In a very scrappy, and occasionally boiling affair, the Owls went into the Den (also known as the C-H-I Memorial Stadium…) at Chattanooga Wednesday night and brought out a 2-5 victory to place themselves at the top of the USL League One table. Any Red Wolf enthusiasm that might have been felt after the weekend’s victory over Greenville was completely dashed as Pedro Dolabella scored one and set up another to lead the five-goal onslaught. Declan Watters and Chevone Marsh would score to set up some consolation, but the night, once again, belonged to the visitors.
Union Omaha came out with an altered shape, as well as two changes from the team that lost to Northern Colorado last Saturday night. With playmaker Missael Rodriguez suspended, Coach Casciato opted to bring in Luca Mastrantonio to bolster the back line with PC making his first start back from injury in midfield. Lagos Kunga was left off the pitch, but made the bench as a super sub option.
Scott MacKenzie took the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fiddle with it” approach naming an unchanged side to a team that, despite the injuries, gave itself some hope with a 1-3 victory at the weekend.
The opening of the match saw a pretty familiar story. Omaha would dominate possession early, with some good passing and interplay against a Chattanooga that seemed content to sit back. The visitors had some good passages of play and controlled the ball, but as happens so often, weren’t able to create much out of it.
The hosts, on the other hand, were all to ready to stay coiled and strike. In the 4’, and playing out of the back, Stefan Lukic dribbled past the entire Owl midfield into the the attacking third. With defenders coming over to stop his progress, Lukic found Marsh cutting just inside Blake Malone toward the box. Blake made a good challenge to halt initial progress, but whiffed on the clearance and allowed Marsh to get back on the ball inside the box. While Mechack Jerôme would eventually come over and help wrangle the Red Wolf striker, it showed pretty quickly that this team could be dangerous if given the right circumstances.
After clearing that corner, Union Omaha would start tightening their grip on the first stags of the match. They continued to push up the right side, with Dion Acoff being as big a thorn in their sides as anything. Several runs, crosses, and won corners kept Chattanooga under pressure, even if few quality shots came with it. Conversely, the defense had shored itself up and was compact, disciplined, and very quick in reaction. As the clock struck 15’, the Red Wolves seemed to be missing those huge teeth.
And that’s when the Owls’ talons first hit home. Trying to control play through the midfield, Nortei Nortey sent a pass toward the middle of the attacking third to Aáron Gómez. With a defender on him, Aáron sent a flick of the ball on over the top of the encroaching back line. With their movement forward, Pedro’s run easily outpaced all of the defenders to the ball just outside the penalty area. Striding forward, the midfielder placed the ball perfectly between TJ Bush’s legs and into the far corner of the net for the lead.
It wouldn’t take long to show that the hosts weren’t as harmless as it had seemed. Not even four minutes after Pedro’s goal, the Red Wolves were awarded a free kick for Nortei making a slight pull on Leopoldo Placencia, and with Chattanooga seemingly having an advantage. Ricky Ruiz’ delivery was initially headed clear by Pedro but picked up by Owen Green on the right side. His cross then found Gustavo Fernandes at the back post who headed it back across the goal mouth. Slightly fooled by the ball, and with Leo Folla-all over him, Rashid Nuhu had no chance to react to Declan Watters’ blast into the roof of the net. It was one of those crazy moments that not much can be done about, especially as the score had already ticked over to read 1-1.
From there, Omaha would go back into dominating the majority of possession and making good chances happen. They continued their passing game which was doing very well to break down the Red Wolf defense while also piling up the interceptions to stop any more nonsense from in front of Shido. Their work would not take too long to pay off with a rapid 1-2 punch to take full control of the match.
With 27 minutes gone, Dion started yet another attack up the Red Wolf right flank. He found some good interplay with Joe Gallardo, who probably should have been awarded a free kick with a yellow card against Fernandes’ slide-from-behind method of defending. The ref played the game on, however, and karma did the rest after Dion won a corner down that side.
