Photo: Courtesy of Harrisburg City Islanders
Luckymore “Lucky” Mkosana, of the Harrisburg City Islanders, is on a bit of a hot streak. That might actually be understating it as he’s now scored seven goals in his last five games, the last two—his ninth and tenth of the season—coming as the game-winner against Phoenix FC and the opener in a 2–2 draw against the LA Blues. Those four road points clinched the City Islanders a spot in the USL PRO playoffs for the third year running.
Last week, Mkosana was so good, scoring a hat-trick against the Dayton Dutch Lions, he was named USL PRO player of the week. That game, in large part thanks to Mkosana, was a blow-out, but against Phoenix and LA, the City Islanders faced much sterner tests. The City Islanders’ last encounter with LA had resulted in a 4–2 LA win, and traveling across the country to play is never an easy thing, especially for a two-game road trip. Against Phoenix on Wednesday, Harrisburg scored first, only for Phoenix to equalize early in the second half. But Mkosana was there to score the game-winner, putting away a cross from former Union man Morgan Langley. Then, against LA on Saturday, Mkosana put Harrisburg ahead in the first half, with a Stephen Basso penalty kick extending the lead early in the second. LA was able to claw back for the draw, but the point was enough to keep the City Islanders in third place in the USL PRO standings, behind Orlando and Richmond.
With three games remaining in the regular season, Harrisburg is well positioned to maintain its place in the top four, with games against Charlotte, Tampa Bay, and Dayton, all teams the City Islanders have beaten this season. Doing so again would guarantee at least one home playoff game.
And with Mkosana firing on all cylinders, one would get poor odds betting against the City Islanders to do just that. That’s why he’s PSP’s player of the Week.
Would the Union be allowed to call up Lucky for a few games if they wanted? I’m not sure how the affiliation thing works.
We would have to sign him first. He was drafted by Chicago and then unsigned in 2012. I don’t know what the rules say about whether anyone owns his MLS rights at this point. And who cares what the rules are, anyway, if MLS is just going to change them at their convenience.
Do we really need another striker on this team? Maybe we could play a 4-1-5 formation instead of the 4-2-4 we’re playing now.
Lucky also plays on the left wing. Chicago drafted him in the 2012 draft – the rules on that confuse me a bit but the college protected list runs out after 2 years anyway, so, if we wanted, we could make him an offer in January. I don’t know if he would qualify as a domestic player though – he is from Zimbabwe.
Hell yes we need another striker. How bout Drogba? Did Seattle need another striker ? With only 4 points from the top I would break the bank to win it all.