Omaha, Nebr. (August 16, 2026) – Union Omaha ran rampant over Richmond in their return home, with a 5-1 victory that was every bit as dominant as the score denoted.
Four different Owls found the back of the net, along with a smashing own goal from a visitor, to kick off a key stretch of their Player’s Shield chase.
“We knew they were going to come out and press us pretty aggressively… I thought the guys found wonderful positions and executed the patterns that we talked about and thought would hurt their backline,” said Head Coach Vincenzo Candela.
Allen Gavilanes, who contributed a goal and an assist, added “We had a plan to exploit them and do some third-man runs, and we executed that perfectly in this game. It was a collective effort, and we did really well going with the tasks that we had to do.”
Right from the off, Los Búhos were flying in transition to create chances within the first 10 minutes, bypassing Richmond’s press either through clever patterns of play or simply nicking the ball at midfield and driving forward. The first example came when Sami Guediri burst out of the back to maraud upfield and find Sergio Ors Navarro in the box. The Spaniard kept his composure even while Richmond tried to take him down, slotting home the opener just before the half hour mark.
The second goal was maybe the pick of the bunch, starting with a long pass out of the back from Brent Kallman to find Ors Navarro. He provided a cheeky flick across his body to Aarón Gómez, who adjusted perfectly to poke home a trivela and double the lead.
Richmond would score twice in quick succession afterwards, but the first was a volleyed own goal by Sean Vinberg. After Matt Bolduc’s goal for the visitors, the teams went into the halftime break with Omaha up 3-1 but not satisfied quite yet.
“The gameplan was quite clear,” said midfielder Gabriel Cabral, who discussed skipping the lines and winning second balls against Richmond’s man-to-man pressing. “We played a very strong game, we understood the gameplan, and we executed it well to get the three points.”
Those then expecting a quiet second half would be wrong, as the Owls tacked on two more goals to make this the most lopsided deficit in the series’ sixteen-match history.
First, Allen Gavilanes kept up his attacking form with a heat-seeking cross straight across the box to the feet of Diego Gutiérrez for their fourth goal. Then, Gavilanes found the net himself after Younes Boudadi’s cross was spilled in front of goal to put the match to bed in the 90th minute.
The result not only keeps Union Omaha top of the table over Charlotte Independence by two points, but also marks the largest margin of victory in this series’ sixteen match history.
“Any game we have,” said Candela, “home and away, we have a clear objective, so it’s great to continue to roll and keep with the same mentality of taking it one game at a time, putting positive performances together, and continuing to get better.”
Union Omaha remain at home next weekend, welcoming Sarasota Paradise to Omaha for the first time on Saturday, August 22nd at 6:00pm. That will be their Wild Kingdom Night, presented by Mutual of Omaha. Ticket packages are available now.
ABOUT UNION OMAHA
Union Omaha, the 2021 and 2024 USL League One Champions, is the premier professional soccer team in the state of Nebraska. USL League One is a United States Soccer Federation-sanctioned professional men’s soccer league that occupies the third tier of the American soccer landscape, below USL Championship (tier two) and the newly announced top-tier USL Premier, launching in 2028. Union Omaha will play its 2026 USL League One home matches at Morrison Stadium in downtown Omaha. The team is led by Chief Operating Officer Alexis Boulos in the front office and by Head Coach Vincenzo Candela on the pitch.
