Tulsa, League One potpourri, and more

USL Championship and USL League One standouts from Week 15

Welcome in to The Back Four!

Before we start, check out Backheeled for Ray Serrano talk, Birmingham’s shape, and more. 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.

Tulsa’s transformation

I’m a change-averse fella, so when I see a successful FC Tulsa team dabble with shape and style changes, I start to get nervous. That’s the wrong instinct as it applies at ONEOK Field.

A few weeks back, Luke Spencer broke out a 4-2-3-1 against San Antonio FC in spite of his prior 3-4-3 preference. Tulsa had to settle for a draw back then, but they also put up 1.8 xG to edge their Texan hosts. This weekend, Tulsa returned to the back four against Phoenix, and the result was similar: one point earned despite dominant underlying numbers to the tune of a plus-1.6 expected margin.

In other words, the change I’ve fretted about has been considerate and successful in practice. Spencer knows what he’s doing, and he’s preserving a sense of shapeliness no matter the formation.

You’re seeing two examples here that give you a taste of Tulsa’s two main permutations. The first comes from last weekend’s 1-0 win against Sacramento; the second from the Phoenix draw.

Up top, the Republic are breaking up the left side of Tulsa’s defensive 5-2-3. A ball carrier has already rounded center back Delentz Pierre, and Lamar Batista has stepped up to provide a secondary challenge against that opposing attacker. Concerning, right?

In most cases, pushing two of your three center backs into the midfield is foolhardy, but there’s an overwhelming sense of structure here. Midfielder Marcos Serrato (marked in white in contrast to the gold-tinged back five) recovers toward the defensive line, positioning himself to deny a centering pass all the while. At the same time, the wingbacks are tucking narrow to compress space. In a vacuum, this is a bad situation, but Tulsa’s team-wide reactions prevent danger from arising.

In the second example, Spencer’s side is building out in their 4-2-3-1. This is an entirely different phase of play featuring an entirely different shape, but one similarity is undeniable: Tulsa has numbers in the center of the park and a clear sense of geometry. I’ve highlighted central triangles in each case to make that point; this team is rock solid through their spine.

A tuck inside from winger Jamie Webber (six dribbles, 48 touches against Rising) does the trick, creating a center-heavy midfield trio. Throw in the center backs and you’ve essentially got a five-on-three edge in the central zone. If there’s a turnover, it won’t be dangerous because those five players are set to quickly take up a defensive posture.

The best teams can beat you in multiple ways, and FC Tulsa has solidified their status in that “best teams” group since the start of May. Expected goals totals over the last month-and-a-half can’t be read any other way, and that success has come even as the system has changed.

Against Sacramento, Tulsa went long 72 times and launched 36 passes. Against Phoenix, those marks were down to 49 and 21 even as FC Tulsa held a far greater proportion of possession – and beat their season averages for takeaways in the final and middle thirds to boot. It’s remarkable evolution over such a short span.

Nailing down a team’s identity is a tricky proposition, but Tulsa has established theirs down in two distinct forms:

1. 3-4-3, defined by long balls and dueling in the final third.

2. 4-2-3-1, defined by patient possession from the back and rampant midfield-driven pressure.

The shapes and passing profiles might be different, but the hard-edged mentality and geometric organization remain the same. It’s a testament to Spencer and the Tulsa front office that they’ve assembled a squad capable of flipping that switch and succeeding across setups.

Ho-hum Hartford

The sequence you’re about to witness from Hartford’s loss to Charleston over the weekend is an exception. Hartford completed 132 passes in the attacking half on Saturday, and 10 of them are contained in the 30 second clip below. Hartford’s three center backs only attempted 18 passes in the attacking half, and you’re about to see a third of them.

Everything about this sequence is good! Jordan Scarlett, Adrian Diz Pe, and TJ Presthus all set a baseline on the edge of the final third. Samuel Careaga is able to probe zone 14 like a classic No. 10. Advanced wingbacks put Hartford in a five-man front that forces Charleston to sit deep. Ultimately, you get a point-blank chance for Mamadou Dieng.

So, uh, why can’t Hartford execute this relatively simple blueprint more often?

For one, Hartford’s midfield is bereft of incisive passers. No team has completed less passes into the final third this season. Only 55% of Hartford’s attempts into that zone have been completed, the second-worst clip in the league. You’ll note above that the midfield isn’t really stirring the drink; they’re a stalking horse that opens up room for the defenders to circulate the ball.

That’s a problem. Players like Scarlett and Presthus aren’t particularly lethal with the ball at their feet, and painting yourself into a corner where you need center backs to create is a recipe for disaster. Hartford struggles enough in the defensive zone already, ranking third-from-bottom in the USL in tackles in 2025. Further compromising the shape at the back is asking for trouble.

