FC Tucson’s late rally came up short as it lost its fourth straight home match across all competitions.
Defending USL League One champions Union Omaha beat FC Tucson 2-1 at Kino North on Saturday night.
“I think this may be one of the hardest losses of the year to be fair and we’ve lost a lot of different ways and a lot of frustrating ways, particularly at home,” said FC Tucson head coach Jon Pearlman. “I thought we were so bright the first 15 minutes, really controlled the game completely and then we waned a little bit in our progressive play and getting players forward in the right moments.”
Union Omaha forward Noe Meza opened up the scoring on a free kick in the 42nd minute, into the upper corner.
“Obviously the free kick is a worldie and it changes the game once you give up a goal to Omaha no one’s better at sitting in that 4-4-2 block and locking a game down,” Pearlman said.
Then Omaha forward Kemal Malcolm scored the match winner in the 57th minute.
FC Tucson (2-6-1) outshot the Owls (3-1-4) 14-8, and shots on target was 3-3.
It’s FC Tucson’s third straight USL League One home loss and second in a row overall. Their home losing streak started when they dropped a U.S. Open Cup match on April 19 to California United.
Pearlman said it’s about moments and they haven’t converted on enough of them at home.
“I don’t know that we’ve been playing better on the road, I just think we’re in these games, like everyone in this league is in these games,” Pearlman said. “We don’t struggle to play on the road, we don’t find that to be challenging, we’re beating ourselves, our challenge is ourselves, we didn’t feel overwhelmed by Omaha’s pace, quality, the stats dictate that.”
In the 63rd minute, Omaha defender Gabriel Claudio got sent off after getting his second yellow card of the half.
In the 73rd minute, Owls midfielder Conor Doyle scored an own goal off of a cross from FC Tucson defender/winger Tyler Allen. The Men in Black dominated with the man advantage but the closest they came to an equalizer was a goal that was offside.
“We could have gotten a draw here, I think a draw would have been fair,” Pearlman said.
FC Tucson’s next match is their first trip to Fresno, California, to face Central Valley Fuego FC (3-2-4). Its next home match is the rescheduled 520 Day tilt against the Richmond Kickers, set for June 29.
Corner kicks
- Saturday’s match was a return to Southern Arizona for Union Omaha midfielder John Paul Scearce, who is from Nogales. He played college soccer at Yavapai College in Prescott.
- Claudio is from Yuma and also played for the Roughriders in junior college.
