Who Gives A Hoot?

Data Dive: A Lack of Fireworks

Home Blues
Yet again, for the third time this season, we fail to score at home. That third time as well happens to be with only 4 games at home, with the first game being a 3-0 win. So we are really talking about a three game, 270 minute scoreless streak when playing at Werner Park. That’s not great.

This was most of the talk I was hearing on the berm and on Discord this past week. Why can’t we score at home? It’s not that we don’t play well either, in the past three home games we were essentially equal or above the other team in xG. So we are expected to score more goals than them for the most part. Instead we end up with 2 draws and a loss, gaining only 5 points total at home so far. This is compared to 12 points from 7 away games at this stage. So what gives?

I don’t have a definitive answer, but I have a couple of guesses.

The first comes back to our old friend, possession. Teams know that we don’t like to possess the ball. But it’s harder to not posses it at home, the crowd is urging you on. That’s why even though teams know this they’ll try to possess it more when they are home, which allows us to do what we want to. On the other hand, we get that same feeling at home, so tend to possess the ball more, especially if we aren’t winning. Since we haven’t been able to score, we actually have ended up winning the possession battle in each of the past three home games, averaging almost 55% across them. So we aren’t playing to our strengths at home.

The other comes from this just being a new team comprised of mostly new players. They haven’t nearly had the time on this field yet. Remember that we’ve only had 4 home games at Werner this season. We’ve played 11 games. In fact, when we hit the halfway mark of our season, after playing in Madison midweek towards the end of July, we will have only played 5 home games compared to 10 away games. With only 1/3 of your games at home, you don’t get nearly as accustomed to the field than if you were playing on it more frequently (especially with how… questionable the field has been this season). This hopefully will change as players get more minutes as pros and become more comfortable in the system, but also as they get more playing time at Werner.

In all honestly, that’s what the month of August is going to be critical for. From July 30 to Sep 3rd, so just a little on either side of August, we will play 6 home games and 2 away games. This will almost equal out our home/away totals (11/12). Having so many home games so fast isn’t ideal, but hopefully it will get the players more used to the surface and to the home atmosphere. That stretch is really where we’ll see if we can turn around this lack of scoring, though hopefully we’ll find some goals against Tucson in lone home game before that period as well.

Seeing Red (…way more than normal)
Potentially one side effect of winning a championship and having players become better recognized is that there are seen as more of a threat, and as such are fouled more. That might not be the actual reason but it is one I’m trying to come up with as we see yet another red card for an opposing team this season. While this one could be argued, as us on the berm couldn’t see it that well (and seemed like a makeup for not calling a clear penalty just a minute prior), it still counts towards a total that is higher than you would expect.

In fact, we have the most Red cards against us in the league this season (4). We also are tied for 2nd most Yellow cards against us, despite having played fewer games than anyone else. Here is the full list:

(I’m never sure where to put second yellows that lead to reds. So I’m putting them in a separate column that indicates a Yellow card given that led to a Red card, which is not included in the normal Yellow card total)

So, not sure why, but another curious statistic to consider for this season.

Appearance Milestones Continue
Here is the updated League 1 appearances table for us (including playoffs):

Shido had his 50th league appearance for us this past game, a big congrats to him! He has just been so consistently a force in net for us. We also had Dalton hit 45 league appearances for us (67 overall) and Emir hit the 40 mark just after Connor did the previous week. Glad to continue to see these players hit these milestones for this club and hope to see more hit the 50 mark soon!

Charlotte Independence Preview

Union Omaha (4-4-2, 8^th Place) vs. Charlotte Independence (5-2-6, 5^th Place)

All competitions: OMA (8-4-3) vs. CLT (5-2-7)

Werner Park – Papillion, Nebraska

7:00 PM (CST) ESPN+

Good morning, Búhos Nation, and welcome to another week of USL League One action! Week 14 brings a much-needed home match to Union Omaha, as Charlotte Independence ambles into the Omaha area. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM (CST), so make sure you get off work in time to head over to Werner Park or situate yourself in front of a television. Can you think of a better way to kick off the holiday weekend than a Union Omaha home match? Neither can I.

