Joe Gallardo notched a goal and an assist, as did Pedro Dolabella, and Nortei Nortey opened his Omaha account as the Owls overcame a bit of chaos and a late surge to defeat Tormenta FC on Saturday night. Missael Rodriguez also got in on the scoresheet for the second consecutive match to continue his good form for the year. Goals toward the end of each half, including a corner so well taken it scrambled the television feed and a Pedro Fonseca penalty, provided some drama in what was bit of a nervy match considering the final scoreline.
Coach Casciato rolled out a more normal starting XI this time out, giving Blake Malone and Steevan Dos Santos their first starts since returning from injury. Rashid Nuhu made his return, Dolabella was back in midfield and, Mechack Jèrome slotted in the back for Luca Mastrantonio with Dion Acoff instead of Ryen Jiba. The biggest difference this time, however, was the apparent use of Blake Malone as the main center back with Milanese playing out to the left with Gallardo. This pairing would make for some excellent attacks on the left side, but would also leave some vulnerability as Malone and Jèrome learned to pair with each other in front of Nuhu.
For Tormenta, Ian Cameron got some relief on the injury front. Nicholas Akoto returned to provide some much needed help to the midfield. Of course, the departed Conor Doyle made his way back wearing the armband for the Ibises in a much anticipated return. Despite their inconsistent form this year, a dangerous duo of Niall Watson and Sebastian Vivas started up front with former New Mexico United keeper Ford Parker as the last line of defense.
The Tormenta attack flipped the script some on Omaha, who are used to starting the game quickly in possession. Much of the first 5 minutes found the Ibises in the ascendancy, pressing the attack while giving the Owls no real options to go forward without running into a defender. In the 3’, a quick attack spurred on by a turnover at midfield provided Pedro Fonseca an opportunity to split Malone and Jèrome. The defenders did well to get back, but left an open shot from the top of the box. Fonseca couldn’t get enough over the ball and skied it over Nuhu’s goal. Off target, but Tormenta put down early that they wouldn’t be intimidated by the Owls.
Two minutes later, the Búhos’ backpass issues almost caused an attack as Jèrome misplayed a touch on a pass by Nuhu that he barely won back between three Ibis attackers. There was some good fortune in this, though as it allowed the ball to play up through midfield to Lagos Kunga. Kunga dribbled his way into the final third with the Tormenta defenders backpedaling into the box. This gave him an open look, but the shot was scuffed and easily saved by Parker.
Tormenta will think that they should have had a penalty shortly thereafter as a good spell of possession saw Callum Stretch receive the ball on the right side and place a beautiful curling ball toward the middle of the area. The pass found Pedro Fonseca on the left side for a completely unmarked header that flew over the bar. However, it was Jèrome’s challenge on Sebastian Vivas that easily could’ve set Tormenta up for an early lead. The center back tried to stop himself as he was trailing Vivas, but couldn’t and managed to bowl him over in the center of the box. The Owls caught a break, though, as the referee waved off all appeals for a penalty.
Had that been called, the match might have been on its way to a very different result. Instead, it was Omaha who took advantage in the 9’. Working the ball up the left side, Aáron Gomez got the ball in space and slid a pass to Dos Santos at the top of the Tormenta box. Holding the play up, Steevan passed the ball back to Pedro Dolabella who drew two defenders toward him and opened space for a pass to Nortei Nortey about 35-yards out from goal. Out of nowhere, Nortey decided to have a go and fired a shot towards Parker. The ball bounced just outside the six-yard box and took a hop that seemed to cross up the diving keeper who got a glove on it, but couldn’t keep it out of the net. Nortei’s first for Omaha, coming somewhat against the run of play, set the tone for how the rest of the match would play out.
If going down 1-0 following a disputed penalty no-call had any effect on Tormenta, giving up a second three minutes later could have been disastrous. A set of two corners in quick succession set up Marco Milanese from the right side to deliver an in-swinging ball that was punched up and away by Parker. The ball fell to Lagos Kunga who rifled a shot on the volley that streaked past everyone to rattle the crossbar. That deflection fell to Joe Gallardo who put a grounder toward the net that found the feet of Pedro Dolabella. The Brazilian Midfielder made sure that the ball would end up over the line, deflecting up and over Parker from about 7-yards out to double the advantage.
