On the Outside Looking In

Wednesday night in Albuquerque, New Mexico will mark the halfway point of Orange County’s season. A season that got off to a blistering start has done a complete 180 with Orange County now on the wrong side of the playoff line. We can spend all of our time blaming injuries or referees or untimely departures.

But Orange County in recent memory has yet to truly have a terrible run of form. Even during the 2022 championship hangover season which they finished last in the West, they had 13 draws with their 14 losses. Now if OC were to compare themselves to the team last year that was able to make the playoffs, they can only lose three more games before matching last year’s mark. But again this is still a salvageable season and we are nowhere near it being the worst, yet. The 2014 season saw OC only win nine games and a single draw.

But OC now enters into the month of July and it is going to be a tough month of July. The first test will be going into the desert and facing the best team in the West, New Mexico United.

THE OPPONENT - NEW MEXICO UNITED

New Mexico has been the surprise contender from the West in the first half of the year. They are the first team in the West to 10 wins and are a perfect 6-0 at games played at home. But what makes this surprising is that New Mexico had a very eventful offseason that saw a number of the notable names depart. These include Chris Wehan, Josh Suggs and Amando Moreno all going elsewhere. This in turn means a lot of new faces along with the first full season of Eric Quill as the manager and to say they have exceeded expectations would be putting it lightly. They are the third best team in the USL, first place in the Western Conference and doing it all with a healthy balance of offense and defense. It gets even more impressive with the Open Cup run they have going as they will travel to Los Angeles FC for a quarterfinal matchup next week.

We can only wait and see if New Mexico can keep up the pace in the second half of the year with a relatively younger squad. They have proven to be one of the better sides to this point.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Another reason why New Mexico has been formidable is the play of goalkeeper Alexander Tambakis. Tambakis became the all-time USL leader in saves with his 574th last Saturday in San Antonio and is working his way up to the clean sheets record as well. Likewise he is the club record holder for New Mexico in saves, clean sheets, wins and goals against average. Now the current year statistically has not been the most impressive. Tambakis has conceded 14 goals in 13 appearances to only pair with four clean sheets. However he has done enough to lead his team to the top of the Western Conference table.

On the orange side of things, the focus will be on one of the newer players that have been put into the fold. On June 14th, OCSC signed CB Jordan Chavez to a 25-day deal. Chavez is a 27-year old defensemen who at the moment is signed on to feature in both the matches on Wednesday at New Mexico and lastly on Saturday against Memphis. Orange County is his third professional club with most of his time spent with Central Valley Fuego. In the Fresno based club he made 57 appearances across two seasons. Before the Fuego he was a member of San Diego Loyal and made just 3 appearances. Chavez will most likely play at the center back position and could do just enough to push OC in the right direction.

THE MATCHUP

This is the most even it can get between two clubs. With this being the seventh all time matchup the two clubs are a perfect 2-2-2 against each other. Likewise both teams have each won at home, drawn at home and lost at home. New Mexico by USL standards is a relatively older club having first played OC in 2019. Orange County are currently ninth in the West but are only 10 points back of first place New Mexico.

WHAT TO KNOW

Game - @ New Mexico United (USL Championship)

When - June 3, 6:00 PM PST

Where - Isotopes Park (Albuquerque, NM)

OCSC Form - LWLLW

NMU Form - WWLWL

All-Time Matchup - 2-2-2 (6 Matches)

TV - ESPN+