Who Gives A Hoot?

Week 13: Tormenta FC Preview

South Georgia Tormenta FC (3-5-3, 8^th Place) vs Union Omaha (3-4-2, 9^th Place)

All competitions: TRM (5-5-4) vs OMA (7-4-3)

Erk Russell Athletic Park – Statesboro, Georgia

6:30 PM (CST) ESPN+

Good morning, Búhos Nation! It’s another beautiful gameday and another opportunity for Union Omaha to take control of their own destiny as the Owls take on South Georgia Tormenta for the second time this season and in the same place as the first matchup: Erk Russell Athletic Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 PM, so make sure you have yourself firmly planted in front of the television for the broadcast.

Since the initial matchup in Week 3, Tormenta FC has been able to find their footing while playing league matches on the road, going undefeated. The same success hasn’t been found at home, as the club’s greatest success across three league home matches was a 0-0 tie with Charlotte Independence. Tormenta has yet to win at home and is winless in their last five matches, as well. The club sat in second place of the league standings from the end of Week 5 to the start of Week 8, but had steadily dropped to their current 8^th-place position after a spell consisting of two losses and three draws.

Union Omaha enters Week 13 looking for their defensive identity after a decisive 0-2 loss to Greenville Triumph. Just days after the loss, Union Omaha suffered another debilitating loss to Sporting Kansas City in the Quarterfinals of the US Open Cup, this time the scoreline was 0-6 in favor of the MLS side. Now that the Owls have been knocked out of the Open Cup, they can devote all of their focus to league play and, lucky for them, they are only five points behind the league leader and have two games in hand. Today’s match could go a long way in reversing recent misfortunes and setting the club up for future success.

In the Week 3 matchup, Union Omaha was able to win a good portion of the challenges, gain some possession of the ball, and generate some offense, but couldn’t find the back of the net. After a straight red card in the 73^rd minute, Tormenta FC went down a man and Union Omaha was still unable to take advantage of the opportunity given to them. Both sides had their fair share of scoring opportunities, as Tormenta FC hit the crossbar in the first half and Union Omaha returned the favor by hitting the left upright in the second half. The match ended as a scoreless draw, but there were still plenty of lessons to learn from the night.

Tormenta FC is a young, invigorated side looking to change the league’s perception of the club. There’s potential in the roster to see the club make the playoffs and the team seems to believe some of that hype because they play with a lot of motivation. Today’s matchup could be decided along the flanks, which would pose an interesting challenge to Union Omaha’s defense. Both backlines will be busy fending off crosses from the outside, so the individual battles for space in the box will be entertaining to watch, as well. Whichever way you decide to look at this match, it’s going to be a fun 90 minutes to watch.

The environment on Wednesday night, inside Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, was stellar. Your support was exceptional and the club needs your continued support as they direct their entire focus back on league play. The season is just about halfway finished, so there are still plenty of magical moments to come from the Owls. Make sure they hear your voice and your support as they battle their way back into playoff position and defend their championship. Gather your friends, family, and anyone in between for tonight’s match. There’s beautiful weather in the forecast, so host your own watch party or find one of the many that are happening across the city. Have a wonderful evening, be loud, and have fun supporting the Owls. And as always…¡Viva Búhos!

U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal Preview: Sporting Kansas City v. Union Omaha

Way back in the first week of April, Union Omaha knew it would take seven wins to lift a trophy and tell one of the greatest stories in American lower league soccer history, maybe modern U.S. soccer history in general. A second-round win against Des Moines Menace would be nice, the first U.S. Open Cup victory in team history being a logical next step as the club develops an identity and continues laying a foundation for what will hopefully be long-term success. A third-round victory, no matter the opponent, would make the entire tournament in general seem like a resounding success for the club, and enough to hang its hat on going forward.

More than two months, three nervous fixture draws and four rounds later, Union Omaha is more than halfway towards writing the end of that story. With two victories on the road against MLS competition already secured, a path to lifting the trophy appears more and more visible by the day. A trip to Children’s Mercy Park against Sporting Kansas City is the next obstacle to be navigated around, and if only three more victories seems like a more reasonable task, a win Wednesday would make two more victories seem like the Cup is within our grasp to lift.

If there has been any luck going Union Omaha’s way in the U.S. Open Cup, it would likely have to do with scheduling. In its last two U.S. Open Cup games Omaha did not have to play a league match the previous weekend, while each of their opponents in those rounds did. Omaha doesn’t have that luxury before the quarterfinal, having just dropped a 2-0 result to Greenville Triumph. Comparing each team’s last competitive match, you have the basics of an argument that the schedule still favors Union Omaha, if only slightly:

Union Omaha played on Saturday, Sporting Kansas City played on Sunday
Union Omaha played at home, Sporting Kansas City had to travel to and from Nashville
Union Omaha made what looked like three planned substitutions at halftime, having made all five subs within the next half hour. SKC made just three subs in the entirety of their match, from the 75^th minute on. Johnny Russell wasn’t subbed off until the 7^th minute of stoppage time

Now, that Sunday match for Kansas City was a successful one, a 2-1 away victory at a fairly competent Nashville SC. The result is an outlier for Sporting KC in 2022, their first victory on the road. SKC have seen much, much better results at home in 2022, 5-2-3 at Children’s Mercy Park in all competitions this year. However, they have lost two straight at home to Vancouver Whitecaps and New England Revolution, respectively.

