Omaha, Nebr. (July 1, 2026) – To dip into cliché, it truly was a tale of two halves for Union Omaha.
While Team USA went ahead and hung on in the prior match, the Owls flipped the script after a languid first half to blitz AV Alta with three goals from the 74th minute onwards to take down a critical win at this juncture.
“Coming out for the second half, the main goal for us was just to up the energy,” said midfielder Laurence Wootton. “To get closer to them, get tighter to them, make them uncomfortable, and I think we did that from the opening whistle of the second half. We put them on the back foot, and we just kept going and getting more and more goals because we were in that type of mood tonight.”
The stat sheet didn’t quite bear it out in a first half where both teams had 50% possession and 91% passing accuracy, but AV Alta were the more incisive of the two. Their high press especially had the Owls harried on several occasions when trying to play out of the back, which outweighed the times they did break the press. The visitors were also more than happy to nod cross after cross, with a 15-1 margin in that category defining their respective attacking approaches.
The first big chance came to Omaha, though, when goalkeeper Denzil Smith played a pass right to his opponents. He came up with a brilliant sprawling save on Kempes Tekiela to atone, however, and that seemed to spark his team to life. After tilting the field back towards Omaha’s goal, chance creation leader Jerry Desdunes notched up another one when he cut it back towards one-time Owl Adam Aoumaich for a stellar strike across his body and into the far corner.
Something had to change at the half for Union Omaha, and it did.
“We cleaned up our pressure and were a little more on the front foot, and it’s always good to score goals at home. I’m very proud of the fight we showed in the second half,” said Head Coach Vincenzo Candela afterwards.
Slowly but surely, the energy ramped up, with more bite in their tackles and more gusto in their pressing. Aarón Gómez and Laurence Wootton off the bench were the first substitutions to make that sort of impact, and twenty minutes later it was Allen Gavilanes and Ryen Jiba who entered the fray.
The first goal was pure fight as well, with Pato Botello Faz doing all he could to stick his foot in front of Kaloyan Pehlivanov to poke home a Younes Boudadi cross by five-holing Smith.
That galvanized the home team further. And while Samuel Owusu’s free header off a free kick in the 81st minute came up off the post, Gabriel Cabral was alert to the rebound and rose above a throng of AV Alta defenders to nod home what would be the game-winner and send the crowd into rapture.
Finally, Allen Gavilanes collected the ball on the left wing in a transition opportunity, and his low cross didn’t just nutmeg a defender, but found Gómez just about alone in the middle of the penalty area thanks to canny movement. His one-touch strike was pure, and the three points were secured from then on. The win keeps the Owls undefeated at home in league play this season, and sets them back on the right path with the rest of the league breathing down their neck for first place.
“I’m very proud of the team,” said wingback Younes Boudadi. “I think it shows the character of the team to come out and make the momentum shift in our way again. We could have easily taken how the first half went and came out flat, but credit to the team for the energy they put in and how they shifted momentum back in our favor. I think it’s huge that we stayed undefeated at home and got back into the win column.”
Union Omaha will take the weekend to rest up from this late, late match, and they’ll need it before a huge Prinx Tires USL Cup match. It will be a rivalry match on Saturday, July 11th at Forward Madison, with a spot in the knockout stages on the line. The Owls will return to Morrison Stadium on Saturday, July 18th against Westchester SC for Racing Night. Tickets and ticket packages for upcoming matches are on sale 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.