PC’s delivery was a nice high in-swinger just inside the front post side of the six-yard box. From there, Blake Malone leapt over everyone else to get his head to the ball and on target. Bush could only stand there and watch as, yet again, the ball went into his far corner.
Chattanooga would barely have any possession, much less a chance to respond, by the time the next goal went in. Joe Gallardo, taking a free kick from the left just outside the area, skimmed a shot that looked more like a low pass than an attempt on target. The quick skimming ball crossed up Bush, though, and for the third time he found himself picking the ball up out of the net.
The excitement of the half wasn’t quite over, though. After pinning the Red Wolves back again, Dion would play in Pedro with a great chance on goal. This time Bush would be up to the challenge, but it continued the theme of what had been a brutal first half for the hosts. Despite two great efforts from Mayele Malango (one off the crossbar, the other saved well by Shido), Chattanooga was ready to get to the locker room and try to regroup.
The second half saw Union Omaha take more control of the match, but by ceding most of the possession. With a two-goal advantage, and a Chattanooga attack that had been stifled for most of the match, the Owls elected to sit back and allow play to come to them. Through the first 10 minutes, only one good attack could be mustered while the defense weathered an intensifying wave of chances.
Even with the pressure mounting, Omaha was able to stand its ground well. Quick and accurate passes played between the back and midfield kept the opposing strikers off balance and unable to stop clearances. Gaps were closed quickly, and physicality started to match the intensity of the attackers. Though not much was being generated on either side, the match grew entertaining, if not a bit scrappy.
The lid finally blew off in the 62’. After waiting a frustratingly long time for PC to deliver a corner kick (thanks to the ref having multiple conversations with players in front of goal), the Red Wolves took the low line drive and pushed it out to Marsh to begin a lightning fast counter. With the troublesome striker outpacing him, Joe lunged into a sliding tackle that sent Marsh flailing and tempers flaring. Leo Folla was held back by Nortei and the referee from going after Joe, and several players had some choice words for each other. Especially hot seemed Jamil Roberts, who seemed to think that Joe should’ve gotten more than just a yellow for the challenge.
Just when it seemed like the situation would settle down and soccer could resume, a loud booing in the crowd indicated a most unlikely event had occurred on the Red Wolves’ bench. Still voicing displeasure about the previous call, Chattanooga assistants Jimmy Weekley and Luke Winter were sent off from the bench, having finally seen the red card come out of the referee’s pocket.
Once play resumed tensions rose higher, and things only got chippier. Over the next 20 minutes the fireworks would find the stat sheet, not so much goals or shots on target, but in the form of 18 fouls and 9 cards distributed between the two teams—and probably more based on the frustrated abuse levied on soccer balls and advertising signs (looking at you, Jamil Roberts).
The delays, fouls, and talkings to would mean a significant amount of additional time, so things got a bit nervy when Chavon Marsh reappeared to do Marsh things in the 89’. Despite being defanged for most of the half, the Red Wolves showed they still had claws when Leo Folla launched his long through ball from his defensive third all the way over the Omaha back line. With Marsh timing his run and route perfectly, the Owls were caught somewhat off guard and too slow to be able to catch up. Marsh took the ball in stride, slotted home past Shido, and gave the home crowd a lifeline for what would end up being the remaining 11+ minutes of the match.
If the supporters watching at home may have started monitoring their heart rates, Union Omaha were staying cold and deadly as they opened their offense back up to release another 1-2 punch. This time, the Red Wolves wouldn’t rise off the canvas.
Not 4 minutes after Marsh’s sucker-punch of a goal, Lagos Kunga would take matters, and defenders, to his own feet. Adam Aoumaich’s pressure caused a turnover at midfield that he quickly passed on to Pedro Dolabella starting a 4-on-3 attack. Pedro laid the ball right to Lagos, who continues to keep rubbing my nose in ever doubting his dribbling ability. The quickly developing forward split about a hair’s amount of space between Stefan Lukic and Declan Watters to leave them confused and embarrassed, while TJ Bush was left wide open on his far post side. Again.