Union Omaha had a streak of their own snapped this past weekend. Their loss to Greenville ended a six-match unbeaten streak in all competitions, and for many of their new players it was only their second loss as professional players out of 13 official matches played. The loss could be a motivating factor for these new players, with the additional motivator or getting to play against another MLS side.

As far as lineups go, look for Union Omaha to go all out with this one. A practically full-strength squad started against Greenville on Saturday (Eddie Gordon was the only starter that hasn’t made regular starts), with many seeing less than 65 minutes of action. Omaha were also without Gabriel Claudio on Saturday due to a red-card suspension in league play, so a fully rested Claudio (who has started two Open Cup matches so far) will be available for the quarterfinal.

Kansas City’s projected lineup is not as easy to decipher. With only two days of rest from a road game, there may be more rotation than head coach Peter Vermes would like to have at this stage of the tournament. It’s already been confirmed that 21 year-old John Pulskamp will be the starting goalkeeper. His two previous appearances for SKC have only been in the Open Cup, as he’s been splitting time with Kendall McIntosh as both backup to Tim Melia with the first team and playing for SKC II (where he’s made five starts). Players that started in SKC’s last Open Cup game that have started at least 12 of their 17 MLS games include defender Logan Ndenbe, midfielder Rémi Walter, forward Dániel Sallói and midfielder/forward Johnny Russell. All four of those players started on Sunday, and only Walter didn’t go at least 90 minutes.

At this stage in the tournament, it doesn’t matter where you come from or who you’ve played. If you’re in the quarterfinal, you belong; you know you belong, and you can beat whoever else is left in your path. Union Omaha want to finish writing that story, and they plan on it having three chapters remaining, not one.

Data Dive: Beaten, but with 1/8th of a Chance at a Cup

Well… that happened. In an unfortunate game that was lacking in bright spots, we’ll look at some of the notes from the Greenville game before looking forward to the massive Cup Quarterfinal on Wednesday (which the team may also have been doing).

How Much Is Too Much?
Apparently, 59.6%. That’s what our total possession ended up as in this game, far above our normal standard. It was 57% at the half, which was a concerning sign at that point as well, and didn’t help that at that point we were down a goal and needed to chase. 59.6% is our highest of the league season, close to matching the amount from the Des Moines Open Cup game this year (60%) and higher than the next mark by almost 6%.

As previously mentioned here (and everywhere that talks about the team), we would much prefer to have a smaller amount of possession and take our chances on the counter. That showed, as we struggled to break down a solid Greenville defense. After having a few bright moments in the first part of the first half, we lost most of our spark after the first goal went in and Greenville did what they do best. It definitely will look different against SKC midweek, and let’s hope that’s for the best.

A Marked Difference
This is only the third time we’ve played Greenville at home. The 2021 Championship game, well, we know how that thankfully went. But this game now makes both league home games we’ve had against them ending in a similar poor result, a loss.

These games also have something else interesting in common, the style of game that ended up being played in comparison to the other games against Greenville. We also held a large majority of the possession (67.6%) in that first 2021 home game against them. They scored early then and turtled for the rest of it, a bit similar to this weekend’s game as well. The foul makeup is also similar between the two games. In all of the other games against Greenville, we heavily out-foul them. Not in league home games though. Last time, we both committed 17 fouls against the other. This game, they out-fouled us (13-16). Let’s hope our next game against them ends up looking a lot differently statistically, as that means that we’ve been able to adapt so that we can continue playing our style even when they don’t want us to do so.

The Daze of Player and Formation Rotation
It is only every once in a while that we see Union Omaha playing a back 3 with wingbacks, but this was one of those onces! It started with changes at halftime. Personnel that changed were Joe, Noe, and Ryen coming off while Dion, JP, and Yoskar subbed on. That in and of itself isn’t too surprising, getting players a bit of a run out before the midweek game while saving the legs of others (especially Ryen, who has played almost every minute of the season so far with our non-existent depth at LB). What was surprising about those changes was the aforementioned switch in formation, not to mention who played what position in it! It ended up looking something like this:

Very odd indeed! JP did end up switching with Eddie after the goal to play in a more natural position and Dion moved forward once Emir came on to help defend, but this was perhaps the weirdest positioning in a formation I think I’ve ever seen us play. Was it originally to save JP’s legs by playing as a back but still getting time on the field? Was it to experiment for SKC where we may need to play differently to disrupt their style? Was it maybe to experiment in seeing others playing those different positions to see what may work over the season with how low our depth is in certain positions? Either way, it definitely was a bit bewildering to see.

