The Battle for a Spot in FC Tulsa’s First Starting XI of the Regular Season Continues in Texas This Weekend
TULSA – It’s a good time to get out of Tulsa and back to some warm weather…maybe. FC Tulsa will travel to play San Antonio FC on Saturday afternoon where the forecast calls for near-freezing temperatures and rain for its next preseason match. Thankfully, Houston will be much nicer on Monday with sunshine and temps around 60 degrees for Tulsa’s tilt with Houston Dynamo 2.
While the temperature might fluctuate over Tulsa’s three days in Texas, what won’t change is FC Tulsa’s need for more game reps. With two preseason matches already in the books, the coaching staff has already begun to make some decisions regarding who could start come the regular season opener on March 12. These upcoming two matches in Texas will help solidify those decisions before the final preseason friendly next Saturday in Tulsa.
SCOUTING SAN ANTONIO FC
One of the best teams over the last two years in the USL Championship, San Antonio FC is coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2021 where it fell to eventual champions Orange County SC in penalties. Significant changes have come to the SAFC roster this offseason as leading goalscorer Nathan Fogaça, young midfield dynamo Jose Gallegos and lightning-fast winger Marcus Epps have all departed.
While attackers Justin Dhillon and Santiago Patiño return to the roster, San Antonio has made some splash acquisitions including former MLS forwards Kekuta Manneh and Elliott Collier as well as MLS midfielder David Loera.
It’s been a cagey rivalry between Tulsa and San Antonio over the last two seasons. The sides have met four times, with each team winning once on home turf and drawing twice. The most recent meeting came in October of 2021 with the sides playing to a 1-1 draw in the Alamo City. Rodrigo da Costa scored the lone Tulsa goal before Gallegos equalized early in the second half. Don’t be surprised if Saturday’s friendly is just as tight a match.
SCOUTING HOUSTON DYNAMO 2
Much less is known about Houston Dynamo’s MLS Next Pro team, a squad entering its first year of play. MLS Next Pro is a new league in 2022 which will house nearly all the “MLS 2” teams, save for a handful remaining in the USL Championship. By 2023, all “MLS 2” teams will play in MLS Next Pro, leaving USL Championship as a league completely independent from any MLS affiliation.
Dynamo 2’s roster on Monday will likely consist primarily of reserve MLS players, recent SuperDraft picks and up-and-coming Academy prospects. It’ll present a different test and necessary test for FC Tulsa as several opponents during the 2022 regular season will also be unfamiliar to the club.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
1) Stretching Out Minutes for Potential Starters
Coach Nsien has indicated this week that the goal for possible Week 1 starters will be 75 minutes in the match on Saturday, as FC Tulsa will be just two weeks away from its regular season opener. While a couple of players are still dealing with minor knocks, Nsien is narrowing in on a preferred XI, and Saturday’s lineup should give an indication of which direction he is thinking. A couple of positions where decisions have yet to be made, center-forward and center-back, could see minutes distributed a bit more evenly.
2) More Rotation on Monday
With two matches inside of 72 hours, look for FC Tulsa to heavily rotate the squad for Monday’s match against Houston Dynamo 2. More depth than ever on the FC Tulsa roster necessitates preseason minutes for those who will offer up a spark off the bench throughout 2022. Monday’s match should offer a perfect opportunity for those players to standout to the coaching staff. As FC Tulsa fans learned the hard way at times last season, depth over a long season is incredibly important and can turn a good season into a great one.
3) A Defensive Rebound
Giving up six goals in the first two preseason matches has been a less than ideal way start for an FC Tulsa defense looking to rebound from a below average 2021 campaign. Four of those goals have come against starters in those matches, and it’s clear that communication and chemistry is still developing amongst several new faces to the defense. Nsien has preached to the team about having a winning mentality during preseason. That will need to surface amongst the backline over the final three friendlies.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Coverage of the two matches in Texas will be limited to just match updates on @FCTulsa’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. No stream of either match will be available.
