Orange County’s first away game of the 2026 season was quite climatic and anti-climatic all at the same time. That is the best way to describe it. The game ended in a 1-1 draw with OC leaving it to the end to get the equalizer. Orange County’s goal came in the third minute of second half stoppage time and occurred with both sides only having 10 players on the pitch. There were positives to take away from the game but also some things that definitely could use some fine tuning.
FIRST HALF
Beginning with the lineup there was only one switch from the opening matchday with Nico Benalcazar starting on the backline and Kevin Partida getting his first start of the season. Tyson Espy was listed on the injury report and was not available for this game. Mostly everyone else was in their regular spots. The backline from left to right was Doghman, Benalcazar, Brewitt and War. The midfield would be Hegardt, Kelly, Partida and Johsnon; Palomino and MacKinnon would occupy the forwards spots. Johnson and Palomino also switched roles from last week. On a warm Phoenix night, OC started the game composed and withstanding the Phoenix attack. Every early Phoenix attack saw OC prepared with men behind the ball.
OC through the first half hour had the better of chances with the first shot on goal coming courtesy of Lyam MacKinnon in the 27’ minute off a counter. He tried to shoot near post but Phoenix keeper Odunze would make his first of a few quality saves in the match. Then two minutes later, again off a counter, Palomino would attempt a shot from distance that did require a parry from Odunze. The game was going just about mundane at this point for both sides. Up until the 40’ minute Phoenix did not have a shot on goal. But then from absolutely nothing Ihsan Sacko’s long distance shot beat Rando far post and all of a sudden Phoenix had the lead. The shot came from about 24 yards out and I do believe that Rando may have been screened by his own defender but nonetheless OC found themselves once again playing from behind on the road.
One could say that Phoenix had a pretty good first half and was the case until the very last two minutes. In the 43’ minute forward Juan Carvajal would get a caution for chopping down Partida near the midline. Nothing unusual there but perhaps a bit reckless. Then two minutes later another foul in OC’s defensive half would give a free kick to Tom Brewitt with Carvajal not allowing him space. Tom Brewitt kicks the ball off Carvajal and the center ref rightfully gives Carvajal a second caution for delaying a restart. It is a seriously stupid reason to get both cautions with both of them happening nowhere near the goal all within a span of 3 minutes. Phoenix saw themselves get four cautions total in the first half with half of those being for reasons not soccer related. OC had none. The first half would end with OC down 0-1.
SECOND HALF
Orange County would get an entire 45 minutes playing up a man to find the equalizer. However if there is one nasty trait that OC has developed is that they do not do all that well when having a man advantage. No easy way to explain why either. It was an issue the past couple of seasons and we would get to see if OC fixed the issue in just the second game of the season. I will concede that I do not think the issue is fixed. Orange County playing up a man was not able to generate any offense at all. Their best chance of the game to this point would be Jamir Johnson getting behind the backline but would drag his shot wide. This would be his last movement of the match as OC would make two subs right after. Johnson would come off for Ethan Zubak which we also saw last week and then Kevin Partida would make way for the OC debut of center back Garrison Tubbs. Tubbs is on loan from D.C. United being announced mid week. He is a fairly large center back at that as well standing 6’3” giving OC some desperately needed height.
His first OC stat would be getting a caution in the 65’ minute. It was at least a defensive caution unlike Carvajal’s. Ethan Zubak would get his first great chance of the game where off a set piece he found himself wide open in the middle of the box but his header could not put it on frame. By this point in the half, OC had still not been able to test Odunze even with the man advantage. The biggest issue is the link up play from the midfield to the forwards. It has been very common for OC forwards to not get many touches of the ball let alone being in the box. OC generated offense last year from outside shots but you would like to see more build up play especially when playing good defensive teams.
The game moved along and we would see Danny Stone’s gameplan take shape with the substitutions that were made. In the 68’ minute, MacKinnon would go down and would come out for Pedro Guimaraes. Guimaraes would go in at right back pushing War up to forward. More time passed and more offensive minded subs would come on. Mataeo Bunbury would come on for War on the right wing and then Yaniv Bazini would relieve Chris Hegardt in the midfield. All players that came on were 26 years or younger. But again there was still not a single shot on goal for OC. In fact neither team really did much of anything in the second half to this point and it would start to feel like the match last week.
This is about when the game got a lot more interesting. First in the 85’ minute, Garrison Tubbs would get dispossessed and would get his second yellow of the match and now both teams would go down to 10 men. Not the debut that he will like to remember. With both teams even, OC finally started to push the tempo a bit. They would get their first shot on goal of the second half in the second minute of added time when Tom Brewitt would see his side volley nicely saved by Odunze making it his best of the night. There were actually 7 minutes of added time giving OC more than enough time to find the equalizer, and they would get it.
With numbers up in the box, Pedro Guimaraes would put in a low ball that Bazini would put pressure on. The ball bounced around a bit but did find Nico Benalcazar who calmly slotted it away past Odunze in the third minute of added time. It was a completely grimy goal but Nico did have the patience and skill necessary to convert it and he would get his first of the season. The match would end 1-1 with OC just being content with a point on the road.
OVERVIEW
If Nico Benalcazar does not get a fortuitous bounce then there would be a lot more panic within the OC camp. Yes OC have scored in both games to begin the season but in 180 minutes of play they have only had 5 shots on goal; but the conversion rate is 40 percent. It is not that the forwards are missing the chances but that there are not nearly enough chances for the forwards to do anything with. The players are there and there are a number of multi-goal scorers but it will take time. I do have to give Orange County some credit which might go unnoticed. Through two games the defense has limited the number of chances created. Set piece defense has also looked better. Alex Rando has had a handful of saves to go along so the defense has not been the issue. The player of the match for me does have to be Nico Benalcazar who might be the most underrated player on the roster not only for his versatility on the field but his knack for scoring timely goals. This is a centerback who has the skillset of a midfielder.
Next week OC will have a pair of home games first on Wednesday when they begin their US Open Cup campaign against Laguna United. Then on Saturday they will welcome Colin Shutler and the Colorado Springs Switchbacks for the third game of the regular season.
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