I’m curious to see what Jay does with the information gleaned from the experiment. We may or may not see the fruit of it against SKC on Wednesday. And with that said, looking forward to that Open Cup Quarterfinal game is a great antidote for this past one. I am looking forward to seeing the 700+ Omaha fans there to see if we can take down yet another MLS team!

Greenville Triumph Preview

Union Omaha (3-4-1, 6^th Place) vs Greenville Triumph (4-2-4, 4^th Place)

All competitions: OMA (7-4-1) vs GVL (5-2-5)

Werner Park – Papillion, Nebraska

7 PM (CST) ESPN+

Rise and shine, Búhos Nation! This is no usual gameday preview. This is a Belt Week gameday preview! Today, our delightful rivals from South Carolina make their way to Werner Park for the first time since last season’s USL League One Championship. It’s been so long that the last time Greenville came to town, dinosaurs were roaming the parking lot. With that memory aside, fans are in for a 90-minute chess match between two clubs that have good leadership on the bench, veteran experience on the field, and equal skillsets to bring out the best competitor in each and every player.

The Greenville Triumph enters Week 12 of the season reeling from a tough loss 2-3 loss in Madison last weekend. Greenville scored more goals than Madison, unfortunately one of goals was in their own net. The club currently sits in fourth place and only one point away from the top of the table, but goal differential and goals scored is holding them back at this point in the season. Despite those minor obstacles, the Triumph are looking to reestablish dominance in a league that has seen incredible amounts of parity this season. After a rougher-than-anticipated start to the season, the Triumph have a great opportunity to reverse their fortunes.

In their first five matches of the season, Greenville was only able to amass 5 out of 15 points, 1 clean sheet, and allowed multiple goals on 2 occasions. With those five points, the Triumph were sitting as low as ninth in the table. Since then, the club has collected 9 out of 15 points, 3 clean sheets, and allowed more than 1 goal on only 1 occasion. Outside of last week’s match against Forward Madison, the last time Greenville gave up multiple goals was against Tormenta FC on April 23^rd. One on hand, this is a very similar Greenville side, but on the other, this is a very different Greenville side from what Union Omaha fans have become accustomed to watching in league play.

This is a diagram of the goals they’ve scored and the goals they’ve allowed so far this season. If you look at the left side, the goals they’ve scored, you’ll see that most of their goals are coming from the right side of the attacking penalty spot. On the other side of the field, you can see that most of their goals come from the left side of the penalty spot in their defensive third. This does seem to match the norms of attacking tendencies from soccer teams, since most teams have their best attacker lining up on the right side of the field, but you should also consider Greenville’s secondary threat: chance creators.

Greenville has four players in double digits for chances created and three of them are higher than Union Omaha’s highest chance creator:

Having four players in double digits for chances created is bad enough for the opposition, but the way these four have played over the past five games is downright scary. Look at this graph for proof of their growth:

Through Week 6, those same four players had only collected 23 created chances, despite nearly every single one of them getting a start in each of those weeks. In Weeks 7-11, those same four players produced a total of 41 chances – nearly double that of the initial five weeks. Greenville manager John Harkes seems to have found reliable playmakers in the supporting cast. Having goal scorers like forward Jacob Labovitz and midfielder Aaron Walker on the receiving end certainly won’t give Harkes too many sleepless nights.

Another difference in this year’s edition of the Greenville Triumph is their eagerness to take shots. Last year’s team finished third in the league with 379 shots. In 2021, Greenville had 125 shots through 10 games, averaging 12.5 shots per game. This year, the club has 153 shots through ten games, almost three more shots per game. With each additional shot comes more opportunities to clean up the rebound, test the goalkeeper, and earn corner kicks off of defensive clearances. They’ll have a tough test ahead with a Union Omaha team that moves around the field well and closes up the shot windows and passing lanes.

Union Omaha strolls into Week 12 of the season and ready to host their third league match of the season. Undefeated at home and overall since April 30^th, the Owls managed to slip out of Tucson with a 2-1 win last week, even after an unfortunate second half involving a red card and an own goal. Union Omaha currently sits in sixth place in the league, but with two points separating them from the league leader and two games in hand, manager Jay Mims and co. should feel pretty good about where they currently stand in the league. That doesn’t come without its own distractions, though.

It may be time to discuss the elephant in the room: the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. With the highly-anticipated matchup against MLS-side Sporting Kansas City looming next Wednesday, Mims has to find that delicate balance in today’s match by managing the load on his players with keeping them fresh for the next round of the Cup. The players have had a full week of rest, but will also play three matches in eight days. It’s a delicate balance, but “In Jay, we trust.”

