Union Omaha Begins a New Era
Union Omaha’s 2023 season begins on Sunday, and opposing side Forward Madison are one of the few elements that fans will be familiar with while taking in this opening match (though Madison will look very different from last season, but more on that later). There are so many things that are different since Omaha’s last regular season game, that we have enough to include the bullet points below:
- Jay Mims is out as manager, replaced by Dominic Casciato
- The match will be played at UNO’s Caniglia Field (not a permanent change, but a regular season first)
- Possibly more than half of our starting XI will be new faces, including potentially the entire backline
With all of the above changes, previewing a match with so many unknowns can be rather difficult. Let’s look at what we can assume from some of the bigger changes and see what we can figure out. First and foremost, new coach Dominic Casciato. Casciato’s background from El Paso Locomotive, where he was assigned as an attacking specialist, suggests he’d introduce a more up-tempo style of play. I don’t think we can necessarily assume that’s going to be true, but I think it’s likely we can assume our attacking style will be quite different. Likely gone are the days of outside backs like Damià Viader, Ryen Jiba and Ferrety Sousa flexing up in the counterattack to contribute with crosses. Instead, we’re likely to see a team that values possession, moves the ball from station to station, and focuses on the attack from the center of the field while allowing outside players to be more creative off the ball.
So, which players did we add to contribute to this style? Start at the top with Steevan Dos Santos, a forward brought in from Tampa Bay Rowdies. He’s unlike any forward that’s ever played for Union Omaha, a taller player that is more accustomed to playing as a center forward, either as a lone-attacker or part of a formation with 3 forwards. This type of player wouldn’t be accustomed to playing in the 4-4-2 formation that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from Jay Mims’ coached teams. Noe Meza is the only player returning to the squad this year that played regular minutes as a forward, and he’s surely not going to be seeing much of the bench this season. So what kind of formation do we see and how does he fit into it?
Let’s go all the way back to the backline, where there are a lot more unknowns when it comes to personnel. Omaha are replacing their five most frequently used defenders from last season, but they’re mostly being replaced by known commodities; Stefan Mueller from RGV Toros, formerly of South Georgia Tormenta, Luca Mastrantonio from FC Tucson, Alexis Souahy from New Mexico United and Junior Palacios of Miami FC. Did I just name the starting four in the back? That depends on whether or not we’re playing four at the back, but for the sake of this exercise let’s assume that we are, because it also assumes Palacios being slotted at RB, while also capable of playing as a CDM. Palacios at CDM would open up the RB position for Omaha’s lone returning defender, Shaft Brewer Jr., who excited many at the end of last season when he started seeing more of the pitch.
So if Palacios plays as a CDM in a formation with four in the back, it’s very possible it would be part of a five-player midfield. Maybe something like a 4-2-3-1 where he plays besides Conor Doyle, with Joe Brito, JP Scearce and Meza in front of him from left to right, with Dos Santos alone up top. If you take the roster page on the Union Omaha website as canon, this would mean Meza and Palacios would both be playing out of position, but this is a formation I believe their playing styles would fit in nicely. It would look something like this:
As for Forward Madison, it’s year two for manager Matt Glaeser but it might as well be year one as a significant amount of roster turnover has led to only four players from last year’s squad returning. The new players are a hodgepodge of players with varying levels of experience, and whose most recent teams spans four continents. Leading scorer Jeremiah Streng is gone, having returned to Finland after the end of his loan spell. So has exciting midfielder Matheus Cassini, who ended up with South Georgia Tormenta. However, Forward Madison did bring in Christian Chaney, Fuego FC’s leading scorer last year that ended his season scoring in five of his last seven games. He’ll possibly pair with returning Nazeem Bartman, but as he was used as both a forward and attacking-midfielder whether or not they’ll play beside each other remains to be seen.
Their defense will be much more recognizable amongst USL League One circles. Stephen Payne joins from Richmond Kickers, Timmy Mehl comes in following two separate loan stints with Chattanooga Red Wolves, and of course former Union Omaha defender Jacob Crull signed with Madison after his lone season with FC Tucson. However with New Zealand international Sam Brotherton also joining the ranks, and USL veteran Mitch Osmond starting his second season in Madison, it’s very possible that not all three of these before mentioned newcomers will see the pitch Sunday, at least as starters.
Opening matches don’t only bring with them the unpredictable, as I mentioned above, but also of course bring with them hope and excitement. That should not only give both teams additional motivation, but both sets of fans as well. Look for this game to be an emotional one, as both sides start their journey towards lifting the USL League One trophy next fall.
Who Gives A Hoot? 