For the second consecutive meeting at Werner Park, Union Omaha failed to find the back of the net against a resolute and well-organized Charlotte Independence team. Rashid Nuhu with his own stalwart back line also kept his third consecutive clean sheet (all competitions), but that seems little consolation in a game where the Owls dominated possession, shots, passing, and virtually every other category that normally marks a team winning a game comfortably.
Coach Dominic Casciato chose to go with the same starting XI that had started against El Paso earlier in the week, and once again Steevan Dos Santos, Blake Malone, and PC Giro were off the team sheet. Despite the absences, the lineup looked solid against a Charlotte team that has not been nearly as good on defense this year. As expected, the chances would come, but the goals would not.
Adding to the frustration was a referee crew that seemed ready to call the game very closely. Early calls would set the tone for the normally physical Búhos, specifically a 6th minute yellow card to Lagos Kunga for what apparently was called a tactical foul. As Bachir Ndiaye dribbled the ball past Kunga and midfield, the Omaha forward reached out to impede the player’s progress, despite having four defenders behind to help. Definitely a foul, but referee Atahan Yaya decided to set the tone early in an attempt to keep control of the game.
A similar foul, in almost the same spot and similar circumstances, just 10 minutes later would see Dion Acoff carded for another pullback on Ndiaye. This seemed to put Omaha on notice for the rest of the match. Though they would ultimately be out fouled 21-13, the early bookings definitely had an impact on the Owls’ play style through the middle.
But the referees had no play into some early chances for both sides. In the 14’, Charlotte had eyes on taking the lead as a good dribble in traffic from Tresor Mbuyu saw him get some room about 35-yards out from goal. The hopeful shot had plenty of pace on it and would have forced Nuhu into a desperate save, had the ball not flown just wide of the keeper’s right post. On the quickly taken goal kick following, Omaha won a second an third ball to get Aaron Gómez free on the left side. He managed to cut it back to Joe Gallardo who unleashed from just outside the box. The ball would curve just the wrong way and skitter past a diving Austin Pack, but also wide right of the post.
The first really dangerous chance of the match would happen for Charlotte against the run of play in the 11th minute. Attempting to play out of the back, Luca Mastrantonio drove his pass directly into a leaping Juan Carlos Obregon, Jr. The deflected pass would bounce up and help lead Obregon directly in on Nuhu. Mastrantonio was able to recover and push his man out wide, but some fancy footwork got the ball on his right foot and around the defender. Nuhu was up to the task, however, and averted the danger.
Soon, the injury bug would strike Charlotte and defender Fabrice Ngah. In the 16th minute, having just made a great defensive recovery and stretch to put an Aaron Gómez cross off it’s mark, Ngah would find himself limping slightly away from the play. As Acoff was getting his yellow card, Ngah managed to get to midfield, attempting to walk it off. However, it was obvious that his hamstring area was giving him problems. Ultimately, Ngah would be unable to continue, forcing Charlotte to bring on Anton Sorenson for the remainder of the match.
The rest of the first half would continue the theme of close, but not close enough. Several times the Owls would be able to get behind Charlotte’s defense, but always something seemed to throw off the works. If it wasn’t a heavy first touch, it’d be a hesitation that allowed a defender to recover, a well-blocked (or off target) shot, or a nice save from Pack. Kunga won a second ball in space in the 30th minute, but his volley flew just over the bar. 4 minutes later, Gallardo put a shot on target from outside the box, which Pack was able to recover after an initial bobble off his chest. Not 2 minutes later, Gallardo would be at it again, this time on a slightly deflected pass taken with his back to goal. His pop up ball to a bicycle kick would’ve been a second contender for Omaha’s goal of the year, if it hadn’t flown just over a rooted Pack’s net.
Bad luck wasn’t always the culprit for these missed opportunities. Often promising attacks would derail before the final ball, with runners not ready to make the appropriate run or not reading the pass that the distributors had in mind. Being a step slow when it was most needed would end up seeing Union Omaha on to halftime.
