Another trip to Spokane, another loss for Union Omaha. Despite a lot of good-looking play and defensive discipline, it was an own goal from Brent Kallman from a Nil Vinyals cross that doomed the Owls to a second consecutive season-opening loss. There were bright performances from newcomers Edrey Cáceres and Adrian Billhardt, but not enough to get the lads on the scoresheet.
Coach Vincenzo Candela’s lineup wasn’t a huge surprise to many, except for Edrey slotting in the midfield. Ryen Jiba took on the job of filling the departed Charlie Ostrem’s boots on the left with Younes Boudadi getting the nod on the right wing. Laurence Wootton’s presence up top with Pato Botello Faz might have been a little odd from last year, but the midfielder has been paired up there for a lot of the preseason and performed well enough to get the run out in this match.
Leigh Viedman also had some new, yet familiar, faces to display for Spokane. Former Owl Joe Gallardo started in the attack with League One Regulars Nil Vinyals, Simon Fitch, and Nick Spielman making their starting debuts for Velocity.
The match opened very one-way as the Owls dominated possession and passing. The majority of this came up the right side through Younes, and there was a patience in buildup that allowed a couple of penetrating runs early. One of these resulted in a corner just 6 minutes in. Edrey sent a low ball into Sergio who tried a flick but was just too wide to sneak it in the near post past Carlos Merancia. It was the type of attack that would excite the supporters thinking there might be more of that to come.
There wouldn’t be any better chances than that for the next 20 minutes, however. Spokane stayed compact and disciplined cutting out attacks at just the right moment. They were never able to get steady possession of the ball but were able to render most of the Omaha attack inert. The times when the Owls would find a way forward, in one instance through some great footwork by Adrian to escape a touchline trap, the final pass was just off to kill the momentum.
Because of this, the first real chance of the match came as a surprise when Spokane forced Rashid Nuhu into a close-range save. In the 25th minute, Sam Owusu took the ball from his box and went on a dribbling adventure past three Velocity players toward the midfield line. Sensing his run, Spielman stepped up and was able to dispossess Sam and find Gallardo already running forward. With Sam out of position, Gallardo was able to hit Neco Brett on a through ball to the left. Brett picked out Luis Gil on the other side of the box who then put his boot through a perfect volley toward net. Shido proved up to the challenge, holding strong in the middle of his goal and preventing the opening score. It was a warning shot for how dangerous this team could be.
That started a run of dangerous possession for Spokane as they started to build confidence from their previous chance. For about 10 minutes Omaha found it difficult to hold on to the ball and mount the pressure from the first part of the match. Spokane wouldn’t get any good scoring chances from it, but it served to frustrate the visitors as the physicality started to ramp up.
The Owls would get a decent chance in the 33rd minute from Sergio Ors Navarro up top on the right side. Some quick passing through the middle allowed Pato to pick up possession and find Adrian on the right side of the box. Adrian took on his man long enough for Younes to overlap behind him and receive the ball with some space to work. The Belgian found Sergio close to the near post, but he was unable to do much with the ball but try a backheel flick toward goal. Cameron Miller was all over the block though and saved Merancio from what might have been a cheeky goal.
The majority of possession stayed with Omaha for the rest of the half, though a turnover in play did force the defense to collapse very well to avert another shot in at Shido. The Owls would have two really good chances at the close of the half to show for it.
The first happened in the 45th minute when Ryen got what might have been one of the best chances of his career. Sam threaded an inch-perfect pass through the Spokane lines to Adrian running up the right side. The German midfielder broke away from his two defenders, using some good foot skills to hold the ball just long enough to get space for a rocket of a low ball across Merancio’s goal mouth. Ryen was in seemingly perfect position but, under pressure from Chevonne John-Brown, couldn’t redirect the ball into a wide open net to finish the best chance for either team on the night.
The next chance came a couple of minutes later when Adrian won a foul just outside the Spokane box with just a few seconds of stoppage time left. Edrey stepped up to take the free kick from an angle that looked better suited for a cross into the box. Spokane set up a three-man wall with Merancio guarding the far post. This let Edrey take his shot, a low, curling effort that was headed straight for the bottom corner until Merancio made a diving save at full stretch to deny the newcomer a magical opener.
A well-defended corner then led the teams into halftime with neither having found a breakthrough but Omaha seeming to be on the front foot.
The second half started with the same lineups as neither coach opted for any personnel changes. It also started much the way the first half started with the Owls hogging the possession and the forward momentum. Several chances presented themselves but were either killed by a bad final ball or an offside call. This includes a 5-on-3 break in the 54th minute created by Laurence’s pressure in the midfield. Edrey pounced on the loose ball and started an immediate counter by hitting Adrian up the pitch on the right side. His cross was way too close to Merancio, however, and Laurence never had a chance despite his excellent positioning.
As in the first half, Spokane found their footing in the middle part of the second half and started to string together a series of good attacks. Brett found himself in great attacking positions a couple of times only to push the ball just wide of goal. Gallardo had a decent opportunity from outside the box, but his effort was easily claimed by Shido.
