A late brace by Diego Gutierrez proved just enough to fend off USL League One newcomers AC Boise to mark another successful home opener for Union Omaha on Sunday. The Ralston native scored on either side of an 81st minute strike by Philip Mayaka, following a first half that included an own goal (also by Mayaka) and a Boise equalizer from the penalty spot. A crowd of 1,732 watched the Owls fight a biting wind and a tough opponent to start the Morrison Era with a well-earned three points.
After a goalless opening match against Velocity, then an 8-goal explosion against Midwest Premier League side BOHFS St. Louis in the US Open Cup, Coach Vincenzo Candela opted for two changes from the side that played in Spokane. Laurence Wootton gave way to Gabriel Cabral, as the Owls shifted their attacking formation to support Pato Botello Faz up top. Ryen Jiba was also left out of the starting lineup in favor of Sami Guediri who had landed a goal and an assist during the midweek fixture.
Opposite them, Coach Nate Miller rolled out an even less altered lineup from their franchise opening win against Sarasota Paradise. The lone change saw Tumi Moshobane left off the team sheet for Omar Yehya. The Syrian forward joined Luan Brito in a two-man front in hopes of keeping up with the potent Omaha offense.
The opening kickoff saw the Owls in attack against the whipping wind, and a lot of the first half action reflected that. Both sides had trouble with their aerial attacks, most notably the Búho backline that struggled with clearances and switches in the defensive third early on. Having to keep the ball low meant having to play through the midfield, but several times there just wasn’t enough precision to get the ball through a disciplined Boise team. Most of the action happened off the dribble or off a free kick from an overly aggressive visiting side.
That’s not to say there weren’t any good chances to be had. Some great dribbling and holdup play saw Sergio Ors Navarro get an early ball in the box at his feet. The forward found Adrian Billhardt at the top of the box for a wide-open shot, but the German’s power was too much for the circumstances, and his shot sailed over the bar. Even though chances were fewer in the opening 20 minutes, they all seemed to play out similarly with either an errant shot or an untimely offside.
The 21st minute saw all that change, arguably against the run of play. With the Owl midfield causing a turnover just inside their own half, Sami was able to draw a foul from Moussa Ndiaye after taking a great pass and dribbling all the way down to just outside the Boise penalty area. The free kick set up Edrey Cáceres up to rocket an effort past the visitors’ wall that prompted a great reflex save from Joseph Andema that was pushed behind for a corner kick.
Sami’s curling corner then came into Andema and should have been easily claimed by the keeper. Instead, he stepped backward toward the goalline and dropped the ball in front of him. Unfortunately for the visitors it landed perfectly on Mayaka’s back foot and rolled into the net for an undeserved own goal on the Boise midfielder.
The opening goal seemed to energize Omaha some as a couple more deep dribbles and decent opportunities, but nothing that could be converted into a really dangerous chance. The Owls would soon regret that as AC Boise found an equalizer through the penalty spot.
A scramble in the box led and some timely defending by Brent Kallman gave Boise their own corner opportunity. Denys Kostyshyn’s service went long past the back post, but it was saved and recycled into the middle of the box. A couple more pings and the ball came to Mayaka who moved forward to try to get control. Adrian came in a little late from behind, and his low challenge caught enough of Mayaka that referee Mark Verso pointed to the spot almost instantly. Brito stepped up and put the ball down the center and past Rashid Nuhu, who dove to his left.
The rest of the half played out with neither side breaking through, but the visitors holding most of the momentum in attack. Omaha stayed disciplined and cut out the more dangerous of the chances but never found a way to push forward and put any more shots against Andema’s goal. The halftime whistle blew with both sides equal and thinking that there should be more they could do in the second half to come out on top.
Where in the first half the Owls held a large share of possession but not a lot of momentum, the second half began the opposite way. AC Boise strung together long spells of possession, but without a lot of forward movement with Union Omaha able to contain and, usually, turn over the visitors. Meanwhile, the home attack, which had trouble breaking through the midfield, found the quickness and vision expected of the roster they’ve put together. Attacks and counters mounted quickly and turned into some massive opportunities at goal. Sergio had two great chances go just wide of the net, and several others had shots that were blocked just in time or were just a little bit off target.
