The one thing that I learned after watching Orange County SC drop a very underwhelming game on Saturday was that this may be the strangest team to watch. The only consistency with this team is their inconsistency. Sure you can make the argument that they are a team who plays up or down to their competition but it is definitely frustrating to watch as a fan.
We start the season strong with a myriad of close finishes where the majority of them go in favor of OC. This is followed by a logistical nightmare of a summer schedule where everyone on the pitch dies and OC has to field a team of high schoolers for a period of time. Then when everyone comes back from injury they forget how to win games and are embarrassed multiple times over resulting in a respected head coach getting sacked. The new coach bump phenomenon does happen again and it looks as if OC have found their groove again. Then they lose to the last place team in the West and in the process also give them their first away win all season; in October.
It seemed as if nothing went right on Saturday and that basically everything did go wrong. You lose a game where you concede a penalty and a goal from a corner kick. You see your starting center back and captain get sent off in the first half. Oh and your offense which is basically Ousmane Sylla and Yaniv Bazini carrying the team. This should have been a continuation of Orange County’s playoff push in a game where they would get Nico Benalcazar back on the pitch after his injury absence. OC still looked much more competitive than they did in any of the last games under Stone but there is still one glaring issue with them that I will address.
FIRST HALF
The same lineup that started and won the game last week against Pittsburgh would get the nod again this week. I cannot argue with the logic in this one. It is still weird to see Yaniv Bazini still be on the bench and perhaps this will be the last time this happens.
It would only take 3 minutes of the game before OC would get a gift of a penalty when Lyam MacKinnon would get tackled from behind by the Monterey Bay center back. It only took one ball over the top from Jaylin Lindsey to spring him and it was a very obvious penalty call. Ousmane Sylla would hit it very well to the right side and OC would get the all important first goal of the game over a team who has had a very tough season. It looked like a very energized OC side as a couple minutes later on a break the ball would find Chris Hegardt whose long low shot would be saved nicely by the Monterey keeper Jackson. The keeper would actually make a number of high quality saves in this game and was the player of the match for Monterey. An 8th minute low header by War off a set piece would be another example of it with OC very easily being up 3-0 to begin the game.
Both teams would trade chances with both keepers having to make saves. Although not scoring as many goals as they really could, the first half for OC looked to be a very successful one. They had gotten the goal and Rando would only need to make one good save. Everything looked to go according to plan. Then Tom Brewitt gives the ref his easiest decision of the night after awarding OC a penalty. In person from my angle it looked like a very harsh one with both players fighting for the ball and Lindsey being near enough as well to not be a last-man scenario. But on replay Tom Brewitt definitely deserves to get sent off. It is only the first time he has seen red in his OC stint. Not a very good moment for the captain as he will miss the game next week against first place El Paso as well.
The first half would end 1-0 but with absolutely zero momentum to build off of.
SECOND HALF
The second half would be played in its entirety with 10 men for Orange County. We have seen OC often times go up a man and fail to win games but OC would have to park the bus. This of course means plenty of defensive substitutions which ultimately have to happen but also means that any goal conceded really spells doom. What makes it even worse is when you gift wrap a penalty to help out your opponent. Kevin Partida completely runs through the back of his man in the box off of a throw in of all things. The fact this even happens in the first place means he gives the ref a chance to call a penalty and I have to agree with the ref again. A very brash decision that did not even need to happen and it results in Monterey Bay tying the game off the kick in the 61st minute.
It is one thing to get scored on after going down a man but you have to treat the next couple of minutes very carefully to avoid snowball effects. OC do not do this and on a Monterey corner Tyson Espy would lose his man and would let a free header right in the middle of the box get scored. Monterey Bay have now scored two goals in four minutes and lead 10-man OC 2-1. This man defense that OC runs on set pieces has not been very convincing in the slightest and it would get burned again.
Ousmane Sylla would be the only one with a shot on goal after this point and OC would give Monterey Bay just their fourth win of the season via a 1-2 defeat.
OVERVIEW
Orange County should really send a bouquet of flowers not only to Las Vegas but also New Mexico and Oakland. I could really go hard into this team as a whole but the fact is there are five teams below OC in the standings that are really not deserving of postseason spots so OC even after this tomfoolery are still 7th in the West with a somewhat comfortable margin. Things can always be worse. All of those teams I mentioned either beat another team or kept them from getting 3 points.
This is the biggest issue from OC that I have seen this season and this is a very one-dimensional offense. With a defense that is not the most consistent then you need to make every goal that much more special. Through 27 matches played the County has scored 36 goals in just the regular season alone. That is right in the middle of the graph for the past five seasons. However it is how they are scoring the goals that I am concerned with. On top of Yaniv Bazini being the only forward who is dangerous you have Ousmane Sylla the attacking mid being the other dangerous threat. Bazini has been benched in recent games and teams have been forcing OC to play down the wings. If Ousmane Sylla is covered or double teamed then OC becomes very predictable on offense. Orange County is at their best when either Sylla or Hegardt can dribble through the heart of defenses and then distribute passes to runners. I have stated this multiple times this season. If you want examples of this just rewatch the away games at Monterey and Hartford for what I mean. Orange County is not a team who will score enough goals off crosses to justify going out wide as much as they do. It is not as if the runners are not getting there, it is more that the quality of service into the box is not good enough. The very low shots on goal mark is indicative of that. I would not even say OC are a team that are that dangerous from set pieces either for the same reason. This was a game where they did generate plenty of chances in that first half but could only muster a single goal. Ultimately the lack of offense leads to Tom Brewitt getting sent off and missing next week as well. Brewitt does not pull his man down if OC are up 3-0.
With the way things are playing out in the West, OC could realistically afford one more loss. I do not think they planned for that loss to come to a team that had not won a game in 3 months but they are going to have to reap what they sow. So this is where OC finds themselves. They have three games remaining in their regular season and are currently in 7th place just being 3 points over 9th place Las Vegas. They are going to play one very good team (El Paso), one average team (San Antonio) and one more outside finisher (Phoenix). At the bare minimum they have to win one of those games with San Antonio and Phoenix becoming real 6 pointers. Orange County have easily beaten both El Paso and San Antonio once this season while they will face Phoenix for a fourth time in 2026 hoping for the first win of the season series. You can no longer blame the coach at this point if they do not make the playoffs. They will have to rely on other teams losing if they are going to get a home playoff game which is looking less and less likely. This is a team that again plays to the same level as their competition so just getting to the postseason could be enough.
Hypothetically if OC does lose next week at first place El Paso then their last two games will come against direct playoff opponents for that low seeded spot. They are perhaps as healthy as one can hope for with only Garrison Tubbs being questionable at this point. If there were ever a time to create some good will going into the offseason then October is the perfect time to do it.