The schedule was released and then came the announcement of the nationally-televised broadcast. The match between Union Omaha and Greenville Triumph had already been circled on many calendars, but then add a first-ever national broadcast for the league? I don’t know about you, but I used the rest of the ink circling last Sunday on the calendar.
Both teams began the day with identical records and would end the day with identical records, as well. After a strong showing by both clubs, the match finished 1-1. Greenville opened the scoring in the 35th minute when Marios Lomis was able to capitalize off of a turnover forced by Andrew Booth. Union Omaha fans would have to wait until the 59th minute for an equalizer. When a corner-fed ball was cleared from the box, Conor Doyle was able to get it to Nicolas Firmino, who took the ball of his chest and volleyed it masterfully into the lower corner and past goalkeeper Dallas Jaye. The draw keeps the teams tied for first in the league, based on points.
It was a beautiful day in Greenville, South Carolina. It didn’t matter that the sun was out because there was already a metaphorical spotlight on Legacy Early College Field. With cameras from ESPN focused on the field, fans eagerly awaited the kickoff of this budding rivalry. The teams had only faced each other once prior to Sunday, but the level of quality in that match, combined with the end-of-season placements of first and second place, produced several storylines that made this matchup appealing. With the hype surrounding the match, a sellout crowd of just over 2,000 filled the stands in Legacy Early College Field to watch the spectacle take place.
Even from the opening whistle, it was clear that most of the battles were going to take place in the middle third of the field. Greenville did a great job of solving that problem right away when they spread the team across the field. It opened up passing lanes and created problems for Union Omaha because the players had to travel much further in order to simply contest the ball. The home team was confident with the ball, splitting the defense, and playing long balls. While they didn’t move down the field quickly, they were highly organized and their build-up play was very attractive.
On the flip side, Union Omaha slammed their foot on the gas pedal from the opening kickoff and looked to immediately throw Greenville on their heels. They were able to disrupt some of the play, especially in the middle third, but the team had to quickly switch their tactic to occupy more space. This was a tall task to complete because Greenville routinely pressed numbers up the field when they had the ball. Covering the ever-present threat would present many issues to Union Omaha for the entire 90 minutes.
On offense, Union Omaha looked to move quickly up the field. Having played on the large fields they have in recent weeks, the Owls looked comfortable attempting long balls and passes. There were plenty of limited touches before passes mixed in with dribbles going right at the defense. The team looked hard set on taking the ball up the field in an almost rugby fashion: fast and in your face. In typical Greenville defensive fashion, they were successful at getting numbers behind the ball and closing down passing lanes in their own final third. When Union Omaha pressed into their final third, Greenville seemed to set their defensive backline at the 18-yard box and the midfield was less than five yards in front of that line. Whichever side of the field the ball was on, the players swarmed to the ball, leaving Union Omaha players little choice but to look for a drop pass.
A huge piece of Greenville’s success throughout the entire match was their midfield. Center mid Maxwell Hemmings had good field vision and showed confidence with passes splitting the defense. He caused a lot of problems for Union Omaha with his weighted passes linking up to the front men. Left mid Don Smart displayed situational intelligence because he would recognize the space available in the middle and float inside to present a new source of pressure for the Omaha defense. Noah Pilato, fellow center mid to Maxwell Hemmings, was given the heavy task of replacing Aaron Walker, who missed the match due to a lingering injury. Walker has been an integral piece of Greenville’s midfield, but Pilato did a good job of filling in and varying the attacks from side to side. Right midfielder Andrew Booth showed great creativity with his possessions and runs. Booth continued to be a large problem throughout the entire match and presented a lot of problems on the right side.
Union Omaha had some good opportunities in the first half, but couldn’t seem to take full advantage of any of the moments. In the 8th minute, Dami Viader was able to advance up the field and into Greenville’s final third, but was soon surrounded with pressure and had no options for escape. The very next minute, Omaha switched up the attack and gave Ferrety Sousa a chance to show his offensive chops. He may be a defender, but the man has some good moves in his arsenal to get himself past a level or two, attract more defensive players, and open up chances in the box. Sousa could often be seen pairing up with Devin Boyce and causing trouble for defensive players. The two players have good chemistry on the right side, like to dribble at defenses, and vary up their attacks together.
About halfway through the first half, it looked as though Union Omaha was mirroring Greenville’s defensive setup. With the Triumph entering the final third time and time again, Union Omaha seemed to be condensing the space between the backline and the midfielders. It limited Greenville’s possession inside the penalty area, but opened up a lot of space for their midfielders to move the ball and develop an attack outside of the box. Greenville was already exercising patience on the ball, so to give them even more time and space in front of the net resulted in some scary attempts on goal. Rashid Nuhu faced six shots in the first half and many of those made him get to the ground quickly or diving to the side or up high to cover the uprights and crossbar. He had one easy save, thanks to Ferrety Sousa’s pressure and shepherding along the goal line. Of the six shots he faced, only one found the net.
In the 35th minute, Emir Alihodžić received a pass halfway into the Union Omaha half and before he could make sense of what was happening, Greenville’s Andrew Booth was there to make contact with Emir, force a turnover, and complete a pass to teammate Marios Lomis. Streaking toward the goal, Lomis took a touch, caught an advancing Illal Osumanu off balance, and sent the ball to the far post and into the goal. It was an unfortunate moment for Union Omaha, who had been bending with each attack and not breaking. This was the first goal that Omaha had conceded in the 2021 USL League One season.
