In a match featuring the league’s best defense against the league’s hottest offense, defense would carry the day as the Mingos defended Brees Stevens Field on Thursday night with a 2-0 victory to deny Union Omaha a return to the top of the USL League One table. Usual culprit Christian Chaney found the back of the net on a penalty and almost assisted as Wolfgang Prentice sealed the match in second half stoppage time. Meanwhile, the Owls struggled mightily to find any kind of rhythm to their attack until it was too late to break down the stalwart Madison lines.
After an explosive run against Velocity the previous week, Coach Dom named the exact same starting side to take the field in Madison. The only major changes came on the bench as Zeiko Lewis returned from his international duty with Bahamas and new signing Isaac Bawa returned to Omaha to start his 25-day contract. Fans were pleased to see Dion Acoff in starting condition, after taking some heavy challenges in the previous match.
For Matt Glaeser’s team there were three differences in the lineup that was held by Tormenta to a 0-0 draw in their last match. Former Owl Ferrety Sousa replaced another former Owl, Devin Boyce. Michael Chilaka and Juan Galindrez took over for Timmy Mehl and Nazeem Bartman, respectively, hoping to spark the offense to a better form than their last outing.
The Mingos took the opening kick, and really didn’t give it back for a long stretch of the first 15 minutes. Every time Omaha would press forward, the disciplined hosts would find a way to pass around the pressure. Sometimes this was quick passing, sometimes it was longer balls to the attacking half, but each time there seemed to be a blue shirt winning the ball. This didn’t result in too many clear cut attacks, but it did keep the Owls off the ball and pinned back—a place that they don’t really perform the best.
The best chance Madison could provide to start involved Sousa against Dion in just one of the many key battles between the wingers. Sousa dribbled up the left side and managed to avoid challenges from both Pedro Dolabella and Dion while working the ball back toward the right attacking side. The Mingos appeared to get free and forward for a chance at goal, but Marco Milanese made a great run to track back and deflect what might have been a dangerous cross out for a Madison corner. The chance went for nothing in the end, but it would be a sign of things to come for the remainder of the half.
The teams, for the most part, didn’t threaten each other too badly at this point in the match. Omaha started growing into possession, but found Madison gumming up the middle of the park and making it difficult for the Owls to get any attacking momentum. On the other side, the Mingos probed the attacking channels, but each time they’d start a run the defense would collapse in and cut out any danger.
That is until the 17’ when Madison would make their first significant threat on Rashid Nuhu’s goal. Chaney received an outlet pass from the back just outside the attacking third. With his back to Luca Mastrantonio and unable to turn the defender, Chaney used an acrobatic diving kick to poke the ball forward onto Derek Gebhard’s run up the right side. With Luca peeling off to help Marco seal off Gebhard, Chaney was able to sneak in a run to the top of the box. Gebhard cut the ball back to the wide open forward who got a little to much under the ball and skied it over for a goal kick. While it didn’t force Shido into a save, it was a moment of danger that the defense was glad didn’t hurt them.
The next 15 minutes was more of the same as Madison continued probing, although the defense seemed not to let the earlier chance get to them. Omaha wouldn’t let anything pass through the midfield, but the Mingos started finding some openings by luring the backline up then sending runners for over the top balls. These would still usually get cut out by the Búho Backline, but the long passes back out to start a counter attack were won by Madison as neither could find a really good line of attack.
Finally, in the 34’, the Owls would start getting good looks at goal. After a good run up the middle, Pedro threaded a through ball to Missael Rodriguez making a run past his defender. As the Chicago Fire loanee got to the middle of the box, he let off Union Omaha’s first shot of the evening. It was mishit, and well wide of the mark, but it at least showed a flash that Omaha might be able to break down the stingy Mingo defense.
Then two minutes later and following a turnover in the attacking third, Marco pressed the Madison defense to regain control of the ball and ultimately win a corner kick. From the left side, Joe Gallardo put a curling in-swinger right onto Luca’s head. The Italian’s flick beat Bernd Schipmann at the far corner, but failed to beat the crossbar as the ball clanged unluckily away.
It wouldn’t take too much longer for Lady Luck’s full betrayal to take the form of an unfortunate, yet correct, penalty decision. With Marco being pressed near the Owls’ byline, the defender’s clearance went only as far as Stephen Payne, still in the attacking third. The midfielder had no one around him and was able to loft a ball meant for Chaney waiting at the penalty spot. Dion was in perfect position to intercept the pass, but he whiffed on the clearance. The ball bounced around off Chaney who managed to poke it toward goal, where an outstretched hand kept the ball off target. Sadly, that hand was Dion’s, resulting in a penalty kick and a massive protest that saw PC get a yellow card for dissent. The Mingo forward took his own penalty kick and sent Shido the wrong way for a 1-0 lead to the hosts.
