It’s an early tune that’s starting to become an trend.
Despite dominating possession and large parts of the match, Union Omaha found itself on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline Sunday night in Naples. Joe Gallardo scored his second of the year from the penalty spot to cancel out Andrés Ferrín’s penalty opener, but that was all the Owls could put past familiar foe Lalo Delgado. A strike from Ian Cerro on the verge of halftime and a bolt off the foot of Jayden Onen in the second half were enough to see FC Naples get back on track after having lost three straight league matches.
Coach Dominic Casciato only made two changes to the starters from the Texoma match – Brandon Knapp back in the starting lineup for Dion Acoff and Anderson Holt coming on for Samuel Owusu. However, the formation shifted slightly. Anderson shifted the defensive back three over leaving Marco Milanese with the central duties and Brent Kallman playing out on the right. With Dion completely absent from the lineup, Joe Gallardo moved to the right side with Laurence Wootton moving up to balance Sergio Ors Navarro.
For FC Naples, there was a fair bit of shuffling to do given the recent run of red cards that has plagued Matt Poland’s side. While Delgado, Jake Dengler, and Jayden Onen found their way back to starting after serving suspensions, Karsen Henderlong and Joel Serrano were unavailable for their own red cards in the last match. Mark Gratacos entered the lineup for Luka Prpa with Gustavo Fernandes giving way so Dengler could fit into the Naples back line.
The shuffles by both sides were intended to spark a change from their recent runs of form, and as the game opened it looked like Union Omaha were going to be able to do just that.
Early possession and passing heavily favored Los Búhos as they managed to pin Naples back with some really good ball movement. However, each time they moved forward, Naples would find just enough to either cut out the final pass or clear any crosses that came about.
A little miscue at the back on those clearances almost handed Omaha their first great chance of the night. In the 12th minute, a heavy touch in attack fell to Brecc Evans whose attempted clearance caught Sergio square in the chest. The Spaniard took the ball down and popped a through pass to Aarón Gómez just inside the penalty box. With two defenders around him, though, Aarón was unable to bring the ball down to get a shot off.
The ensuing clearance managed to hit Laurence this time, and the chested ball fell back toward Aarón. After a couple of quick passes, the ball came to Charlie Ostrem who tried to pick out Laurence on a run to the back post. The Naples defense was quick to respond to this one and finally forced the ball out of play. Any danger was summarily relieved after the throw in what would end up being a pretty accurate display of how the rest of the night would go.
Though the stats were very one-sided toward the Owls, Naples ended up finding a breakthrough just 8 minutes later. After another frustrating attack stalled out, the hosts found themselves on the counter with a long ball played down the right side to Ferrín. With a step on Marco, the Colombian drove into the box with an eye on testing Rashid’s reflexes. Marco found himself jostling to recover and extended his arm into Ferrín’s back, causing him to flop over inside the box. Though perhaps exaggerated, and maybe a little soft, the push from behind was enough for referee Rodrigo Albuquerque to point to the spot and give Marco a yellow for his trouble. Having won the penalty Ferrín also took the honor of the spot kick, a well-placed ball to Rashid’s right that froze the keeper in place and handed an unlikely lead to Naples.
Even though a goal down, Omaha didn’t give up their share of possession as they pressed for a quick equalizer. Nothing seemed to be able to break down a disciplined Naples back line until they returned the penalty favor 9 minutes after taking the lead.
After some head tennis in midfield, Brandon was able to pick out a solid run by Aarón into the left side of the box. The ball bounced in front of the striker, and as he tried to shield it off from the encroaching defense, Dengler wrapped his foot up and around Aarón to try to clear the area. The contact, though perhaps also soft, was high and enough to bring Aarón down in a heap near the end line. Once again, without hesitation, Albuquerque pointed toward the spot. After some stalling by Delgado, Joe stepped up and sent the keeper to his left as the ball rocketed in to the right to equalize the score.
