Union Omaha (14-9-5, #1 seed) vs. FC Tucson (11-7-10, #4 seed)
Werner Park, Papillion, Nebraska
4 PM (CST), ESPN+
If you have a ticket to this evening’s match, the entertainment will be worth every cent spent. The “Desert Kings” of FC Tucson have arrived and they have no intention of restoring any love lost between the two clubs after the fiasco at Morrison Stadium in late September. I’ll address that a little later, but let’s take a closer look at FC Tucson’s season.
John Galas was given the nod to manage the club again in 2021, after only winning six matches in the shortened 2020 season. The team didn’t start the 2021 season strongly, seeing a placement no higher than seventh place in the first twelve matches. After the Week 12 loss to Union Omaha, the then 11th-placed club decided to part ways with Galas and Jon Pearlman was promoted to Interim Head Coach while the club looked for their next leader. By the end of Week 26, FC Tucson had climbed the standings all the way to fifth place and the club felt comfortable naming Pearlman as Head Coach for the rest of the 2021 season and 2022 season. He’s no stranger to the club, though. A decade ago, Pearlman helped found the club. He’s done an incredible job of righting the ship, keeping the club competitive, and reinvigorating a home fan base. For this reason, he is deservedly in contention for USL1 Coach of the Year.
Another reason for the club’s turnaround is the hiring of Amanda Powers as the club’s first president. She’s no stranger to the soccer landscape. Powers was the Chief Operating Officer at New Mexico United, a USL Championship side, and helped the club set the standard for expansion club attendance, merchandise, tickets, and general fan support. Phoenix Rising purchased FC Tucson in 2018 and helped elevate the club from USL2 to USL1. Powers used to be a member of the USL Board of Governors, but has turned her passion toward enhancing the fan experience in Tucson.
As far as the on-field product is concerned, the compliments stop here. I know some of the other guys here at Who Gives A Hoot will disagree with me, but I feel confident in saying that FC Tucson is the dirtiest club in the league. I’ve spent some time recently watching several of their previous matches and there’s plenty to speak of tactically and related to their “gamesmanship.” If you were at Morrison Stadium on September 25th, you saw how reprehensibly they represented their club. Whether it was late tackles, going in studs-first, off-the-ball confrontations, challenges aiming to hurt their opposition, egging on the home fans, and total lack of regard for their behavior, FC Tucson has nothing to be proud of between the whistles. If this club is truly dedicated to a family-friendly environment at their home matches, their on-the-field product is about as far away from that as you can get. There’s playing the sport with respect for competition, and then there’s FC Tucson’s vile display of instigation toward their opposition. I get that these are professional athletes and winning is another way for them to earn their paycheck and livelihood, but young soccer players shouldn’t be motivated to play the way FC Tucson plays. Enough said. [Editor’s note: Somehow Rich made it through this paragraph without mentioning they had 8 red cards this season with 3 going to a single player alone, both good for first in the league.]
From a tactical standpoint, FC Tucson’s overall approach is based on their ability to cover the field very quickly. The club usually lines up in a 4-3-3, but once the opening whistle is blown, there is very little attention paid to their shape. Players quickly swarm near the ball and don’t seem overly concerned about all of the open space they created in their absence. For example, the midfield is usually comprised of Charlie Dennis, Mohamed Kone, and Joao Delgado. If you pay attention to their movement, these three are never in a disciplined line and are constantly overlapping one another.
Charlie Dennis will most likely line up on the right side of their half, but he’ll cover vast distances to provide support for his team. Dennis is one of the most valuable players on the team and there’s a strong argument to be made that he is, in fact, the most valuable player on the team. When he’s not orchestrating attacks, he’s one of the first players to confront the opposition and often initiates skirmishes through petty off-the-ball actions. In all honesty, he’s lucky to have not received a straight red card for his off-the-ball deliberate elbow in last week’s match against the Richmond Kickers. Mohamed Kone usually lines up in the middle, but he typically sinks back far enough to look like a defender. Kone isn’t particularly fast, doesn’t track players well, and doesn’t react all that quickly, but serves his purpose by shepherding attacks to the outside. Joao Delgado isn’t as flashy as his teammates, but does well at getting up and down the field, especially providing support to right back Noah Franke.
I’ll do a quick shoutout to Noah Franke because he played his collegiate years at Creighton University (2014-2017). In his four years, he started in 57 matches, scored 6 goals, and provided 14 assists. There is a lot of hype surrounding Franke and there are those who believe that he is the best right back in the league, which is supported by the fact that USL Championship teams are showing interest in his abilities. He joined FC Tucson in April of this year and has been a tremendous source of stability in their defense. While he is playing for the opposition, it’s still nice to see someone familiar with the area finding success beyond his collegiate career.
The starting forwards will likely be Deri Corfe, Shak Adams, and Kevin Rodriguez. These three do a fairly good job of minding their sides of the field, but can still be found providing assistance wherever needed. Deri Corfe is a creative attacker and a consistent instigator. He knows how to get under the skin of his opponents and he capitalizes on every given opportunity. Shak Adams is a pure striker. He’s explosive, loves to dribble at opponents, and loves to put on a show. This frontline is fast, eager, and physical.
There are going to be some matchups that will provide nonstop entertainment throughout the match. The matchup I’m looking forward to the most is between FC Tucson’s Shak Adams and Union Omaha’s Damiá Viader. Both have plenty of speed and skill to go 1v1. Another matchup will be the duo of Union Omaha’s Greg Hurst and Evan Conway against FC Tucson’s backline. Kaelon Fox and Maxi Schenfeld are the equivalent of hockey enforcers on a soccer field. It’ll be nice to see how much Hurst and Conway can embarrass them from start to finish. After the deplorable behavior between Fox and Schenfeld at Morrison Stadium, a little humbling could serve them well.
Union Omaha has a great opportunity before them. FC Tucson plays open and disregards a lot of space in doing so. The Owls should be salivating at the offensive opportunities they’ll be gifted this evening. These two clubs have played one another six times over the last two seasons and Union Omaha won five of them. They know how to beat FC Tucson. They’ve done it before and they should be able to do it again today. Assuming they don’t get sucked into too many skirmishes and retaliations, they should be able to send FC Tucson home with more than a plane’s cargo hold full of broken dreams.
Before you head to Werner Park, make sure you check out the updated parking arrangement. With the holiday lights occupying a large portion of the parking lot, Union Omaha announced alternative parking and entrances. If you are willing to join the carpool caravan, Omaha Parliament will be having a pregame get-together at Pint9 from Noon to 3 PM. There will be plenty of beverages, discount merchandise, a food truck, and a chili cook-off. Multiple people will be vying for your vote during the cook-off, so bring all of the loose change you have and use the coins as your votes. At the end, prizes will be handed out and all of the money used in the voting process will be donated to Football for the World, a charity with a quality mission and who is active in the Omaha area. It’s going to be a great day of USL1 playoff soccer, so don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the “Who Gives A Hoot?” podcast, featuring an interview with the man, the legend, Greg Hurst. You’re not going to want to miss out on his conversation with Luke, Ryan, and Ben. See you at the stadium. ¡Viva Búhos!
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