By the time Vinnie called for his first substitutions in the 65th minute, the pitch seemed slanted downhill as if it would only be a matter of time before the Owls scored again. It turned out to be one of those substitutions that turned the match on its head.
Diego Gutierrez, making his home debut, got his first goal of the season not 8 minutes later after a chaotic spell of attack saw former Owl Jake Crull’s clearance from his own box blocked by Sergio and pushed out no farther than the edge of the defensive third. Brandon Knapp came streaking in to intercept and pushed forward dragging the defender with him and opening up Younes Boudadi to receive a nice backheel pass on the right side of the pitch. Younes’ cross fluttered toward the six-yard box and just over Pato’s head. With the ball looking as if it would continue harmlessly through the area, Diego streaked past his marker to get a good angle of attack. His one touch poked the ball back across the box, this time rolling toward the far post and beating Andema to put the Owls in front again.
The goal seemed to wake Boise up more than it energized Omaha, and the visitors mounted some dangerous assaults in the minutes that followed. Good link up play between Mayaka and Keegan Oyler sprang Joe Hanson for an excellent chance that the latter skied over the bar. Several other times Boise found themselves threatening inside Shido’s box, and, except for a Kempes Tekiela miss prompted by an Andema misplay deep outside his own area, it started to feel inevitable that Boise wasn’t done scoring.
That proved unfortunately true in the 81st minute as Mayaka decided to take matters into his own hands. Jonathan Ricketts took a throw-in and was able to place a perfect kick over the top that led Mayaka into the attacking third. Brandon did his best to stay with the shifty midfielder, but he got turned around just outside the box allowing Mayaka some space at the top of the arc. The Kenyan pushed a shot across his body and placed it perfectly in the bottom corner of the goal well outside Shido’s ability to react. It seemed like a little bit of a fluke, but it was a goal that was undeniably building for the previous 10 minutes.
Boise’s relief and hopes of stealing a point on the road didn’t last long as Diego finished off his brace in fine fashion. Only 3 minutes after the equalizer, Omaha’s press won possession back just outside the attacking third. Brandon pushed into central space and found Diego running on the left side with room to work. The hometown man took the ball at his feet, dribbled past Ricketts, and sped up just enough to get past a sliding Jake Dengler. With the created space, Diego fired the ball at Andema, who was able to get a touch on it but was unable to keep the ball out of the back of the net. As the smoke went off in the Parliament end, Diego ran to celebrate what would be the game winner with his family and teammates in the corner.
Even with that late strike, the visitors still managed to get in a couple of threatening looks, the biggest one being a cross into Shido’s box that Ricketts couldn’t react to in time to have a shot at goal. This time, however, it felt more like the defense was disciplined and in control. It wasn’t completely comfortable, but the backline held until the final whistle giving Union Omaha a victorious start to their home campaign.
What’s Next:
Union Omaha moves up to 8th in the table behind AC Boise, oddly enough, on fair play points (the yellow cards DO matter this year!) They’ll take that momentum and welcome Corpus Christi FC to town on Saturday, April 28th at 4:00 pm CT. The new club comes with an old foe as Eamon Zayed returns for the first time since June 2024 as Northern Colorado’s Head Coach. I expect he’ll also be wearing the best sweater in USL.
The Bad:
Aside from having few real answers for Philip Mayaka, the bad from this match is that the team definitely has to work out its issues with starting slow. The windy conditions may not have helped in the first half, but the lads looked just a step slow and a pass behind in the opening minutes. They managed two shots total through the first 45, and only Edrey’s rocket that set up the corner/own goal being on target. The talent is there, but it wasn’t consistently on display in the beginning.
When I asked Vinnie about the slow start, he acknowledged that the slow start was there, saying, “It’s our third game in seven days. It was always going to take us a bit to get into it…I think we were just a touch slow to break them down. They were very good, aggressive bunch, so I have to take my hat off to Nate and the guys there at Boise, because they made it very difficult for us.”
