It still seems surreal: Union Omaha won the 2021 USL League One Championship. Even after 16 days of being able to process everything that happened that wondrous Saturday, new memories still find their way to the surface. New memories equal new smiles and another surge of pride for Union Omaha. The players and coaching staff left no doubt as to who deserved to lift the USL League One trophy, as well as the Big Green Belt. Before we start to report on player contracts, possible coaching changes, and what to expect from the club in the coming season, let’s take another look back at the Championship match between Union Omaha and Greenville Triumph.
Union Omaha showed zero changes to their team formation and personnel. The team kept their 4-4-2 shape and opted to start the same lineup as they did against FC Tucson in the semifinal a week prior. [Editor’s note: probably a smart choice.] Greenville decided to keep the same shape from their semifinal match against Chattanooga (4-2-3-1), but was forced to make a lone change to their starting eleven as a result of Lachlan McLean suffering an injury. Prior to the Championship, the Australian striker made 15 appearances, with 10 of those being a starter. In lieu of McLean’s injury, Greenville’s manager, John Harkes, brought on Jesús Ibarra to start as the right attacking midfielder. Ibarra would be given the daunting task of battling Union Omaha’s left side of the field, comprised of high-quality players like forward Greg Hurst, midfielders JP Scearce, Conor Doyle, Damià Viader, and defenders Jake Crull, Daltyn Knutson, and Illal Osumanu.
In Union Omaha’s first attack, team captain and defender Ferrety Sousa received a pass from teammate Illal Osumanu inside of Union Omaha’s own half. After dribbling past the center line, Greenville’s Aaron Walker was able to gradually apply pressure, buy time for the defense to get set up, and shut down a lane toward the center of the field. Sousa had midfielder Devin Boyce on the right side of the field, but even he was well marked by Greenville defender Tyler Polak. Sousa’s best option was to slow down the attack and look for an open man, which in this case involved a drop to midfielder JP Scearce. While standing on the center line, Scearce took one touch to lob the ball up the field to forward Greg Hurst, who was standing about five yards outside of Greenville’s penalty area. As soon as Hurst controlled the ball, he was double-teamed by Greenville players Evan Lee and Tyler Polak, who left Devin Boyce alone on the side of the field to apply the added pressure. Hurst was able to split the defenders, cut his way toward the center of the field, deke Max Hemmings easily, and open up a window from which he took a shot on goal. Greenville’s goalkeeper, Paul Christensen, did a good job of filling the window and limiting Hurst’s angles on the goal. Despite the fact that Hurst was able to send in a low, powerful shot on goal, Christensen was able to position himself for the easy save.
With Union Omaha’s early pressure on Greenville’s goal, the Triumph seemed to be in desperation mode on defense. With every possession gained, they often worked too hard and too fast to move the ball up the field to forward Marios Lomis. With all of the numbers coming back on defense, Greenville wasn’t able to provide enough support for Lomis up top and lot of their long passes resulted in a turnover and renewed offensive opportunities for the Owls. The next video is an example of this.
Greenville’s right attacking midfielder, Jesús Ibarra, pushed up the field in an attempt to facilitate some connection between the defense and forward Marios Lomis. When an awkward ball was played to Ibarra, an even more awkward ball was attempted toward Lomis. Union Omaha defender Daltyn Knutson collected Ibarra’s poor passing attempt and one-touched the ball back toward Greenville’s goal line. This was a smart move because it prevented Greenville from resetting their defense, allowed Union Omaha renewed opportunities on offense, and kept Greenville’s defense guessing as to how Union Omaha would generate their next attack.
Knutson’s pass toward the goal line created a physical exchange between Greenville’s Abdi Mohamed and Union Omaha’s Evan Conway. Mohamed did a good job of shielding the ball, but not good enough, as Conway was able to slip around Mohamed’s right hip, swing his left foot at the ball, and keep it inbounds. While Mohamed and Conway were left rolling on the field beyond the goal line, Damià Viader took advantage of the given time and freedom to collect the ball.