The rest of the half was marred by frustration and sloppy play from the Owls as they tried anything they could to turn the momentum back in their direction. Peak to that frustration was a very bad sliding challenge from Joe on Jimmie Villalobos threatened to make things even worse before the half. Referee Atahan Yaya only saw it as a yellow card, to the massive displeasure of the Mingo faithful, but very much to the relief of Omaha to only be down a goal, and not also a man.
To start the second half, Dom brought on Steevan Dos Santos and Lagos Kunga for the largely ineffective Aáron Gomez and carded Joe. Between the substitutions and the halftime talk, the Omaha attack was almost completely turned around. Madison, seemingly content to let the Owls fly at them, found themselves in the same position that Omaha had been in the first half. Lanes started to open up on the right side and in the middle as Lagos’ dribbling and Steevan’s hold-up play began to look like the team that we saw the past two weeks.
While the possession and attacking looked better, it wasn’t until the 63’ that Omaha’s first really good chance on goal would manifest. Lagos managed to work his way to the attacking third where he faced two Mingos waiting to challenge. Instead of taking them on, he found PC running open across the middle in an attempt to switch play. PC took the ball and, fighting off a physical challenge from behind by Chaney, played the ball out to Marco on the left side. Marco took the ball in toward the box and was able to beat Payne off the dribble. With the defense collapsing toward him, Marco placed a perfect cross to Steevan waiting at the back post. It surely would have been the equalizer had Schipmann not showed some top class reaction to swat the ball away from the line just before it crossed over. Though there were pleas from the Owls that the ball had crossed the line, Yaya would hear none of it and the shot would go down as a great save by the Madison keeper.
The attacks would continue as Omaha had the much larger share of threatening possession throughout the second half. Madison seemed content to play counter, and while they had a couple of good chances, the feeling was that eventually their lines would break and an equalizer was coming.
Lagos’ runs penetrated the defense and often won corners or crosses into the area. The forwards started finding success on the press, with one midfield turnover falling to Luca. He quickly fed Marco on the attack who released Missael forward with his through ball. Missael’s cross to Steevan should have been a problem for the Mingos, but the striker returned Chaney’s favor from the first half and blasted the ball over the bar from about six yards out.
Even though the fight and attack looked like it would break through at any moment, it was Madison who would find the net and seal away the three points late. In the 90’+5’, a chaotic bit of play in midfield saw Chaney come away with the ball and start pushing forward. Mechack Jérôme stepped up to challenge the forward, but Chaney toe poked the ball past him and ran around on it like the defender was standing still. Dion was able to track back and get in front of Chaney, but the ball bounced off his foot and found Wolfgang Prentiss—unmarked after Dion had left him to pick up Chaney’s run. The Oakland Roots loanee, who had seen a chance from a similar position go wide earlier, didn’t miss this time beating Shido and putting the game away at 2-0.
With the win, Madison leapt over Union Omaha and into second place tied on points with table-topping Greenville Triumph (on wins). The Owls are three points back of the top, but with two games in hand on Greenville and one on the Mingos. Their next match is on Thursday, 27 June at Werner Park against Chattanooga Red Wolves in a Jägermeister Cup clash. It’s also Cancer Awareness Night, and we’re promised a commemorative purple kit that will be up for auction.
With any luck, we’ll also see them put some goals in as well.
The Negatives
- I’m switching it up this week because I really do want to end a frustrating match week on a positive note. To do that, we have to get through the negative first—and by that I mean the whole first half.
I mentioned to some other League One media types that I didn’t recognize this team in the first 45’ of the match. I also don’t have to talk to Dom to know that it was well below the standards and expectations this team has for themselves. Whether it was due to Madison executing their gameplan, or us not executing ours well, the Owls found themselves in the position that tends to vex them most—when they can’t get possession out of their half and press up. Many times it was a bad touch, or a wayward pass more than it was an interception or good pressing. Madison did have a habit of winning more of the 50/50 balls, but even when we did get a ball, the receiver couldn’t seem to bring it down cleanly—either through a poor touch or the pass having too much on it to control. There were several times early that a potential attack was snuffed out because by the time the ball got under control defenders had swarmed to it.
And as this built up, the frustration built up with it. Defenders would get beat and resort to blatant fouls or shirt pulls (as what got Luca his yellow card in the 23’). Dissent to the referee got louder and ended up costing PC a yellow card as well. Joe’s yellow card late on was a terrible challenge that seemed borne out of that frustration more than any real attempt to get the ball. And while I will say that this should have gone both ways (Chaney’s bull rush at kickoff after his goal comes to mind), the only thing the players can control is themselves, and it seems very easy to frustrate them at the moment.
