Club to Take on San Antonio FC on Saturday and Houston Dynamo 2 on Monday as Preseason Bonds Continue to Form
TULSA – Unfortunately the balmy conditions of Tucson, Arizona did not travel back on the plane alongside FC Tulsa on Sunday evening. As something called “thunder snow” battered the Tulsa area on Wednesday morning, players and staff are eager to head back to warmer temperatures for their next preseason trip – an extended weekend in south central Texas.
As FC Tulsa trained indoors at Titan Sports Complex on Wednesday, players continued to build on all-important “chemistry” as the club reaches the halfway mark of the preseason. In less than four weeks, FC Tulsa will take the pitch in Charleston for its 2022 season opener on March 12, looking to fulfill lofty expectations that have come with back-to-back postseason appearances.
For new faces on the team, like midfielder Petar Čuić, preseason trips to Tucson and Texas are the perfect opportunity to assimilate to FC Tulsa’s strong locker room culture.
“Every opportunity I get to step on the field is an opportunity to connect with the guys,” said Čuić. “I’m definitely trying to make the most of everything on and off the field, and I feel like we’re all going in the right direction. I’m so happy to be here and to train with these guys.”
While friendships are quickly being formed, it hasn’t been the easiest of preseasons so far for FC Tulsa. A bout of the flu made its way through the locker room as nearly a dozen players fell ill over the course of a week at the start of February. Slight knocks to Jorge Corrales, JJ Williams and Adrián Diz Pe have kept Tulsa from having its full complement of talent on the pitch for either of its first two preseason matches. That’s not to mention all of the winter weather in Tulsa this month which has limited training sessions or put the team indoors for modified practices.
Yet, in the midst of some bad luck, veteran midfielder Eric Bird sees the progress that is being made over the last three weeks, especially as the players have a chance travel together.
“We’ve spent some good time together so far, especially in Tucson,” said Bird. “It gives us the opportunity to hang out and we get to do our thing off the pitch. To get to know those personalities helps you on the field. To know their tendencies, who they are, and how to motivate them and how speak to them – it has all been really good and really positive so far.”
With the team preparing for its third preseason contest, head coach Michael Nsien wants to continue to see that progress on the pitch, both in fitness and in chemistry. Over the first two preseason matches, players have worked on extending their minutes on the pitch, with starters playing 45 minutes in the first match and then playing up to 65 in the second. Now, starters will be pushed a bit more this Saturday in San Antonio as Nsien looks for specific advancements in match action.
“We speak about results and are already starting to talk to the team about creating a winning mentality, but of course that’s a progression that needs to be made,” said Nsien. “I would say 75 minutes of fitness for some guys that are going to be competing for the XI. It’s starting to shape up, so some guys need to be in that 75-minute range while others will be coming in to finish off the match. There’s going to be competition within the team [on Saturday]. Then we’ll go to Houston, and we’ll have to see where everyone is at physically, and we may have to split the minutes a little bit more there. But it’s about competition to see who gets in that first group against Charleston.”
The two matches in Texas should look very different from both FC Tulsa’s perspective and from their opponents. To start on Saturday, FC Tulsa will play a very familiar opponent in San Antonio FC, a team Tulsa has played four times over the last two seasons and like Tulsa, has kept its core together over the last two seasons. The match will be played in front of fans in San Antonio’s home stadium, Toyota Field, creating a regular season-like atmosphere.
“We will use some of the notes and some of the things that we looked at last year facing them,” said Nsien. “It should look similar, and their style is unique. It’s very up-tempo. It will be game speed, 100%. Their game model is based on being up-tempo and push the other team back and get in behind them. They’re similar to Colorado in that they want to play forward as soon as possible, so we have to be well-prepared for that. It will give us the opportunity to have a pre-match meeting based on the opposition rather than just focusing on ourselves, and we can start to tune into the opponent.”
In contrast, Monday’s match against Houston Dynamo 2 will be FC Tulsa’s first against a team from the newly-formed “MLS Next Pro,” a league specifically for MLS 2 teams. Houston Dynamo FC have never had a specific MLS 2 team until this season, so FC Tulsa will be much more in the dark about its opponent. Also unlike in San Antonio, the contest will feel much more like an exhibition with it being held at a grass soccer complex rather than a stadium.
For Bird though, it will be a bit of a homecoming as the midfielder spent the 2016-2019 seasons with the Houston Dynamo organization. FC Tulsa played the MLS version of the Dynamo last preseason, so this won’t be Bird’s first run-in with some old teammates.
“It was good to play them last year [in preseason] and see some familiar faces, and we’ll get to see them more this year,” said Bird. “Lots of those guys [I played with] are still there, and they had their first game the other day against San Antonio, and they had a pretty good showcase. It will be good to get a run out with the guys and see some familiar faces.”
Regardless of the results of the next two matches against San Antonio and Houston, everyone from players and coaches wants to see progress continue. The backline needs to gel and communicate. The midfield needs to control the game. The forwards need to create and convert chances. It’s all easier said than done.
“It’s preseason,” said Čuić. “It’s about bringing us all together and getting on the same page. As far as the first two games, the first one didn’t go as we planned, but the second one saw improvement and most of the guys played good soccer. I think we need to keep doing what Coach wants us to do, and that’s a good way to get better.”
Of course, more sunshine and less thunder snow can’t hurt FC Tulsa’s cause either.
