Let me open a beer real quick while I write about this game. As much as it pains me to say this about Orange County SC but there is a real problem at the club. For the first time all season I can say with certainty that OC with the way they are playing should not be a postseason team. With their loss on Saturday they are now winless in their last 6 games. Four of those six games have come at home and four of those games have come against teams with less points than them. In that six game span they have conceded 15 times while only scoring five. Do not even bring up how many shots on target they have logged either it will not be a good number. We have seen them lose games because of the defense. We have seen them lose games because of the offense. We have seen them lose games because of goalkeeping, lack of roster depth and add in some referee tomfoolery as well.
If this was just a one time occurrence then I can chalk it up to just a part of being a fan. But OC have had these sloppy skids in each of the last five seasons dating back to 2022. I could include seasons prior to that but that would be too much. Remember just last season when OC won just two of their last twelve games to barely squeak in to the postseason? The Sacramento playoff win made me and others forget about that. Danny Stone even came into the job because of 2024 where OC got bludgeoned by Charleston Battery via a 0-6 scoreline that was also in the midst of a six game winless run. Finishing dead last in the West in 2022 may have been a complete fluke but it just is more evidence of a broader issue. What player on the roster is going to step up and be a leader? I know that Orange County were winning games a lot this season early on but how many of those wins are because of what OC did or what the other team did not do. How many more games could OC have won if they did not shoot themselves in the foot? How many points have been lost this season? The latest loss was a great example of what has really dogged OC all season: lack of team depth and failure to execute little details.
FIRST HALF
The lineup for OC has to be the same because there is legitimately no one left to even challenge for a starting spot. But to make matters even more dire is the addition of Nico Benalcazar to the injured list. For how long may that be who knows and who cares right? We would actually see the debut of new loan in Sydney Wathuba who I actually felt did a fine job in this game with what was given to him so he and Jaylin Lindsey get a pass from me for this review. But it was also the same lineup elsewhere with the hopes that this group of players can figure things out via trial by fire. To give some credit they are definitely limiting the amount of damage they take on the defensive end not only in goals allowed but also scoring chances allowed. New player Sydney Wathuba had a very good chance to become a fan favorite as he had a golden opportunity in just the 11th minute but he would fire way wide of the net. This would be Orange County’s only good chance for about 70 minutes.
In the meantime we have to really have a talk about Alex Rando. It is very hard for a team to get out of a funk when they are gifting the other team goals. Unfortunately OC would have to again play from behind because of another questionable goal let in by Alex Rando. Perhaps the most frustrating part is that when Rando does play his heart out he often does not earn the win for it. The Hartford game where everyone on OC died should have been a shining moment for Rando but his defense did him no favors. In the 14th minute a Johnny Rodriguez shot from about 25 yards out would completely misstep Rando and curl back to the middle of the net past a diving Rando who dove too far. When it rains it pours and man have their been some awful bounces.
I am not sure what makes me more upset as a fan if it is when a team has bad defense or bad offense. I guess I get to experience both at once. It is one thing for a team to create chances but get foiled by good goalkeeping or what not but OC are having trouble just getting the ball on frame. This has been an issue all year long but before they would score on their limited number of opportunities so no one really cared. They care now. Orange County would go into the break down 0-1.
SECOND HALF
It became more apparent later on how OC started to create more chances but the fact of the matter is a team will not be successful if I have nothing to talk about scoring chance wise until the 89th minute. Nothing of note happened anyway between these two teams so lets skip ahead to when things really started to happen. In the 89th minute OC would earn only their second shot on target all night when Ethan Zubak would actually put a hard shot on target that forced a good save from the Vegas keeper Triston Henry. This really woke the team up as Chris Hegardt would get the best chance of the evening with a dribble into the box and a good shot on target that did force a better save. Triston Henry did not have much to do all night but did make 3 saves and needed the trainers to come out for him 3 different times.
But what stood out to me was how OC were able to generate their chances and it is nothing complex in the slightest. OC got their best looks on night when they attacked the Las Vegas backline through the middle. That is all it took. It is not like they were not doing this at all this season because they definitely are a dangerous team when they are going right at other teams. Ousmane Sylla has been the most dangerous player for OC on offense by literally taking the ball and forcing other teams to stop him. So Orange County do end up creating chances but I just hope next week they start doing it in the first half and not in second half stoppage time. We also cannot have anything nice at the moment so with OC pushing up they would get caught on a counter and Oalex Anderson would split the OC centerbacks and score the second of the night for Las Vegas. OC have lost to Las Vegas for just the 7th time in club history by a score of 0-2.
OVERVIEW
I originally had a much more meaner recap written up but after putting everything into perspective I decided to take a breath and give this game a reasonable review. But there are some things that still have to be said. The little details of the game are not being given the attention they deserve. Set pieces for a good team are opportunities to create goals but nothing is going to happen if the set piece delivery is bad. How many corners did we see not even beat the first man? That is another thing too for a team that has some tall players they sure get beat a lot in the air. There was a free kick in the first half that OC could have put in the box but they get cute with it and it turns into a Las Vegas counter the other way. Orange County loves playing the ball out wide and crossing into running players but again this does not happen if either the cross is bad or the finishing is bad. The little details are bad all around.
There is also going to be the hardest question to ask but if some players on the team are playing for contracts for next season then they have 6 games remaining to prove why they belong. I know a lot of these players are trying their best and most of them are unfortunately at the mercy of outside factors but it comes to a point where some tough conversations are going to be had. Orange County SC is still a business with the aim of making some money so you have to have players that help you win.
Orange County is a team that has to do some soul searching about what exactly they want to be. They have six games left to figure that out and this could be the make or break for a couple different individuals. They will get their next opportunity on the road next Saturday against Lexington SC; a team they have yet to beat or be beaten by so this will be a perfect opportunity to end that. Everything I say about Orange County comes from a place of love and this bad stretch does not change my feelings for the club or the people that run it. I know we all want the same goals.