The Back Four: Hot Stove

In-depth breakdowns from the USL Championship and USL League One

Welcome in to The Back Four!

Before we start, check out Backheeled for a big ol’ deep dive into the Jagermeister Cup group stage, which I’d like to devote to the six cups of coffee I drank on Saturday. 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.

Wheeling and dealing in the West

About two weeks ago, I ranked Valentin Noel as a top-20 player in the USL, wedged between a perennial double-digit scorer in Phillip Goodrum and the reigning Defender of the Year in Graham Smith. If you ask me, Noel is just about the best creative midfielder in the league.

You wouldn’t know it looking at his 2025 numbers. Noel has just 0.24 xGA per 90 minutes and three proper goal contributions this year, as compared to 0.34 expected returns with 17 goals and assists in 2024. His passes in the attacking half are down by 25% this season.

It’s easy to see those high-level statistics and panic. Still, they don’t tell the whole story, and it’s necessary to contextualize Noel’s changing role after the Las Vegas star was dealt to New Mexico United at the end of last week.

Under Dennis Sanchez, his manager once more post-trade, the Frenchman had free license to play as a false No. 9ish forward atop a 4-4-2 or as a left halfspace piece in a 4-3-3. That deployment within a possessive Las Vegas system brought out the best of Noel in and around the final third.

In 2025, a more direct version of the Lights has rarely possessed in the final third, thereby requiring Noel to sit deep. In that role, he served two functions: safe retention and press re-direction.

When you’ve got a genuine star, opposing defenses must pay attention. The logic for Antonio Nocerino and Giovanni Troise was that dropping Noel deep would draw the second line of pressure, opening room to advance between the lines. Noel was a Trojan Horse, but the Lights’ didn’t bring the soldiers; in practice, Las Vegas often settled for long balls and failed to break through with any manner of control.

Per sources close to the Lights front office, contract talks had stalled between the club and their star midfielder. Noel, whose deal is up at the end of the 2025 season, wanted a richer deal than Las Vegas was willing to offer.

From there, the calculus was simple: deal Noel now or lose him for nothing in four months. Frustrated with a -15 goal difference and 11th place position in the table and looking to reset ahead of a new managerial hire, the Lights opted to cash in. Sanchez’s New Mexico was willing to offer two starting-caliber players in return, and that’s why McKinze Gaines and Anthony Herbert will be plying their trade at Cashman Stadium henceforth.

Gaines has a team option for 2026, one that’s likely to be exercised. Though he’d fallen out of favor in Albuquerque, Gaines already has two goals and three assists this season. Improvement is likely; Gaines is only succeeding on 29% of his dribble attempts to date but was once a premier ball-handler as an MLS super-sub, posting a stellar 53% success rate on 97 dribbles across four seasons.

Herbert, meanwhile, was a regular last year for a very strong New Mexico team and can be a legitimate Championship center back. His addition made all the more sense once Las Vegas dealt star center back Maliek Howell on Saturday.

As compared to other center backs in the Lights’ stable, Herbert and Howell are remarkably similar players. Both are adept duelers, strong as intervenors, and above-average in their ability to find teammates in the attacking half.

With Howell having been in and out of the team and Herbert available on the market, the set of transfers meshed nicely. The Lights turned their Jamaican international defender into cash, trading him to Birmingham for Kobe Hernandez-Foster and immediately selling Hernandez-Foster to Detroit for a fee.

So, let’s recap. Las Vegas sells Noeland Howell in return for Gaines, Herbert, and cash. If that’s not enough activity, get ready – those aforementioned sources note that more signings and a coaching hire are on the horizon, and having extra cash on hand is key to the business to come.

Admittedly, there are short-term ramifications that can’t be ignored, at least until the transfer dominos stop falling. My playoff odds model pushed New Mexico to the top of the West (+2.1 points) with Noel in tow; by contrast, the Lights’ expected return tanked by six whole points after their moves.

Not to be outdone, Oakland also threw their hat in the ring by signing Faysal Bettache off of Tulsa. While Bettache struggled to earn minutes after signing in Oklahoma partway through 2024, he’s a player with solid vision between the lines and an ability to do the job from either halfspace.

Bettache put up 21 goal contributions in roughly 3,300 MLS Next Pro minutes before hopping over to the USL, but his core competency comes via left-footed skill in tight spaces. That’s often led to goals at other levels, but Bettache relishes being the setup man.