Ironically, Hartford seemed to find a good balance between extremes for about 45 minutes against the Battery, only to change shapes entirely at halftime and fizzle out from there. Even when they’ve got the germ of a good idea, Hartford Athletic simply can’t get out of their own way.

Unless this club is going to bankroll the acquisition of two ball-playing defenders, Brendan Burke might need to go back to the drawing board. It won’t be easy; there might not be a good way to maximize the Samadias and Diengs and Careagas of the world while retaining defensive structure. At this point, however, it’s equally likely that Burke is out of ideas to crack that nut.

What’s Lexington’s best style?

Being the “aggressor” in a soccer match isn’t a direct path to success. You might look at New Mexico’s performance against Lexington this weekend and assume from the stat sheet that United walked away with an easy win. After all, Dennis Sanchez’s side held 69% of possession and completed 100 passes in the final third – surely that panned out!

In practice, Terry Boss’ Lexington team matched New Mexico in terms of touches taken in the 18-yard box and bested them for shots on target. Lexington began the year trying to dominate the ball like their rivals from Albuquerque, but it was an ability to adapt and succeed with far less possession this weekend that made all the difference.

Still, LSC didn’t bunker. Boss rolled out a 4-2-4ish high press that marked New Mexico tightly at every level. The result was to force the guests into a cycle of dangerous backpasses in their own zone. Entering Week 15, New Mexico had attempted just 49% of their passes within the defensive half, but that number leapt to 54% because of the denial Lexington brought to the table.

In their own right, Lexington got far more pragmatic with the ball. The goal was to pin New Mexico deep no matter the phase. The press accomplished that end in one sense, but so did Boss’ choice to get direct in possession. Before this weekend’s win, the Kentuckians had gone long on a shockingly low 9% of their attempts. Against the conference leaders, the long-ball share leapt above 20%.

At their best, Lexington used Forster Ajago and Sofiane Djeffal as battlers up the middle that could contest those long passes and establish territory. That duo went five-for-eight in the air, but they always kept a body on challengers and did splendidly to activate their side’s second-ball structure.

Upon regaining, the goal was to enter the final third as quickly as possible. Nick Firmino (again starting in the central midfield) and Alfredo Midence (responsible for 10 final-third entry passes) never lost sight of that priority, allowing dribbling threats like Michael Adedokun and Marcus Epps to go to work in break-out situations. As Nicholas Murray pointed out in his recap, those players were refreshingly efficient in the attacking zone.

That’s the case above. Ajago loses the first header once LSC goes direct, but a midfielder lays waiting to recover the knockdown. From there, it’s off to the races. Epps finds an edge, Ajago crashes to the net to draw the defense in, and an eventual switch to the electric Adedokun lets the loanee winger go one-on-one to create his own shot. You couldn’t find a better example of the gameplan in action.

For most of 2025, Lexington hasn’t been able to find space in this manner. They’ve held the ball at will, but that control has come against set defenses in stodgy low blocks. Saturday was, thus, a refreshing change of pace.

How can Terry Boss manufacture game states like this against teams less doctrinaire than New Mexico? That’s the big question, one that’ll decide whether or not Lexington can push into the playoff picture.

Worries for Westchester

Westchester SC, a team I predicted would finish third in League One in my season preview, is now in last place. This club has scored the fourth-most goals in the division, yet they can’t figure out their balance at the back. March 29th was the last time the expansion side last won a league game.

What’s remarkable is how Dave Carton continues to stick to his guns in a tactical sense. Westchester hasn’t tweaked their formation in a meaningful sense (other than a short dalliance with an in-possession back three) and continues to prioritize expansive, vertical attacking as a lodestar.

When it works, WSC is extremely fun to watch. This Sunday, Westchester went up 2-0 on AV Alta during the opening half-hour, and their second goal was premier Carton-ball. The scoring move started with JC Obregon battling between the lines, quickly moved into the final third with a chip into Prince Saydee on the wing, and turned into a Jonathan Bolanos banger after a beautiful five-pass sequence that switched the point from one side to another.

Not to overuse my favorite phrase, but that was the exception that proves the rule. Westchester simply hasn’t been able to execute efficiently in 2025. More often than not, they play themselves into trouble.

The goal is to move upfield with tempo, pinging into the final third with one-two-three passing moves. Entering Week 15, however, WSC ranked third-from-last in League One in terms of passes played in the opposing half relative to those played in their own.

In layman’s terms, Westchester can’t move the ball forward. Opposition-half passing isn’t the only way to succeed – first-place Spokane is also underwater in this category! – but only if you’re clean in possession, error-free, and clinical. Carton’s side is none of those things.

Indeed, the expansion side’s tendency to throw bodies forward leaves the defense unsupported far too often. Any mistake at the back becomes lethal.

