No fixed home venue

It is hard to find a quieter corner of Louisville than the Butchertown neighbourhood around 350 Adams Street. For that, the place earns its keep: Lynn Family Stadium sits back from the road, with the concrete bowl holding its own against the wind that comes off the Ohio. There is Frank Leahy Gate on the other side, a reminder of a different era, but you can see the new work in the stands here.

The stands are raised in tiers, with exposed concrete beams running the length of the block. Blue and yellow flags hang from the flagpoles along the top edge, some showing the intertwined letters of the university, others the green and white of the national team. A white board sits above the roofline, blank in the light. The entrance doors are recessed, with a sign above them carrying the name of the university.

Outside, the car park is already full before the gates open. People gather in the cracks between the SUVs, setting up blue tents and folding chairs on the tarmac. You can see the ice chests and the small tables where the food is being prepared. The ground here is natural grass, a mix of Bermuda and ryegrass that was laid down to take the cold better than the old surface. It is the only ground in the city built for this purpose, which means the supporters have to adapt when the teams move to the bigger arenas for the cup ties. Still, the matchday routine starts here: the queue at the turnstiles, the smell of the warmers, and the chance to see the players walk through the tunnel before the game gets under way.