The Back Four: Hartford, Juan David Torres, and potpourri
Breaking down the tactical trends that caught my eye in Week 7 across the USL Championship and USL League One
Welcome in to The Back Four!
Before we start, check out Backheeled for a massive deep-dive into all things USL Championship. From the Davila brothers to Tulsa’s attacking glow-up and everything in between, I’m covering all 24 clubs. You can also find This League! on the site for an audiovisual dive into the week that was.
Without further ado, let’s get to it.
Birmingham, Hartford, and some midfield thoughts
Sometimes, I come into these blurbs with a very specific point to make. You’ll see that in a minute with my Charleston write-up.
At other times, I’m here to dive into the vibes. Hartford’s 1-0 win over Birmingham on Saturday wasn’t exactly a masterclass in attacking soccer, but it featured a truly fascinating midfield battle. Brendan Burke’s side ended up winning because of their bold changes; the Legion continued to skid because they didn’t adapt.
You get the high and low for Birmingham in a nice little package above. As the Legion build out against the opposing 5-2-3, they allow center back Jake Rufe to step with the ball while holding midfielder Sam McIllhatton drops deep to fill space. McIllhatton completed 44 passes and made five recoveries, but it’s his movement here that splits the Hartford pivot and opens a lane into the duopoly of Enzo Martinez and Kobe-Hernandez Foster.
Those two quickly one-touch their way into the final third, but that’s where the problem arises. Hernandez-Foster doesn’t have a No. 10s gift for incision around the box, and he’s closed by TJ Presthus at an angle that denies a centering pass. The only option is Danny Trejo, who’s wasteful when he receives.
Birmingham stalled out in that manner far too often, and even this caliber of half-chance became rarer as the game wore on because of Hartford’s adjustments. In the second half, Burke re-aligned his squad with Samuel Careaga taking over one of the pivot spots, and it immediately changed the match.
You see Careaga stepping up here, clogging space in the midfield and loosely shadowing a low drop from Hernandez-Foster. Hartford stays tight, the Legion can’t do their dual No. 10 thing, and it gums up the works. Credit Careaga: the Argentine midfielder did supremely well to plug holes and tighten angles – aspects that don’t show up on the stat sheet.
Careaga, who started on the right wing, made just three recoveries and posted one takeaway. Still, defensive numbers can be misleading. Hartford completed 26% more passes in the final 45 minutes as compared to the first, exerting far more control on the tempo and tilt of the match post-position change. That upgrade fell almost entirely on Careaga’s shoulders, evidencing how “possessive keep-away” can be a valid route to defensive solidity in its own right.
Careaga’s pass map speaks for itself. In the first half, almost all of his receptions and passes were siloed to the halfway line and ended up going backwards. By contrast, his 30-plus completions after the shift were sprayed all over the pitch. Careaga became the metronome that set the tone for the entire match.
Who’s that player in Birmingham? We saw Hernandez-Foster perform similarly in 2024, but he’s not serving in that position this season. Enzo Martinez is more of a high-energy shuttler at this stage, and McIllhatton is subtle rather than spontaneous.
I’m not here to tell you that Hartford is better than the Legion, but they made the right calls and outdid their guests where it counted. That’s a credit to Samuel Careaga and Brendan Burke, and it’s hopefully the portent of a vibe shift in Connecticut going forward.
The totality of Torres
Juan David Torres is special. Charleston has the flashiest front line in the USL, a star-studded pivot featuring Aaron Molloy and Houssou Landry, and rock-solid center backs in Leland Archer and perennial all-leaguer Graham Smith, but it’s the freedom with which Torres dominates the midfield that animates the Battery.
