Disclaimer: This article was written before the announcement of Brandon Knapp
What’s every fan’s favorite thing to do during the preseason, no matter who their loyalties lie with? Well, besides going through the schedule and reaching the obvious conclusion that your favorite team will win the league and not understanding why fans of other teams can’t come to the same rational conclusion, it’s trying to predict which 11 players will be the ones that see the most playing time on their team’s path to inevitable glory. In a league with as much turnover as USL League One sees on an annual basis, making accurate predictions either means that fan is omniscient or has placed a listening device in the conference room. Either way, these fans aren’t to be trusted. I’m now asking you to ignore what you just read, and go on this journey with me!
First, we should recap last season’s typical lineup so that we can see who needs to be replaced and where. As most Union Omaha fans are aware, we didn’t really get the chance to put out a typical lineup. The first portion of the season saw manager Dominic Casciato trying different looks as he continued learning more about his roster. Once the team found its stride, injuries prevented them from putting out a consistent lineup. Pedro Dolabella, Marco Milanese, Luca Mastrantonio, Noe Meza and Conor Doyle all missed time at different stretches. Unlike with Meza and Doyle, who had already cemented their statuses as regular starters, Dolabella and Milanese suffered injuries as they had been submitting their cases. Make no mistake that other players made considerable contributions in their place, such as Joe Gallardo and Lagos Kunga. But for the sake of this process, let’s assume this was Union Omaha’s regular XI in 2023:
- Goalkeeper: Rashid Nuhu
- Defenders: Shaft Brewer Jr., Marco Milanese, Alexis Souahy, Dion Acoff
- Midfielders: JP Scearce, Conor Doyle, Joe Brito, Luis Gil
- Forwards: Noe Meza and Steevan Dos Santos
There are probably some names you expected to see on this list, but obviously only 11 players can start. Luca Mastrantonio is one example, he had some injury issues in 2023. This did create opportunities for both Milanese and Acoff to flex into new positions. Milanese became a dependable CB, while Acoff made the All-League Second Team as an RB. In the list above, seven players are no longer with the club, most notably the entire midfield.
If you begin building a new starting XI, it’s probably best to organize players in three specific groups: holdovers from last season that played a significant amount of the time, holdovers from last season that you can argue should see a significant increase in playing time, and new players. Let’s start with the first group:
- Lucca Mastrantonio: started half of the league matches last season, a true center back
- Pedro Dolabella: flexed into a more defensive role at the end of last season after Conor Doyle’s injury
- Joe Gallardo: Played in all but four regular season matches, equaled both Brito and Dolabella in goals scored
The next group are holdovers that you can make a reasonable argument should receive significantly more playing time:
- Anderson Holt: Signed professionally last summer after beginning on an academy contract. Faced strong depth ahead of him with other defenders, impressed in his limited playing time
- Lagos Kunga: Late season addition from Des Moines Menace, was already a primary substitute by the end of the season in the midfield
And finally, the group of new players that have been announced. In order of announcement:
- Adam Aoumaich: First year professional from Marshall University, appears to be able to play both forward and on the wings
- Blake Malone: Loaned to UO from Orange County SC in 2021, returns after a successful stint with Colorado Rapids 2
- Nortei Nortey: Primarily a defensive midfielder, was a part-time captain for Northern Colorado Hailstorm last season during an incredibly successful 2023 campaign
- Aarón Gómez: Signed from Casciato’s old stomping grounds in El Paso, started 24 matches last seasons mostly as a forward and attacking midfielder
- Mechack Jérôme: Also played for Casciato in El Paso, started about half of Indy Eleven’s matches last season at CB. The 33 year-old has 80 international caps representing Haiti, most recently playing against Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League last October
- Victor Pagliari Giro: Known as PC, a midfielder that was essential to San Antonio FC’s championship in 2022. Had 15 goals+assists from 74 matches in his four seasons with the club primarily as a center midfielder
So listed above are eleven players with seven starting spots presumably available. Let’s work our way from the middle out, since the entire midfield above needs to be replaced. Here is the potential player pool, in alphabetical order:
- Adam Aoumaich
- Pedro Dolabella
- Joe Gallardo
- Aarón Gómez
- Lagos Kunga
- Nortei Nortey
- PC
In my opinion, Dolabella and Nortey have the strongest chances of being regular starters. Dolabella was basically a starter if not for injuries in 2023, Nortey is an important piece replacing Scearce’s and Doyle’s combined seven years of service to UO, primarily along the spine in defense. I think Kunga has the highest upside of the other remaining players, while his movement off the ball helps create space for others. If you think Casciato will start the season with the same 4-2-3-1 formation that UO eased into at the end of last season, I believe this leaves a natural spot for Nortey to share the defensive midfield with PC. This also leaves a fifth spot for a midfielder, which I believe is up between Gallardo and Gómez. I don’t think you can go wrong with either, both have the ability to also flex up and play some forward. My gut tells me this spot belongs to Gallardo right now.
In defense, it’s hard to rationalize taking Acoff’s spot away just months after being named second team All-League. I also can’t see Jérôme being brought in as simply CB depth, his median FotMob rating of 6.8 in the Championship last season suggests he should be able to make a seamless transition to League One. Holt logged only 87 minutes last season, so seeing the 19 year-old penciled in as a starter to begin the season seems far-fetched. This leaves Milanese as the only LB remaining, and as starter #3. So the final CB starting position is between Malone and Mastrantonio. I liked what I saw when Mastrantonio and Milanese were able to play next to each other last season, and imagine that gives Mastrantonio the edge for now.
Since all of the above leaves room for only one forward, it’s hard to imagine anybody other than Steevan Dos Santos in that spot. Gómez and Aoumaich on the bench, along with PC and Dolabella’s ability to adapt positionally gives Casciato plenty of flexibility to change formations as needed. I shudder doing this, putting my prognostications on the record in graphic form, but here we go:
So there you have it: I’ve just guaranteed that on Saturday, March 16 in Fresno, California, Union Omaha will start in either a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 formation. I barely have a vague understanding of the game, so why not have some fun with it!
Who Gives A Hoot? 