Let’s get back to today’s action, though. Here’s a diagram of Union Omaha’s scoring breakdown:

As you can see, Union Omaha is pretty balanced in scoring goals from both halves of the penalty spot. On defense, the Owls haven’t let in any goals from outside of the penalty area, which proves the defensive formation is working most of the time. The goals that were scored against Union Omaha were done mostly between the penalty spot and the goal line, which basically shows teams picking up the loose ball in the box. Teams are having a tough time scoring goals from distance, so they have to act as bulldozers and cram the ball into the net. With only six goals scored against them through eight games, Union Omaha has matched the goals-against pace of last year’s team.

Though these two clubs have only played each other on four separate occasions, there’s rich history between the two sides. We all know about the championship-that-wasn’t-to-be from 2020. In 2021, these two teams were the first USL League One teams featured on a national broadcast (ESPN2). At the end of 2021, the two clubs were the last survivors in the league and Union Omaha capitalized on the moment to win the Championship at home 3-0. Union Omaha seems to be copying Greenville’s history in a way: both have a championship and both have qualified for the Championship each year they’ve been in USL League One.

Here’s a head-to-head illustration of the goals scored against one another:

If today’s game follows suit from its predecessors, it should be a relatively clean game, yet still highly-contested. Both clubs have plenty of technical acumen to make this a very appealing game to soccer fans. It will also be interesting to see how Jay Mims and John Harkes adjust to the flow of the game. Both have shown the ability to make good decisions, even the tough ones.

With all of the above being said, be sure to make your way to Werner Park this evening for a great evening with all of your soccer friends. There’s plenty of Pride merchandise to purchase, both in the stadium and at the tailgates leading up to the gates opening. After the game, make sure to check in with Who Gives A Hoot for all of the best Union Omaha coverage. If you haven’t purchased your ticket to the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup game in Kansas City, there are still tickets available. Have a fun evening and as always…¡Viva Búhos!

An Interview with Andrew President of Reedy River Riot

Rivalries are a funny thing. Some places try to generate a rivalry based solely on proximity. Others generate it based on history. But in my opinion the best rivalries are born from fans and from the performances of the teams that play in the rivalry. That’s what Union Omaha and the Greenville Triumph have. A huge part (if not the biggest part) of this is the trophy, can we call it a trophy? Let’s call it what it is, The Belt, born from two supporters groups who have since become good friends and allies, when we’re not playing each other for those 90+ minutes that is. Today I am continuing our coverage of supporters groups across the League. This time it is with the President of The Reedy River Riot, Andrew Phillips.

Q: When/how did you start following the club?

I’ve been a fan of the club before they were even a thing (no joke). I was a part of a group that started a campaign to bring #USL2GVL via social media and petitions.

Q: How did your SG get its start?

We started after the announcement of the club, in our excitement we changed our campaign pages over to a SG in hopes of continuing to build excitement about the team.

Q: How may members do you currently have?

Currently we have 185 active members and have been growing monthly.

Q: What’s your goal as a SG?

Our main goal first and foremost to support and celebrate the club(s) by being ambassadors for them and spreading the love of the game. Secondarily, it’s to have a positive impact on our community. If we can successfully do this, we can help engrain the team into the fabric of the Upstate.

Q: What do you feel you add to the SG scene that differs from other SG?

I truly believe our SG does everything it can to have open arms to other SG’s. As a (SG) community we cannot thrive and grow without learning from each other. We’re certainly not the only SG that does this and we’re definitely not the SG that does it the best, but there are ALOT of gatekeepers out there and we are actively taking steps to avoid becoming that.

Q: Do you have a tailgate spot you want to let everyone know about?

Absolutely! Our tailgate happens directly across from the stadium on East Bramlett Rd.

Q: How does one join your SG?

Simply by going to www.ReedyRiverRiot.com and clicking on membership OR by coming to speak to us under the big tent during a tailgate.

Q: What’s one thing you’d like to see from all of the supporters around your team?

Passion is all that matters. I don’t care how you support or where just as long as you do it with passion.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to see all of the SG do together?

Supporting league growth, without it we don’t have this beautiful game in our cities so let’s make sure we also support the source.

Q: Is there something we can do as supporters/SG pre-match to make the environment better for us all?

Not at all, continue being awesome, open, and passionate.

Q: Or to make the pre-match scene better?

Please see above.

Q: How much communication do you have with the Front office?

We are lucky to have frequent comms with the FO. As a separate entity it’s important that we maintain independence, however, without the team we don’t exist so if we can keep those lines open we can better understand how to support them.

Q: Anything you’ve wanted to do in stadium that isn’t allowed or isn’t logistically possible? And finally what’s on your ultimate goal?

A CAPO stand/area would be clutch, it would allow us to engage the entire stadium in a more focused way and that’s our main goal… to get the entire stadium chanting and singing along.

Q: If money/time we’re no issue, what do you want your SG to be?

All the smoke, all the drums, all the TIFOs, and a force in the community.