The Colombian winger didn’t start any of Charleston’s first four games in 2024 after signing as a trialist, but he was basically undroppable thereafter. Torres has only improved this year. Consider the 24-year-old’s per-game numbers:
4.2 shots (98th percentile)
2.4 chances created (97th percentile)
75.2 touches (97th percentile)
Fascinatingly, the final-third production has come as Torres has taken eight touches in the opposing box in total across roughly 540 minutes. This is a player who’s comfortable shooting and creating from distance, popping up in deep areas and bending defenses to his will – a crucial counterbalance alongside in-box weapons like Cal Jennings and MD Myers.
That quality was evident against Indy Eleven. Charleston nabbed two goals in the first 10 minutes, and both scoring sequences featured Torres receiving in the right halfspace to lead the charge.
The Battery essentially ran a 3-4-3 as they built out, allowing Torres to operate with absolute freedom in a right wingback-adjacent deployment. It was wonky, but it worked, evidencing Ben Pirmann’s deep understanding of the talent on this roster.
Still, this match highlighted something else about Torres: his absolutely stellar work rate.
You get an example of the full Juan Torres package here. Initially, the winger received on the switch and starts to loop inside, with right back Langston Blackstock overlapping beyond him. Torres keeps swooping toward the central areas and tries to give-and-go with Houssou, but it doesn’t come off.
The break is on for Indy at this point, but Torres understands the moment. He tracks back like a defender, harangues an Indy crosser, and keeps fighting to head the ball off the endline to prevent a corner. This isn’t a play you’d expect to see from the USL’s most singular creator!
Torres finished with eight ball recoveries in the 3-1 win, but it’s moments like that above that are unquantifiable yet utterly vital. Charleston took some time to figure things out in 2025, but Torres never wavered during that feeling-out process. Now, the Battey are clicking, and Juan David Torres is at the center of it all.
Texoma?
Texoma! This team, as it stands in mid-April, is not good. In fact, they’ve been relatively dreadful! They’re putting just 2.2 shots on net while conceding 2.6 goals per match. Do the math and that’s…uh…crazy.
I think Adrian Forbes would own the fact that it’s been a tough start, if we’re being frank. What Forbes knows that explains a lot of the situation is a massive roster-building caveat: no team in the USL has suffered more from injuries and visa issues in 2025.
Half-a-dozen players that were expected to contribute haven’t integrated. It’s been a fledgling form of Texoma to date. In that sense, the week-over-week improvement we saw between a 4-1 drubbing in Spokane and a 1-1 draw in Madison is meaningful. Forbes and co. are finding their footing, and they’re tightening up along the way.
Take their defensive look as a prime example. In that Week 6 loss in Washington, Texoma defended out of a 4-4-2 that left them wildly unsupported in the wide areas. Ajmeer Spengler – more on him momentarily – particularly struggled to get back from the wing in support of Will Perkins at right back, a gap that Spokane exploited time and again.
You see how that dynamic changed against Madison in the comparison above. For starters, Texoma adopted more of a 4-1-4-1 with Lamine Jawneh starting on the right wing and Reid Valentine at right back. The balance was markedly better – and it’s visible above.
In the first case, Spengler trails the play as three Velocity attackers push into the final third. This forces the Texoma pivot to cover wide, and it creates a deleterious domino effect; either the right back is going to get overloaded or a central cutback is on.
By contrast, the second frame sees Valentine and Jawneh in position, having dropped deep before Madison could create an overload.
Beyond the deployment changes, Forbes’ 4-1-4-1 lent extra solidity up the middle. Adding another midfielder also allowed Spengler to do his thing in the central areas where he’s the most impactful, freeing him of some defensive responsibility.
“What’s Ajmeer Spengler being asked to do?” might be the key question each week for this team. I seriously loved the talent he showed as a rookie with Tormenta, and you see that skillset above – he’s dancing through defenders, fighting the physical battles, and driving relentlessly forward all the while. Used in a three-man center group, Spengler is actually able to do those things without having to obsess over recoveries.
You’ll notice in the still that Texoma aligns themselves with very wide wingers and relatively tucked-in fullbacks. That’s no accident. By spreading the pitch but still keeping those defenders in useful resting positions, Forbes steeled his team for post-turnover transitions. Here, the alignment is doubly useful in that it splits the Madison midfield to liberate Spengler’s run.
