Union Omaha looks to bounce back from Open Cup loss with result against undefeated Hailstorm
St. Louis City SC did not take Union Omaha lightly in their Third Round U.S. Open Cup matchup. Only starting goalkeeper Benjamin Lundt had not already made an MLS appearance for the club this season, and five of their ten outfield players had made at least one MLS start already this season. The end result was a 5-1 St. Louis City win, with Rashid Nuhu’s eight saves keeping Omaha in the match for longer than the scoreline suggests. Experience from a match like this can still be beneficial, and Omaha looks to parlay that into a positive result against Northern Colorado Hailstorm on Saturday at Werner Park. This will be the first match at Omaha’s familiar home ground this season, after playing their first two home matches in the league and their Second Round Open Cup match at UNO’s Caniglia Field and Creighton University’s Morrison Stadium, respectively.
Northern Colorado are also coming off of their own game in the Open Cup against an MLS side, falling 3-1 away to Colorado Rapids. It was the first loss of the year for Northern Colorado, who like Union Omaha are also starting the season with a lighter schedule. Hailstorm have started the league with a win and two draws through only three matches, as they start their season with a sparse schedule on the road as they wait for the availability of their permanent ground at Future Legends Complex. At the moment, Hailstorm are scheduled to play their first game there May 27.
With six official games to look at so far in 2023 it doesn’t seem obvious that manager Dominic Casciato has a week-in, week-out starting XI, but he’s obviously got preferred players that he’s still looking more closely at if he’s still trying to find an every week lineup. In the back there seems to be five players in his favor; Stefan Mueller (whose omission from last week’s roster might be due to injury), Alexis Souahy, Junior Palacios, Shaft Brewer Jr. and Marco Milanese. The combination of experience and flexibility of these players leaves plenty of room for discussion about their usage, enough to probably fill in the time of a tailgate session no matter the length. And in my opinion, if Mueller is healthy we may see a setup where Brewer is the odd man out on Saturday, with Milanese’s inclusion sliding Palacios to the right.
The midfield probably offers the opportunity for more discussion; six midfielders seem to be garnering the lion’s share of time. While the roles of Conor Doyle, JP Scearce, Luis Gil and Pedro Dolabella have been apparent and obvious (the first three being starters, Dolabella being one of the first subs off the bench) Joe Brito and Joe Gallardo’s roles are still being fleshed out. Brito has started multiple games and seems to be given different roles; Gallardo has started every game, but from multiple positions has seemed to always veered up top. With Noe Meza and Steevan Dos Santos seemingly cementing themselves as a starting pair up top, once Omaha’s calendar eases into a routine there might be less opportunities to be flexible with those six midfielders.
As for Northern Colorado, there isn’t much to take out of their five games so far. In league play they’ve yet to concede a goal, though two of their matches were scoreless entirely. They’ve also been without Irvin Parra since their season opening draw at Chattanooga Redwolves, who appears to be injured as he has not been on the 18-player roster since then. In the league they’ve given different looks since then, abandoning their initial 4-4-2 in their next game at South Georgia Tormenta, then falling back to it in the following league game at Richmond Kickers. They appear to prefer playing without the ball, as their least impressive match in the league was the draw against Richmond where they had the ball the longest.
Pregame Facts
| Union Omaha | Northern Colorado | |
| Overall Record | 1-2-1 (5 points) | 1-2-0 (5 points) |
| Table Position | 7th | 6th |
| Recent Form | W-W-L-D-L | D-W-W-D-L |
| Last Match | L (5-1 @ STLC) | L (3-1 @ COL) |
| Next Match | RIC (Away, 5/5) | KNOX (Away, 5/13) |
| Leading Scorer | 4 players (1 goal) | 3 players (1 goal) |
Who Gives A Hoot? 