Charlotte Independence had a wild ride in Week 13, losing the midweek match on the road in Chattanooga 1-7. In the Sunday night home match, Charlotte hosted Forward Madison and doled out a similar punishment, winning 6-2. Both results went down as their highest-scoring loss and highest-scoring win of the season so far. While they split results last week, Charlotte still hasn’t fared well in their last five, winning one match and losing the other four. On the road, the picture isn’t any brighter – the Jacks have only one win, one draw, and four losses. More to the point, the Jacks have only scored three goals across five matches and were held scoreless in three of those five matches. They’ve allowed 16 goals when playing as the visitor, which makes their road goal differential -13. Even removing the shellacking from Chattanooga last week, their road goal differential would still be -7. Tonight, they’ll find themselves lined up against a Union Omaha squad headed in the opposite direction.

Week 13 brought Union Omaha another victory, but it wasn’t without its late-game drama. The Owls defeated South Georgia Tormenta FC on the road by a score of 3-2, but allowed an own goal for the second time in three weeks. Nonetheless, the victory lifted the club past Tormenta in the standings and provided a firm hold on 8^th place, still with 2 games in hand. In their last 5 matches, the Owls have 3 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss and have outscored their opponents by a total score of 8-3. At home, Union Omaha has an even record of one win, one draw, and one loss, scored three goals and allowing two. Tonight, the Owls look to reverse the fortunes of their first meeting against Charlotte Independence.

The first, and only, matchup between these two clubs came in Week 5 of the season when Union Omaha traveled down to Charlotte. It took until the second half for the scoreboard to see any action, but Noe Meza delivered an unassisted goal for the Owls in the 65^th minute. The Jacks saved all of the drama for the last 10 minutes of the match, scoring in the 83^rd minute and sealing the victory in the 90+4^th minute. The loss dropped Union Omaha from 2^nd place down to 6^th place and lifted Charlotte into 3^rd place. The clubs are now separated by a single point, but Union Omaha has three games in hand against Charlotte. A win tonight for either club would lift them into third place in the updated standings. There’s a lot on the line, which makes for a great night of soccer for the fans watching.

With only league matches ahead, Union Omaha needs your support now more than ever. It’s a long and arduous journey to get through the season, so make sure your voice is literally heard tonight inside Werner Park. The club has a great chance to climb the standings, continue their run of success, and put on a great show for the fans. There will be a tailgate occurring before the match tonight as well, so if you’re fortunate to get off work in time, head over and hang out with some great people. There’s beautiful weather in the forecast, so take advantage of that opportunity, as well. All in all, it’s going to be a wonderful evening with some great entertainment. Wear the colors, don’t forget your scarf, and bring the noise. As always…¡Viva Búhos!

Around the Rest of the League: Week 13

Wednesday, June 22

Chattanooga Red Wolves 7-1 Charlotte Independence

A perfectly executed corner kick where Miguel Ibarra found Héctor Acosta to open the scoring was basically all Charlotte were able to do last Wednesday. After a quick equalizer from Rey Ortiz, a go-ahead goal from Juan Gailndrez that he followed up by converting a questionable penalty, Charlotte packed it in. They finished the night playing incredibly sloppy. Independence were constantly allowing Chattanooga to eat up large areas of open space, and ended the match with only eight defensive clearances. The win was desperately needed by Chattanooga, who had lost four in a row before.

Northern Colorado Hailstorm 4-1 Central Valley Fuego

Another match where the away side scored first, only for the home team to find a groove and build unstoppable momentum. Northern Colorado peppered Fuego with 23 shots, but Hailstorm mostly capitalized on chances where Fuego either seemed unprepared, or goalkeeper Ofek Antman was caught flat-footed. In a bizarre sequence for Hailstorm, the first goal by Lachlan McLean was assisted by Trevor Amann… who was then assisted by Irvin Parra… who was then assisted by Marky Hernández… who then scored on his own. In just as bizarre of a sequence, Fuego winger Nathan Smith (who started the game) received a yellow card for dissent in the sixth minute of stoppage time, and a second yellow card for a separate foul less than a minute later. These fouls during a meaningless portion of the game kept him out of their weekend match against North Carolina FC

Thursday, June 23

Forward Madison 2-1 Richmond Kickers

Madison were on the front foot for the entire match, but a late first half goal by Richmond’s Nil Vinyals was the difference in the game until after the 80th minute. Akira Fitzgerald’s four saves in the first 70ish minutes would prove to be not enough. Madison scored two goals in quick succession from Jeremiah Streng and Matheus Cassini, and were able to steal a game that they frankly deserved to win all along. Cassini’s game-winner was his third goal in two games, and Madison’s third straight win at home.

