:

Like Hearts of Pine, FC Naples is a 2025 expansion side in the USL1 and much of their team's story is yet to be written. The club was announced in January 2024 and has been welcomed into their community to much fanfare. Their first 2 home matches have been incredibly well attended and their stadium, Paradise Coast Sports Complex, looks incredible. For support, FC Naples can turn to their SG, La Barra 239 who sit behind the goal with an ample amount of flags and good energy. The club's name and crest are purposely meant to evoke an Italian connection as early promoters of this part of Florida often compared it to the Italian coast and Naples is named for its Campanian counterpart.

Key Players:

Highlights from last week's match against Spokane Velocity show how dangerous Naples can be countering during transition. United Soccer League

FC Naples made a critical signing in hiring Matt Poland, an MLS and non-league veteran, who coached Chicago House FC through the semi-pro Midwest Premier Soccer League previously. In that role, Poland took House to 2 US Open Cup appearances by navigating his club through the rigorous qualification process. Since his arrival in Naples, Poland has spent time developing the defensive credentials of his new squad by focusing from the back-forward in his build. Anchoring the team in goal is perhaps the best keeper in the league, Lalo Delgado. With a victory-winning showing in the Jaegermeister Cup final last season, Delgado's ability to read situations within the box helped him keep 22 clean sheets in the past 2 campaigns. Equally important to Poland’s defensive-first strategy is defensive midfielder Chris Heckenburg and center-back Jake Dengler. Both players help to anchor their respective lines and will prove a challenge the Hearts must overcome to get the ball in the back of the net. Supporting these 3 is fairly seasoned squad which has seen both USL and global experience.

For its defensive credentials, however, Naples somewhat lacks front line confidence with the notable exception of Karsen Henderlong. In his 4 appearances so far, Henderlong has achieved 4 goals included a double showing in FC Naples' match against Forward Madison. With only 5 appearances last season for Indy XI, Henderlong’s success has elevated him into early discussions for a golden boot winner among the USL community. Unfortunately for Poland, he does not have much outside of Henderlong’s ability to put the ball in the back of the net. Naples two other men on the score sheet, O’Connor and Jaramillo scored on a set piece and penalty respectively. As a result, Poland has largely structured his squad to make the most out of opportunities with the ball, a strategy which has proved to be game winning over the past few weeks.

What to Expect from Match Day

Titus Washington, along with our other forwards, will need to work the ball through Matt Poland's defense-focused side. Chris Linscott

Current Form: DWWW

Preferred Formation: 4-3-3

League Position: 1st

As previously mentioned, FC Naples has built a team back-to-front which has strongly influenced their tactical approach this season. In most situations, Naples plays a game incredible safe, preferring to use Delgado’s expert long passing accuracy to play the ball out and over the midfield to the wings before passing the ball to Henderlong to score. This strategy is clearly design as a result of the teams lack of ability to build an attack from the back and down the middle or the wings. That said, with each game since their league opener, Naples has found increased comfort with themselves stealing possession. In the last 3 league games, Naples moved the ball to right side regularly which will require keen attention from Varela and Jones-Reilly. One bright point, is that Naples does not like play moving up the middle of the pitch. In their most recent match against Spokane, Naples effectively forced the ball down the wings and did not allow Spokane to build up play through the middle in their traditional style which may suggestion a weakness there if Hearts can get past Naples' midfield more effectively than Madison.

This may prove one of the biggest tests of Bobby Murphy’s aggressive play style which places a high value on pressing and creating chances. The greatest threat the Hearts may face against Naples will be getting overly aggressive and carried away on the attack. Naples' brand of counter-attacking soccer strongly punished Forward Madison & Spokane Velocity for attempting to run the show and it will be important for Hearts to be somewhat reserved defensively and in transition to stop any unexpected turns in possession. It will require a commitment from Hearts of Pine to not allow Naples to dictate defensive play and to pull apart their players enough to leave space for the ball to make the back of the net.

Final Thoughts

This is going to be interesting one. For starters, going into the season, very few people expected Naples to be an upstart in the opening weeks, especially given their defensive brand of soccer, but here we are 3 weeks into the season and folks are already discussing Henderlong as a golden boot candidate (okay, bub, lets talk in June).  Clearly, Naples, alongside the Hearts, are the most exiting teams entering the USL pyramid this season and Naples success on the field will make them an obvious target the Hearts must overcome. After all, only 1 team can be the best expansion franchise.

More than that though, this will be a match between 2 distinct footballing philosophies. Bobby Murphy has been clear he wants a high-pressing, relentless, and attacking-oriented style of soccer out of his players for the purpose of creating chances and putting the ball into the box. Coach Poland, on the other hand, wants his players to be more reserved by either waiting for the other team to make a mistake or counter-pressing in transition before ramming a ball up far forward and into scoring position. In this battle of football styles, it will be important for our side to prove they can maintain solid lines of communication moving into the opposing side of the pitch. Both the front line and midfield must work together to get balls around Naples while cautiously guarding for mistakes lest possession tip. Scoring will be no small feat as we must work balls past Delgado & his comrades who so far have the 2nd best defensive record based on goals conceded per match (1st is Charlotte who have had only 1 match to date).  On the other side of the field both wingbacks must force the ball into the middle of the pitch and force Naples to play in an offensive capacity against MPA and Langlois. This could be the key to successfully overcoming them. We must watch out, however, because contrary to FC Naples manifesto, if you aren't paying attention, alligators certainly do bite.