Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
Steevan Dos Santos had a brace, Pedro Dolabella scored, and the Owls had a 2-0 lead inside of 20’ en route to a 2-4 victory. This time, the victim was Lexington Sporting Club in the first visit back to Toyota Stadium since a 3-0 defeat last year that sparked Omaha’s unbeaten run to the Players’ Shield. European Championship golden boot leader OG also made a couple of appearances, scoring once for each side, and Nico Brown made a second-half strike to set a scoreline that somewhat flattered the hosts’ actual performance.
Dominic Casciato made two changes to the USL 1 lineup that lost to Forward Madison two weeks ago. Steevan Dos Santos and Lagos Kunga came in up front replacing Missael Rodriguez and shifting Joe Gallardo to a winger position. This shifted the defense to form a back line of Marco Milanese, Luca Mastrantonio, and Blake Malone with regular starter Mechack Jérôme making the bench.
For the hosts, Darren Powell made two changes to his last starting XI that drew against Spokane Velocity in their last league action. Azaad Liadi took his place at the top of the 5-4-1 formation in place of Alexis Cerritos while Ebenezer Ackon started in the back line for Jorge Corrales. This was a similar lineup (with the exception of a starting Cerritos) to the side that stymied Greenville in their Jägermeister Cup match in an attempt to disrupt the high-powered Owl attack.
*Narrator Voice* That plan would not work out as intended.
From the outset, Lexington looked happy to absorb the attacks and play long through balls to either Brown or Ates Diouf. Omaha stayed on the front foot for most of this time, finding some success up the wings, but mostly keeping possession and cutting out any attempts by the Lexington attack to get in behind. It wouldn’t take long for the first warning shot to come in for the Owls, though.
In the 6’, with mounting pressure on the Lexington defense, a penetrating run by Aáron Gómez found Steevan inside the left box. Holding up play, he laid the ball back to Joe just outside the area. With the space created, Joe dribbled into the area and put a powerful and curving shot onto goal. Amal Knight’s reflexes kept the ball out, and a foul on the clearance gave Lexington a chance to breathe. Still, it was a sign of things to come.
Only a minute later the Omaha press would set up the opening goal. Off an intercepted long ball, Ackon attempted to dribble out from the Lexington third, but was held up by a physical challenge from Lagos. Working with Dion coming up to cut off any escape, Lagos poked the ball away from Ackon and started dribbling back toward the middle of the pitch. A quick give-and-go with Aáron in the middle sprang Lagos, now on the left side, to dribble into the area against a backpedaling Modesto Méndez. The crossed-up defender made a desperate challenge just as Lagos went around him and took the forward down right in front of the ref. Without hesitation, Erick Pavon pointed to the spot.
Pedro put the ball confidently into the left side of the goal as Knight guessed wrong for his team-leading 5th goal in USL 1 play.
The goal only emboldened the Owls as they continued to press and shut down anything in the midfield, with Lagos running his heart out to contribute to the controlling effort. Several times he’d put in a foot at the right moment or make a timely challenge right as an attack seemed to be brewing. This exemplified the team defense, especially from the midfielders that kept the hosts at bay. Between this type of shutdown play and the fluidity of Omaha’s passing and possession, Lexington was having a hard time dealing with the onslaught.
Then, in the 20’ for the second match in a row, Steevan would break through again.
Playing out from the back, Blake found Lagos in a ton of space up the right side. Diouf made his way over to close the space down, but Lagos’ speed coupled with some good physical play, saw the defender beaten in a dangerous crossing area. The cross came in and took a slight deflection off Ackon before finding Steevan on the far right side of the six-yard box. Using his own physicality to fend off Chinenye Uche, the Cape Verdean launched the ball from an extremely tight angle past Knight and just inside the far post.
At this point in the match, and almost right on script, the game started to open up a little bit for Lexington. The hosts managed to find more passing lanes, settled down the play, and started seeing some success from their pressing attack.
