Midwest rivals get ready for second of three matchups
For the second time this week, Union Omaha will only have several days to move on from a 3-3 draw that resulted from multiple lost leads. The good news is that there isn’t an added day of travel in-between as there was following their 3-3 draw in Chattanooga, but this weekend’s opponents in Forward Madison obviously don’t have a far distance to travel themselves. Madison have also had slightly longer than one week to recuperate from their last match, a 2-0 loss at home to Northern Colorado Hailstorm, their first blemish in the league this season.
Both teams and their supporters are pining for wins as they’ve combined to draw nine of their 15 matches, which can be consolidated down to eight draws in 14 matches to account for the 1-1 draw between these two teams back in March on the season opener at Caniglia Field. Neither side are strangers to draws, not only during this season, not just in general, but also historically against each other. There have been six draws between these two sides in their ten matches historically, and each has only managed to win twice. The last win in the series was a 1-0 UO victory at Werner Park last August, when a 10-man side was able to get the result with a Corey Hertzog goal. Madison’s last win was a 2-1 victory in Omaha back in October of 2021, the result of a replay from a match that was previously postponed due to weather. It was the last blemish Omaha logged before lifting the League One trophy the following month. Defense has dominated the rivalry, unsurprisingly, with a paltry 18 goals having been scored in the combined 10 matches.
Whether or not defense will be the name of the game on Saturday is definitely up in the air. While Madison have given up just four goals in their seven matches, they’ve also only scored seven goals of their own. In fact, Madison have been shut out in four of their first seven games. At barely 1.5 goals per game, Madison’s games have been the lowest scoring so far at this still-early point of the season. Meanwhile, a goal explosion since the end of April has led to a total of 17 goals scored in Omaha’s last 4 games, and over the course of the entire season only Greenville Triumph have seen more goals scored in their games so far. So while Madison’s 2023 season has been old hat so far, UO’s has been far from the norm.
The preview of the previous game missed the mark a good deal when assuming not only lineup rotation, but also the possibility of predetermined substitutes at the start of the second half. So I think it’s safe to say any prediction about Saturday’s lineup should be taken with a grain of salt. Eddie Gordon making the bench was the only unfamiliar look to the lineup we’ve seen recently (at the expense of Dion Acoff), and that’s with looking at both the bench and starting XI. The most unfamiliar look we’ve seen to date was JP Scearce looking like a right-back in the second half against Greenville, almost certainly a result of Joe Gallardo’s halftime sub-on of Marco Milanese, who had been booked earlier in the game. If there is anything that could be strongly suggested, it’s that JP Scearce starting Saturday’s game at right-back would be a pretty big shock.
| Union Omaha | Forward Madison | |
| Overall Record | 2-5-1 | 2-4-1 |
| Table Position | 8th | 9th |
| Recent Form | L-W-D-D-D | W-D-D-W-L |
| Last Match | D (3-3 v. GVL) | L (0-2 v. NCO) |
| Next Match | CLT (Away, June 3) | CVF (Home, June 3) |
| Leading Scorer | Noe Meza (5 goals) | Christian Chaney (2 goals) |
Who Gives A Hoot? 