The key now for Orange County is to earn points from teams that they are directly competing with for playoff spots. Of their last 15 games to end the year, 10 of those will be against fellow Western Conference teams. Add on games against Hartford and North Carolina from the East and OC certainly have an opportunity to improve upon their slim playoff chances.
Last weekend they ran into the buzzsaw that was Tampa Bay and came away with a weak 2-0 loss that ended with the second send-off of the year for Orange County. The Tampa Bay game was one of the last truly difficult games for OC who have a very manageable schedule to end the season.
Of the remaining 15 matchups, nine come at home and only two are against teams with five points or more than OC. Those two teams are New Mexico and Charleston. The rest of the match ups come against teams that OC are equal to or above in the standings. Luckily, Orange County have historically done well against many of those teams.
OC has some real six-pointers coming up with a very important one coming up this weekend: OC will play host to San Antonio in the second meeting of the two sides in 2024.
THE OPPONENT - SAN ANTONIO FC
It was going to be an interesting year for San Antonio regardless of where they would end up this season. When OC first met with San Antonio both squads were going into the game with respectable starts to the year. However, both sides have since struggled to earn points consistently, with San Antonio being just a bit worse.
San Antonio FC find themselves 10th in the West, only above Tulsa and El Paso and not yet able to be within striking distance of eighth placed Orange County for the final playoff spot. They can thank their offensive output, or lack thereof, which has only notched 19 goals. Those 19 goals are the fourth worst in the West, which is unfortunate because the defense ranks in the upper half.
Last time out, they were able to get a much needed 2-1 win over Phoenix Rising. If they are to also beat OC on Saturday night, then that would make it back-to-back wins for the first time since March.
San Antonio actually did play last week in a rare mid-season friendly against Costa Rican giants Deportivo Saprissa in a match that ended as a 4-2 loss.
In a not-particularly-fun-fact: the previous three USL champions are all fighting for the last playoff spot in the West (OC, San Antonio, Phoenix).
PLAYERS TO WATCH
San Antonio might not have the best means of scoring goals, however one individual that is on their roster is that of Jorge Hernandez. Jorge Hernandez spent most of his professional career with LA Galaxy II, along with very brief stints in Ukraine and Belgium. However Jorge may be best known as being a constant thorn in the side of OC. In 12 professional appearances against OCSC, Hernandez has totaled two goals and four assists. He grew up in Riverside and played collegiately at UC Irvine, but he and OCSC have never really gotten along well. This season, Hernandez has just one goal to his name, however he has eight assists to his name.
On the orange side of things, OC was able to get a few players back last weekend with Andrew Fox healthy enough again to play meaningful minutes. Fox is in his second year for OC and has been mostly coming off the bench with his time here. Born in Huntingdon, of England that is, the 31-year old center back has only made 11 appearances. However his appearance in Tampa Bay last week was his first game after missing five straight. Orange County are slowly getting all of their senior team players back and healthy and are doing it at the perfect time.
THE MATCH UP
A tightly contested match up that has had its share of blowouts, these are two of the stronger USL Western sides historically. Recently for both teams it has seemed to be boom or bust whether or not they win the USL or finish towards the bottom of the league.
In the 12 matches since the 2017 rebrand, both teams have won three times, lost three times, and drawn six times. One of those draws, however, was from the 2021 Western Conference final, in which OC advanced via penalty kicks en route to winning the USL Cup.
Orange County SC players celebrate earning the USL Western Conference Trophy in 2021 after advancing past San Antonio FC. Photo courtesy of Orange County SC
If Orange County were able to take all three points against San Antonio then it would just be the first time all year that OC would win consecutive home games.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - vs San Antonio FC (USL Championship)
When - July 20th, 7:00 PM PST
Where - Championship Soccer Stadium (Irvine, CA)
OCSC Form - LWLLW
SAN Form - WLLLL
All-Time Matchup - 5-4-5 (14 Matchups)
TV - Bally Sports SoCal, CBS Sports Golazo