Whether the Englishman will earn regular starting minutes over Daniel Gomez remains to be seen, but he looked comfortable in Oakland’s three-box-three offense this weekend against Orange County. Above, you’re seeing the newest Roots player receive from Ali Elmasnaouy amidst that shape, control into space, and keep play moving until a dangerous cross comes in. He ultimately completed seven passes into the final third on 52 touches in his debut.

Elmasnaouy might as well’ve been a new signing under Benny Feilhaber, and he’s quickly become a standout in the central midfield. The 20-year-old just signed his first pro contract, and you can immediately see why in the tape. He’s completed 121 passes on 84% accuracy over the last three weeks, picking out teammates like you’re seeing above and contesting 32 duels in the process.

Because of the Bettache add, ever-improving grades for players like Elmasnaouy, and the knock-on effect from Las Vegas’ drop in the model, my numbers now give Oakland a 55% chance to make the postseason. You simply couldn’t be happier if you’re Feilhaber.

Who else is poised to act? Tulsa, Bettache’s old club, seems particularly keen on another move. With Bettache out and forward Al Hassan Toure dealt to Sydney FC, there’s ample roster space and international availability at ONEOK Field. The club hasn’t been afraid of moving and shaking throughout 2025, and one more midfielder might be the difference between mere playoff qualification and true title contention for FC Tulsa.

Indeed, if we’ve know anything, it’s that the moves aren’t done. The West is an arms race, and this week was only the start of what’s sure to be a hectic summer in the market. Whatever comes next is going to go a long, long way in reshaping the playoff race.

The first Noel

What about Noel’s New Mexico debut? It’s not an exaggeration to say that the midfielder instantly looked like his old self back under Dennis Sanchez; we got the best of Noel in a 33-minute substitute cameo against San Antonio on Saturday.

In that short amount of time, the 26-year-old attempted two dribbles and 11 passes on 18 touches. That’s a comparable touch per minute rate than we saw last year with the Lights – 0.55 in his debut against 0.53 across all of 2024 – and it mostly came in the attacking half of the pitch.

New Mexico spent much of the match struggling to penetrate into the SAFC zone, beleaguered by an intense press. Noel brought a level of nous as a receiver that greased the wheels. Here, a chipped pass is behind #21, but he’s able to recover, head the ball to Zico Bailey, and immediately jet ahead behind the San Antonio midfield.

When Noel receives, he’s superbly clever on the dribble. Though he won’t blow you away with speed, Noel is technical with the ball at his feet. Here, he knows when to extend a touch to avoid a slide tackle, only to juke inside with his very next tap. An opposing center back intervenes on the edge of the box to stop the advance, but there’s an innate understanding of space throughout this play.

Noel looked similarly clever in the press, slotting naturally into Sanchez’s 4-1-4-1ish formation down the stretch. The Frenchman contested five duels and didn’t put in a tackle, but he immediately understood when he ought to push up or when he needed to sit lower to maximize his shadow, thereby allowing teammates to get aggressive. While Noel isn’t ever going to blow you away defensively, it’s a boon to acquire a player already familiar with the New Mexico defensive system.

Still, you pay up for Noel because of his inspired contributions in possession. Here, you’re getting yet another example of his premium ability to find touches and facilitate entrance into the attacking zone.

This time, he reads the shape of the San Antonio midfield and anticipates the most useful angle by which to receive. Cutting to the inside of a forward-facing opponent, Noel is able to find a touch with space in front of him. He snakes rightward, knowing that he’ll freeze the back line by snaking his dribble across the width of the pitch. Only after San Antonio’s left back has turned his body – a result of that twisting dribble route – does Noel finally release his pass to tee up a cross.

In added time, Noel would get a goal of his own, but the sequence also began with his central gravity setting up teammates. Then, #21 hit winger Dayonn Harris on the left but kept probing outside of the box to potentially field a clearance. That decision paid off handsomely by way of a first-timed right-footer to spark a late comeback for United.

If that’s what we’re getting from Noel in his first game in yellow, then the West should be on notice. New Mexico has felt like they’re one piece away, and they couldn’t have done better than Valentin Noel to fill that gap.