There was a 37th minute sequence last weekend against Knoxville where Westchester’s high 4-4-2ish press forced a long ball, one contested by Andrew Jean-Baptiste at the back. As the left-sided center back stepped up to challenge, he wasn’t replaced; Conor McGlynn stayed high in the midfield to potentially field a knockdown, while Josh Drack stuck upfield at left back.

The result? Jean-Baptiste lost his header, Drack got outmuscled in pursuit of the recovery, and the guests could break three-on-one. Rashid Tetteh and Jean-Baptiste ultimately recovered once Knoxville dallied in the box, but it was the perfect example of the disconnection for Westchester in their own zone.

Those same issues apply in possession. Daniel Bouman did well enough to rotate back and support the back four against Alta on Sunday with Westchester in more of a 4-1-4-1, but he felt entirely isolated in build going the other way.

You see the problem here. Conor McGlynn (operating as a center back in this game) tries to dribble around a pressing forward within Alta’s 4-2-3-1, and he’s replaced by a dropping Bouman. Still, WSC is shockingly wide-spread by the standards of a team that wants to build on the ground, and a turnover ensues.

There are a few decision points to consider. For one, Bouman’s drop steadies the defensive shape in case a turnover happens, but it also means that he can’t receive as a pressure-breaking outlet upfield. McGlynn, meanwhile, rejects a far easier pass into Drack at left back and tries to squeeze through the opposing line of confrontation. The only possible result is a giveaway that puts Westchester under undue pressure.

Even when the New Yorkers led, these problems continued to arise. Alta’s ultimate 5-2 victory felt inevitable, and it was shocking how easily they broke the press and activated players like Eduardo Blancas, Jerry Desdunes, and Emmanuel Alaribe in one-on-ones in the final third.

What, then, is the answer in Mt. Vernon? For me, tightening up the shape and going more compact needs to be part of the solution. This team should always keep two No. 6s low and prioritize steadier rest defense. Until Westchester gets discipline in their own half, their bright attacking ideas will continue to be squandered.

Naples’ growing pains

The last time Naples took more than eight shots in a match was a month ago on May 17th. Of course, they lost that game by a 2-1 scoreline and received two red cards in said trip to Portland. It’s been nothing but tough sledding since then.

Naples’ relative offensive slowdown has been predicated on a lessened ability to access their No. 8s and climb the ladder. Less connectivity up front leads to more turnovers, and that’s putting the defense under greater pressure to boot. Think of it like a domino effect.

By design, Matt Poland’s 4-1-4-1 uses one defensive mid, and that player (usually Chris Heckenberg) bears a lot of responsibility to shield the back four and potentially cover wider spaces. Heckenberg has done well in that deployment, but Greenville never let him get comfortable last weekend in a 1-1 draw thanks to their aggressive 3-4-3 press.

When Naples excelled, they were able to furnish players like Andres Ferrin with wide one-on-ones, occasionally through longer passes that circumvented the midfield. If that happened, Karsen Henderlong could do his gravitational thing at the No. 9 spot, and Poland’s side could use the four-man attacking midfield line to anchor the counterpress.

Still, those patterns weren’t consistent enough, and the expansion side was lucky to come away with a point. Thus, Naples advanced into a matchup against Chattanooga – the league’s most devilish 3-4-3 counterattacking team – with adjustment as a necessity.

Naples’ three center mids (blue) and two wingbacks (gold) do little to challenge Chattanooga’s defense

And adjust they did! Poland moved into a 3-4-1-2, pairing Henderlong with fellow Indiana University alum Justin Weiss atop the new formation. Weiss got a brace, and Naples showed some real flair when Luka Prpa could form a triangle with the two forwards, but those patterns weren’t consistent enough.

The Floridians turned 68% possession into merely five shots and happened to convert on the only two attempts they turned on target. You’re seeing the problem above: spacing was a problem, and Naples lacked any sort of consistent presence in zone 14.

The warning sign? Center back Brecc Evans played twice as many passes into Henderlong as any other Naples player. That’s a sign of directness and frustration rather than flow.

I liked the moments where Jayden Onen tucked inside to mix things up, and he combined quite well with Weiss. Still, there was a missing layer between the 3-2 base in build and the danger men further upfield. Chattanooga took advantage and forced a number of turnovers by pressing that isolated back end, which tended to dally given a lack of progressive outlets.

If nothing else, I’m here for the experimentation. FC Naples has the talent, and their hot start bought time to figure things out. Matt Poland clearly isn’t short on ideas, and it’s only a matter of time for this team to find attacking form anew.

Can Omaha find their groove?

It’s been an uncharacteristically inconsistent run for Union Omaha, who’ve won just twice in the last two months. Dom Casciato has stuck to the broad strokes of the style that worked so well in a title-winning 2024 season, but the execution hasn’t always been there.

Unlike other League One teams that’ve struggled, Omaha seems to have a clear path toward success if they can answer a simple question: how do we control (or limit) play through the central midfield and tilt the pitch with more regularity?

