April 18, 2024 – United Soccer League One (USL1)
Union Omaha News Release
PAPILLION, Neb. – In the first Open Cup match at Werner Park, and the first of 2024 at home, Union Omaha emerged victorious after 120+ grueling minutes against El Paso Locomotive.
The match was always going to have intrigue, with Head Coach Dominic Casciato and two former El Paso players facing their old club. It had its moments too, on either end, with Rashid Nuhu alternating between long moments of inactivity and heart-in-throat stops to keep a clean sheet intact. What the match didn’t have, however, was goals, as they went into penalty kicks still scoreless.
“We knew coming to the game that it was going to be a battle,” said Rashid Nuhu post-game. “We just focused mostly on us, and not too much on our opponent. We had to respect them because they are a good team, but not give them too much respect.”
Union Omaha wanted to press the USL Championship side into frustration from the start, and it gave them an early edge. 20 minutes in they were holding El Paso to 66% passing, with a 5-1 edge on shots mainly fashioned from ambitious long-range efforts that at least struck some fear into Locomotive goalkeeper Ramón Pasquel.
From there, the tide would turn again and again. Nuhu was called into action to slide across his goal and stop an incisive El Paso attack from putting the Locomotive out front. Then Union Omaha would retaliate with a series of corners in the 35th, mounting the pressure back on the visitors. The real action, however, would come minutes later.
After a giveaway in the Owls’ own half, Marco Milanese ran down Javier Nevárez just above the penalty box. What ensued was a series of events that requires bullet points to put succinctly:
Extremely protracted discussions about the foul, to the point that the first half saw nine minutes of stoppage time
Aarón Gómez receiving a yellow card for his role in said discussions
Nortei Nortey conceding a penalty kick for a handball once the free kick was finally taken.
He too would get a yellow card, by the way, making it three Union Omaha players booked in this sequence.
El Paso’s top scorer Amando Moreno proceeding to boot the penalty into the Missouri River.
Despite all the hullabaloo at the end of the half, the score was knotted at zeroes by halftime.
The break seemed to let all the steam out of the match. By the 77th minute, each team only had one shot in the second half. Despite El Paso having the lion’s share of possession, they couldn’t…