Union Omaha are making a habit of taking down higher level teams in the US Open Cup.
This time the victim was San Antonio FC as a crowd of 1,112 fans watched the Owls hold on to a 1-0 Third Round victory on Tuesday night. Dion Acoff provided all the scoring the hosts would need with his 36th minute strike, while Rashid Nuhu turned away all three shots on target in an intense match that threatened to boil over by the time the final whistle sounded. Colombian midfielder Jimmy Medranda tried to keep San Antonio in the match, orchestrating four chances for the visitors, but it wasn’t enough to keep them from another one-and-done Open Cup appearance.
Both teams entered the match having experienced some issues in their form. For Union Omaha, a pair of Open Cup victories and a 3-1 defeat at South Georgia Tormenta in USL 1 play showed flashes of last year’s defending championship teams, but two uncharacteristic losses at Greenville Triumph and Richmond Kickers also showed a team susceptible to mistakes and still looking for cohesion.
On the other side, first-year head coach Carlos Llamosa — fresh off being named USL Championship’s coach of the month — had watched a perfect 4-0-0 start come to a screeching halt. San Antonio suffered a pair of 2-1 losses to Phoenix Rising and Miami FC — the latter coming as San Antonio held 67% possession and twice as many shots on target as their opponent.
That trend would, unfortunately, continue into this match.
The opening minutes saw San Antonio with a lot of possession, but with little to show for it in terms of attacking motion. Omaha was happy to let San Antonio hold the ball, choosing to let the press and an organized midfield find the right time to pounce on a mistake. When the ball finally did make it into the Owls’ half, it was met with quickness and physicality that prevented the attackers from getting any really good looks at goal.
Yet Omaha was also struggling to fully take advantage of the turnovers. Whether trying to push long balls over the top or rush quickly through the middle in transition, it always seemed like San Antonio found a way to recover, if only just. The early going had a lot of good action, but nothing that looked to truly be able to open the scoring.
That is until the 10th minute when Prosper Kassim found the first good chance of the match. Having taken the ball away from San Antonio just shy of midfield, the Owls played the ball to the back line looking for a way to break down the defense. Charlie Ostrem took the ball on the left side and with a quick glance noticed Kassim on diagonal run that pulled him free of the marker. Ostrem’s pass was well placed and Kassim found himself just outside the area with San Antonio Keeper Richard Sanchez coming out to challenge. Seeing the open goal, Kassim put a chip up and over Sanchez, but the Ghanan midfielder found his accuracy wanting with the shot pushing wide right of the post. It could have been the opener, but served as a warning shot instead.
San Antonio wouldn’t have to wait long for a chance of their own, however. Just four minutes later, Juan Agudelo used some great footwork and even greater strength to turn his man at midfield and started dribbling into a mass of open space toward the final third. This led Ostrem into committing a foul from behind and set up a dangerous free kick for Jorge Hernandez. Hernandez’ kick beat all of the Owl markers and fell well to Agudelo inside the six-yard box. Agudelo’s couldn’t quite make good contact with the ball, and it bounced off the right post toward Mohamed Omar. Just as Omaha’s defense started seeing visions of the losing goal they conceded less than a week prior, the referee blew his whistle calling Omar for bring the ball down with his arm. The visitors had just issued a warning shot of their own.
From this point, Union Omaha seemed to grow more comfortable in their role and made more of the possession they were given. While San Antonio still had issues playing through the middle, Omaha found ways to turn that transition into rapid movement down either side or over the top of the defense. Often, only a slightly wayward pass or the official’s offside flag kept the hosts from breakaway opportunities against Sanchez.
When the deadlock was finally broken in the 36th minute, it was because of one of those breakaway opportunities.
A ball that was almost a turnover off the feet of Kassim managed to squeeze out to Chelo Martínez near midfield to begin another Union Omaha transition. This time, Martínez found Acoff making his run up the right side completely free of his marker. Acoff took the ball into the box with only Omar and Sanchez to beat. A quick shift of the feet threw off Omar before Acoff slotted home at the inside post, despite Sanchez appearing to get a touch on the ball.
Acoff credited the anticipation that Martínez has developed early on in his time at Omaha.
“Chelo saw me make the run, so, anytime he sees me making that run he usually plays it,” Acoff said. “At that moment, I’m just one-on-one with the keeper trying to score.”
The remainder of the half would go mostly Omaha’s way, if not in possession then at least in maintaining the lead. A good switch of play by Medranda set up Nelson Flores with a solid shot from outside the box, but Nuhu was up to the diving save required to keep out the best chance San Antonio would have to equalize prior to the halftime whistle.
Coming out of the break, Llamosa opted to bring on some younger legs on the wings to try to keep up with the pace that Omaha had brought in the first half. But even though the possession and passing stats even more heavily favored the visitors, they found a hard time getting through a disciplined Owl midfield and defense to create good chances.
As the frustration mounted, so did the physicality and tension between the two clubs. Both sides found themselves with solid tackles, jostling, and a real fight for forward momentum. When there were chances to be had they were either just off target, or well blocked by two teams that had decided not to give up a single inch willingly.
Omaha coach Dominic Casciato praised the team’s fortitude.
“Second half, we defended well, looked dangerous on the break at times, and, to be honest, I don’t remember them having a big chance,” he said.
That fortitude could have been easily undone as regulation time wore down, however. Just at the stroke of 90 minutes, a scuffle started on the pitch that saw Brent Kallman behind the action and holding down San Antonio’s Jorge Hernandez. As the referee moved over to address the issue, both teams came in to the defense of their players. A few shoves, a consult with both assistants, and a significant amount of elapsed time saw the referee finally reach to his pocket and show a yellow to Kallman for his instigation of the activities. A bullet dodged for Omaha surely, as having to play the final 10 minutes of the match down a man would’ve put even more strain on the USL 1 champs.
Instead, the Owls maintained the full compliment of players to withstand San Antonio’s furious but, ultimately, futile assault and walked away still having never lost to a USL Championship team in US Open Cup play.
Though it wasn’t always an easy win, Casciato found a major building block from this win.
“I think, the performances so far this season have been a little spotty, and I think it’s just a case of time,” he said. “Preseason was pretty disrupted. We’ve been on the road for nine straight weeks. It’s a lot, it’s a lot on the guys, and I think tonight you saw what they’re capable of. So it’s about building on that and, as a team, always be willing to do what it takes to win.
“If we continue in that mentality, we’re going to be fine.”
Union Omaha will now try to take that mentality into the Round of 32 and await the draw for which MLS team will stand between them and a continued Open Cup success.