No defender applied any pressure to Viader until he dribbled the ball into Greenville’s penalty area. At that point, Brandon Fricke attempted to cushion his advancements. Devin Boyce was open near the top of the penalty area, but that opportunity passed quickly because Max Hemmings shifted to the left at the same time as Aaron Walker arriving into his own box for additional defensive support. Seeing that Boyce was no longer a viable option, Viader made a couple of moves at Fricke, finishing off with a nice cut toward the goal line.
Fricke set his hips to try to usher Viader away from the goal line, but gave too much space to Viader, who worked against Fricke’s hips and left him scrambling to recover. There were too many white jerseys filling the goal area, so Viader’s best option was to take a shot on goal.
From just about six yards away from the goal, Viader’s shot glanced off the crossbar and out of bounds for a Greenville goal kick. Within the first six minutes of the match, Union Omaha had already generated two high-threatening chances on goal, while Greenville had barely even stepped into Union Omaha’s half. If Greenville was going to make any defensive adjustments, this was the time to do it. They didn’t and they were punished for it a minute later.
In the seventh minute, Greenville defender Abdi Mohamed picked up a loose ball after Greg Hurst couldn’t control it. Almost instantaneously, Union Omaha midfielder Conor Doyle was there to challenge Mohamed a force a turnover. Doyle’s next touch was a leading pass to Damià Viader on the outside.
In another matchup with Brandon Fricke, Viader was able to shake him off, only this time he relied on his explosive speed. Fricke tried a slide tackle in an effort to take away any ground passes into the penalty area. Unfortunately for Fricke, Viader was able to lift his lob over Fricke’s leg, get it the back post, and give Evan Conway an easy header to open the score line.
If you look closely at the video, before Viader gets his cross off, there were six Greenville players on Viader’s side of the penalty spot. Also, as you follow Greg Hurst making his run, you can actually see him watching Devin Boyce make his decision to run toward the front edge of the goal area. Seeing Boyce’s run and how defenders were shifting to pick him up, Hurst decided to run to the middle of the goal area, with a last-second angle toward the front goal post.
Even Hurst’s presence in the goal area alerts the defense and continues to shift them away from the back post, where Conway showed incredible discipline to stay where he was. Paul Christensen may have been able to turn and have a chance at diving toward the ball, but his own defender, Tyler Polak, was standing in his path, leaving him unable to make an aerial dive toward the back post. It wouldn’t have mattered: the buildup was too quick and Conway placed the header such that a save was out of the question.
Conceding goals had been a rare event for Greenville. Prior to the Championship, the last time a team had managed to score a goal on Greenville was all of the way back on September 25th – a road match against Forward Madison. I won’t give you the homework to figure out how many minutes that amounted for Greenville. The answer? 646 minutes. That means a perfect October and six straight clean sheets leading up to the Championship. Greenville deserves the credit for maintaining that level of defensive effort toward the end of the season and setting themselves up for success in the playoffs. That being said, this wasn’t the same Greenville Triumph that we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing on a weekly basis.
Inside of 15 minutes, Greenville’s players were still panicking on defense. When any of the players were able to get a foot on the ball, there was virtually no organization or buildup to their offense. The players were immediately sending the ball up the field in lame attempts to connect with Marios Lomis. Because Union Omaha was able to keep their defensive shape, they were able to outnumber Lomis everywhere he went. Lomis’s touches on the ball were minimal and Greenville’s greatest offensive threat was being eliminated from the match. This opened the door for more Union Omaha attacks.
In the 15th minute, Union Omaha was maintaining a good, constant effort of applying offensive pressure straight out of their own half. In the next video, midfielder Conor Doyle saw Devin Boyce in open space and recognized the attacking potential. As Doyle moved the ball to Boyce, watch as Greenville is able to get numbers back behind the ball. Their defenders are constantly turning their heads, tracking Union Omaha players, and communicating.
Despite Greenville getting their defense set up, Union Omaha was still able advance up the field because they utilized their passing triangles along the outside and paired that tactic with some good one-touch passing. After Sousa loses the ball, a Greenville defender executes another poor clearance from the goal line and the ball falls right to Union Omaha’s JP Scearce.