And while Lagos’ goal may have been the silver bullet, Adam Aoumaich decided that you can never be to sure not long after. In a passage of play that was very similar to the Owls’ earlier rapid-fire goals, where Chattanooga didn’t see much of the ball. Pinned back, and off a throw in, the Red Wolves tried to press, but Lagos found Brandon in the middle of the attacking third to escape the pressure. Looking just to maintain possession, Brandon picked out Adam who found himself on the left and one-on-one with Owen Green just outside the box. Switching to his right foot, he got Green to start to move along with him and decided to have a go under the defender’s outstretched leg. Bush seemed completely unaware of a shot until the ball was rolling just beyond his grasp and into the bottom right corner for the last goal of the night, but the first goal of Adam’s professional career.
There was still some fighting left to be done before the final whistle as Brandon got caught in an ill-timed (and unnecessary) high-booted challenge against Omar Gómez Tapia right in front of the Chattanooga goal. While many of the Red Wolves players surrounded Brandon to remind him how uncool that was, TJ Bush would leave his goal and enter the fray. While there wouldn’t be any red-card offenses given, Bush was quite physical with Brandon, prompting another giant huddle of bodies for the referees, and cooler heads, to deescalate. When the final whistle blew just a few moments after, it seemed to have not only called an end to the lopsided victory, but also to any potential brawls that may have been ready to spring up.
The win puts Union Omaha back on the right path, and also at the top of the League One table with 16 points from 7 matches (over Greenville Triumph on goal difference). It also signals the start of a little bit of a rest period before they welcome Spokane Velocity in the return Jägermeister Cup fixture on June 13.
The Positives:
Yes, this team can score without two major playmakers. Yes, they can bounce back after a particularly frustrating loss. But the biggest positive is that they went on the road and controlled the game in multiple ways.
When they had to be in attack, their passing was a lot cleaner, more deliberate, and the decision making was much better than it had been. They attacked up the right early and often, which would later open up the middle and left for exploitation. Dion was a huge part of this, but letting Pedro play in a more advanced role gave the Owls the chance to create dangerous chances from their penetrating play or recycle the ball well to probe other parts of the Red Wolves defense.
When playing with the lead, and for most of the second half, they were still able to control the match, even without the ball. Chattanooga managed one shot on target during the second half (Marsh’s goal), but otherwise were pretty benign in their attempts. Good rotation on defense, disciplined marking, and an efficient counter threat kept the game in hand, even if they weren’t directly running out the clock, because it caused the Red Wolves to constantly reconsider their attacking options—something that led to frustration and some much lower percentage chances at goal (though some didn’t miss by that much, admittedly).
The ability to turn the offense back on after Marsh got the hosts within sniffing distance of rescuing a point also is a huge positive. Not because they threw numbers forward again, but because they did it without sacrificing their defensive shape. This is a huge credit to the team taking Dom’s system to heart and understanding game situations as they come. A panicked team easily could have let another Marsh run ruin an otherwise brilliant game. The Owls stayed cool and finished off their opponent professionally.
The Negatives:
While I love the physical play of the team this year, and that physicality got into the heads of the Red Wolves’ players and staff, the cards are becoming a problem. After this match, Omaha has accumulated 24 yellow cards and 1 red card in 7 matches (3.6 per game). The per game number is second only to Chattanooga with 4.2 per game (25 in 6 matches). This stat goes down a little when you consider that in 3 Cup matches, the Owls have only 6 cards, but that still puts them at 3.1 cards per game—and that matters as Cup match cards carry over to regular season and vice versa for the purposes of accumulation and suspensions.
But the point of this is something I’ve said before: a lot of these cards are needlessly taken. Some of the tactical fouls, time wasting, dissent, and just very ill-advised challenges (Missael’s last week and Brandon’s this week) will eventually take it’s toll on the availability of some of the players.