This club obviously means alot to Andrew and all of the people in The Riot. They are putting in the work to make the soccer world, locally and globally, better. For that, I respect them, but for those 90+ minutes on saturday I hope Omaha crushes the dreams of the Riot for their season. No matter what happens I know that the soccer world in Greenville is a better place with the Riot in it.

Around the Rest of the League: Week 11

With the USL League one schedule starting to normalize some, we’re going to start offering a brief league wide synopsis of the league. So let’s start with last week’s matches.

Wednesday, June 8

Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC 1-1 North Carolina FC

Hailstorm FC became the last USL League One team to host a home opener this past week. They’re having to relocate to the campus of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, a 25-minute drive from their planned home in Windsor, for a yet to be determined amount of time. So, they’ll have a chance to do this again sometime in the future. Meanwhile, this was a very choppy game that was hard for either team to gain momentum. Both teams scored in the first half, but the match was marred with 32 fouls and 7 bookings that sapped a lot of energy out of the second half. This was only North Carolina’s third game away from home this season, but they’ve so far accumulated seven points in those three games.

Saturday, June 11

Richmond Kickers 4-0 Charlotte Independence

Charlotte are dealing with lots of injuries, and Richmond showed them no mercy en route to a 4-0 win. Braces for both Ethan Bryant and Matthew Bentley provided Richmond with their second four goal game of the season. The win places Richmond at the top of the table, while Charlotte are now losers of three of their last four and have suddenly fallen to fifth in the table.

Forward Madison 3-2 Greenville Triumph

Greenville’s first stint at the top of the table was very brief, as they surrendered that status following a loss in Madison. Matheus Cassini scored a brace, starting it quickly in the 2^nd minute, and he was also involved in Madison’s second score that was ruled an own goal. After a poor start, Madison’s back-to-back wins have breathed new life into their season, while this loss may mark the end of a good run from Greenville, who had accumulated 13 points in the 6 matches previous to this one.

Northern Colorado Hailstorm 1-1 South Georgia Tormenta

After such a promising start, Tormenta have now gone four straight without a win as they allowed Northern Colorado to split the points with them via a Nortei Nortey equalizer at the death. Tormenta has quickly gone from looking like one of the best defenses in the league to having been outscored 8-3 during this four game stretch.

Central Valley Fuego 0-2 Chattanooga Red Wolves

Chattanooga looked like they were about to skid off the highway, but may have course-corrected themselves with a win in Fresno, the first match played in Fresno not to end in a draw. This was only Chattanooga’s second shutout of the season, the first coming at home April 16 against Richmond. Fuego’s 4-0 road win at Tormenta seems like it was ages ago, but they are still in a very good spot to separate themselves from the pack.

USL League One Table: Week 12

Team	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
Richmond Kickers	4	3	3	18	9	+9	15
Chattanooga Red Wolves	4	2	5	15	14	+1	14
North Carolina FC	4	2	3	12	12	0	14
Greenville Triumph	4	2	4	10	10	0	14
Charlotte Independence	4	2	4	13	17	-4	14
Union Omaha	3	4	1	10	6	+4	13
Centra Valley Fuego	3	4	2	14	12	+2	13
Forward Madison	3	4	3	12	13	-1	13
South Georgia Tormenta	3	4	3	10	11	-1	13
Northern Colorado Hailstorm	2	4	2	9	11	-2	10
FC Tucson	2	1	6	9	17	-8	7

Obviously an incredibly bunched table right now. Tucson is clearly in whatever bottom tier there is in the league, but Chattanooga may have climbed out of it and Hailstorm are trying their hardest not to join them. Otherwise, the rest of the league is pretty bunched together, with Union Omaha and Fuego in the best positions to make a run with Richmond.

Week 12 Matches

Richmond Kickers v. Northern Colorado Hailstorm

Richmond are already playing their eighth home game of the season in slightly more than two months, and while they haven’t been stellar at home they have been difficult to beat with just one loss in seven matches. For Hailstorm, this is the middle game of a five-game stretch in just 18 days, and need to take advantage of this rare week of rest. It sounds ridiculous saying they have to win this, but with Fuego and Greenville the following Wednesday and Saturday, this has the potential to go off the rails for them.

North Carolina FC v. Charlotte Independence

North Carolina are coming off a long rest, and bring a three match unbeaten streak home to take on Charlotte. This game could go a long way to telling us if North Carolina will contend all season or not. A result for Charlotte would be nice, and give them at least some momentum before going on the road midweek.

Union Omaha v. Greenville Triumph

It’s Belt Week in Omaha, and UO are riding high on a six-match unbeaten streak in all competitions. Omaha, of course, has Sporting Kansas City in the U.S. Open Cup the following week, so some squad rotation is possible. Greenville had been playing very well before their loss at Madison, so they’re still coming into this match with a good amount of momentum. Stay tuned for a more in-depth preview later in the week.