Rather than settling the ball, Scearce made the good decision to head the ball directly back into the offensive third and keep that offensive flame roaring. Scearce’s header fell to the feet of Hurst, who fed a lateral pass along the top of the penalty area for Evan Conway to take a shot. Conway would’ve loved to have that shot back, but this was another case of Union Omaha being proactive and Greenville being reactionary. The Triumph weren’t being given time to set up their defense, or to take a collective breath while the offense tried to generate something.
Greenville fans would have to wait until the 19th minute of play before seeing the first shot. Triumph’s attacking midfielder Noah Pilato took the shot from well outside of the Union Omaha penalty area and was blocked by defender Daltyn Knutson. Union Omaha goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu was able to pick up the rebound without any high pressure from the Triumph. It was Greenville’s first chance on offense, but by that time, Union Omaha had already taken five shots, two of which were on target, and tallied a goal. It was very apparent that the Greenville formation and tactics were not right if they wanted any hope of turning the tide. This article will provide a general rundown of the Championship footage, but discussion regarding the formation and tactics will come shortly after this article is posted.
The 22nd minute saw Greenville apply more pressure on offense, but similar to the first attempt, the shot wasn’t on target, either. A huge reason for Greenville lacking on the offensive side was their failure to include striker Marios Lomis. In the first 25 minutes of the match, Lomis had only touched the ball three times. Almost half of Greenville’s goals came from the feet of Lomis and to have him looking rather pedestrian early in the Championship did not bode well for the reigning champions.
If you go back and watch a lot of footage from Union Omaha matches, it’s easy to gain more and more of an appreciation for midfielder Conor Doyle and his very intelligent level of play. Here’s an example of that:
In the 30th minute, Conor Doyle (originally lined up as the left center midfielder) is sitting in the middle of the field, while his partner in the middle of the midfield, JP Scearce, is actually stacked above him. Greenville’s Noah Pilato floats back to mark up on Scearce and take away the passing option. When defender Jacob Crull looks to split Pilato and Marios Lomis, there’s too much space between the two Triumph players and they’re unable to intercept the pass. The ball finds its way to Conor Doyle’s feet and he dribbles the ball toward the center line. As he does so, Ferrety Sousa remains open on the sideline and is rewarded with the pass.
The key thing to watch here is how Doyle doesn’t give up on the play. In fact, he runs through traffic, allowing Sousa to give him an easy pass on the go, and Doyle can then push the ball inside to Devin Boyce before Allen Gavilanes can stab the ball away. In the blink of an eye, three Greenville players are now scrambling to get back on defense and the corner is wide open. A simple thru-ball from Boyce to Hurst extends the pressure and gives Doyle extra time to get himself into the corner. Once Hurst relays the ball to Doyle on the outside, Hurst cuts back into the box and brings the defender with him. Doyle tries to cross a ball to the center of the box, but Evan Conway was outnumbered by Greenville players and the ball was cleared. The Triumph were seen over-committing on too many occasions in the first half and Union Omaha was able to generate these kinds of attacks on a seemingly routine basis.
As the second half wore on, especially around the 29th minute, you could start to see confidence building in the Greenville players. They weren’t unleashing clearances left and right and they weren’t forcing everything up the right side of the field, which combined to allow them more time with the ball and confidence in building up their attacks.
In one of Union Omaha’s true defensive moments, you can see Greenville move up the left side of the field and genuinely start to build an attack. A good reason for this is left back Tyler Polak moving up the field. For the first half hour of play, Polak would sit back defiantly and avoid any notion of supporting the offense in transition. With Polak advancing into Union Omaha’s defensive third, Greenville could begin to move the ball and stretch the space. Unfortunately for Greenville, as a part of their tactics and formation, the ball was eventually played back toward the middle, where no one was playing at that time.