But the pressure ultimately didn’t require a great finish to beat the Omaha captain. Vinyals, who has haunted the Owls in the past, again showed that putting the ball in the box can cause things to happen. Starting with Jack Denton intercepting a clearance from Brent, Spokane quickly transitioned back into attack. The ball fell to John-Brown who fed Vinyals in toward the right side of the box. The midfielder was able to beat Edrey to get a cross that seemed to be well defended and claimable by Shido. However, Brent stuck his leg up to block the cross and ended up deflecting the ball just up and over the keeper for an unfortunate season opening goal.
Despite the circumstances that sent Omaha behind, the Owls responded the same way they did in the first half. They put together long strings of pressure and possession while Spokane, perhaps feeling lucky to be ahead, started to concentrate on keeping defensive form and holding of the visitors’ attack. Several times as the clock ticked away Kempes Tekiela or Diego Gutierrez found themselves in good positions but were just unable to get the right shot away. Merancio, for his part, did very well in closing down shots and claiming the ball before too much danger sprang up. It was frustrating, but the Owls still had a good chance to come.
That chance came from one of the newer rules that the International Football Association Board is seeking to enforce this year: time wasting during substitution. Spokane became the league’s first recipient of a punishment for this in the 90th minute when Luis Gil took too long to come off the pitch and make way for Lucky Opara. After a bit of confusion and consulting with the ref, Gil was subbed off, but Opara had to wait for a minute off the pitch for the infraction. This left Spokane with 10 players and almost led to an Omaha equalizer.
Pushing the ball up the right side, Younes found space by the touch line to put in a cross to the far post. The ball pinged between Diego, Sergio, and a couple of defenders in the area but bounce perfectly to Kempes at the top of the right side of the box. With no marker on him, Kempes let fly a well-placed low shot, but Merancio was in great position for it. The Spokane keeper fell on the ball making the save look a lot easier than it probably was.
That ended up being the last, best chance for the visitors as Spokane survived for yet another one-goal home victory against Union Omaha.
What’s Next:
The team now gets ready for US Open Cup action with the Owls in St. Louis to play BOHFS St. Louis on Wednesday, March 18, at 7:00 pm CT.
Following that, Union Omaha will open their new home at Morrison Stadium by welcoming AC Boise in League One play on Sunday, March 22, at 4:00 pm CT. This will also be College Night and will include concession specials at the stadium.
The Bad:
Honestly, for this stage of the season, there’s not a lot you can say bad about this match. The own goal from Brent was not really his fault. He’s supposed to try to defend that cross and block it in case there’s a lurking attacker behind him. It’s really unfortunate that it was him because 1) he’s taken a LOT of crap in the past for mistakes, and 2) he was having a very good game to that point. He and Sam had closed down a lot of the attacks that came their way, or at least funneled them to where Shido had a good chance if he had to make a save (which he didn’ t have to make a lot). I don’t blame Brent for this one, I blame a bad break.
The only other point you might take as bad is the lack of shooting and finishing. This is always going to be an issue in soccer, though, and Spokane did really well to stay compact. They weren’t threatening much going forward for large stretches of the match, so they had the numbers back to clog up the passing lanes and force mistakes. When we did get forward, the final ball was just off at times, or there was a careless offside that turned the ball over.
The good news: this is all fixable as we move forward in the season. The team will come together and get this right. The worst thing on the night is dropping the points, so let’s call this what it is: a bad luck day.
The Good:
Lots of good passing, movement, and a consistent high press got the team into some really good positions. The defense seemed to be on the same page, the vision was there, and there weren’t really any selfish dribbles or moves that shouldn’t have been taken. The team were disciplined and trying to put the training together.
However, the standout tonight was Edrey. I had questioned whether he would start, thinking that Gabriel Cabral might have been called on ahead of him. I’m very glad I was wrong about that. A lot of our passing out to the wings came from good play and vision from Edery. He was usually where he needed to be at all times, and his passing was as good as you would expect from a new signing. He even got a yellow card for a tactical foul at one point to help those of us who might have been missing Max’s towering form in the center.
Edrey truly put in a full performance tonight and validated Vinnie’s faith in him. He’s going to be exciting to watch as the season goes on. And for a season opening loss, I feel really good about this team.
Key Events:
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 52’ – Edrey Cáceres (Tactical Foul)(1st)
Spokane Velocity Sub: 57’ – Collin Fernández OFF; Jack Denton ON (Injury)
Spokane Velocity Goal: 67’ – Brent Kallman (Own Goal)
Union Omaha Subs: 68’ – Laurence Wootton OFF; Kempes Tekiela ON
Edrey Cáceres OFF; Gabriel Cabral ON
Spokane Velocity Subs: 69’ – Nil Vinyals OFF; Andre Lewis ON
Derek Waldeck OFF; Moses Mensah ON
Union Omaha Subs: 76’ – Adrian Billhardt OFF; Diego Gutierrez ON
Brandon Knapp OFF; Sami Guediri ON
Spokane Velocity Subs: 88’ – Neco Brett OFF; Anuar Pelaez ON
Luis Gil OFF; Lucky Opara ON (delayed – time infraction)
Who Gives A Hoot? 