Not my typical recap — sorry in advance.
I’ve been trying hard to do a recap this week, but I haven’t really had my mind on it. We all know what happened in Albuquerque. There were occasional chances – including Chelo Martínez’s attempt to chip the keeper from midfield (curse you crossbar!) during a turnover in play. There was some heroic goalkeeper play from Rashid Nuhu – 10 saves from 12 shots on target kept the Búhos in it long after they probably shouldn’t have been. But ultimately a controversial (though correct for a competition without VAR) penalty (Talen Maples – 42nd minute) and a brilliant breakaway from Marlon Vargas (90’ + 3’) doomed Omaha to their first ever competitive defeat at the hands of a USL Championship team.
All credit should go to New Mexico United here. They out possessed (61-39), out-shot (18 and 12 on target – 12 and 2), out-passed (499-304) and overall outplayed Union Omaha in almost every facet of the match. And even though it didn’t look like it was that much of a disparity on the field, the stats all pointed to a pretty dominant performance for the hosts. Most telling was the 3.68 xG stat (0.48 for UO) and 31 touches inside the box. By far those are the most of either stat the Búhos have given up all year. It was literally by Nuhu’s hands that there was even a breath of a chance by the time the second goal went in to seal the points.
But unfortunately, that’s not what the focus of this piece is. The moment of the game that has to stick out to me is a stupid, short-sighted, and inexplicable red card taken by Brent Kallman in the 90’+5’.
With the game sealed and already past the minimum amount of additional time put on by the referee, a long headed clearance fell just in front of New Mexico’s David Bruce, who looked to retrieve the ball and end any hope of a consolation for Omaha. Brent, in tandem with Marco Milanese, managed to cut Bruce off from the line and started to marshal the ball out for a potential throw. There was a standard bit of pushing and shoving from both players as the ball rolled toward the touchline, but what should probably have been a quick throw in and a call for full time turned into yet another fracas around the veteran center back. Instead of tossing the ball to a teammate, Brent chose to throw the ball deliberately and directly into Bruce’s head.
This of course started a meeting on the pitch as the two sides vehemently disagreed on the issue at hand. Kalen Ryden quickly moved forward to get into Brent’s face. Dion Acoff stepped up to defend his teammate. The referee shows the red as a line of Owls starts forming in an attempt to keep New Mexico from getting at Brent — who at this point is attempting to bypass his teammates to continue jawing at the rest of the host squad.
Wait a second…this sounds familiar. Almost as if late in the previous match against San Antonio, Brent had done something that caused another on-pitch fray and resulted in pushing, shoving, and a single card given to the instigator of the event. Luckily for Omaha, that card was only a yellow.
While the cameras didn’t catch exactly what happened with Brent in that Open Cup game, speaking to some of the fans who watched it, their version indicated that Brent pulled down Jorge Hernández down by his ankles – behind the play – and got on top of him. As soon as the referee saw the commotion, he whistled play dead and that’s when the teams got into some shoving and defense of their teammates. It easily could’ve ended in red cards for multiple players—not an ideal scenario when hanging on to a 1-0 lead late in a knockout tournament.
Coach Dominic Casciato immediately substituted Brent in the San Antonio game, realizing that the referee had given them a bit of a break by not seeing/sending off the veteran defender. It didn’t end up in a loss, and so I didn’t discuss it with him post-match, but I can’t imagine he was happy with his player after what happened.
I’d expect he’d be even more livid about the New Mexico incident.
So why do I care about this so much—or at least enough to dedicate a full piece to this? First off, it’s unacceptable behavior for someone of Brent’s experience and talent. To go even further though, this team can’t afford it on any level.
Quite simply — Brent Kallman is proving to be a liability.
When you look at some of the decisions he’s made on the pitch, it doesn’t stack up to the quality and leadership that we expected when Union Omaha signed him. And that’s before his recent shenanigans. Middle of the pack stats for his performances aren’t enough for someone of his caliber, either. He’s supposed to be setting the tone and elevating the guys around him. He’s not doing that. While earlier in the season one could point to a lack of time in training with the club, two months in there should be improvement showing, not regression.
But lets get back to the issue at hand — the red card-worthy provocations.
Even if Brent was the worst center back in the league, he has to be available to be on the pitch. Dom’s style of play puts a lot of wear and tear on the defenders at times, and it’s a position we’re not very deep in. Blake Malone is out for a long time with his injury. Ryen Jiba hasn’t been seen for whatever reason. Samuel Owusu and Joshua Ramsey have yet to really settle in to being part of the regular lineup. There’s not a lot of room for someone who is supposed to be a stalwart in defense doing something stupid like getting sent off for fouls of frustration or hot-headedness. Someone as young as Anderson Holt, you could call this a lack of maturity. In someone like Brent Kallman, it comes off as a lack of control and, to some extent, a bit of selfish pride.
And worse still, the fans are saying similar things.
The biggest worry among the supporters is that this type of lashing out will eventually cost Union Omaha a match. It well could have against San Antonio, but in New Mexico the game was already decided. And this weekend, we travel to Breese Stevens Field to take on our best friends in the whole league.
If anyone knows how to get under an Owl’s skin, it’s the Mingos. In last year’s three meetings (1 draw, 1 PKs loss, 1 regulation loss) the teams combined for 21 cards and 74 fouls. None of them red, but there were plenty of hard challenges, bad fouls, and always words exchanged between the two sides. While the organizations have a respect for each other, the players always seem to turn it up on the pitch. Add that to the most annoying corner kick call in USL 1, and it can provide an environment that would rattle the most even-keeled member of an opposing team.
So rest assured, the Mingos are already planning for how to piss Brent Kallman off. In a game like this, that might make all the difference.
I don’t want to completely destroy the man here. I understand there are circumstances where we lose our heads. I understand that it can happen in succession. I understand that these players are human.
But I also understand that it has to stop. It puts the team in a bad situation, it doesn’t set the veteran example he was brought in for, and when it’s indefensible even to the fans, you have to know you aren’t in the right.
To close this out, I’ll say this to Brent (who I doubt is reading this, but just in case…). You are a Búho. You are a local. You have chosen to wear our crest on your chest, and we accept and support you for that. We want you to succeed. We want you to be the best you can be. But so far, this ain’t it. We can’t be proud of what you’ve done to this point, but we want to be proud of what you will do for us going forward.
We need a veteran leader. Please, go make us proud.
Who Gives A Hoot? 