In one instance, Blake had a bad turnover in a dangerous area. Marco had sent a free kick in the defensive third over to Blake to restart play. The defender had a slight slip, which was just enough time for the pressing Liadi to take the ball off him and start toward goal. While this was a huge chance for Lexington, the Owl defense recovered immediately and PC Giro along with Luca collapsed to form a wall in front of Rashid Nuhu. Liadi was only able to get off a blocked shot, but it is still the kind of lapse we’ve seen far too often from the defense when holding a lead.
Fortunately, every time the press worked for Lexington, Omaha found a way to recover and keep the ball from troubling Shido. They also managed to stay calm and work possession to find their own scoring chances, including a big one from Steevan in the 34’.
Passing the ball around the back in an attempt to beat the Lexington press, Pedro took the ball at the edge of the defensive third and started to push up. The play in the back had pulled the defense up just enough for Steevan to be free behind the center backs, with the right back playing him on. A perfect ball over the top found Steevan’s feet with only the advancing Knight to beat. Steevan attempted a simple chip, but the Lexington keeper had stayed up just enough to get a hand on the ball and deny the attempt. It was a save worthy of at least nomination (if not winning) save of the week from the talented number 1.
But as brilliant as that save was, Knight would then give away a howler of a goal just a few seconds later. After recovering from Steevan’s attempt, Lexington attempted to play out of the back to find a lane to push the ball up. As the ball came into Knight, he took a couple of heavy touches that put the ball out to far in front of him. With Aáron and Steevan still up pressing, it was a simple matter for Aáron to nick the ball from Knight, then pass over to Steevan for what is likely going to be the easiest assist and goal the pair will see all year.
If that didn’t take the air out of the stadium the fourth goal absolutely did as the Owls were determined not to take their foot off the gas this early again. Another dangerous through ball almost found Steevan again, but the forward was pulled back on a yellow-card-inducing challenge from Uche. On the free kick, from about 30 yards out, Joe sent a ball bending down that popped up high in the air off the crossbar. As Knight dove to make a potential save and was out of the play, the battle came down to Marco and Abel Caputo jockeying on the goal line to control the ball. In the end, Caputo won out to get a head on the ball, but that header went right into the Lexington goal. Even though Marco would’ve easily tapped home without his intervention, Caputo’s OG just added another painful reminder of the hosts’ first half performance.
Though Omaha couldn’t add to the most prolific first half in the team’s history, they maintained the pressure and domination through to the halftime whistle. More attacks and shots from Lagos and company threatened to add a fifth, but Lexington survived to regroup and possibly salvage some dignity on their own field.
Coming out of the locker room, it seemed the break did good for Lexington to settle down and try to work something out. They looked better in passing and possession, although part of that was due to Union Omaha sitting back a little more and holding the 4-goal advantage. The first 15 minutes was a lot more evenly matched, and more what we would have expected from a talented, if not often disjointed, Lexington side.
The best chance for Omaha of the early second half came on a counter attack started by Pedro in the 56’. An out ball to Lagos at the center circle found him with a lot of space to run. Pulling a second defender over, Lagos poked a through ball to Steevan who was running up the right side. With only one defender to beat, Steevan attempted to take the ball on for another shot at his hat trick. However, Uche, already on a card, made a brave sliding challenge that got all of the ball and thwarted the attack.
But it wouldn’t be long before sitting back and inviting pressure would come back to haunt Union Omaha. A heavy touch from Marco forced the defender into a weak pass out of the back. Diouf was there to intercept the ball and spring Lexington on a counter in the attacking half. Diouf found Liadi all alone in the center, drawing Blake from the back side and on to the ball. Liadi touched the ball through to Cerritos, who now had a crowd of defenders around him. A simple pass to the wide open left found Brown running up in support. With nothing between him and Shido, the former Greenville standout hit the far corner of the net to pull one back for the hosts. It was the kind of defensive lapse that, while disappointing, was unfortunately not surprising.
