The fear of traveling is clinically coined hodophobia. Orange County might be seeing an early onset of it and it is coming at a bad time. They once again lost to Phoenix Rising in a cup game dropping them to 0-4 all time in that specific stat. With the massive road trip now 3 weeks in they have failed to see victory in any of the first 3 with plenty of games falling flat after halftime. To be fair this was a game in a tournament that OC was virtually eliminated from and the lineup to this game was indicative of that. Orange County has been able to score goals at a much more consistent clip but now it is the defense and goalkeeping that has taken a step back. Orange County is fortunate that this game did not count for the regular season.
FIRST HALF
While the backline remained somewhat experienced, it would take shape in front of Kadono in goal who is making his second start of the season and in the Cup. But the midfield is where we begin to see some younger players with both Efren Solis and Jamir Johnson getting the starts. It is also 3 possible games and 3 appearances for Brandon Cambridge. The two forwards up top would be MacKinnon and Bazini.
Phoenix would get off to a near perfect start with a goal being scored in the 7th minute off a corner but it would be called back by a foul in the box. A couple of times now that OC has been bailed out of conceding early goals by the refs. They would not be totally full proof to letting Phoenix get chances and really the backline had to be on their back feet a few times. However it was the Phoenix backline that would break first with Jamir Johnson getting a very crucial goal in the 22nd minute. It was a Kadono free kick that got one flick on behind that sprung Bazini in towards goal who would slot the ball across the field to Johnson who finally was able to bury a chance early in the game. This is a big goal for a young player that has gotten himself great opportunities and was finally able to capitalize on one with a nice back post finish.
Unfortunately it would be OC’s turn to play spotty defense when in the 27th minute it would be Jean Moursou to equalize. Orange County had numbers back behind the ball but perhaps they were a bit tackle shy and scared of conceding a PK because they let the ball on the floor get passed to the 18 and to the far side before a seeing eye shot would fool Kadono. I do not know if it was tipped or if Kadono was screened but he was completely thrown off by it. A common trend. Kadono would make a great save later in the half to make up for it but the first half would end 1-1.
SECOND HALF
The second half would begin and this is where the match would really get out of hand for OC. Set piece defense which had been a strength of the backline has kind of fallen to the way side. It would bite OC once again when a corner kick in the 68th minute would not get dealt with by Kadono and would fall into the middle of the six yard box and a lone Phoenix forward would easily slot home the goal. Multiple occasions tonight either of miscommunication between the defensive core or fear of making a mistake but a lot of dangerous Phoenix crosses were simply not defended. Not exactly a winning recipe for a defensive team.
After the Phoenix goal, OC did not exactly generate a lot of responsive offense. Substitute Marcelo Palomino would get a shot on goal that was not all that dangerous. They just seemed sluggish from this point on. They would get another last ditch effort with the help of Kadono coming up for the corner kick but nobody was able to get a foot on it. The match would end 1-2 and OC now find themselves tied for last in the group.
OVERVIEW
There is no greater punishment for a fan than to watch a team who is mediocre. For all the amazing performances in the league, OC still are very prone to these lifeless matches where they concede one goal and then begin fighting their personal demons instead of the other team. They have conceded penalties in the previous two games and now will not make tackles inside the box; this led to the first goal and the argument could be heard for the second goal as well. Yes this was a cup game where the result was not all that important but this was not the youngest lineup ever. Perhaps calling OC an average team is a bit too tough. They have begun scoring more goals and are not waiting until the second half to do so. Jamir Johnson, Bazini and the offensive midfielders are starting to produce goals. But it is the defense that has started to falter a bit. What we do know is that both sides of the coin have proven to work at certain points in the year but now we are waiting for it to happen at the same time. OC will fortunately return home for a game in what will indeed be a very important game after all. Both OC and their next opponent Oakland are tied in the conference with 16 points with OC having won the first battle. We are starting to exit the honeymoon phase.