There was an appeal from Greenville fans for a second goal just before the halftime whistle, but head referee Elton García didn’t even engage in a debate about the situation. In the 43rd minute, a high ball was falling into the goal area and Rashid Nuhu confidently jumped to collect the 50/50 ball. When Nuhu came down, he was slightly off balance and did a 360° turn while standing over the goal line. The Greenville fans behind the net were boisterous and adamant of the goal, but upon replay, there was very little chance that the entire ball ever crossed the goal line. On top of that, USL League One does not employ VAR (Video Assistant Referee) to help with such decisions. When García initially shook off the possibility of a goal, that was the end of the discussion. Minutes later, he blew the whistle for halftime and the teams headed to their respective locker rooms.
At the start of the second half, Union Omaha made their first substitution: Nicolas Firmino entered the game and replaced Emir Alihodžić. This wasn’t a big surprise because Alihodžić unbalanced the midfield at several points in the first half. While many of the players were quick to advance up the field, Alihodžić was more apt to sit back and play a more defensive midfielder role. This might have been part of the plan, but given the fact that Union Omaha head coach Jay Mims likes to play flat 4-4-2’s, I don’t think having a defensive midfielder was in the game plan.
Union Omaha took advantage of the second half kickoff and did a great job of establishing a slower, cognitive possession. In the initial possession, most of the players were included in the possession, which was a positive change from the first half. Teams that are able to establish possession and incorporate a lot of players have an easier time disrupting the opponent’s defense. This tactic also increases the confidence of the possessing team’s backline. In many of Omaha’s previous matches, the defense looked confident at playing out of the back. Against Greenville, the defense opted for clearances more often than not in the first half, so the initial possession in the second half was a crucial point in changing the team’s mentality.
Greenville came out in the second half looking almost apprehensive. Having controlled the pace of the first half, it was surprising to see the Triumph hesitate a couple of times. The Triumph had a great scoring chance in the 48th minute, when Union Omaha’s Daltyn Knutson made a poor pass and Greenville’s Lachlan McLean pounced on the opportunity. Omaha goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu was able save the shot, but the Triumph was able to give Omaha quite the scare just after the start of the second half.
Union Omaha continued to show good chemistry in the second half. This time, it was left back Dami Viader and Evan Conway causing trouble. As both advanced up the field, they started collecting more opportunities to battle with Greenville’s Andrew Booth. Meanwhile, Omaha right back Ferrety Sousa seemed to receive more creative license on offense. On several occasions, Sousa floated toward the middle of the field and used his possession to find different passing lanes to encourage the offense. The halftime change to bring on Nicolas Firmino was a good decision because his introduction to the second half spurred a new level of aggressiveness and ferocity in the middle of the field, one that wasn’t quite there in the first half. His natural inclination to advance up the field resulted in good chemistry with JP Scearce and the two worked well to open up the defense. In the 58th minute, Devin Boyce did a great job to evade defenders and find Conor Doyle in space. His feed across the goal was deflected by a defender and almost gave Evan Conway an easy tap-in, but it was just out of reach. Omaha fans wouldn’t have to wait long for the score to even out.
On the ensuing corner kick, Devin Boyce lobbed the ball to the back post, where plenty of bodies were there to fight for the next touch. Eventually, the ball was softly cleared out of the penalty area and right to Conor Doyle, who head the ball to Nic Firmino. Standing in the middle of the field, at the top of the penalty arc, Firmino received the header from Doyle off his chest, and volleyed the ball with perfect execution on frame. He had two defenders rushing him and found just enough time to perfectly balance the power and placement of his shot. Greenville’s goalkeeper, Dallas Jaye, had absolutely no chance of defending Firmino’s work of art. Jaye was Goalkeeper of the Year for the USL League One in 2019 and 2020, so it was going to take something special to beat him. Firmino’s shot was that and more.
With all of the hard work that Union Omaha was doing to breakdown Greenville’s defense, you would think Omaha would break their own streak, but the Owls couldn’t even do that on this particular Sunday. In the three goals scored against Greenville, Union Omaha has never scored a goal from inside the penalty area. Every goal scored by an Owl has come from outside of the 18-yard box. It’s crazy to think about, but Greenville has a very disciplined backline, anchored by the 2020 USL League One Defender of the Year, Brandon Fricke.
Greenville had their share of quality attacks in the second half, as well. In the first half, the team tried to balance their attacks, but the second half offensive strategy seemed almost entirely based out of production on the right side. With Andrew Booth linking up with JJ Donnelly, Union Omaha was facing a lot of pressure, albeit one-dimensional. When the Triumph took their time and swung the ball, the team still preferred to build up their attacks on the right side.
The rest of the second half featured sporadic attacks, but both teams seemed happy to close out the match with a draw. Union Omaha looked much better in the second half as they controlled the pace more than Greenville, found ways to advance numbers up the field, and generate chances on goal. Omaha had a number of turnovers, forced and unforced, and could’ve done a better job of condensing the team to fill in gaps between Greenville players. Communication could’ve been a little better as players received passes with unexpected pressure, players should’ve filled in for advancing players, and organizing the offense in general. On the whole, leaving Greenville, South Carolina with a point is something to be happy about.
With the draw, both clubs remain tied at the top of the standings. The next time these two teams face off will be at Werner Park on Saturday, October 9th. Greenville’s next match is on Saturday, May 22nd as they head to South Georgia Tormenta. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 PM (CST) and will air on ESPN+. Union Omaha visits Forward Madison on Wednesday, May 26th and kickoff is slated for 7 PM (CST). As usual, the match will also air on ESPN+.
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