Lexington would continue pressing for more goals and finding more space as the Owls kept playing to hold on to the now 3-goal lead. There were moments of good counter and crossing play from Omaha, but what dangerous play there was fell mostly to Lexington. A great diving save from Shido kept out an oddly-bouncing shot in one of the most threatening passages of play as the match ticked down into the late stages.
By stoppage time, with the match pretty much decided, there was still self-inflicted danger that Union Omaha had to avoid. Shido, attempting to play the ball on his feet with two attackers near him, attempted an short outlet to Luca to relieve the pressure. Quick feet from Caputo deflected the ball and allowed Diouf to find Cerritos with space at the top of the box. The striker pulled his shot wide right, but a deflection set up a Lexington corner.
The corner sequence was put out of play by Pedro leading to a long throw from Corrales. The throw made it’s way into the box and found Blake’s head for what should have been a clearance away. Unfortunately, the ball bounced off the defender’s head and looped past everyone into the far corner of the goal. OG had it’s brace, but the Owls still had their three points.
When the final whistle blew, Union Omaha found themselves second in the USL 1 table, equal on points and ahead of Forward Madison on wins, just three points off Greenville Triumph with two games in hand. For Lexington, the loss kept them in 11th place, 6 points (and -10 GD) out of playoff spots and only 1 point clear of the Wooden Spoon.
Up next, it’s Belt Week for Búho nation! The lads head off to Greenville, Belt in hand, in a top-of-the-table clash against our long-time rivals. The Triumph had an off week to prepare, but now get to think about how the Owls just destroyed a Lexington team that beat them in their previous match. It should be a good one.
The Positives:
- The first half was probably the best half of soccer we’ve seen this team put together, with the possible exception of the 4-goal barrage to turn around the Charlotte match on May 17. The attacks were dangerous, the passes were cutting and creative, and the defense was able to collapse when needed to keep the momentum going. It’s not that Lexington didn’t have any chances, but the pressure forced them into so many miscues that it kept the defense from having to constantly chase Diouf and Brown.
The mentality to keep pressing for goals after going up 2-0 early also shows that they learned from the Chattanooga match. There was a bit of a let off after going up early, and Dom had mentioned the lack of “aggression” that led to the Red Wolves equalizing before half. This team was determined not to let that happen, and fully subscribed to the “best defense is a good offense” approach to keeping Lexington out of sync. - Team defending was also an extreme positive. From the defenders closing ranks to keep Blake’s turnover from really hurting to Lagos and PC working in midfield to recover the ball, the team did a lot to frustrate Lexington attackers just as it seemed they would get some momentum. I love seeing midfielders defend well because I know that leads to great counters, odd rushes, and goals. The team has embraced Dom’s philosophy of team-supportive defense, which is required when you play a pressing style with overlapping wingers.
Even in the second half, the concepts were there. Miscues happen, but the team was still trying to do the same things, just without control of the ball as much. Eventually, other teams may find a way to break through, but if you’ve done your job right, a single miscue shouldn’t affect the overall game.
The Negatives:
- That is, of course, if it is only a single miscue. Both of the goals were created off of defensive lapses—specifically poor touches that allowed a press that had been mostly ineffective to create chances. We even got away with one earlier thanks to the team defending I mentioned.
Marco’s is pretty straightforward. A bad touch and and attempt to salvage it turned into a quick counter against some dangerous players. It was a moment of either lost concentration or just physical mistake. It gave Lexington something to cheer for and a little hope when they’d been rendered mostly harmless for the hour prior to that goal.
But for the second goal, I’m looking at the captain a little. I’m not going to fault Blake too much for the own goal. He beat his man, tried to head the ball away (or out) and got an unlucky bounce. That’s soccer. However, the chance was a product of play forced from an attempt to play out of the back instead of just booting the ball down the pitch and making the Lexington attack waste time in setting up again.