On the other side of the field, it was business as usual for Union Omaha. Evan Conway ran into a brick wall in the 42nd minute, but was able to turn himself around and hold up play while more teammates entered the Greenville half. One of those teammates was Conor Doyle, again gravitating toward the right sideline. Here’s another example of heads-up play from Doyle:
After receiving the pass from Conway, you can see Doyle lifting his head up and scanning the field. Once he plays the simple pass to Ferrety Sousa, he decides to sit back. Why? Because a little farther up the field is Devin Boyce, who was able to sneak behind two defenders and has space available near the corner flag. When Sousa decided to pass the ball back to Doyle, he already knew where he wanted to place the ball. He lobs the ball over the line of defenders, drops it right along the sideline, and Boyce is able to run it down with time to spare.
After taking a touch, Boyce sends a cross directly into the box to Evan Conway. It didn’t matter that Greenville had two players near Conway, he was still able to get a head on the ball. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the contact he wanted and sent the ball wide. This was another good build up, good threat on goal, and the Owls were able to remain unpredictable on offense.
Greenville’s defense was constantly bending to Union Omaha’s attacks, so it was only a matter of time before they would break. That moment would come in the 43rd minute. Greenville defender Tyler Polak received a return pass from midfielder Max Hemmings and looked to try a one-touch drop pass. When Polak swung his foot down to kick the ball, he catches a lot more of the turf than the ball and doesn’t generate enough force behind the ball the complete the pass.
Fortunately for Union Omaha, Greg Hurst was right there to pounce on the loose ball and generate a fast break. With Triumph players spread out as far as they were, Hurst was gifted plenty of room in the middle. Defenders were trying to shepherd Hurst toward the sideline, but Hurst was able to find Damià Viader, who cut the ball back toward the middle of the field. Viader was able to take on Abdi Mohamed and dribbled toward the penalty arc.
As he came across the box, Tyler Polak was positioned too far toward the middle of the field and Devin Boyce was left wide open on the right side. While Polak was struggling to close in on the ball, all Boyce had to do was a simple cutback, let Polak’s momentum carry him out of the play, and Boyce suddenly had space inside the penalty area again.
When Boyce took his shot, he wasn’t able to execute the shot he wanted, but Hurst was there to redeem him for the highlight reel. In what looked like a bad shot toward the goal, the ball ended up at the feet of Hurst, who stuck a foot out and redirected the ball into the back of the net. An ugly shot turned into an assist and Union Omaha managed to double their lead right before halftime.
The first-half stats tell the whole story:
Union Omaha had the lead, more shots, more shots on target, didn’t need to rely on possession, and still remained pretty consistent with their passing accuracy in either half of the field. Greenville, however, didn’t seem to pose a threat in the first half. Their long passes come from trying to move the ball out of their defensive third as quickly as possible, but once they were finally able to carry the ball across the center line, their offense sputtered. They didn’t have a quality link or transition from defense to offense and they crumbled as soon as they crossed into their opponents half of the field.
As the second half started, Greenville chose not to make any personnel changes and decided to keep their 4-2-3-1 formation. There were two other noticeable changes with Greenville: their players were spreading out even more when in possession and their outside backs looked very willing and determined to make their way up the field. The players were moving the ball with a lot more confidence and worked hard to open up the left side of the field. In the first half, most of Greenville’s offense was generated on the right side, but they were still able to produce some good possession on the left side just before half, as well.
The Championship match started to become a chippy affair, especially after Evan Conway’s foul against goalkeeper Paul Christensen in the 50th minute. This wasn’t mentioned earlier, but Conway did receive a yellow card in the first half. When Conway was able to split a pair of Greenville defenders, he continued dribbling toward the goal. Max Hemmings was able to wedge himself between Conway and the ball, allowing Christensen to come off his line and get his hands on the ball. Conway, attempting to challenge Christensen, stuck his foot out for the ball just after Christensen had already collecting the ball.
Yes, it was a nearly instantaneous exchange, but you have to remember: Conway is sitting on a yellow card. Union Omaha may be up 2-0 in the 50th minute, but is challenging that ball really worth the risk of getting a second yellow card, finishing the match in the locker room, and creating a nearly second half-long disadvantage for your teammates? I don’t think so. With as much as referees protect goalkeepers, and deservedly so, Conway should not have given the referee any opportunities to award him a second card. Ultimately, the referee made the difficult, yet right, decision to give Conway a stern warning and continue play.
