Howdy folks! (That’s a thing people in Texas say right?) That was a fun game of soccer played at a baseball stadium that has football lines, now wasn’t it. In my never ending quest to make this column easier to write, let’s dive in.
1) Goals given up at Globe Life Park.
This is definitely tweet material, but here is a really fun fact for you. Rashid Nuhu has never given up a goal to a player without MLS experience at Globe Life Park Choctaw Stadium. Let’s review:
8/23/2020 Goal 1: Edwin Cerrillo ( 15 MLS appearances, 1027 MLS minutes at the time of goal)
8/23/2020 Goal 2: Rayo (0 MLS appearances, 0 MLS minutes; BUT, this was scored on Sam Howard, so HA loophole)
9/19/2021 Goal 1: Kalil ElMedkhar (6 MLS appearances, 118 MLS minutes at the time of goal)
9/19/2021 Goal 2: Freddy Vargas (11 MLS appearances, 514 MLS minutes at the time of goal)
2) Formation Tweaks
There were a few topics vying for the 2nd spot this week, but all of them had a common theme which was the personnel we were using after the 72nd minute substitutions. While it is satisfying to see your team fight back to claim vital road points, it was even more satisfying to watch Jay Mims pull the strings like a magician from the sideline.
If you were following along at home, he made 3 substitutions, he replaced our leading scorer in the 67′, then did a double switch where swapped out a central midfielder (and took out the teams best aerial threat) and a winger (and our leading assist man) for an central defender and a defensive midfielder…AND IT WORKED!
We played a 4-4-2, but had Dami playing left wing, looking sublime, and Jake looking incredible at left back as well. All of this was supported by Evan Conway looking like his old self again with 4 shots on target (out of the team’s 5) and just luscious stats up and down the board.
Basically, no other way to say this, but that was a brutal TotW snub for Evan. Also, It was incredible to see Evan score again and draw level on the UO all-time scoring charts with Greg Hurst.
3) DAMI WATCH!
*breathes into a paper bag for 10 minutes*
I don’t know if there is a soccer equivalent of The Gordie Howe Hattrick, (Goal, Assist, Fight), but if there is it should be Goal, Assist, Yellow card. And our boy Dami earned his Sunday night with the banger, the point saving assist, and a spectacular yellow card for being correct at an inconvenient time for the ref.
Back to the banger, were you watching Dami score this goal and thinking, “Holy Cow, I love watching Dami score goals on TV?” I was, and so I did some digging on Transfermarkt. Here’s another tweetable nugget, this season, all 5 of Dami’s goals and 3 of his 4 assists have come on the road. And since ending the scoring draught, he has been involved in 5 of the 7 goals we’ve scored. What a player.
But, you don’t have to take my word for it…
See you all at Morrison on Saturday. I’m expecting big things.
Who Gives A Hoot? 