Another (mid)week in the USL Championship and Phil is back to tell you the four players, managers, teams or events that stood out to him the most from the week that was.

Gavin Glinton is Cooking

Five wins from six and the Oakland Roots are absolutely flying in every sense of the word. A 3-2 win over Sacramento Republic in Sacramento was followed by a 2-1 win with a much-changed team at home to El Paso and it’s clear that Gavin Glinton is finding ways to get the absolute most out of this squad in a variety of circumstances.

The win in Sacramento was wholly impressive (although they did have to cling to it a bit against a late Sacramento surge in the form of Trevor Amann) and that outcome was largely down to a dynamic front four of Johnny Rodriguez, Trayvone Reid, Jeciel Cedeno and Lindo Mfeka who particularly terrorized the Sacramento backline. The interchange of the front four unsettled a typically staunch Sacramento defense. This was the first time Sacramento conceded three goals in a single match the entire season in the USL Championship. The only other team that did it was San Jose Earthquakes in the Open Cup (and they still lost.)

Mfeka was incredibly adept at finding the seams where Sacramento were out of sorts, down the middle for the second goal, then down either flank for subsequent chances. The unpredictable nature of that Oakland attack seemed to inject chaos into a match where Sacramento would certainly try to dictate tempo and limit the danger. They also limited Juan Herrera and Kieran Phillips severely in attack, allowing just four shots in the first half and many of Sacramento’s chances then came in the second half with the game having gotten away from them.

When Glinton named a starting squad that carried over just eight players of 11 from Saturday’s win, including none of the front four, as a Locomotive fan I was encouraged. Oakland’s squad couldn’t possibly have the depth to see off even a team that has struggled as much as El Paso having made so many changes game to game.

Welp.

The players that came into the side acquitted themselves extremely well. Granted they gave up a bit of a gift in the fifth minute of the match as a Niall Logue clearance bounced unfortunately off of Miles Lyons directly to the feet of Justin Dhillon for a simple finish. From there though, it was relatively straightforward for Oakland to stop Locomotive from playing the game they want and create opportunities in transition.

They were less reliant on that flying front four and more reliant on relentless pressure. They weren’t always pressing high but the press was triggered by either Eric Calvillo or Bolu Akinyode receiving the ball and it worked a treat, making 10 interceptions as a team and putting Locomotive on the back foot a number of times. The winner comes from such an interception as Bryan Tamacas cut out a loose Nick Hinds clearance and laid it off for Daniel Gomez to spray out to the left for Justin Rasmussen. His eventual cross is deflected before it comes to Ilya Alekseev to tap in but the work had made their luck and grabbed them another deserved win.

Gavin Glinton may be the caretaker for now, and I am trying not to get ahead of myself but the vibes in Oakland are immaculate at the moment and Gavin is curating.

The Simulation is Back

Many of those who have been around the USL Championship for a few years will recall that the Western Conference had been referred to as “The Simulation” as it was seen as chaotic compared to the more orderly and predictable East. There are some who took mild offense to this claim as it seemed to devalue the football in the West, others wore the name as a badge of honor as the entertainment on display was often worth the jabs. Over the last few years though, this designation has faded a bit.

This midweek slate of games felt like an acknowledgement that the West is fake once again.

I’ll look primarily at Las Vegas and Colorado Springs on Tuesday night. Yes, a Tuesday night at Cashman Field in Las Vegas that turned into one of the weirdest and most fun six goal thrillers you’ll ever see. A calamity at the back for Vegas led to a stunning goal from Quenzi Huerman for CS. That was matched by a lovely assist from Khori Bennett and an insane backheel goal from Joe Hafferty. Then Vegas goalkeeper Nicholas Ammeter was caught lacking on a shot from distance by Jairo Henriquez. At 2-1 Vegas earned a penalty for a handball and Bennett got involved again, scoring from the spot (and following with one of my favorite celebrations of the season.) The second half took time to come alive but a Coleman Gannon shot turned into a Valentin Noel tap-in just 10 minutes from time in the most USL Tactics-coded goal of the season so far. Then as the clock ticked toward added time, Ronaldo Damus headed home from a corner and the points were shared. No season defining moment, no calamity, just a game that strived to entertain.