Only two minutes later, Conor Doyle was approaching Aaron Walker to apologize for a challenge and Abdi Mohamed showed exception to Doyle’s challenge and exchanged pleasantries. This became a recurring theme as the match drew closer to the end: Greenville would feel the need to file their grievances with lengthy conversations, yet seemed to not care at all about the clock and their dwindling opportunities to even the score.
Yes, Greenville may have been operating on the basis of influencing the center referee into awarding cards and fouls in their favor, while also trusting the fourth official to maintain accurate notes for extra time at the end of regulation, but why let the result rest in the hands of people other than your teammates? Get the ball back in play, move it with a sense of purpose, and generate some offense. Long story, short: they didn’t.
Here’s a moment where Greenville continued to show more confidence with the ball and even maintained possession outside of Union Omaha’s penalty area. As you watch the following video, look at how condensed the midfield and defensive lines are kept. The Owls do a good job of shifting and adjusting their responsibilities. Case in point: Damià Viader was a winger, yet was playing in the middle. Conor Doyle, who was one of the central midfielders, shifted to the outside. As the throw-in happens, Doyle is set on the right side of the field, yet finished the play on the left side of the field. Even Evan Conway was able to apply some pressure.
Since Doyle started on the right side, Viader floated in, but as the ball continued to move from Greenville player to Greenville player, Scearce drifted up to apply pressure, then Viader did the same on the next player. This movement allowed Doyle time to scan the field, recognize where the players were set, where the ball was likely to go, and get himself into a good position to continue providing valuable defensive coverage.
While the play ended with Union Omaha conceding a foul, the Owls continued to commit small, nagging fouls which disrupted Greenville’s rhythm, possibly taking their focus off of the match as a whole, directing their focus toward the next physical encounter with the rival Union Omaha player, and managed to eat up the clock. Every time the ref blew the whistle, he had to justify himself to the players, take time to mark off ten yards, and spray the field in both locations. It simply ate up the clock. This is just another facet of the gamesmanship involved in soccer, especially toward the end of the match.
Union Omaha fans thought the Owls had tripled the lead in the 70th minute, but the referee disallowed the goal and restarted play correctly. Union Omaha earned a corner kick and Devin Boyce kicked an out-swinger, which was cleared away by Max Hemmings and Jesús Ibarra, but Damià Viader was able to lob the ball right back into the action, helped further along by a header from Daltyn Knutson. When Brandon Fricke fails horribly at clearing the ball, Hurst moves in to challenge Paul Christensen on the goal line.
Before Hurst leaves the ground, he doesn’t quite get his feet set in place to make his jump straight up and down. He’s perfectly in the right to challenge the keeper, but because he drifted to his right and into the keeper, it was an easy call for the center referee. It’s not uncommon for keepers to try to give themselves space during an aerial challenge and protect themselves by leading their jump with a knee in the air, but Christensen must have felt threatened enough by Hurst’s challenge to feel the need to jump with two legs, instead of one.
The yellow card that Evan Conway earned in the first half would finally come into play, but not until the 77th minute. After the stern warning doled out earlier in the second half, Conway continued to press the issue. The center referee finally had enough. When Max Hemmings was dribbling the ball into the Union Omaha half, Conway was hot on his trail and gave the slightest of pushes from behind, sending Hemmings to the ground.
Sure, it was a silly challenge to award a yellow card, but it wasn’t an isolated incident. The referee awarded the second yellow card for persistent infringement and Conway was given an early exit from the match. It was an unnecessary foul, especially with so many teammates already behind the ball. Conway could have easily continued to shepherd players to the outside and reduced his defensive stance, but that didn’t happen. [Editor’s note: but don’t you love the pressing/defensive energy he was bringing to the game?!]
Thankfully, the red card was awarded in the 77th minute, instead of the 50th. Earning a red card, even if it was late in the second half, still put his teammates in a difficult position. Fortunately for Union Omaha, Greenville was doing well with possessing the ball in the Union Omaha’s half, but couldn’t figure out a way to make Rashid Nuhu nervous.
