More often than not, clubs who have a heated rivalry with another will primarily be just because of geography. The club simply existing down the road from you is often enough of a reason to hate them. Orange County has had rivalries with San Diego and Los Angeles and both those rivalries were geographical at its heart but blossomed into much deeper divides. One rivalry while only being 3 years old has already been quite bitter with the funnily mentioned El Clamico derby between one Rhode Island FC and the topic of the day Hartford Athletic.
Orange County SC will conclude their more than two month long summer road trip with one last away game again in the New England area. OCSC who still sit top of the Western Conference will face off against a Hartford team who while sitting 7th in the East but have games in hand. Very similar to the situation that Rhode Island sits in. There is a very big elephant in the room regarding Hartford but we will get to that later. This is the last truly competitive game for Orange County for a couple of weeks thanks to planned bye weeks and silly competitions making the next league game after Hartford the Monterey Bay AWAY game July 25th.
Orange County are kind of hobbling into Connecticut a bit after a grueling 1-1 draw against Rhode Island. It will be interesting to see if Orange County fields out the same lineup and if they use their substitutes. This is a game to be won by Orange County but hopefully they have the players available to win it.
THE OPPONENT - HARTFORD ATHLETIC
To say Hartford have a very colorful history would be a bit of an understatement. Hartford, like a number of fledgling newer teams, is expected to have a couple of seasons where the results are not there yet. They were no different with failure to make the postseason in their first four seasons of play. What really did exacerbate issues however was when their El Clamico neighbors to the East not only made the postseason but also won the Eastern Conference. This perhaps the fire that needed to be lit for Hartford because the following season they would go and win the USL Cup. A team that had not done anything noteworthy for the first four years of existence had won a mid-season tournament and on top of that qualified for the USL postseason for the first time as well. They were one and done however in the 2025 postseason but it was a step in the right direction.
This takes us to 2026 and Hartford are about where we expect them to be sitting 7th in the Eastern Conference. But what was not expected is the fact that Hartford have the best defense in all the USL with only 11 goals conceded. For reference that is better than both first place Tampa Bay and Orange County and already 30 goals conceded less than last place Jacksonville. Jacksonville is obviously one of two teams Orange County will not play this year, thanks USL. Teams cannot score on Hartford and it makes you wonder why they are only 7th. They have only scored 10 goals all season.
Ten.
The team that Hartford can most be compared with is Sacramento Republic, who have scored 12 goals and conceded 13. Sacramento are not in a playoff position while Hartford is above the playoff line. What makes this even funnier is the team that Hartford beat to win the USL League Cup was Sacramento. But when Hartford does score, they have been against big teams like Tampa Bay and Detroit. But they have also been shut out eight times in 13 games. Hopefully Orange County do not rue their missed chances.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Hartford and their fortress of a defense have already registered 7 clean sheets. Antony Siaha has been in net for all of them. Orange County fans will recognize that name from his time with Monterey Bay where he loved to beat Orange County and let the fans know about it. This is the case wherever he goes really but 42 clean sheets in 113 appearances is nothing to scoff at. Siaha will make his most appearances with Hartford at the end of the season. He is also nearing a milestone where in the match on Wednesday he will be making his 99th appearance in the USL.
On the orange side of things, we are reaching the point in the season where we are starting to repeat players to put the spotlight on. There is a big one currently injured that is nearing a massive milestone so I am waiting until they actually play some games before we talk about them. Typically when this happens I talk about the players who make the biggest differences in games; so we are going to talk about Ousmane Sylla. Many Orange County fans will dub Sylla as the biggest offensive threat and I cannot blame them. Sylla is the quintessential attacking midfielder who can beat defenders off the dribble and has a knack for scoring some crucial goals. All three of Sylla’s goals this season have come in the second half. He had the game winner against Oakland in Santa Ana and gave OC the tying goal against Rhode Island. Sylla has a career high of 7 goals in a season back in 2024 with Houston Dynamo’s B team. The midfield is a strength for Orange County and Sylla is why.
PREDICTED STARTING XI
Orange County allegedly uses a 4-2-3-1 formation and if that is the case then this is the lineup we will see. Efren Solis could also be plugged into the midfield in lieu of Palomino. Jamir Johnson is young enough to play twice a week. Siaha is a big goalkeeper so Orange County are going to have to shoot from outside the box or get a very greasy goal. Keep an eye on what substitutes come on if any.
THE MATCH UP
This will only be the third all-time meeting between Orange County and Hartford and Orange County are looking to make it 3 games unbeaten. The last time that Orange County played in Connecticut was a 1-1 draw with a Milan Iloski free kick goal. That was back in 2023 and then in 2024 it was Orange County that got a spirited 3-2 victory on the final day of the regular season. For Orange County SC the goal is simple, if they can score one goal then the defense could get a good opportunity to earn a clean sheet which has been something that has eluded them for a bit. Their gap in the Western Conference is only two points ahead of San Antonio but another team slowly creeping up is New Mexico who are 6 points behind Orange County with two games in hand. If Orange County are to score on Wednesday it would be the 10th consecutive game which would tie the modern era mark set in 2018.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - @ Hartford Athletic (USL Championship)
When - July 8th, 4:00 PM PST
Where - Trinity Health Stadium (Hartford, CT)
OCSC Form - DWWDL
HAR Form - LDWWD
All-Time Series - 1-1-0 (2 Games)
TV - ESPN+