In honesty, halftime didn’t come soon enough and probably saved the match from getting out of hand. This is a rivalry match, no matter what the fans may think, especially given the league position and the meanings behind some of the matches recently. And Brees Stevens is not a hospitable environment for any visiting teams, much less an actual rival. When you start to lose your mentality, let the frustration get to you, and let the body language show it, you’re digging a hole that isn’t easy to get out of. And last night, they found themselves too deep in Mingo to recover.
- Now for some statistical negatives. I’ve said before that as Pedro’s positioning goes, so tends to go the attack. While he finished the match just inside the attacking half on the right side, a lot of that came in the second half after Lagos and Steevan subbing on woke up the attack. Part of the reason he couldn’t get forward, however, can be found in the touches from our front three.
Aáron and Joe had 8 and 14 touches for the entirety of the first half. Missael only managed 17 in 84 minutes. The only one lower than them was Zeiko Lewis who had 9 touches in the 17 minutes he got to play. The inability to get the front three involved severely stifled this attack, and is a concern going forward. If teams figure out how to stand them up and take them out of the game, it’s going to be hard for Omaha to win. Especially when the only two shots on goal the defense gives up go in.
The Positives
- Ok. Now that’s out of the system, there are some positives to take from this. First off, this easily could have been a 0-0 draw. The team defense concept remains stout, and it took an unfortunate bounce to hand Madison the lead in the first half. The second goal came as a direct result of the team pressing too hard for an equalizer (as well as a bit of a mistake from Mechack allowing Chaney by him so easily). Against a team like the Mingos, that would’ve been a really good result on the road, and should give the team confidence going forward—if they can keep the mental mistakes at bay.
- The second half attack was almost unstoppable. Once again, Lagos sparked the majority of the motion forward and took the pressure off Dion on the right side. Steevan’s veteran presence and energy helped as well, but it was the younger forward that kept pushing and pushing. His dribbling once again got the ball in dangerous areas that had Mingos scrambling to defend. His average position was slightly right of center but in the attacking third. Only Steevan and Missael logged more advanced average positions. He literally took the game on his shoulders and rallied the troops to some very good chances to equalize, or even go ahead. If it weren’t for a couple of desperate tackles and the amazing Mr. Schipmann, this game could have ended completely differently.
If only that energy had been there from the beginning. - The Unified Team played against Forward Madison’s Unified Team following the match. In true fighting spirit, and avenging the first team’s display from earlier, the Unified Owls won by a final scoreline of 4-0. This continues a run of form that has never dipped in competition. Though I’m still waiting to confirm this, I believe this makes the Unified team undefeated across all seasons. Win or lose, though, this team continues to be a source of pride for the club, the fans, the community, and athletes everywhere. Well done, Owls!
Interesting Facts:
- This was the first time since July 22 last year that Union Omaha has lost by more than one goal. That was also an away game at Lexington that ended 3-0 to the hosts. Of course, we all know what happened after that match…
- This was also the first time in 14 matches against Forward Madison that either side has won by more than one goal, and the first time since 2021 that the first match of the season between the two wasn’t a draw. Rivals or not, they always play close with the Owls still holding a 4-3-6 (W-L-D) advantage in the series.
- This is the second match in a row where Omaha’s opponents scored on every shot taken on target. To my knowledge, that has never happened to this team before, but I am still researching that.
- Union Omaha is still second in the league with Yellow Cards (28 to Tormenta’s 29), but no player on the team has accumulated more than 4 (Joe Gallardo).
Key Events:
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 23’ – Luca Mastrantonio (Shirt Pull)
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 39’ – PC Giro (Dissent)
Forward Madison Goal: 40’ – Christian Chaney (4th) (Penalty) 1-0
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 42’ – Joe Gallardo (Bad Challenge)
Union Omaha Subs: 46’ – Steevan Dos Santos ON; Aáron Gómez OFF
– Lagos Kunga ON; Joe Gallardo OFF
Forward Madison Sub: 70’ – Devin Boyce ON; Juan Galindrez OFF
Union Omaha Sub: 80’ – Zeiko Lewis ON; Missael Rodriguez OFF
Forward Madison Subs: 80’ – Wolfgang Prentice ON; Ferrety Sousa OFF
– John Murphy ON; Aiden Mesias OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 83’ – Blake Malone (Bad Challenge)
Forward Madison Yellow Card: 84’ – John Murphy (Hard Challenge)
Forward Madison Sub: 87’ – Cherif Dieye ON; Derek Gebhard OFF
Forward Madison Goal: 90’+5’ – Wolfgang Prentice (1st) (Unassisted)
Forward Madison Yellow Card: 90’+7’ – Wolfgang Prentice (Removing Shirt Celebration)
Who Gives A Hoot? 