On Saturday, Union Amaya fell to FC Scorpions 2-1 in their debut game in the American Soccer League.
This match is the first competitive encounter between both sides, as Union Amaya is coming off their preseason summer tournament with the new ASL league. In that summer tournament, they placed 2nd, fielding their reserve/young squad.
Coach Lamounir stated that his entire team is registered for the ASL and SoCal Premier, which tells me that his 1st team squad will compete in both leagues, which helps my record keeping more official.
On a beautiful, calm summer evening in the Ralph Lewis Sports Complex in Fontana, CA, the first match of the 2023 fall ASL season kicked off. Union Amaya wore yellow jerseys, while the Scorpions were in black.
1st Half
At the start, both teams held their cards close to their chests by playing out the back to feel for their opponent’s reactions. Both were compact and held their formations tightly until the 7′ when Scorpions had a dangerous cross in the box that was eventually cleared of danger by the UA defense. This chance broke the compact timidness of the game; UA struggled to attack while Scorpions had riskier passes in UA’s final 3rd. The risk and reward of those passes were 50/50, but it was how rapid they were in executing those tight spaces.
UA then tried to play the lob ball to combat the boys in black’s strategy of being compact defensively and staying on the ground offensively. A big portion of the 1st half was back and forth, with both teams playing this way. When chances came for both teams or approaching the area to make a chance, the finishing needed to be on target. Both teams weren’t physical with standing or sliding tackles, as when both teams applied defensive pressures, the midfielders fended the defenders off, with Scorpions winning more of those 1v1 and 50/50 battles.
Turnovers would only happen when both teams’ risky passes were too powerful, or receivers lost their touch. Overall, it was a relatively uneventful 1st half that was a tug of war in the midfield by both teams. 1st half ends 0-0.
2nd Half
The second half proved to be more eventful. Just minutes after the whistle blew, UA had a chance from an attack on the left wing where the forward shot and banged the left post and out. In response, Scorpions made a brilliant 1-2 play on the edge of the right sideline, beating all the yellow shirts. A lone pass to the forward 1v1 with the goalkeeper, and he shoots a textbook finish to get the game’s first goal for the black shirts.
The Scorpions would continue their waves of attack and pressure that in the 58′, they won a loose ball in front of the UA defense, and the forward quick shot hit the top crossbar and out. Eventually, UA would match the visitor’s intensity, getting a chance at goal in the 63′ from a failed bicycle kick. Now, they were holding more possession and setting up plays while the entire Scorpions team bunkered down.
UA would then break the black team lead with a goal in the 67′ from a switch to the left side, a one-touch cross that reaches his target, and the forward slots it home before crashing with the keeper. Now it’s 1-1. The yellows now communicated more, and both teams had equal intensity to break the tie.
Scorpions built their plays primarily by individual sprints up the gut of the midfield, a distribution to the wing to misdirect UA, and all done with high intensity.
It would pay off in the 83′ from a left-side corner kick that misses the crowd in the heart of the box but finds an open man on the left side, and he slots a low hard ball into the net to give the boys in black the lead. UA could not respond in time to get one back before the final whistle as Scorpions sealed the 2-1 win.
Post-game
The conclusion of the first game of the ASL might not be detrimental for the boys in yellow as there is a whole season to be played. As far as I am aware, the standings for southern California are similar to that of collegiate rules. There is a SoCal table of 9 teams, and those nine teams are split into two groups, with UA in group A and Scorpions in group B.
This stage of the season is interplay among the groups, and towards November, inner group play will begin. Whatever the format is, I’m sure an explanation will come, and UA will have time to bounce back. Their next game will be on the road vs. Zacatepec on September 2nd.