The game drawing level did nothing to change the story of the first half. Omaha would attack, generally up the wings. Naples would break down the attack and start a counter. Omaha would find a way to deal with the counter and start back up on the possession again. It grew more and more frustrating as the clock ticked toward halftime, but it still felt like a breakthrough was coming.
Unfortunately, that breakthrough went the hosts’ way.
After getting some offside relief on a biting counter attack that nearly put Julian Cisneros on the scoresheet, Union Omaha’s luck ran out almost literally on the stroke of halftime. On a desperation clearance that was just looking to clear their lines, Naples got another gift as the ball bounced to Brent trailing back. The defender tried to head the ball somewhere, but without a good touch it fell right into the path of Cerro. With Rashid off his line expecting to corral Brent’s header, Cerro needed only to chip the ball up and over the stranded keeper and into the net. Just like that, the halftime team talk changed as Dom and crew had to figure out how to make up for another goal that shouldn’t have been.
Instead, the second half went almost exactly the same as the first half. Lots of possession and passing continued to fall in Omaha’s favor, but the final ball never came. As if to put salt in the wounds of frustration, Onen’s 49th-minute thunderbolt took the air out of the match and the faith in a turnaround to bed.
After a throw in on the Naples right side, Max Glasser found room just enough to beat his man for a perfect cross into the box. Despite having three Owls in the box to cover two attackers the ball slipped past Ferrín, who took two of the defenders with him, and directly to Onen about 12 yards out. The ensuing volley’s power and placement left Rashid no time to act as it settled into the top of the near post netting. Against the run of play yet again Naples managed to capitalize and do what Omaha could not—finish.
Once Omaha found themselves two goals down, the play started to become more desperate. The visitors still controlled possession and passing, but any half chance that appeared opened up for a shot from range or an ill-advised dribble to try to make anything happen. Crosses flew in, but were easily dealt with by a well-drilled team that had the luxury of sitting compact and making sure nothing got past them. The more they sat back, the more they were able to stymie the Owls until the final whistle blew on a night that saw Naples back to form and Union Omaha still looking for answers.
The Good:
If I had to find a bright spot tonight, I’d be Anderson Holt. The young defender found himself in the starting lineup and did a great job in the position he was asked to hold down. He didn’t let a lot of things past him, and when he did he did well to try to put the attacker off long enough for help to arrive. He was able to get up to support the attack on occasion, and had a few good passes that could’ve opened up some opportunities if anyone could’ve gotten on the end of them before being closed down by the Naples back line.
I said at the beginning of the match that I was concerned about the lineup, but it wasn’t so much because Anderson was in there. He’s a solid choice at starter, and I’m happy to see his development continuing on a good trajectory.
The Bad:
Grab your coffee (or your whiskey). This is going to be a bit.
1) I’m going to start off with Brent again. This isn’t going to take the same form as the rant I had on him a few games ago, however. This match felt quite different than calling out a veteran who isn’t acting like one.
That’s because the last few games he’s actually been really solid. I was getting my apology/retraction article ready because ever since I wrote what I did about him, he started getting steadily better. He communicated a lot more effectively. He wasn’t making cheap emotional fouls. In fact, he was extremely gracious about the yellow card he did take in Texoma last match for a tactical foul. It was purely professional, and he conducted himself as if it was, even giving the ref a pat on the shoulder as if to say “fair point, no objections”.
And honestly, this isn’t even about the mistakes in the match. You can argue he needs to be more decisive on the header that led to Cerro’s goal. There were several times late where he was up in the box to receive crosses, yet he headed them more away as if he were a defender. Stuff happens sometimes, and especially when you’re desperate for any goal from open play you can get.
But I noticed something about him between his run of improved form and his efforts against Naples. Dom had him in the center of the backline earlier, and he started to truly anchor that defense. Sunday saw him return to the right side of the formation with Marco holding down center to make way for Anderson on the left. And suddenly, the performance went down.