I don’t want to be too rosy in general; Texoma only managed a draw in Madison and is still winless. Even so, their record doesn’t tell the whole story. There’s plenty of improvement to come in Sherman, and we’re just beginning to see it happen.
Open Cup potpourri
I recapped the Open Cup in detail over on Backheeled, but I wanted to throw out a few tactical wrinkles that shone particularly brightly in the Third Round, just because.
We’ll start with Charlotte, who showed more verve than any other USL team in cup play if we’re grading on the boldness of tactical adjustments. Mike Jeffries and co. defender in a proper back five in low block, echoing their tendency to adjust by phase in 2024. Against a North Carolina side that’s happy to go five-wide and spread you out, the shift was inspired.
Rafael Jauregui was the hinge player, shifting from a right wingback’s role without possession into a more full-throated attacking position post-recovery. It wasn’t Jauregui’s most astounding performance in terms of his offensive numbers, but he contested 10 duels, chipped in three interceptions, and fought the physical battle that led to Charlotte’s go-ahead goal on the break.
Yeah, the Independence fell apart late, but they had the right ideas. I’m increasingly intrigued by everything about this roster, and I’m curious to see how much more experimentation we get. Jeffries went back to basics in a win against Tormenta, but a rematch with NCFC in the Jagermeister Cup is going to be fascinating.
Loudoun played with some back-three principles in their own right, dropping an extra man (e.g., Tingey, Awuah, or McCabe) next to their center backs against LouCity’s 3-4-3 press. Obviously, the Virginians were undone by a backpass turnover at Jacob Erlandson’s expense that undercut the shift, but the ideas were good.
This is the sort of cleverness that makes Ryan Martin special, and it did a convincing job against the juggernaut that is the Danny Cruz press. The pseudo-back three allowed for more control, but it also drew Louisville excessively high at times. In the first half, before the game was out of hand, Loudoun went long 13% of the time – a modest number, but above their season average comfortably.
Martin didn’t return to that well in Championship action, but he didn’t need to. Loudoun trusted their baseline system against Pittsburgh, got Abdellatif Aboukoura his touches, and walked away winners. This team still needs to figure out their LouCity problem to contend for a title, they’re probing for answers already.
Miami, meanwhile, didn’t rip up their usual template, but I simply want to highlight the extremely fun energy they’re bringing in possession. Let’s go blow-by-blow with the play above:
Miami starts with a 4-4-2ish base by bending Nico Cardona up the right side from their usual back-three shape. In the process, they split their center mids vertically (i.e., one high, one low) to challenge the Indy press.
Meanwhile, attacker Deian Veron dives into the left halfspace, which is open because of the shape manipulation. Indy overcommits to him, opening left back Alejandro Mitrano at the sideline.
Indy also overcommits to Mitrano, leaving their back half vulnerable. As the hosts lose their structure, Allen Gavilanes finds the open space between the lines and receives with multiple runners advancing ahead of him.
Gavilanes’ pass is behind his target, but Miami retains possession. There’s a recognition that the phase has changed, meaning that Veron can advance back into the final third and nearly create a good look with a through ball.
What are we taking away here? There’s a ton of fluidity, for one thing. Miami is super expansive in 2025 – we saw it again against North Carolina over the weekend – and loves to let their attackers interchange. Still, they’re patient. No one is making a bold run out of turn; there’s a sense of structure that prevents this team from sloppily collapsing after turnovers. Good, good stuff from (arguably?) the most improved team in USL history.
I loved what I saw out of the Portland Hearts of Pine press against Rhode Island FC, and their team-wide performance was especially impressive when you consider their weekend-to-midweek match tempo. A highly rotated front unit starring players like Mickey Reilly and Evan Southern was just as effective against Tormenta as the first-choice 4-2-3-1 that took on Championship opposition days later. Allowing RIFC to take just seven shots is a statement, even if Portland can’t get off the schneid. Bobby Murphy is doing a bang-up job.