Saturday, June 25

Greenville Triumph 2-1 Northern Colorado Hailstorm

The actual match itself may not seem like old hat for Greenville, but the results sure do. Triumph’s win is their fourth straight at home, and Northern Colorado has still only accumulated a single point in the league so far in matches following wins. Northern Colorado will continue a stretch on the calendar where they do not get a full week’s rest between games until July 30.

Chattanooga Red Wolves 1-2 FC Tucson

New FC Tucson signing Fernando Garcia looked like he belonged right away, as the former Des Moines Menace player scored what would end up being the game winner in his FC Tucson debut. While still bottom of the table, many are wondering if this is the beginning of a Tucson midseason run like we saw last season. Meanwhile, Chattanooga seem to still be unable to show enough evidence that they are turning a corner, after having lost their second game at home to the league’s bottom team.

Central Valley Fuego 3-2 North Carolina FC

This was an interesting one, as each of Fuego’s three goals were memorable. The first was scored by Maxi Schenfeld, former Union Omaha midfielder Devin Boyce’s best friend, on an admittedly beautiful volley that sent North Carolina keeper Nic Holiday’s ankles all the way to Bakersfield. The second goal may not have actually been a goal, and with USL League One’s lack of cameras, Christian Chaney’s score just before halftime is forever lost in the ether. But don’t worry, because his third goal can be best described as, “failing to sweep the leg, but getting a header as he was in the process of standing up”. The result helped jumble up the table, as it left both teams on 17 points.

Charlotte Indpendence 6-2 Forward Madison

Another howler caused by miscommunication between Madison keeper Phil Breno and his backline opened the floodgates of a resounding Charlotte victory, where six different Charlotte players took part in the scoring. The result snapped a four-game losing streak for Charlotte, who still somehow lost the week 7-9 on aggregate.

USL League One Table: Week 14

Team	W	D	L	GD	PTS
Greenville Triumph	6	2	4	3	20
Richmond Kickers	5	3	4	9	18
Chattanooga Red Wolves	5	2	6	6	17
North Carolina FC	5	2	4	1	17
Charlotte Independence	5	2	6	-8	17
Central Valley Fuego	4	5	3	0	17
Forward Madison	4	5	4	-4	17
Union Omaha	4	4	2	3	16
South Georgia Tormenta	3	5	4	-2	14
Northern Colorado Hailstorm	3	4	4	-1	13
FC Tucson	3	2	6	-7	11

Two weeks since our last look at the table, and we’re only seeing potential for a slight increase in the gap from the bottom of the table to the rest of the league. Hailstorm have the best chance to climb up the table with the matches they have in hand at home, but they still have a very compact schedule to work through, as do Omaha.

Week 14 Matches

Wednesday, June 29

Greenville Triumph v. North Carolina FC

North Carolina’s season is far from slipping after their loss in Fresno, but back-to-back road matches in Greenville and Richmond before hosting Omaha isn’t an ideal stretch for trying to avoid a slump. They could do themselves, and the rest of the league, a huge favor by at least getting a result.

FC Tucson v. Richmond Kickers

Tucson have only a point in four matches at home so far this season, but so far this year Richmond’s road struggles have been a carbon copy of last season. And under pressure in Tucson last year, Richmond dropped both of their matches to end their 2021 season.

Thursday, June 30

Northern Colorado Hailstorm v. Chattanooga Red Wolves

Hailstorm will try to find some consistency in their hyper-compacted schedule, while Chattanooga has the luxury of knowing they have more than a week off following this game. They’ll hate sitting on a loss during an extended break while teams with matches in hand begin playing catchup behind them on the table.

Friday, July 1

Union Omaha v. Charlotte Independence

Will the historically steady play of Union Omaha be able to trump what has been a rollercoaster of a season from Charlotte Independence, whose games are averaging 3.7 goals? Stay tuned for Rich’s update later in the week.