To start the second half, Coach Dom chose to bring on Adam Aoumaich in an attempt to spark the offense and take advantage of some of the youngster’s speed and skill in the area. Though a good idea, it didn’t provide the immediate kick that the Owls may have wanted, as it was more of the same following the break. For the first 15 minutes of the half, threatening attacks went awry right as the danger started to overwhelm the Charlotte defense, either by inaccurate passing or shots just not being struck as well as needed. This time, however, the Charlotte attack had found a way to begin an effective counter, often cut out at the last minute by the center backs, or by the Jacks running into their own passing issues.
In the 60th minute, however, the attacking pressure would build up to the best chance of the day for Omaha. Adam Aoumaich was able to find some space and curled what would’ve been a brilliant attempt had it not been for Rayan Djedje’s leaping header out for a corner. Joe Gallardo would send that corner precisely to Mastrantonio, whose headed flick found a charging Pedro Dolabella at the back post. Dolabella’s shot was heading in until a scrambling Austin Pack proved why he’s one of the best keepers in the league. The Charlotte number 1 deflected the shot onto the post and out where his defense cleaned up the loose ball and ended the threat.
Shortly thereafter, another Omaha corner kick from Gallardo would be headed down by Dolabella into the path of Mechack Jérôme who likely had Pack beaten at the far post. Yet another timely intervention, this time by Hugh Roberts, saw the shot go wide for another corner kick. There wouldn’t be another threat, however, as this Gallardo delivery would be headed well into the Parliament’s Berm.
Continuing the pressure, Aoumaich would make his speed and skill known to Charlotte just 3 minutes later. Dribbling his way down the left side, Aoumaich placed a soft pass to Dolabella waiting just outside the box. A cheeky back heel to substitute Brandon Knapp enabled Aoumaich to continue his run and receive Knapp’s well timed pass with only Pack to beat. The play went a little close to the keeper, however, and Aoumaich’s shot found nothing but Pack’s body and deflected out.
Charlotte wasn’t done threatening by any stretch though. In the 69th minute, having withstood the Omaha attack for most of the second half, Charlotte was able to produce a corner with some good attacking of their own. Luis Alvarez crossed in low and somehow missed all the defenders in it. A quick touch by Nick Spielman found Obregon who fired at Nuhu point blank forcing the Captain into a nice reflex save that rebounded to Clay Dimick. He would fortunately get under his shot on the half volley and push it over the crossbar.
The game would pick up pace a bit at this point—frantic and chaotic with a fight for the midfield interspersed with some dangerous living by both teams. Charlotte would start to edge a little bit onto the front foot until the 82nd minute, when the Owls would find their last best attempt at goal.
In transition, Jérôme would put a guided lob into the middle of the box from just inside midfield. A leaping Brandon Knapp met the ball in perfect position to put it in on net. Once again, however, Pack would rise to the challenge and make a diving recovery to the groans and lamentations of the onlooking supporters.
Playing the ball out quickly, Charlotte found their last best attack of the match as a drive up the left side and a pass found Kharlton Belmar at the top of the box. Belmar quickly found Joel Johnson, completely unmarked and played on by an oddly deep Mastrantonio, at the penalty spot. Johnson turned and let go a powerful shot, but it was straight at Nuhu who made no mistake in the save.
The teams would trade a couple more chances, but the final 10 minutes of the match were really a lot of long balls and hopeful passes by Charlotte while Omaha reverted back to their possession based attack that just couldn’t find the way through in the end. By the final whistle, the teams were only a point better than they’d started, with Charlotte surely feeling the better of two.
The Positive:
This wouldn’t be as long a recap of a 0-0 draw if there weren’t some positives to take away. The first positive is that of the Owl back line and keeper play. Mastrantonio, Milanese, and Jérôme did an exceptional job of shutting down most of the Charlotte attack. Dion Acoff was able to use his speed to get back when needed, and Nuhu seems to have returned to his 2021-22 form when he won back-to-back Golden Glove and Goalkeeper of the Year awards. In fact, this team is starting to remind me a lot of that 2021 team that could go through some dry spells, but still put together some defensive gems to make up for any power outages along the way.