Sacramento didn’t exactly romp against El Farolito, but I loved their tactical ideas. In possession, the Republic used a 3-3-4 shape with Justin Portillo as the No. 6, Blake Willey in the left halfspace, and Rodrigo Lopez in a freer role to mirror Willey on the right. Lopez took a ton of touches toward the sideline, leveraging the space that wingback Aaron Edwards bought him with daring upfield runs. It’s no wonder that Lopez looked like his classic self, creating five total chances and grabbing the game-winning assist.
The Republic varied on that theme in Phoenix over the weekend, scraping by with a 2-2 draw but still flashing moments of brilliance. I don’t envy Neill Collins right now – he’s got far too many good attacking options and far too few roles in which to fit them. Sacramento isn’t consistent enough yet, but few teams are as scary at full tilt.
Though FC Naples finally lost some matches, you can’t say enough about Jake Dengler and Brecc Evans. I’ve talked about this team’s midfield structure in transition previously, and I’ve heaped praise on Karsen Henderlong, but the excellence of the Naples system – which shone in Tampa Bay – starts in central defense.
The Rowdies put just five shots on net in 120 minutes despite completing nearly 300 passes in the attacking half. Meanwhile, Dengler and Evans rarely lost track of Manuel Arteaga and combined for 17 clearances. That’s no mean feat! Even the loss to Knoxville was the result of a wanton penalty concession by a fullback rather than a systematic wart. In other words, believe the hype about Naples so long as Jake Dengler and Brecc Evans are holding things down.
Quick Hits
In other news this week…
Oakland! Good! It’s Wolfgang Prentice season, and if you had “Prentice becomes a talismanic goalscorer in the USL Championship” on your bingo card, you might have cosmic powers of foresight.
Richmond and Westchester’s 4-4 draw was utter havoc, and I think it’s a testament to the fact that big names don’t always lead to big results in a League One defense. Westchester brought in some legitimate heavy hitters at the back, including Tobi Adewole, Kemar Lawrence, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, and Rashid Tetteh. All have long resumes, but none of them are really doing the job right now – because of injuries, yes, but also because League One is uniquely physically demanding.
If you look at the chances WSC gave up, a lot of them came as a result on lost one-on-one battles at the back. Full credit to Hayden Anderson and Darwin Espinal for grinding it out, but I’m super curious to see where Dave Carton goes from here. He’s got the offense to make noise, but we haven’t seen the full picture yet.
Tampa Bay is a mess, but Ollie Bassett rocks. He’s so good at cutting inside from the left, and he nearly led an upset win over LouCity with eight passes into the final third, six long balls, and three shots – all of which meaningfully challenged an elite Louisville back five.
Stuart Ritchie, what a player. I talked about him in a circuitous way in this week’s Tactics Show, but he created four chances, tried seven crosses, and completed nine passes into the final third without ever being dispossessed by FC Naples this weekend. One Knox is a juggernaut for a lot of reasons, but Ritchie’s unreal two-way contributions from left back are a key ingredient.
*Red Wolf howling noises* Eric Kinzner rules, Jason Ramos rules, and this team is fun! (Related: no Chapa, no party for Greenville.)
Sinners is an absolutely superb time at the theater, and it feels like a singular vision on the part of Ryan Coogler. There’s a real delineation between the acts of the movie – an introduction to 1930s Mississippi and the ensemble cast, a truly breathtaking musical crescendo, a “can we survive the night under siege?” thriller that’s taking notes from John Carpenter’s The Thing and Assault on Precinct 13, etc. – but it somehow pulls together.
If your favorite part of Black Panther was “oh neat, we can see our ancestors on another plane of reality,” then you’re probably gonna dig the tone.
Cover Photo Credit: Hartford team website, Charleston Battery via Charleston’s ABC News 4, Texoma team website