I’m not trying to say he can’t play the right side of a three center back formation, but it hasn’t gone unnoticed that his struggles early had him playing in the same position. I also won’t put Onen’s goal directly on him (as one of three in the box who didn’t do a damned thing to stop him receiving that cross). However, he moved in on Ferrín’s decoy run and left Joe all alone behind them to recognize Onen’s threat and move in to stop—something that ultimately he was unable to do. Should Joe have seen that earlier? Maybe. Remember though, Joe isn’t a natural defender in the same way that Brent is.
I admit this might be an eye test thing, but it makes me wonder why Dom decided to go with the personnel he did—especially without Dion in the lineup at all (what’s up with that, by the way!?)—after Brent’s struggles early in the season. Then again, maybe someone with more than 100 MLS caps to their name should be able to slide right on occasion and be ok.
2) While I don’t prescribe to any religion in my adult years, my childhood taught me at least one valuable thing that I can bring to soccer: One prays at the cross, not cross and then pray.
We have done a LOT of crossing then praying this year, if you haven’t noticed. We’re used to seeing that, though, especially with the likes of Dion and Charlie up the wings. They are fast, can get space, and have a very good touch on their passes.
But the opponents are seeing that, as well, and they’re ready for it. Some stats will show what I mean.
Vs. Naples – 39 crosses (9 accurate – 23%), 0 goals
Vs. Texoma – 30 crosses (6 accurate – 20%), 0 goals (unless you count an olympico)
Vs. Portland – 22 crosses (8 accurate – 22%), 1 goal (off a corner)
Vs. Madison – 19 crosses (5 accurate – 26%), 0 goals
That doesn’t bode well. It means the crosses aren’t finding people in good enough positions to beat the keeper. My thought is that there are two reasons for this.
First, our box presence is much diminished from last year. We don’t have a massive body that can shield off a defender and meet the ball or use their movement in space to get a more free header away. Aarón is good, but he’s not able to make those back post runs or just tower over his marker. And Brent tried to do what he could in the closing minutes of this match, but he apparently doesn’t have the head for goal that a natural striker (or Virgil van Dyke) can call upon. With the targets gone, who receives these crosses.
Second, and part of the reason we’re missing the presences in the box, is that I think teams have figured us out a bit. We haven’t tried to go through the middle as much this year—understandable considering Lagos’ injury and the loss of Pedro Dolabella. The one match where we were able to do whatever we wanted on the pitch, through the pitch, up the wings, and anywhere was against Tormenta. Which was also our last victory.
So without a viable attack through the middle, opponents don’t have to be as concerned with shutting that down. Stay compact in the box, step to anything that tries to dribble in the middle, but keep back and wait for the cross. If you watch Naples, that’s how they dealt with our attack. And so many times we’d get a cross in and they were waiting there with a well placed header or a pair of defenders to harass the attacker into not making a clean touch on the ball.
The other thing the cross and pray attack does is leave us vulnerable to clearances and long balls that turn into counters. That’s what led to both of Naples’ first half goals. With the attackers up there’s not a lot of help back if a defender makes a mistake on his clearance, or worse, loses his man and ends up in a foot race.
Unfortunately, until we find a way to play through the middle or a better target for our crosses into the box, we’re going to be praying a lot.
3) I don’t need to tell anyone reading this how bad our season has started. But I will anyway.
This is the first time in the history of the club that Union Omaha has ended a round of matches and found themselves in sole possession of last place. Even in 2022 when we had the down year off the first title. Even in 2023 when we started slow before torching the league. Even in the 2020 season when we hadn’t even kicked a ball. Even if it was on 0 points to start a season, there has always been someone tied with us on points and preventing us from being sole occupants of the cellar.
Until Sunday.
With Texoma’s resurgent form and the rest of the league having played a few more games than we have, there’s a little bit of a hole to dig out of. This is something never experienced by the Búho faithful, and it’s hard to see things getting better quickly.