Shilo’s decision making didn’t cost us the game there, and his other play has been really good as he commands this back line as he has done for the past five years. It is indicative of the mental switch-offs that seem to affect each one of our players from time-to-time.
I don’t expect the team to be perfect by any means. But if you’re looking for a negative in a 4-goal performance, that’s the best I can do.
Interesting Facts:
- As I mentioned, this was the most prolific goal scoring first-half in Union Omaha history. It’s also the seventh time this year the Owls have scored at least 4 goals in a match (all competitions). That is by far the most in our history, and we’re only about halfway through all our matches this year.
- It seems like Steevan is a scoring machine for us this year, but his brace marked the first goal involvements in USL 1 play since scoring the winner against One Knox on April 12. He also has 3 goals in the Jägermeister Cup (2 matches) and has 5 goals in the last 4 matches (all competitions).
- This is the first match this season where Pedro’s average position put him inside the center circle or in the defensive third where the attack has scored this many goals. Normally, he drives out attack and that can be seen by his advanced attacking position. Without further analytics on his average position by half, this might be because the Owls were sitting back defending the lead, but it’s still an anomaly—and a good sign that the attack is finding other avenues to threaten opponents.
- Union Omaha held Lexington to 3 shots, 0 on target, and only 33% possession in the first half, while tallying 7 shots, 5 on target, and 67% possession. For the whole match Lexington only mustered 10 touches inside the box and 3 shots inside the box—only one of which (the goal) was on target).
- All of the Union Omaha players wore a pink and purple band on the left wrist for this match. This was to honor 8-year-old Daleyza Ortiz Garcia, a Lexington native who was tragically killed in a car accident in late May. Pedro pointed to the wristband after scoring the opener, and Dom, in postgame comments released by the club, dedicated the win to her expressing “May she rest in peace”. Love and healing be to her family. Some things are bigger than football.
Key Events:
Lexington SC Yellow Card: 7’ – Modesto Méndez (Bad Challenge)
Union Omaha Goal: 9’ – Pedro Dolabella (PK) (5th); 0-1
Union Omaha Goal: 20’ – Steevan Dos Santos (2nd) (A: Lagos Kunga – 1st); 0-2
Union Omaha Goal: 34’ – Steevan Dos Santos (3rd) (A: Aáron Gomez – 1st); 0-3
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 27’ – Blake Malone (Tactical Foul)
Lexington SC Yellow Card: 38’ – Chinenye Uche (Tactical Foul)
Union Omaha Goal: 39’ – Abel Caputo (OG); 0-4
Lexington SC Subs: 46’ – Jorge Corrales ON; Ebenezer Ackon OFF
– Jayden Onen ON; Isaac Cano OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 59’ – Pedro Dolabella (Bad Foul)*
Lexington SC Sub: 61’ – Alexis Cerritos ON; Tate Roberston OFF
Lexington SC Goal: 63’ – Nico Brown (2nd) (A: Alexis Cerritos – 1st); 1-4
Union Omaha Sub: 67’ – Mechack Jérôme ON; Marco Milanese OFF
Lexington SC Sub: 73’ – Yannick Yankam ON; Azaad Liadl OFF
Union Omaha Subs: 77’ – Missael Rodriguez ON; Aáron Gomez OFF
– Brandon Knapp ON; Lagos Kunga OFF
Lexington SC Sub: 84’ – Pierre Mané ON; Nico Brown OFF
Union Omaha Subs: 87’ – Isaac Bawa ON; Dion Acoff OFF
– Nortei Nortey ON; Steevan Dos Santos OFF
Lexington SC Goal: 90’+4’ – Blake Malone (OG); 2-4
*Note: Official stats attribute yellow card to Lexington’s Azaad Liadl, but in-stadium announcement gave Pedro the card. Based on the play, a card to Pedro makes more sense. Awaiting official clarification.
Who Gives A Hoot? 