Central Valley Fuego v. FC Tucson

Fuego bounced back after their first loss of the season with a road win at Madison. Their task following their second loss isn’t near as arduous, a home match against Tucson to end a three-game home-stand. This match is the first of a stretch of three in eight days, but I wouldn’t expect much rotation as Fuego are looking to get their first home win in their fourth try. The opportunity for goals galore is high, both teams are easily above the league average in combined goals per game.

South Georgia Tormenta v. Forward Madison

These are two teams headed in the opposite direction. Madison are hoping their recent run of play translates on the road, while Tormenta are looking to improve on their abysmal performance at home this season (0-2-3, 0 goals scored and 6 goals conceded). A loss for either of these teams with identical 3-4-3 records might place them back in that bottom tier of teams.

Data Dive: A Colorful Week

Another week down for the Owls and (thankfully) another win. Let’s dive into the data from that Tucson game as well as look ahead to next week’s big showdown.

Red Sands
Any game against Tucson tends to have some discipline issues, normally in fouls, which made this an interesting game in that front as compared to normal. The fouls (9 us, 10 them) actually is lower than the previous average for either side against one another. In fact, it is the lowest number of fouls either side has ever had against one another. Their previous low being 12 against us in both the playoff game last season and the first regular season game last year. Our previous low against them being 10, also from that playoff game last season.

It’s funny that last season’s final game against them comes up that way in discipline, as it is notable for one other discipline issue, something this game had in common: a red card. This makes only the fifth red card we’ve had, getting two each in the past two seasons. It is our first against Tucson, leading to another interesting tidbit that coincides with their red in the playoffs: Tucson is now only the second match-up of ours where both teams have received a red card. The only other is a team not in this league anymore, North Texas SC, though both reds in that case were in the same game. In a sense of scarlet symmetry, only 5 teams have received reds against us as well. Funny how things work out like that.

A Golden Achievement
One thing this game did involve, unlike last week, was an appearance by JP Scearce. It wasn’t just any appearance though, it was in fact his 50th league appearance (including playoffs) for the club! He is the first Owl to hit that mark. With the first season being shortened, we had only played 46 games over the first two seasons, so no one had been able to reach that milestone prior. Now, we are coming up on a number of long-serving players getting close to it. The list below has the current league appearances of our current players (in alphabetical order). We may have a few more hitting this accomplishment this season, which I will be sure to update on when they happen.

The Big Green Belt is Back
With the next opponent being Greenville, it is indeed #BeltWeek. This game comes at an interesting time for us though, with the schedule for the week after being what it is. The Open cup game against SKC is on the Wednesday after the game, so it will be interesting to see how Jay rotates players. The Chicago Fire game was the only other Open Cup game we’ve had so far (fortunately) in which we had a game the weekend before.

Greenville is a different opponent than going to Tormenta though, which was the last time we had a league game before the cup. This is going to be both a home game and a rivalry game. Going back to the fouls perspective for a second, we average 15.5 fouls against Greenville per game compared to them fouling us less than 10 times per game. Those have resulted in some yellows for us as well. So it will be interesting to see what lineup and subs end up happening as that reflects a glimmer of the different styles of play between them and many of the other teams in the league.

Finally, a quick stat on the belt itself. It is 1,082 miles between Werner Park and Legacy Early College (Greenville’s venue). The belt has made that trip 7 times, for a total of 7,574 miles (not counting the extra mileage around each city it also made). Either way, that’s a lot of miles. I hope that we will become a little bit more environment-friendly, more green, and not make it have to make that trip again this weekend.

Owls Down Tucson Despite Late Scares

Despite triple-digit temperatures, a second-half red card, and a second-half own-goal, Union Omaha prevailed at the end of Saturday night’s match against FC Tucson with a score of 2-1. What seemed to be a manageable cruise to an away victory turned into anything but that, yet the Owls maintained their composure and returned to Omaha with three points to boost them up in the league table.

The first 15 minutes of the match saw FC Tucson threatening Union Omaha time and time again. Tucson was faster, passing better, creating chances, forcing turnovers, winning challenges, and keeping Union Omaha’s defense busy. The Owls looked to be on their heels, disjointed, flustered, and even overwhelmed at times. Ultimately, they weathered the storm, re-organized their formations, settled down, and found their style of play. What resulted was a slow transition of control from FC Tucson to Union Omaha. Before halftime, Union Omaha would break the deadlock and reaffirm their confidence.

In the 42^nd minute, Union Omaha was awarded a direct kick outside of FC Tucson’s penalty area. Both Daltyn Knutson and Noe Meza would line up to take the kick, but Meza was the one who eventually put his foot on the ball. His shot initially seemed to be going over the bar, but dipped just in time to tuck itself inside the upper corner of the goal. FC Tucson goalkeeper Carlos Merancio Valdez never had a chance. Don’t be surprised if you see Meza’s goal up for Goal of the Week honors. The goal was exactly what Union Omaha needed heading into halftime.

