A mix of weak finishes and poor defensive performances leave Orange County SC disappointed as they walk away with the third loss this season against Birmingham Legion.
FIRST HALF:
Orange County started the match hungry with an attacking mindset right away. In the first minute, Kyle Scott was able to get a perfect long ball up to Ryan Doghman on the wing who sent in a great cross into the box to Thomas Amang, but Amang couldn’t get a solid touch on the ball and the shot went out for a corner.
Scott looked incredible early in the game. He took on the number 6 role beautifully and could be seen all over the pitch for some crucial tackles and passes up the field to make plays happen. The best of which happened in the 7th minute of the game when OCSC put a lot of pressure in Birmingham’s box from Scott’s counter and opened Amang for another shot that went wide.
Birmingham's first attack occurred a couple of minutes later as Enzo Martinez dribbled through a couple of OCSC defenders and got a cross in; however, Markus Nakkim was prepared and cleared the ball out for a corner.
Orange County carried on a dangerous attack throughout the first twenty minutes, finding weaknesses in Birmingham's defense on the right side. Brent Richards and Emil Nielsen found a handful of opening runs to give the Orange County attack some thrilling chances on goal.
Birmingham's offensive approach on the other hand focused on controlled passing through the middle of the field until they reached OCSC’s box and would quickly switch to the outside and look for the cross that Orange County has been infamously weak against so far this season.
Yet right at the 30th minute of the match, Orange County’s offense finally came together with some smart passing up the middle to catch the opposing defense off guard. Alex Villanueva got the ball at the top of the box, pushed past two defenders, and even after almost losing the ball, he kept with it to deflect a pass to Doghman. A grounding cross from him found Nielsen in the center who produced a drill into the back of the night for the first goal of the night.
Orange County fans couldn't celebrate for long. Only three minutes later, Birmingham striker Juan Agudelo beat out the defensive line with a long ball run. Fans assumed that the OC defense was waiting for a call of some sort instead of playing the ball, this allowed Agudelo a ton of time to control the ball and use quick feet to move around the defenders rushing back. He took a shot that Cody Cropper had no chance of saving, tying the game.
The goal took some wind out of Orange County’s sails for a few minutes, but they didn’t give up the fight as the second half came to a close. Kevin Partida made a strong attempt from outside the box to switch things back in their favor, but the ball went wide. Despite Birmingham’s constant attack, Orange County made some well-organized counters thanks to both Scott and Doghman pushing the ball forward. However, nothing concrete came from it and the half ended at 1-1.
SECOND HALF:
Orange County arrived on the pitch for the second half eager to attack and get the game back under control. For the first five minutes, they kept the ball on Legion’s final third consistently. Amang had strong potential for a run in the box, but was tripped from behind by Alex Crognale who earned a yellow card for the challenge.
After that moment, OCSC started to get too aggressive as two more yellows were given out in quick succession to Kyle Scott and Kevin Partida. Birmingham slowed the game down with some passing in the middle to take back control of the match. Collin Smith dribbled past two Orange County defenders on the right side, finishing his run with a marvelous mug pass to Martinez in the middle of the box whose shot on goal gave Birmingham Legion the lead in the 59th minute.
Despite Birmingham taking the lead, Orange County kept pushing forward throughout the second half. Unfortunately, a mixture of sloppy passes and shots prevented them from creating any chances that felt dangerous enough to put strong pressure on Legion.
Richard Chaplow used all five of their available subs in the hopes that fresh legs might change the pace of the game. The standout of these was Korede Osundina who replaced Milan Iloski; he had numerous close attempts on goal and beat the defense on the outside every time the ball was sent his way, but a couple of narrow misses kept OCSC from finding the equalizer.
The closest of which came in extra time as Osundina sent a cross to the middle where Andrew Fox took a volley toward the corner of the net that caused the whole stadium to hold their breath, but Legion’s GK Trevor Spangenberg made an incredible diving save to keep their lead with a 2-1 win against Orange County.
OVERVIEW:
Although OCSC had most of the possession and attacking opportunities for the 90 minutes, all it takes to lose a match is a couple of defensive weaknesses. Head coach Richard Chaplow commented after the match on his disappointment with how the team performed, "For the first time [this season] I think we got what we deserved. We need to shake off the disappointment of the result and the performance… we got stretched from start to finish and we lost this game because we didn’t defend well enough". The two goals Orange County conceded were tough to watch as both instances saw one player push past our whole defensive line, and as Chaplow stated, the team will lose if they can’t keep a strong enough defensive line.
Despite winning last week, fans are frustrated at the state of the team currently and not just defensively. A lot of talks in the stands have been about the frustrating finishing touches from the strikers and an overreliance on trying to send passes over the top, leaving a lot to be desired from the offense. Whether it’s from set pieces or in-play opportunities, the orange and black offense can’t seem to find the right chemistry in their attacking force to convert constant chances into goals.
The team and the fans should all take a deep breath, listen to our gaffer, and shake off this disappointing loss. It has been a frustrating start to the season no doubt, but it is not time to give up hope as there is still plenty of time for this Orange County squad to find their groove and start winning matches. Let’s hope this slump ends next week as Orange County SC has two matches ahead of them: first an Open Cup match against the MLS Portland Timbers on Wednesday, April 26th and then back to a western conference matchup on Saturday, April 29th against New Mexico United.