Play would continue to go back and forth for the remainder of the half as the Owls started growing more into the game with the confidence that a 2-goal lead can give. They continued to work the wings, mostly on the right side, and shut down the majority of any balls that came back at them through midfield. Though there were no real dominant stretches of possession, both teams had plenty of opportunities to get forward but were unable to break down the defense.
At least that was the case until just before halftime when Tormenta would pull one back. Aàron Gòmez got caught in possession just shy of midfield by three Ibis defenders. In his attempt to get the ball back to one of his defenders, Gòmez went down and ended up giving up a throw-in. Callum Stretch tried to take advantage with a quick throw to Vivas on the right side, but Milanese’s quick feet put the ball out for a corner instead. While that corner wouldn’t come to anything, a second corner awarded for Gòmez’ clearance set up Conor Doyle to hurt the team he once led. A good delivery from the Ibis captain found it’s way to Sebastian Vivas who slotted home past Nuhu and a stunned Owl defense to make it 2-1 heading into the half.
That would not be the last pain for Omaha before the end of the half, though. Having just come back from injury, and making his presence felt on the game, Steevan Dos Santos took an awkward fall while delivering a perfect switch pass to Dion Acoff on the right side. As beautiful as the pass was the result was just as ugly. Steevan would be down for several minutes on the field with trainers eventually having to help him off the field. A frustrating end to what had been a hopeful return saw him replaced by Zeiko Lewis just on the stroke of halftime.
The chaotic contest would continue in the second half with more of the same. Both teams started to get more physical as the teams traded yellow cards for tactical fouls and hard challenges, but there were still no breakthroughs. The game became a struggle in the midfield and turned into a little bit of attack-counter-counter play with both teams looking to secure a spell or two of sustained possession. Both sides had really good chances but couldn’t take advantage—as marked by a 65’ minute free header for Dolabella that missed the target.
The 70’ minute would finally see the goal that should’ve settled Omaha down and put an end to the match. Playing out of the back, Nuhu put a short pass out to Dion Acoff near the right touch line. Acoff would find Gómez near the center of the park and sprint down the right side to receive the ball back from midfield and open up the defense. Past his defender, Acoff fired a cross that exposed Parker’s indecisiveness in attempting to play the ball. Joe Gallardo, coming up the left side, managed to get enough of a boot on it to slowly roll a shot toward net. Despite the lack of power on the shot, Parker had put himself in a position where he could only watch as the ball trickled past him into the far corner to restore the Owls’ 2-goal lead.
While this should have put the game out of reach, it only emboldened the visitors to attempt to fight back to get something out of the match. The pressure increased, but for the most part the Búho backline stayed disciplined and compact in front of Nuhu. Several good chances failed to return anything for the Ibises, including a scary goalmouth scramble that was just cleared away in time to preserve the lead.
But as hard as Tormenta fought back, Omaha had one more in their pocket courtesy of Missael Rodriguez. Marco Milanese started the attack on the left with some pretty footwork that slipped his marker and allowed him to push the ball up. A quick pass to Joe Gallardo set up a through ball that fed precisely into a well-timed run by Rodriguez. With what was his first few touches of the match, the in-form forward out paced his defender, cut just inside to the edge of the box, and curled a shot to the top of the net to make it 4-1 and seal off the game.
The drama wasn’t completely over, however, as Tormenta continued to press the attack and try to get in behind the Owl defense. This finally succeeded, in what Coach Casciato would term a “moment of chaos” for young defender Blake Malone. A turnover in play at midfield fell to Jackson Khoury whose pace started a transition before most of the Owl defenders knew what had happened. Khoury found teammate Gabriel Rodriguez slashing into the box just ahead of Malone. Working to get to he ball up the left side, the Ibis forward held himself up long enough to induce Malone to clatter into him with a challenge that was almost, but not quite, shoulder to shoulder. As Rodriguez went down, the referee pointed to the spot instantly giving Tormenta hope of at least a consolation goal.
That hope was realized as Pedro Fonseca stepped up to the spot to take the kick. With the smoke still in the air from Missael’s goal, the penalty specialist drilled a shot to Nuhu’s right as the keeper dove incorrectly left.
The remainder of the match continued to be frantic, but when the final whistle finally blew, the Owls continued their unbeaten run to go three points shy of table leaders Greenville Triumph with three games in hand.