While the good news is that none of our individual players have more than 3 cards, it also means a lot of our players have multiple cards on their sheets. I don’t want the physicality, and some of the old shithousery, to stop as I think it helps motivate the team and frustrate the opposition. But they do need to be smarter about the fouls and cards that they are taking, before they come back to bite them again.
Also negative: I wish we’d scored more. But that’s just me wanting sprinkles on a damned fine sundae.
Interesting Facts:
- This is Union Omaha’s sixth straight unbeaten in regular season play against Chattanooga (they did lose in the 2022 playoffs 1-0 after extra time). The last time they lost in the regular season at Chattanooga was on August 21, 2021.
- This is the fourth straight matchup where the teams have scored more than three goals combined.
- The scoring explosion has the distinction of a few superlatives for the Owls: most goals scored in a regular season game, most goals scored without a multi-goal scorer, and most goals between teams in a game (tied). They did score 6 against FC Tucson in the 2021 League Playoffs, but we try not to mention that as much because we like Wallis now.
- Both teams more than doubled their xG stat (Omaha – 1.70, Chattanooga – 0.99). Adam’s goal had only a 0.02 xG, and still found it’s way in.
- This is the second match in a row where at least one assistant for the opposing team has gotten sent off.
Key Events:
Union Omaha Goal: 15’ – Pedro Dolabella (4th) (Unassisted); 0-1
Red Wolves Goal: 18’ – Declan Watters (1st) (A: Gustavo Fernandes – 1st); 1-1
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 26’ – Aáron Gómez (Late Challenge)
Union Omaha Goal: 29’ – Blake Malone (2nd) (A: PC Giro – 1st); 1-2
Red Wolves Yellow Card: 30’ – Ricky Ruiz (Bad Challenge)
Union Omaha Goal: 32’ – Joe Gallardo (2nd) (Unassisted); 1-3
Red Wolves Yellow Card: 41’ – Leo Folla (Tactical Foul)
Red Wolves Yellow Card: 45’+1’ – Stefan Lukic (Bad Challenge)
Red Wolves Subs: 46’ – Omar Gómez Tapia ON; Leopoldo Plascencia OFF
– Omar Hernandez ON; Gustavo Fernandes OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 48’ – Nortei Nortey (Bad Challenge)
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 53’ – PC Giro (Bad Challenge)
Chattanooga Red Wolves Yellow Card: 59’ – Chevone Marsh (Bad Challenge)
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 62’ – Joe Gallardo (Bad Foul)
Chattanooga Red Wolves Red Cards: 64’ – Jimmy Weekley (Bench – Dissent)
– Luke Winters (Bench – Dissent)
Union Omaha Sub: 65’ – Lagos Kunga ON; Aáron Gómez OFF
Union Omaha Sub: 66’ – Brandon Knapp ON; Joe Gallardo OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 79’ – Rashid Nuhu (Time Wasting)
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 80’ – Luca Mastrantonio (Bad Challenge)
Red Wolves Sub: 82’ Stefan Cvetanovic ON; Maleye Malango OFF
Union Omaha Sub: 85’ Adam Aoumaich ON; PC Giro OFF
Red Wolves Goal: 89’ – Chevone Marsh (3rd) (A: Leo Folla – 1st); 2-3
Red Wolves Yellow Card: 90’ – Omar Gómez Tapia (Bad Challenge)
Union Omaha Goal: 90’+4’ – Lagos Kunga (2nd) (A: Pedro Dolabella – 3rd); 2-4
Union Omaha Sub: 90’+7’ – Anderson Holt ON; Pedro Dolabella OFF
Union Omaha Goal: 90’+7’ – Adam Aoumaich (1st) (A: Brandon Knapp – 1st); 2-5
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 90’+11 – Brandon Knapp (Bad Challenge)
Red Wolves Yellow Card: 90’+11 – TJ Bush (Pushing Player, Left Goal Area)
Who Gives A Hoot? 