Rising is set to face another familiar opponent in Orange County SC tonight (6pm). The two clubs have met a total of 20 times in their various incarnations, with Phoenix winning nine, OC winning six, and five games ending in draws.
Last season, Orange County inflicted Rising’s final defeat before the record-breaking win streak, winning 2-1 thanks to a poor Phoenix performance. The two sides then faced each other at Casino Arizona Field just over a month later, with a dominant Rising side scoring three to take all three points.
Braeden Cloutier is now in his third season as head coach of Orange County SC. Prior to that, Cloutier was an assistant coach for the team since 2015. During his playing career, he played in the Hamburg youth setup, before featuring for several teams in the early years of MLS.
As a manager, he has won 37 games, drawn 16 and lost 21. He’s won two and lost three when facing up against Rick Schantz.
LAST TIME OUT
This is Orange County’s first game back since the season resumed last weekend. Their previous match came against El Paso back in March. That game was a fairly unremarkable 0-0 draw at Championship Soccer Stadium.
Youngster Aaron Cervantes started the El Paso game in goals. He featured sporadically last season, conceding 14 goals in 11 matches, but also recorded three clean sheets. Cervantes then travelled with the US to the U-17 World Cup last year, but didn’t feature as the Americans crashed out at the group stage. Having trained in Glasgow thanks to the club’s partnership with Rangers, he’ll be hoping to make a bigger impact this year.
Defender Nathan Smith joined OC over the offseason on a free from Portland Timbers 2, and got the nod at right-back in the opener. At both Portland and LA, he established himself as a solid tackler. His 67.7% tackling success rate last season is actually the lowest he’s recorded. However, don’t expect much from him up front – he’s scored just once in his professional career.
Michael Orozco started at center-back against El Paso and captained the side. The experienced 34-year-old returned home to California on a free last summer, after spending the majority of his professional career in Liga MX. He featured in 17 games for OC last year, scoring three times (including one header) and setting up two other goals. In 2019, he played well with the ball at his feet, with an 87% pass completion. Orozco has 29 caps for the USA, and played his part in the team lifting the 2013 Gold Cup. He also scored the winner as the US defeated Mexico for the first time on Mexican soil in 2012.
His partner at the back against Locomotive was Rob Kiernan. A new signing over the winter from struggling English Football League One side Southend United, he’s featured for 10 clubs in his country of birth. Kiernan was also part of the Glasgow Rangers squad which gained promotion back to the Scottish Premiership in 2015-16. Originally a midfielder, he was pushed back to his current position while at Watford’s academy. Kiernan has captained the Republic of Ireland at age levels.
The starter at left-back against El Paso, Kevin Alston, is now in his third season with OC. Last year he had the captain’s armband, playing 21 games. He’ll be hoping to put his last performance against Rising behind him, after he opened up the scoring with an own goal in the first ten minutes. The 32-year-old has a wealth of top-flight experience, having made 179 appearances in MLS for New England Revolution and Orlando City.
Cameron Palmer started in midfield against El Paso. One of the trio currently on loan from Glasgow Rangers, Palmer is a current Northern Irish youth international, after defecting from the Scottish setup to play for his father’s country. He’s no stranger to North America, having spent a significant part of his childhood in Toronto. Palmer opened the 2019-20 season on loan with Partick Thistle in the Scottish Championship, scoring once with two assists.
Edson Alvarado replaced Palmer, making him the only sub used in the March game. He made 9 appearances for Orange County last season after joining from Club Tijuana. In doing so, Alvarado scored his first senior goal, and recorded an impressive 89.4% pass completion. That last statistic doesn’t look quite as impressive, though, when you discover that he was most likely to play the ball backwards.
Aodhan Quinn is one of the more familiar faces in Orange County’s team. His form dropped off a little last season – scoring 8 goals and recording 7 assists – compared to his 11 goal, 14 assist return in 2018. There must be something about the San Diego native being back in SoCal that has brought on this form, as he never played as well during spells with Orlando, Louisville and Cincinnati. One thing to note? He is very one-footed when it comes to scoring goals, relying heavily on his left boot.
They’ll be hoping the SoCal boost applies to fellow San Diegan Seth Casiple. Casiple was an important player for Reno 1868 last season, finishing second on the team for assists (seven) and scoring five goals of his own. Intriguingly enough, not a single one of Casiple’s assists fell to the team’s top scorer, Corey Hertzog. Watch out for his crossing ability. Four of those seven assists came on headed goals.
Daniel Crisostomo rounded out the midfield for Orange County against El Paso. He’s more of a defensive midfielder. His passing accuracy is good, but he recorded just 42.9 passes per 90 minutes last season – far behind some of his teammates. The UC Irvine graduate will be looking to establish himself this season as a regular starter, after most of his appearances came off the bench in the second half of last season.
Thomas Enevoldsen is back in SoCal, or is he? It’s possible that the forward could be set to miss this match after taking a trip back home. If so, it’ll be a massive disappointment for the Californian side. The Danish striker has returned to a club he scored 20 goals for in 2018, after a successful second-half spell at Sacramento last season that saw him boost his 2019 tally to 15 goals. Enevoldsen started his career with Aalborg BK, before playing in the top flights of the Netherlands and Belgium. He has 11 caps for Denmark.
The absence of Enevoldsen may not matter if Sean Okoli can rekindle the form he showed in 2016 with FC Cincinnati. An impressive 16 goals for the team over 29 matches won him both the Golden Boot and MVP award that year. The problem? He’s come nowhere near that form since, and with his goals tally rarely surpassing one. At 27, and having signed for OC from a third-tier Austrian team, is this one of Okoli’s last chances to prove he’s more than just a one season wonder?
BEST OF THE REST
Frederick Due is the second Dane on the team, and was backup keeper for the team’s opener. Last season, he worked his way into the starting role at Hartford, and held that same spot since joining Orange County in August. Overall, he conceded 51 goals last season in 25 games, but five of his nine appearances with OC were clean sheets. However, is the team instead looking to youth to lead the way?
Orange County is certainly sticking by its strategy of picking up young players, with 16-year-old defender Kobi Henry joining the team during the stoppage in the season. The central defender from Florida has two caps for the US U-17s, and spent the last year with Inter Miami’s Academy. Touted by Oliver Wyss from Orange County’s Front Office as “one of the best young players in his position in the US”, there’s definitely some pressure on the youngster’s shoulders.
Matthew Shiels and Daniel Finlayson join Palmer on loan from Glasgow Rangers. Left-back Shiels has made 10 appearances at U-19 level for Scotland, while also enjoying loan spells in the Scottish Leagues One and Two in recent years. Right-back Finlayson, like Palmer, is a Northern Irish youth international, but this is his first loan spell away from Ibrox. Finlayson played a role in Rangers’ Challenge Cup and UEFA Youth League campaigns in 2019. Both players were unused substitutes in the match against El Paso.
Harry Forrester has returned for his second year in SoCal, after a fairly successful first season that saw him pick up seven assists as well as three goals. The left-winger has been reunited with Kiernan, who he previously played with at Rangers. Forrester needs to keep a cooler head this year, as he picked up 10 yellows last season, plus a red card in the team’s playoff match against Real Monarchs. Forrester was not part of the squad for the opening game.
From the Ashes Prediction: Phoenix will get off to a good start, but struggle later in the game against a fresher Orange County team. They’ll do just enough to hold onto the lead, though.