The silver lining there though – Madison and Greenville (our next two opponents) are struggling as well. The Mingos have scored as many goals on the season as we have (in one more game) and if you take out Greenville’s three goals in the opener, so have they. If things are going to turn around in a hurry, it has to start with some wounded opponents, or the season could get away from us quickly. As I joked on the socials—we can’t play Tormenta every week.
An Observation:
Speaking of Tormenta, and running back to the theme of Union Omaha’s troubles with dominating possession and losing games, I want to touch on something Ian Cameron recently said. As posted by Luke Martin in his Tormenta coverage (@lukermartin.bsky.social), the South Georgia coach is finding himself at the same wit’s end that we seem to be regarding owning games yet giving up goals without getting our own in return. Coach Cameron’s comments following a recent loss:
“It’s easier to counterattack. It’s easier to create chances that way. And we’ve got to have a wholesale look at if our game model is the right thing. I’ve been pretty strident in the last few years that it is. I’ve been trying to teach the boys to control the ball, have a high percent of possession, but the reality is at this level, you see it across the board, that when teams have 68 percent plus possession, I think tonight was probably 75 percent, then they rarely win at this level and it’s really frustrating and it’s a real challenge.”
If you read the remainder of the comments, and Luke’s article, you can understand how a coaching staff might look to see if they need to blow everything up and start again. Doubly so for a fanbase who would rather have 30 percent possession and a 2 points-per-match average than 70 percent possession and a stunned look as another counterattack goal goes in.
I don’t know if all the data backs coach’s comments, but it can sure feel that way. And as I mentioned above, Union Omaha’s style makes us very susceptible to the counter. Don’t take this as a questioning of Dom or his tactics. We’ve been in the doldrums before and he’s found a way to put it together to get us to the top of the league. But I also can’t turn a blind eye to the facts that in every match we’ve dropped points in we won possession and passing, but somehow couldn’t win the one stat that matters.
Then again, if I had a fool-proof solution to what seems to be a league-wide problem, I wouldn’t be sitting here tossing grenades from the peanut gallery.
Whatever happens, we won’t be the only ones needing to brace for some frustration this season. And that means the team is going to need the supporters, and we’re going to need each other.
A few drinks might not hurt as well.
Key Events:
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 19’ – Marco Milanese (Tactical Foul) (3rd)
FC Naples Goal: 20’ – Andrés Ferrín (3rd) (Penalty) 1-0
FC Naples Yellow Card: 23’ – Julian Cisneros (Bad Foul) (4th)
Union Omaha Goal: 32’ – Joe Gallardo (2nd) (Penalty) 1-1
FC Naples Goal: 45’+3’ – Ian Cerro (1st) (Unassisted) 2-1
FC Naples Goal: 49’ – Jayden Onen (2nd) (A: Max Glasser – 1st) 3-1
Union Omaha Sub: 54’ – Mehdi Ouamri ON; Laurence Wootton OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 56’ – Mehdi Ouamri (Obstructing Restart) (2nd)
FC Naples Sub: 68’ Justin Weiss ON; Ian Cerro OFF
FC Naples Yellow Card: 69’ – Kevin O’Connor (Bad Foul) (4th)
Union Omaha Subs: 72’ – Samuel Owusu ON; Anderson Holt OFF
– Prosper Kasim ON; Aarón Gómez OFF
– Kemy Amiche ON; Sergio Ors Navarro OFF
Union Omaha Sub: 81’ – Ryen Jiba ON; Marco Milanese OFF
FC Naples Sub: 81’ – Tyler Pasnik ON; Jayden Onen OFF (Injury)
FC Naples Subs: 90’+2’ – Gustavo Fernandes ON; Kevin O’Connor OFF
– Rodolfo Sulia ON; Andrés Ferrín OFF
Who Gives A Hoot? 