In the 2023 regular season Union Omaha went 11-3-2 at home and had a positive goal difference of 16 along with going undefeated at home starting on May 27th. The away record was not as good but still a respectable 8-5-3. A record as a whole that Omaha would use to propel themselves into their second Player’s Shield while going undefeated in their last 14 matches, winning 13 of them. To say Omaha has continued that success at home would unfortunately not be true. While the season this year is different, having the Jagermeister Cup to balance with the regular season. There is an undeniable difference in the team’s record this year. In the regular season Omaha is 6-0-1 by far the best away record in the league with no other team at the moment having more than 4 wins away. However Werner is no longer the fortress it once was. In the 5 matches at Werner Park this year in the regular season the team has only come away with 5 points. Such a dismal record of course should be criticized but maybe it could be said of the inconsistency of playing in such a venue. During the Chattanooga match on July 27th it was decided on a freak own goal after a frustrating game overall for the Buhos. The other loss came against Northern Colorado after the Buhos went down to ten men. These are the only losses Omaha has experienced at home all season in both Jager and league competition however but it goes to show much more critical it is that Omaha gets points at home during the last matches of the regular season. Points mean so much more overall in the grand scheme of things than they did last year because there are 22 league matches compared to 32 in 2023.
Omaha has fared far better with key wins at home and away in the Jagermeister Cup making the team poised to make it to the knockouts at the time of this writing. But the question remains. What needs to be done to win the shield again this year? Well nothing says Omaha like going on a hot streak again. In the final ten regular season matches Omaha only plays one team currently in the top four spots in the league and only has Madison left in the Jager Cup group stage. Six of those final ten matches in the regular season are at home which means that there is plenty of opportunity to make the most of the matches left. And of course like last season Omaha has games in hand. Omaha has two matches in hand on the top four as of writing this so don’t let the table fool you quite yet. There is still a lot of soccer to play in this season and knowing this team’s potential they won’t go down that easily.
In other news Max Schneider the new loan from Indy Eleven has been recalled after just three appearances with the club leaving a hole back in the defensive midfield role after the retirement of PC. It would stand to reason that Nortei Nortey would be the most likely candidate to fill that role. Dion Acoff seems to have returned from injury also and also congratulations to Steven Dos Santos for tying the club record for goals scored! Dos Santos shares the record with former owl, Noe Meza with 23 goals in all competitions for the club.
Who Gives A Hoot? 