The youngsters look really good, especially Adam Aoumaich. Between his minutes playing El Paso in the US Open Cup, and against Charlotte, Adam is showing that he has the potential to be a scary force up front in this league. He’s able to retain possession well, beat defenders off the dribble, and speed onto passes that others might not be able to reach. His downside, currently, is hitting the target. In his 105 minutes between those two games, he’s had 6 shots but only 2 on target (although he did bury his penalty against El Paso). That shows he’s getting in good positions, but just needs to test the keepers a little more to really round out his abilities.
The Negative:
The Owls have now gone 230’ in all competitions without a goal, and almost longer if not for Steevan Dos Santos’ banger in the 70’ against One Knox. 218 of those minutes have been without Dos Santos on the pitch, and it’s starting to show. His presence up top is missed not just for scoring goals, but being experienced and physical enough to open the doors for his teammates, or to be in the right place to put back their attempts. In complete contrast to how he started last year, Dos Santos looked in top form from the start this year. He was moving more quickly, winning more headers, and looking like the USL veteran that showed up to lead the late season charge to the Players’ Shield last year. There’s a massive hole left with him out.
However, his presence is not the only reason the offense has struggled to score. All measures say they’re doing great. They dominated possession (65%-35%). They almost doubled up Charlotte’s totals of shots inside the box (11-6), touches inside the box (21-12) and passes (476-252). They had 17 shots to Charlotte’s 8, but still only managed a 1.04 xG.
Part of that is because of the 17 shots, only 6 were on target. And yet, that’s an improvement within the league as their first two matches saw a total of 22 shots with 3 on target, and those were with Dos Santos on the pitch. Whether it’s shot selection, solid opposition defending, or technique, the Owls are going to have to test the keepers in this league more (for comparison, they attempted 38 shots against their USL 2 USOC competition, with 22 on target for 7 goals. Against USL C’s El Paso, 32 shots with only 6 on target).
Overall, this draw is frustrating because Omaha looks like they can do better. However, the season is young, the Owls are still undefeated, and have some room to train before the season picks up again on May 4.
Interesting Facts:
- Not only have the Owls gone 230’ in all competitions without a goal, but they’ve gone 210’ without scoring against Charlotte. The last goal was Steevan Dos Santos’ 90+5’ minute strike to complete his hat trick in a 4-1 destruction of Charlotte on October 4 last year.
- This is the 4th draw between Union Omaha and Charlotte (including the playoffs), and the 4th time the match has ended 0-0. This is the most 0-0 results with any opponent since Charlotte joined the league in 2022. Only Forward Madison (6) and Greenville Triumph (5) have drawn more matches against Union Omaha than Charlotte all-time.
- Lagos Kunga’s 6’ yellow card was the earliest yellow card given to Union Omaha since Conor Doyle took one in the 1’ in a 2-1 win at Greenville Triumph on August 26, 2023
Next Up:
Union Omaha stays home to get some rest before a May 1 date with Northern Colorado Hailstorm in their inaugural match of the Jäegermeister Cup, followed by a home match with South Georgia Tormenta on May 4, and the small matter of a US Open Cup match at Caniglia Field against Sporting Kansas City on May 8.
Key Events:
6’ – OMA Lagos Kunga – YC (Foul)
16’ – OMA Dion Acoff – YC (Foul)
18’ – CLT Sub – Anton Sorenson IN; Fabrice Ngah OUT (injury)
42’ – CLT Anton Sorenson – YC (Foul)
45’ – OMA Sub – Adam Aoumaich IN; Ryen Jiba OUT
66’ – OMA Sub – Brandon Knapp IN; Lagos Kunga OUT
66’ – CLT Subs – Noah Pilato, Kharlton Belmar IN; Rayan Djedje, Tresor Mbuyu OUT
78’ – OMA Sub – Missael Rodriguez IN; Pedro Dolabella OUT
82’ – CLT Sub – Omar Ciss IN; Luis Alvarez OUT
82’ – CLT Luis Alvarez – YC (Time Wasting)
Who Gives A Hoot? 