FIRST HALF
It was a rough weekend for Orange County SC as they traveled up north to face Oakland Roots SC. The problem of depth in OCSC’s lineup continued as a number of key players still missed out due to injury.
From the beginning, Orange County's strategy showed a need for more creativity. Their main tactic was sending the ball long down the pitch, hoping a striker could beat Oakland's back line. However, every time they attempted to push forward in that way, the passes went straight to the opposition.
Oakland had the first dangerous attack of the night, after a free kick was sent toward the far post. It was chaotic and sloppy, but OCSC was able to clear the ball away and escape the danger before the hosts could shoot at goal.
In the 16th minute, Brian Iloski had a fantastic chance at the top of the box after some intelligent passing occurred in the midfield. Markus Nakkim won an interception and got the ball to Ryan Doghman, who quickly passed to Kyle Scott. Scott spun around the defense and found Iloski at the top of the box. Iloski fired at goal, but Paul Blanchette jumped up to make a big save and deny OC an opening goal.
Things started to look up as the squad finally showed some passing creativity in the final third. After a beautiful switch from Owen Lambe to Doghman, the team passed all around the middle of the pitch before sending it back to Doghman on the left side. He juked the defender near the corner to open up the cross, and Thomas Amang jumped up and headed past Blanchette to open the scoring.
With the momentum from the goal, the boys seemed to find their stride in creating some offensive chances and steered away from the long ball approach. They quickly got a few more chances in the box but couldn't find the finishing touch to get another clear chance on goal. Still, things were beginning to look up.
Unfortunately, everything started to go downhill. The collapse began with an atrocious penalty call. As Trayvone Reid chased a long ball, Markus Nakkim came across. Nakkim was first and cleared it away, but Reid threw himself at Nakkim and then to the ground. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, and Oakland duly slotted the ball into the net, leveling the scoreline.
SECOND HALF
Orange County SC's second-half performance is best summarized as a complete disaster. Doghman was removed at the break, and was replaced by Ashish Chattha, leaving OC short of another key player. Then, in the 51st minute, another terrible officiating moment saw Amang come off the pitch, bloodied and in tears, after clearly being elbowed in the face in the box with no foul called.
The awful referee aside, the real tragedy came from the boys in orange and black reverting to their strategy of hoofing the ball up the field with hope, rather than a plan, to get past Oakland's defense. This never worked out for the last 45 minutes and instead opened up their opponents to take full control of possession.
The Oakland Roots nearly found the second goal in the 68th minute after Colin Shutler fumbled from a pass back, giving the Oakland offense an utterly open goal to shoot on. Shutler tried to stumble back and even deflected the initial shot away, but the second went right on target, and Djeffal had to clear it off the line to keep things level.
The County Boys were demoralized entirely at this point and never found a shot on target throughout the second half, constantly trying to force the long ball approach that Oakland stopped every single time.
And finally, in the 95th minute, Oakland took the lead. They sent a long ball into the box that went over Ashton Miles's head, and Gagi Margvelashvili trapped the ball with his chest, easily tapping the ball into the back of the net for the winner.
OVERVIEW
Anyone who watched the match between Orange County SC and Oakland Roots SC knows that the officiating was horrible. But that was not the reason the OCSC lost last weekend. The second-half performance from the County Boys cost them all three points.
A lack of trust in the midfield and little imagination in attack led Orange County to lean on a long ball approach that never worked out and gave their opponents all the momentum, ultimately resulting in a last-minute defeat.
Luckily, their early season success has kept OCSC in third place in the Western Conference. However, the team should be rightly concerned about such a disappointing performance on Saturday. A team with this amount of skill cannot allow some bad calls by the referee to completely shatter their confidence and affect their strategy in such a way. It's part of the game, and after two tough losses on the road, Morten Karlsen and his players must find a way to bounce back in the coming weeks if they want to salvage fans’ expectations of this 2024 campaign.
Hopefully, with two home games ahead of them, Orange County SC can find its stride again. It all starts with a second chance against Loudoun United FC at Championship Soccer Stadium next Saturday, May 25th, at 7:00 PM PST.