Streaking NMU looks for fourth straight win
United visits Orange County on Saturday
On paper, New Mexico United would seem to have a significant advantage in tonight’s USL Championship match at Orange County.
OCSC rests near the bottom of the Western Conference, five points behind sixth-place United, winners of three straight and also with a game in hand.
But New Mexico coach Zach Prince knows the pitch is a long way from paper.
“No matter where they are at in the (standings), they’re going to be a tough game,” he said. “There is zero doubt about that. They have a ton of talent on their team. And really a lot of talented players that make it difficult to come out with three points with them. It’s going to take a full, focused effort to go and get three points there.”
Orange County does boast two of the conference’s leading scorers in Milan Iloski and Erick Torres with six goals apiece. So as United is attacking deep into space, it becomes paramount to control the ball, Prince said.
“If we’re able to get the ball in those areas consistently, we’re going to have good opportunities to create goal-scoring opportunities. On the flip side of that, if we’re not careful with the ball and we turn the ball over in bad areas, they’re able to counter on us. They have a lot of really good players that can get into attacking transition really quickly.”
It then becomes incumbent upon Prince to put the right lineup on the field and those players into position to produce.
“Any player that comes in the lineup, we look to highlight their skills coming into it,” he said. “We have a lot of talent up front. And we have a lot of talent on our team. It’s up to our coaching staff and these players to make sure that we’re putting them in
the right areas to go and succeed and execute in those spots that we’re putting them in.”
That means springing leading United scorers Neco Brett and Harry Swartz, who each have four goals, and reigning USL player of the week Justin Portillo after three goals and an assist, into open spaces in a variety of manners.
“Attacking the spaces in behind them are important every game and always making sure we’re always making the defenders feel like they have to defend the space in behind,” Prince said. “If that happened, that opens up some space in between the lines. If we can balance our attack with both of those and not just playing consistently underneath or consistently playing over the top, if we’re able to balance both of those, then we’re going to put them in a position where they should give us the opportunity to create some goal-scoring opportunities.”
It certainly helps that Portillo has come into his own and now is a force that must reckoned with by opponents as he is leading the USLC in chances created.
“On the ball, he has a special talent where he can really dictate the rhythm and tempo of the game,” Prince said. “What he’s really improved on in the last three or four games is defensively winning duels. He is consistently winning his duels and making sure he’s in good spots to not allow the opponents to play centrally. And if we do that consistently and we have that where he’s not allowing the opponent to get the ball in dangerous areas, then it’s going to be really tough for them. And he’s really taken ownership of that and making sure that doesn’t happen consistently.”
NOTES: Forward Devon Sandoval, who is working his way back from blood clots, is slowly starting to round into form, Prince said. Likewise, injured defender Josh Suggs has started running and defender Austin Yearwood is getting closer to activity. And electric forward Amando Moreno, recovering from ACL injury, has started exercising.