This ability to entertain extends across the entire West. There are only two teams out West averaging less than a goal a match (El Paso and Monterey Bay.) Even more vital to entertainment, Sac Republic is the only team in the West averaging less than a goal conceded per match. Compare that to the East, where there are five teams averaging one goal scored per game or more.

Most of the entertainment is happening in the top four out East, with precious little scraps for the remainder of the conference. This contrasts starkly with the West where 11 of the 12 teams are covered by a gap of just nine points. The gap from New Mexico in first out West to El Paso in 12th is just 13 points. That is smaller than the gap from Louisville to sixth-place Birmingham Legion (14) in the East. The Simulation is back, baby and it means this season will have jeopardy for virtually every team until the very end (which is coincidentally good news for your author.)

Speaking of Legion

I’d be remiss to not mention Birmingham who hung a solid 3-0 scoreline on the 11 senior players still able to run for San Antonio FC on Wednesday night. Even San Antonio fans are probably reading this saying “That barely counts.”

Jokes aside, the form for Legion hasn’t lit up headlines but it has been quietly positive and their performances in the matches they haven’t won against superior opposition have shown reason to be optimistic. The children of San Antonio showed them the only thing consistently missing from their game is their finishing.

They outshot Charleston Battery despite the 1-0 scoreline, outshot Sacramento in a scoreless draw in California, torched El Paso out west and while they didn’t outshoot Indy in the 1-0 loss they left at least one chance on the table. The San Antonio and El Paso matches prove that most of what they need right now is confidence in front of goal.

This match it took them until the second half to get going and perhaps they even got a slice of luck in having Alex Crognale’s goal awarded but the second they believed that they could finish their chances the floodgates opened. Preston Tabort Etaka took the first decent chance he had (quite well I’ll add) and they were a crossbar away from this match being even better.

Oddly enough, I put this Legion attack in somewhat of the same category that I put Southern Harm participant Memphis in a few weeks ago. They were creating chances but they simply had terrible luck finishing them. This type of match against San Antonio could go some way to giving them some much-needed confidence in front of goal as it seems like Tommy Soehn has found a more functional system as the year goes on.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Trying to Score against Bob Lilley

It’s safe to say Louisville are having a great time this year. 11-2-2 with 40 goals for and only 15 against through 15 matches. They’ve already built a six point lead at the top of the East. And yet…going to Highmark and trying to score against Bob Lilley’s Pittsburgh Riverhounds is a challenge that many just simply fail to get right. So many great teams have had their hopes of three points dashed across the South Shore of the Monongahela.

Louisville have plenty of weapons. Wilson Harris continues to be on an absolute tear, with basically everyone else on the team pitching in with goals here and there (13 players have scored for Louisville this season…Again they’ve played 15 times. But it was not going to be as simple as “kick it to the guy with double digit goals.”

Not the kind of fireworks Pittsburgh fans were hoping for. *Image courtesy of Pittsburgh Riverhounds*

No. Lilley is far too cunning for that sort of approach. Jorge Gonzalez and Tola Showunmi seem like great options but he’ll see that coming. He managed Showunmi for god’s sake. You can’t expect to get much in possession either because Lilley will have that team behind the ball with a quickness. In fact, Pittsburgh allowed only 10 shots the entire night from Louisville, their lowest total since the 3-2 loss to Charleston on April 9th. The construction of the goal would have to come in transition as that is the only, albeit brief, time that you have to deconstruct Lilley.

Arturo Ordonez, another former Riverhound, starting the move will be a nice twist, with Taylor Davila finding Elijah Wynder to open up a bit of space in midfield. Involving Showunmi here at midfield will do, as it will be against Lilley’s expectations. This will put Jansen Wilson in space on the right. He can drive forward and cut inside, eventually involving Harris and Gonzalez. It won’t go exactly to plan but that is the key to a great heist, a part that is designed to go wrong to throw everyone off.

This interception will lull Pittsburgh into a false sense of security which will allow Wilson to hit a stunner into the bottom corner from 25 yards out. Job done.

Lou loves it when a plan comes together.

- Phil Baki