Part of the answer comes in terms of their build patterns. Omaha took a varied approach against Greenville in a midweek win, and their success often hinged on supporting movement off the ball.

One of my favorite patterns saw Omaha drop the ball-side winger toward halfway, where they could field a pass with their back to goal. If, say, Prosper Kasim received on the left side in that sort of situation, he’d quickly try and knock the ball backwards toward a center mid.

Using the graphic as a model, think of a play as such:

1. Anderson Holt finds left winger Prosper Kasim on the drop

2. Kasim dinks a pass into a center mid

3. That midfielder plays over the top into Sergio Ors Navarro in a one-on-one

Ors Navarro was excellent at making those runs and filling space vacated by the winger. He also excelled at taking the next step and putting the Triumph to the test. The No. 9 went three-for-six as a dribbler against Greenville.

Still, you don’t want your striker to have “dribble” as the one and only option. Too often, Omaha didn’t get third-man movement from the midfield, and that made possessive control harder to maintain.

Just by accessing Ors Navarro, Casciato’s side set themselves up for their most effective phase: the counterpress. If Omaha lost the ball, they flexed into a 3-1-5-1 with either Laurence Wootton or Max Schneider taking up an attacking mid’s position. Upon regaining, Los Buhos thus had numbers close to goal, allowing them to create overloads and work side-to-side to get the job done.

Their opening goal was a masterclass in that sense…

…as you can see in the screenshot here, which comes moments after a pressing turnover.

In this case, Schneider has regained possession and is about to drive into a four-man overload. This play will end with Ors Navarro finding the back of the net, but it starts with Omaha’s brilliant manipulation of tight space – something that allows them to circumvent the need for labored build-up play.

At the weekend in Portland, the recently signed Pato Botello Faz took over at striker, moving his Spanish teammate to the wing. Botello Faz is a tank of a No. 9, and Omaha tried to use him as a hold-up outlet that could tilt the pitch to an even greater degree on the end of long balls. Their average pass in Maine traveled 9.9 yards upfield, 38% above their season average.

The problem? Hearts of Pine clamped down hard. Botello Faz went nine-for-20 as a passer. He contested 14 aerial duels but won just five, and that allowed Portland to disrupt the “build-counterpress-attack” cycle. Omaha struggled to find their shape and ended up getting cooked by Ollie Wright and Nathan Messer up their right side, undercutting what worked so well against the Triumph.

Still, the Portland game felt like a sprinkle of misfortune in a sea of positive trends. Omaha ended up with a plus-1.0 xG margin on Sunday, and they rank second behind Spokane for the league’s best advanced numbers over the course of 2025. Casciato knows what works, and even if the execution hasn’t been perfect, you’d be foolish to bet against Union Omaha continuing to climb the table.

Quick Hits

In other news this week…

• Slightly different format this week with more blurbs at a (slightly) shorter length. We’ll see if it sticks?

• Charlotte’s tendency to defend in the back five but have either Clay Dimick (the right-sided center back) or Christopher Jaime (the right wingback) step inside like a No. 6 in possession is wonderful. This team is one point back of first place!

• I’m not here to tell you that Tampa Bay is back, but Manuel Arteaga looked good this weekend. Put aside the goal, and he still contested four duels and made three recoveries in about 30 minutes of action. That’s the level of activity that elevates Arteaga from a mere scorer into something more.

• Over the last two seasons, Indy has played 2,300 minutes with Cam Lindley on the pitch and conceded 1.1 goals per game. That number balloons to 1.8 concessions in a given 90 minutes without Lindley. The Carmel native might not be a destroyer, but he sets the tempo and adds control like few other center mids in the USL.

• I finally stopped being lazy with my USL coverage and updated my playoff odds machine, so check that out. The League One numbers are weird because every team has played a vastly different number of games…so do with that what you will.

• I’m on a tear with old Doris Day movies as of late, and it’s never not cool to see ‘50s movies reflected in some of my modern favorites.

  Pillow Talk, a Best Screenplay winner and one of three rom-coms Day did with Rock Hudson, is delightful in the way that most ‘50s send-ups of corporate, urban life tend to be. Unbeknownst to me before I watched it, Pillow Talk is also the direct inspiration for Down with Love, a love letter to this style of comedy starring Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger.

  My other pleasant surprise came from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. Hitchcock actually made a version of the movie back in his 1930s British era but re-worked it in Hollywood with Day and Jimmy Stewart. With delightful reverence, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation cribs a ton of the film’s sequences, from an opera house assassination attempt to a backroom ministerial meeting and an extended Morocco subplot.

  None of this stuff is groundbreaking, but there’s something I find so pleasant about pop culture iterating on itself. The idea of dialogue and legacy across the decades rocks, y’all.