The Positives
Goals. In buckets. From four different goal scorers. Although you can argue that two of those goals came off of Ford Parker’s misreading of the play, the fact is the Owls finally poured it on in league play. After going 270+ minutes without scoring (all competitions), they’ve scored 6 now in the last 136’. Getting the ball in dangerous positions is finally paying off, specifically with Dion’s cross to Gallardo and Missael’s run and score showing what can happen when we just put the ball on net.
That said, we still only put 6 on net from a total of 18 shots (10 inside the box) with an xG of 1.79. But sometimes all it takes is a goal or four to put a team in the right mindset.
I’ll also call out the defense here, but not just the backline who had a bit of an off night (for them) conceding from a set piece and a penalty. The defense being played in midfield right now has been crucial to the teams’ success. Three of the top four in tackles were midfielders (Gallardo, Dolabella, Nortey). The same for recoveries (Dolabella, Gallardo, and Kunga). Long balls and aerial duels more often than not end in the Owls’ favor and teams are finding it hard to play through the middle, which gives our primary back three time to adjust to longer attempts to play in opposing forwards. It’s all been a recipe for success that, despite the scoreline tonight, has led to fewer great chances against the team.
The Negatives
If anyone can find negatives from a 4-2 victory, that would be me. And that negative is chaos. There were times that the match seemed to be pure chaos where the team wasn’t able to put their normal level of possession and control to kill off spells of danger from Tormenta. Talking to some of the media staff we noted that Tormenta didn’t play badly for long stretches of the game. They actually beat us in every major offensive category except for passing accuracy, and notably had more touches in the box than we did—a rarity for this team. While the defense was generally able to scramble together to prevent shots (or at least shots on target), it was at times a scramble.
Dom even mentioned as much in his post game comments. Speaking afterwards he told me that he “would have liked to control the chaos of the game a bit more than we did.” He also credited the penalty given away at the end to a quality Tormenta side that threw men forward, but that it was one of “the moments of chaos that we need to do a better job of controlling,” that illustrates what he was talking about.
These kinds of moments can be expected of teams in this league, especially as players transition in and have to gain new chemistry every year. And in fairness, the Owls did pick up three crucial early points. However, this will spell disaster later in the year if this becomes less of a one-off and if teams can figure out how to exploit it when it does happen.
Interesting Facts:
- Union Omaha has never lost to Tormenta FC (8-0-3). But in addition, this is the fifth time (and third consecutive) that Omaha has scored 3+ goals in the match.
- Nortei Nortey’s improbable goal had an xG of just 0.01.
- All seven Owl league goals have come from different scorers this year.
Key Events:
Union Omaha Goal: 9’ – Nortei Nortey (A: Pedro Dolabella)
Union Omaha Goal: 10’ – Pedro Dolabella (A: Joe Gallardo)
Tormenta FC Yellow Card: 28’ – A. Lombardi (Hard Foul)
Tormenta FC Goal: 45’+1’ – Sebastian Vivas (A: Conor Doyle)
Union Omaha Sub: 45’+6’ – Zeiko Lewis ON; Steevan Dos Santos OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 54’ – Lagos Kunga (Tactical Foul)
Tormenta FC Yellow Card: 58’ – Niall Watson (Hard Challenge)
Tormenta FC Sub: 64’ – Philip Spengler ON; Niall Watson OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 68’ – Marco Milanese (Tactical Foul)
Union Omaha Goal: 70’ – Joe Gallardo (A: Dion Acoff)
Tormenta FC Yellow Card: 72’ – Nicholas Akoto (Hard Foul)
Tormenta FC Sub: 75’ – Gabriel Rodriguez ON; Sebastian Vivas OFF
– Mason Tunbridge ON; Conor Doyle OFF
Tormenta FC Yellow Card: 76’ Gabriel Rodriguez (Time Wasting)
Union Omaha Sub: 80’ – Missael Rodriguez ON; Lagos Kunga OFF
– Brandon Knapp ON; Aáron Gòmez OFF
Union Omaha Goal: 81’ – Missael Rodriguez (A: Joe Gallardo)
Tormenta FC Goal: 84’ – Pedro Fonseca (Penalty)
Tormenta FC Sub: 85’ – Joshua Ramos ON; Nicholas Akoto OFF
– Daniel Steedman ON; Tavio D’Almeida OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 90’ – Missael Rodriguez (Hard Challenge)
Union Omaha Sub: 90’+2’ – Luca Mastrantonio ON; Dion Acoff OFF
– Anderson Holt ON; Joe Gallardo OFF
Who Gives A Hoot? 