Saturday, July 2

Richmond Kickers v. North Carolina FC

Both teams will be coming off games the previous Wednesday, with Richmond having traveled back home all the way from Tucson. Tucson isn’t the only demon of 2021 Richmond has to potentially exorcise this week: last season, they managed only two points out of a possible twelve against bottom of table North Carolina.

Central Valley Fuego v. South Georgia Tormenta

Tormenta has already, impressively (or unimpressively), matched a previous five match unbeaten run in league play with the six match winless run they currently find themselves mired in. This current slide all started with a 4-0 home defeat to Fuego, but Fuego themselves have managed only one win since. Fuego has a bit more buffer to work with than Tormenta, who probably feel like this is a must-win game.

Sunday, July 3

FC Tucson v. Greenville Triumph

Greenville is on a nice little run right now, and the schedule is really working in their favor to build some padding in their lead. Arguably, their next difficult game isn’t for almost another month when they go to Richmond. Anybody that thinks Tucson’s recent win in Chattanooga and the recent addition of Fernando Garcia is signs of a mid-season run will be looking carefully at this back-to-back home stretch hosting Richmond and Greenville.

Data Dive: A Better End to A Bad Week

Penal!
We won this game thanks in part to a second-half penalty. While it was definitely an arguable one (it was fairly soft in all honesty), it ended up helping in us getting the narrow 1-goal win we ended up pulling off. JP was the one who both earned and scored this penalty. This season we have now won two penalties, both of which have been scored by JP. In club history we have won 6 penalties, with only Dami’s against Tucson in the Morrison game being the lone miss. So we are 5/6, or 83.3% accurate, with penalties.

Now, how does that stack up with the rest of the league? Well, here is how the rest of the league looks this year:

And here is how the rest of the league looks over their time in League One:

Now of course this should be mentioned that some clubs have had more years in the league than others (Fuego, Charlotte, and Hailstorm just this year; NCFC 2 years; us 3 years; while the rest have 4 years). One thing that stood out to me in this data is that some of the traditional penalties earners have not been earning them this year. Richmond (13) and Tormenta (11) haven’t been awarded any so far this year. And the team who has won the most in League 1 history, Tucson (15), having only been awarded one so far this season. It would be interesting to see how the makeup of the team effects this, as teams like Tormenta and Tucson have had high turnover from past seasons, but Richmond has not had nearly as much. There is also Greenville, who has been given 3 this year already when they only were awarded 3 in each full season so far, despite not having much change there as well. It could, of course, just be the reffing, but I am curious if there is more to it than that. Either way, something I will keep track of as the season progresses.

Double Trouble
Another key note from the game was that we saw a red card given. Oddly enough, this is now the only team ever that has 2 reds given when playing us. More so, it was given in this exact same fixture in April (same season, same venue). The most curious of all, it was given to the same player! So not only is Tormenta the only team with two reds against us, Joshua Phelps is the only player to have that mark as well. A weird coincidence for sure.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel
As you all may have felt… this past week hadn’t been all that great. Losing to Greenville at home and then letting in so many goals against SKC were not looking like good omens for this game, especially after we let in the first goal. It was great to see us fight back, that first goal in particular felt like such a relief when it happened.

I think partly why it felt so needed was because of the scoreless streak we were on. It wasn’t a long one in terms of days, not nearly as long as any of the ones we’ve had in the past, but in terms of goals against it was historic. Our scoreless streak in the 3-loss run in 2020 we let in 5 goals without scoring, which wasn’t great. The streak in 2021 was better, only one loss in August where we let in a single goal, and the rest were 0-0 draws. But in the time since we had scored our last goal against Tucson, we let in 10 goals: 1 against Tucson, 2 against Greenville, 6 to SKC, and that first goal against Tormenta. That was the most we had conceded without scoring ourselves ever. Not only that, if you count just this week, we let in 10 goals (not counting Tucson and counting both for Tormenta). Those 10 goals doubled the number we have conceded this season, as before this past week we had conceded 6 in the league and 4 in the cup. So that goal, and the ones that followed, really did ease the mind that the run was over. I know I had a big sigh of relief when it went in. And hope that things come a bit easier for us on Friday, as we go for a little bit of revenge against Charlotte Independence.

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.