After the Evan Conway red card, and a couple of Greenville substitutions, the Triumph started to show some quality up-tempo movement from the midfield and striker, but still not enough impetus from the defensive line. When Alex Morrell and Nico Brown were subbed into the match, they did a very good job of injecting energy into the offense. In fact, within two minutes of being subbed on in the 82nd minute, they almost combined for a goal. All in all, Greenville was still guilty of being too willing to drop the ball, possess, and slowly build up their attack. It really didn’t make too much sense, but maybe the Greenville players had already conceded victory, despite having a man-up advantage for over 20 minutes of play (with extra time included).
Another moment of controversy occurred late in the match, when Greenville was given a corner kick in the first minute of extra time. The service was perfectly placed at the top of the goal area and Andrew Booth was able to get his head on the ball and direct it at the goal. Rashid Nuhu was able to catch the ball and immediately went to ground. While he was on the ground, the ball seemed to be uncontrolled for a quick second and Greenville players and fans have every right to contest the no-call.
Since USL League One doesn’t employ Video Assistant Referee, the problem lies with where the referees are positioned at the time in question. The center referee looked to be outside of the penalty area, toward the left side of the middle of the field, and had no way of seeing the ball over the line, let alone rushing into the box in time to see the placement. Meanwhile, the assistant ref, placed on the opposite sideline of where the corner kick was taken, had the best chance at making the call. She was obstructed by the goal post, as well as Toby Otieno’s leg. If she couldn’t make the call with 100% confidence, she made the right call with not awarding a goal to Greenville.
Once the video replay showed a close-up of the situation, even from the angle of the cameras used for the broadcast, the ball looks to have moved across the goal line. The color commentator for the broadcast, Devon Kerr, used the perfect analogy for what Rashid Nuhu was doing as he was on the ground with the ball: framing the ball much like a catcher does in baseball. While Nuhu was on the ground, it looked like he was situating the ball such that by the time any referee could get a good look at the ball, it would be on top of the goal line at the very least. With regards to Toby Otieno’s leg, the fact that he had his leg on the outside of the goal line gave the assistant referee even less of an angle to see. With his leg along the outside of the goal line, that’s a few more inches obstructed from her vision and more room for error with Nuhu and the ball. Neither referee could say with absolute certainty that the ball crossed the line, so play had to be continued. The replay seemed to indicate otherwise, though. [Editor’s note: I’m not as sure the whole ball crossed the whole line. Maybe if they had better cameras…]
Just like the teams battling in extra time, the scoring wasn’t finished, either. After a throw-in from Emir Alihodžić sailed over three Greenville defenders, Toby Otieno suddenly found himself in a race toward the net with Tyler Polak. Evan Lee can be seen positioning himself at the top of the goal area, but Toby gets around a frankly terrible display of defending from Lee and buries the ball into the far-post netting. The second goal may have been the insurance policy, but the third goal was nothing less than the dagger in the heart. There may have been three minutes left in extra time, but all hope of a comeback was dashed with Otieno’s calm finish.
As if signifying the beginning of the happiest choir performance in Omaha, the final whistle was met with nothing but utmost joy and celebration. There was no reverie among the players and fans because the reactions were completely instinctive. It would take several seconds before pleasant memories would begin to form. This may have been Union Omaha’s second year in existence and second year of eligibility for the Championship, but the wait for professional soccer in this region has been much longer. Teams formed and those very same teams faded, only to become lore of Nebraska sports. Among the 5,221 people that made their way to Werner Park that evening, there was a sense of relief. Union Omaha is here to stay and with it, their greatness.
Congratulations to Union Omaha: the players, the coaching staff, the front office workers, the medical crew, the field crew, and everyone else who had a part in this momentous occasion. A warm thank you goes out to everyone, past and present, associated with the club. The devotion and commitment to success goes without saying, but the continued outreach and reverence toward the fans and surrounding community cannot be adequately described through words. Not even the voices of support, the tifo, the posters, the songs, and the thunderous applause can even remotely express our sincere gratitude for what you, Union Omaha, have given to your fans. Though the meaning of this championship translates differently from person to person, we can all agree when we say those two simple words: thank you.
¡Viva Búhos!
Who Gives A Hoot? 