The second half of the match started off innocently enough and both sides continued to search for the edge on their opponent, but Union Omaha wouldn’t waste too much time before finding their insurance policy. During the run of play, Union Omaha defender Isaac Bawa carried the ball up the right side of the attacking third and provided a beautiful service to midfielder Kemal Malcolm. Instead of heading the ball straight at the goal, Malcolm headed the ball into the ground. FC Tucson’s Merancio Valdez seemed to be taken by surprise from Malcolm’s approach and couldn’t locate the bouncing ball in time to save it from crossing the goal line. With a second goal in hand, Union Omaha seemed to be coasting to another victory in Kino North Stadium. The finish to this match would be anything but comfortable.

Within a mere six minutes of the Union Omaha’s second goal, defender Gabriel Claudio received a second yellow card, resulting in a red card. His dismissal from the match was a major boost of confidence for FC Tucson. They had 27 minutes of regulation time to strike back against a Union Omaha team that was a man down for the rest of the match. Exactly ten minutes after the soft red card was doled out, Union Omaha captain Conor Doyle was the victim of the cruel mistress that we call own goals. FC Tucson served up a wonderful cross into the box and Doyle had to make a split-second decision: does he go for the ball, knowing the angle of the service could easily deflect into the goal? Or does he let the ball go deeper into the box and risk an FC Tucson player finishing the service? Doyle chose action over inaction and what resulted brought FC Tucson within one goal of tying the match with Union Omaha.

Despite being down a man and one goal away from dropping points for the first time at Kino North Stadium, Union Omaha found a way to kill the clock and secure the win. With the loss, FC Tucson remains in last place, three points away from their nearest neighbor, who also have a game in hand on them. Their next match will be on the road against Central Valley Fuego, a club that hasn’t found their first victory at home and is trending in the opposite direction of where they’d like to be in the standings.

With the victory and the three points, Union Omaha finds themselves in 6^th place, 2 points away from first place, and 2 games in hand. The next matchup for the Owls is a rematch of the 2021 USL League One Championship (and 2020, if you want to be technical): Greenville Triumph. And with that being said, let me excitedly proclaim the beginning of Belt Week. At the conclusion of last night’s match, the Belt made an appearance at the watch party at The Corner Kick, so Belt Week has already begun and with it brings all of the excitement you need to get you through to next week’s home match.

Who Gives A Hoot will be providing a lot of content this week, so make sure to subscribe and don’t miss out on anything that’s coming your way. We have a new episode of the podcast, more data-breakdown greatness from Kyle, a deep-dive on FC Tucson (complete with videos, pictures, and other visuals), a preview on Greenville, and plenty of social media content planned for the next week. It’s an exciting week, so follow and subscribe for all of the treasures to come.

FC Tucson Preview

FC Tucson (2-1-5, 11^th Place) vs. Union Omaha (2-4-1, 8^th Place)

All competitions: TUC (3-1-6) vs. OMA (6-4-1)

Kino North Stadium – Tucson, Arizona

9 PM (CST) ESPN+

Good morning, Búhos Nation, and welcome to Week 11 of USL League One action. Today’s matchup sees the Owls travel down to Tucson, Arizona to battle against FC Tucson, the bottom-dwellers of the league. The match comes with great timing, as FC Tucson has only one victory in their last five outings, including last week’s 1-2 loss at Forward Madison. Union Omaha, on the other hand, is entering the game day undefeated in their last five games and fresh off their first victory against Chattanooga in club history. With a victory today, Union Omaha could climb the table and continue to position themselves favorably, especially with a game in hand.

Believe it or not, Union Omaha fans have plenty of reasons to love FC Tucson. Fans may believe that FC Tucson has that certain je ne sais quoi, but I can spell it out for you in very clear terms: no other club in League One has gifted Union Omaha more points in the standings than FC Tucson – combined, home, or away. In fact, no club has allowed Union Omaha to score more goals on them than FC Tucson. Union Omaha has never dropped a single point when playing in Kino North Stadium: three games, three wins, nine points, and a +6 goal differential. Historically speaking, you won’t find a more accommodating host than FC Tucson. The last time these two clubs met on the playing field, Union Omaha fans were treated to a true gift at home in the second round of the 2021 USL League One playoffs: a 6-1 drubbing. What a wonderful evening.

With that said, FC Tucson has the potential to surprise their opposition. I mean, sure, they’ve played eight games and only won two of them, but both wins were on the road against Chattanooga Red Wolves and South Georgia Tormenta FC, quality opponents this season. That’s as far as you’ll have to look for favorable outcomes. FC Tucson has had three home games this season. In those three home games, they’ve managed to draw once and lose twice. If you look even further into the stats, FC Tucson has more red cards at home than victories. Their red card troubles are bigger than you might think: overall this season, they have more red cards than victories.

