Though they only drew, @orangecountysc took Tampa Bay to task on Saturday, driven by two-way performances from across the board. The forwards star in the clip here. Milan Iloski, deployed as a proper winger, continually drew the opposition…
…out of shape with his gravity, and that opens up a long ball into a two-on-three here. Nielsen and Chattha press hard and harangue the somewhat slow Forrest Lasso into a sloppy touch. It’s Aaron Guillen’s excellence that saves the day.
TBR’s 4-4-2 just didn’t click for much of this one. Both Kleeman and Doherty mistime their pressure here, allowing a pretty knock-on from Iloski to progress play. Good runs from Villanueva and Chattha go wanting because of a bad Nielsen touch, but OCSC was free in the middle.
Andrew Fox does the job here, dribbling between both forwards in the 4-4-2, freezing both CMs, and finding Kyle Scott. Scott was so good moving the ball between the lines in this one, and here he links with Richards to force TBR into a rotation. The guests overcommit to cover…
…the overlapping right back, giving Nielsen an inch of space to knock OCSC into the lead.
Another example here. TBR’s CMs stay too high and let Scott find a hole, OCSC tears behind, and it’s another Guillen masterclass that prevents a goal for wing-swapped Iloski.
TBR clearly struggled to balance things out with a two-man central midfield, and that also held in build. Narrow fullbacks and a good Doherty turn help here, but Scott’s drop in limits #22’s angles, and @_KP19 is there to dispossess Martinez. Partida was excellent, garnering…
…eight ball recoveries and four interceptions. He, Scott, and Powers gave OCSC a consistent edge in the center. See the clip here where Partida forces a long punt from goal, Fox steps up, and two midfielders collapse in to support him. It’s great play.