On Omaha

Over at Backheeled, I discussed Union Omaha’s post-Steevan Dos Santos malaise and the underrated impact his loss has wrought. We’re only beginning to see what this club can look like with proper target forwards back in the lineup, and it means that a return to the playoff field is entirely within the realm of possibility.

First, some context. Omaha isn’t playing all that differently from in years past, and they’ve only recently shifted into a different shape. That said, the numbers – beyond a strong, consistent xG return – hint at underlying pressure points. Consider:

• Omaha has become more direct, up 18% to 37.1 aerial duels per game.

• In the final third, Los Búhos are completing just 67.6 passes per game, a Casciato-era low and a bottom-half mark in League One.

• Omaha is still winning 54% of their headed battles, but that’s the lower than the peak this club reached under Casciato in 2023, and it comes alongside a modest 23% crossing accuracy that’s also the lowest in the last three years.

• Pressing takeaways are down 26% this year and 53% against 2023, neutering Omaha’s ability to create short-field breaks.

In sum, this club has tried to become more direct, but they’re less successful at being direct. That means Omaha is spending less time in the final third and, logically, giving themselves less opportunities to force turnovers in the high press.

By adding Pato Botello Faz and Stefano Pinho atop a simpler 4-2-2-2 shape, Vincenzo Candela’s version of this team is tilting the pitch once again. The balance isn’t quite perfect yet, but we’ve seen the fruits of the new signings already.

Consider the recent win over Charlotte, which came before the Pinho signing. There, Botello Faz took just one shot but contested 10 aerial duels. Every run he made had the effect of pushing the Independence back, thereby buying space in the left and right halfspaces for Ryan Becher and Prosper Kasim to dominate the match.

Omaha was somewhat less penetrative against Tormenta that following weekend, settling for crosses a bit too often. Still, by adding Pinho – a player that combines grit and poacher-esque finishing – Omaha gave themselves yet another layer that shone immediately against Texoma.

Pinho tended to sit underneath Botello Faz in that Wednesday matchup, but both were able to charge ahead and occupy the opposing defense. That relationship forced Texoma to get overly narrowly, opening space for wingers like Mark Bronnik (four dribbles, four chances created, six crosses!) to go to work.

The other knock-on effect was that Becher lined up as a center mid. A 6’3” unit in his own right, Becher defended handsomely and had immediate chemistry with Chelo Martinez in the pivot. The comparison of that performance (and, to a degree, his efforts in the Charlotte loss) with an isolated showing at forward this weekend against El Paso is stark. Becher got into the box for Omaha’s highest xG chance versus the Locomotive, a well-read 46th minute header, but largely felt uninvolved.

It’s clear that this version of Los Búhos are at their best with the St. Louis City import running the show underneath Pinho and Botello Faz. On a pure resume basis, a 4-2-2-2 anchored by those forwards, Becher and Kasim might be the most decorated in USL League One.

Time will tell how the rotation shakes out, and the end result almost assuredly will differ from classic Casciato-ball, but a more muscular system just fits this squad. Change is hard, but Omaha is on the cusp of making it work.

Snakebit Spokane

I come to praise Spokane, not to bury them. Despite falling by a cumulative 4-0 scoreline in back-to-back games against Chattanooga and Sacramento, the Velocity posted a net +0.96 xG margin in those losses. It’s easy to look at the box score and assume the worst, but, in each case, Spokane conceded early and was forced to tilt at an elite back-five defense.

Comeback attempts against the Red Wolves and Republic might be the worst scenario you can face in the USL. In terms of sheer defensive organization, Scott Mackenzie and Neill Collins are about as good as it gets. The results might’ve been tough for the Velocity, but we also got clarity as to how this club can operate in adverse situations.

The problem in Tennessee after an early set piece gone awry, uncharacteristic for a team that’s allowed just 2.7 xG from dead balls in the league. Concession aside, the challenge from thereon out was to break down the Red Wolves’ stingy 5-4-1.

Chattanooga rightly identified that they could frustrate their guests by tightening their midfield and defensive lines, daring Spokane to try and work through. Normally excellent at manipulating opposing defenses with central movement, the Velocity couldn’t get the Red Wolves to budge despite completing 183 more passes than the hosts.