While giving credit where credit is due to Boise, it’s still be slightly concerning that we are starting so slowly. There will be sections of the season requiring us to play on a compressed schedule and we’re going to have to be able to respond to that. Not every team is going to be BOHFS, and against a quality professional team it will cause problems.
The Good:
Diego. Gutierrez. Of course I’d start there. The pride of Ralston High, and still holder of the Nebraska state goal scoring record, has had a rough journey to get to this point. Being able to score a match-winning brace in front of a hometown crowd has to be an amazing feeling, and he’s well earned it.
When asked about what he’s asked of him, Vinnie responded, “What I’ve asked of him, no matter what position he plays, is to be the Diego Gutierrez that people know…We wanted to give him a platform to be successful. And that’s what we’re going to continue to do. We’re going to push him to continue to strive to be great…He’s earned an opportunity to play in front of his home fans and in front of his family, and we’re happy to give it to him.”
Diego also commented on his brilliant home debut, saying, “I’m always coming into the game expecting to win, hopefully, expecting to score. Did I expect two goals in 15 minutes? Not really, but, when you have the energy, when you come back home and you play in front of friends and family, and just be somewhere where you’re wanted, it’s a different feeling.”
While game winning goals are great, we also have to remember that he’s still only on a 25-day contract. The math puts him having three more games to continue this form and make sure that he can add to our attack, especially after the loss of Mark Bronnik. I believe he’s going to do so, and he’ll be amazing playing for his hometown club, but I also understand that he’s not got it secured yet. Luckily, he’s of the same mindset, indicating that “nothing’s given, so I gotta earn my contract.” For his sake, and the team’s, I really hope he can do just that.
The last point of good I took away from this is that the team’s mentality seems to be in a good place. After giving up an equalizer twice in this match, I didn’t see the same response out of this group that we did last season. There was no sense of inevitability, no contentedness with walking away with just a point (which often results in taking nothing at all). The team fought back, and made good things happen. I asked Vinnie to comment on the difference, and he said, “I told these guys we’re becoming a family, and through adversity family gives you strength…These moments when you give up a lead, we’re going to fight our way back. So that’s something that is personal to me, it’s personal to the group that we have that we’ll have a chip on our shoulders and we’re never going to give up, we’re always going to fight.”
Especially at home, that’s what we’ve come to expect of any team wearing the Owl on their chest. It’s good to see it happening.
Key Events:
AC Boise Yellow Card: 21’ – Moussa Ndiaye (Tactical Foul)(1st)
Union Omaha Goal: 22’ – Philip Mayaka (Own Goal) 1-0
AC Boise Goal: 28’ – Luan Brito (Penalty)(1st) 1-1
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 55’ – Sergio Ors Navarro (Bad Foul)(1st)
AC Boise Subs: 63’ – Dominic Gasso ON; Denys Kostyshyn OFF
Joe Hanson ON; Luan Brito OFF
Union Omaha Subs: 66’ – Digeo Gutierrez ON; Edrey Cáceres OFF
Kempes Tekiela ON; Adrian Billhardt OFF
Laurance Wootton ON; Gabriel Cabral OFF
AC Boise Yellow Card: 70’ – Philip Mayaka (Accumulated Fouls)(1st)
Union Omaha Goal: 73’ – Diego Gutierrez (1st) (A: Younes Boudadi – 1st) 2-1
Union Omaha Sub: 74’ – Ryen Jiba ON; Brent Kallman OFF
AC Boise Sub: 74’ – Keegan Oyler ON; Nick Moon OFF
AC Boise Goal: 81’ – Philip Mayaka (1st) (A: Jonathan Ricketts – 1st) 2-2
Union Omaha Sub: 84’ – Dylan Borczak ON; Pato Botello Faz OFF
Union Omaha Goal: 84’ – Diego Gutierrez (2nd) (A: Brandon Knapp – 1st) 3-2
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 86’ – Sami Guediri (Bad Foul) (1st)
AC Boise Sub: 88’ – Charlie Adams ON; Jake Crull OFF
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 90’+1’ – Rashid Nuhu (Time Wasting) (1st)
Union Omaha Yellow Card: 90’+4’ – Vincenzo Candela (Bench – Dissent) (1st)
Who Gives A Hoot? 