As far as tactics go, FC Tucson likes to play slightly more conservative than Union Omaha, but they still like to pass the ball and move forward. Their manager, Jon Pearlman, likes to line up in a 4-3-3, but the formation tends to morph a bit while on offense. They like to do most of their business along the flanks and cross the ball into the box, similar to Union Omaha. While watching FC Tucson, you’ll see that they pass the ball more and their passing is a lot more accurate than Union Omaha. They find the passing lanes and take advantage of those opportunities. On defense, it won’t be hard to notice how physical they are against their opposition. They don’t concede an enormous amount of fouls compared to the rest of the league, but they play a distinctively physical style on defense. The next stat could be a positive or negative, depending on how you interpret it: no single player on FC Tucson’s roster has scored more than one goal. They have eight goals on the season, all scored by a different player (including former Union Omaha defender Jake Crull). While they contribute to the score line as a committee, they also haven’t found a reliable scorer from one week to the next. Interpret it however you’d like.

It’s a late kickoff, so get ready to celebrate another Union Omaha game day for a little longer. There are plenty of watch parties happening across Omaha, so find one closer to where you live, save your gas money, and have a little more fun at the viewing party. There are also some exciting things happening behind the scenes at Who Gives A Hoot, so stay tuned for some exciting content coming your way, including new episodes of the Who Gives A Hoot podcast. If you haven’t listened to the most recent episode, Luke and Ryan have a good conversation with Union Omaha General Manager, Peter Marlette. You don’t want to miss that episode. Wear the colors, join your friends, and have a great game day. As always…¡Viva Búhos!

Data Dive: Red Wolves Downed

Welcome to the new, revamped data segment! I’m Kyle and I’ll be doing our Data Dives this season (unless Ben really wants to, I suppose). [Editor’s note: Welcome Kyle, I’m excited you’re carrying the torch here!]

First True Sad Wolves
At long last the Owls have been able to tackle the Red Wolf in the room. The lingering thing only spoken of in the shadows, whispered but never dared to be said aloud. That is, that the Red Wolves were the only team at the end of last season that we had never beaten in League One play before.

For those unaware, the history goes like this:
1. The only 2020 game against them was rescheduled due to the infamous no lights incident. We lost the rescheduled game (as well as Dami for a bit) which set up our three game losing streak that year.
2. The only home game so far was the first against them in 2021 and had a (still bewildering how it was given) red card for JP. Down a man, we allowed a late equalizer for a draw.
3. The other game against them last year caught us in a bad place depth-wise. With a rotated lineup we played close for much of the game but ending up losing to a late goal on the road.

This means that not only is this the first win against Chattanooga, but it’s the first points we’ve gotten in their stadium. But that foe is now vanquished! With how this year’s schedule works, we only play them at home the rest of the season, so no other trip there until next year. As for teams we haven’t beaten in league play, there are now two that still remain with the entrance of the 3 new teams this year. In our one game against Charlotte, we did not win (somehow…) and while we have beaten Hailstorm in the US Open Cup, we played to a 0-0 draw against them in league play so far. But those may still change this season, with 2 more chances against each team.

How’s That Possession Stat Looking?
One of the main topics in previous data segments was the discussion of our play style, which is that we purposefully play with low possession. So, with a mostly new team does that still look the same? You betcha! Only twice this season have we had the majority of the possession (at Tormenta and vs Hailstorm). In fact, this game was our lowest of the league season at an even 31%. Our only other win so far is the third lowest mark this season, 40.1% against the Fuego. So as expected, even with the personnel changes the style truly is set and Jay has imbued this vision of play into yet another core of players.

Something Afoul(s)
It was discussed on the pod (and among supporters in general) that the Red Wolves are a relatively rough team in their style of play. I wanted to find a way to quantify this to see how measurable it could be. While not exact for a number of reasons (including reffing), I decided to look through the number of fouls and cards have happened in our games back through to the first season.

I’m deciding to take out games where we’ve only played a team once in the league, as only a single game can skew the data. To that end, the games against Fuego, Charlotte, Hailstorm, and Orlando City B (remember them?) will be excluded. I do want to mention two things about those 1-off teams first though.
1. The number of total fouls in the Fuego game is about as high as the highest average total fouls per game, 32. It’ll be interesting to see if our future games with them are similar.
2. The NoCo Hailstorm game produced 6 total yellows, which is also the average for the matchup with the most yellows. This one actually has some more data in the form of the Open Cup game against them. That game had a few more fouls, but a lower number of cards. Again, it will be interesting to see how things look once we play them a few more times.

So, how does Chattanooga fare for us? Here’s the full table:

They are, in fact, second in the number of fouls per game, at 28.5, and first in the number of total yellows per game, 6. Now, we actually end up having more fouls when playing them, 16/game to their 12.25/game but we are equal with 3 yellows/game each.

So while not being able to truly state it, it does go to show that these matches end up being some of the rougher ones we play in. There’s only really one match-up that might be considered rougher, which averages almost 31.5 total fouls per game and over 5.25 yellow cards per game. That opponent happens to be the one we play next weekend, FC Tucson.