In the Chattanooga and Sacramento losses alike, Spokane’s right back tended to sit deep like a third member of the center back corps in possession. Javier Martin Gil was on call in Tennessee, whilst Lucky Opara did the job back home against the Republic. That alignment had a two-way effect, allowing the left back to bomb higher upfield and giving the dynamic Shavon John-Brown a wider berth on the right.

Here, you’re seeing one way Spokane weaponized that setup, namely through a gorgeous diagonal from David Garcia. A stellar entry passer no matter the game state, Garcia always has a right-footed switch in his toolkit and is completing more than five long passes per game. In this instance, the center back’s pass finds Pierre Reedy (the left winger) and Derek Waldeck (the left back) as part of a functional front five that’s designed to match Chattanooga’s defense to a man.

What this play lacks is speed and bravery. There’s an oh-so-brief window where Spokane might be able to combine and break into the box, but they play it safe. It’s a bit of a trend for a team without a star dribbler in the first-choice XI. Indeed, Reedy is the most useful option in that regard, and he’s only putting up 0.96 dribbles per 90 minutes.

Masango Akale, by contrast, is all the way up at 2.33 successful take-ons per game, though he’s not seen much of the field in 2025. Still, Akale got the nod against the Republic in what became a funhouse mirror version of the Chattanooga game.

Sacramento wasn’t about to sit back and absorb despite taking an early lead, maintaining a 5-2-3 posture even at their most conservative. That shape made central penetration difficult – Rodrigo Lopez incessantly annoyed the Spokane pivot as a marker – and it also meant that Spokane couldn’t pass around the edges in the pseudo-back three for very long without inviting pressure.

That’s the case above. When Garcia receives after a restart, he’s instantly closed down by a winger and finds Opara, tucked deep from right back. When the pass into Opara is released, Lopez charges in his direction. The result is a quickly-hit long ball, one that you rarely expect from this Velocity side.

You can’t see the play developing upfield, but Neco Brett has shown into the right channel and drawn an opposing wingback out of position in the act. Compared to the clip we saw from the Chattanooga match, it’s an inspired bit of off-ball movement. The ensuing second-ball battle falls Spokane’s way, allowing the Velocity to break in through John-Brown and very nearly find Akale on the end of a cross.

It’s notable that the lion’s share of the Velocity’s chances this Saturday came late-on, when Sacramento lightened the press to more of midfield level but still retained their overarching 5-2-3 look. At that point, Nil Vinyals came alive as a substitute. Active at probing and showing for touches, the former Richmond star provided a level of between-the-lines equity that simply didn’t exist against Chattanooga.

It’s a different context as compared to the weekend prior, but it’s also a sign of growth. Spokane is the most dominant team in League One for a reason, but they’re quickly developing a “Plan B” for when the going gets tough. It wasn’t perfect against Sacramento; the Velocity lost, after all! Still, we’re seeing Leigh Veidman maximize a deep roster and develop more successful final-third patterns in a way that bodes well for the back half of 2025.

Quick Hits

In other news this week…

• I had an absolute blast in Portland alongside the rest of The USL Show gang, and I hope y’all watched and enjoyed the stuff we put out. If not, be sure to check the YouTube channel and listen to our interview with Kevin Schohl, Hearts of Pine’s President and Chief Business Officer.

• Tormenta’s 4-3-3 with Oscar Jimenez as a center mid (shadow forward? weird narrow right back?) flew under the radar at midweek but it was definitely something. Maybe not something Ian Cameron uses again, but something. Also, shoutout to South Georgia for upsetting Miami in the Jagermeister Cup in yet another performance that proves Mason Tunbridge is a Championship player.

• I’m utterly fascinated by the Juan Azocar-to-Tampa Bay move. The Venezuelan journeyman suffered through injury problems with San Antonio in 2023, couldn’t balance offensive contribution with defensive integrity with Phoenix in 2024, and is wholly unique within the Rowdies’ wingback stable. At his peak, Azocar can be a premier secondary scorer from the wings, and it’s easy to imagine Luis Alvarez or Ollie Bassett manufacturing chances for him on the regular from the halfspaces. Big upside at a minimum.

• No center back in the USL is as fun as Ben Ofeimu. He looks like a classic bruiser but can walk the tightrope while overlapping up the right sideline, and Indy used him to maximal effect (see nine passes into the final third and eight clearances!) to beat Tulsa and win their Jagermeister Cup group this Saturday. If Ofeimu is fit, he’s a killer.