CHARLOTTE, NC (July 12, 2025) – The Charlotte Independence could not complete another second half comeback Saturday night, falling at home to Union Omaha 2-1.
#26 Souaibou Marou scored late for the Jacks, but it wasn’t enough as Union Omaha got their first victory under new head coach Vincenzo Candela.
The game slated to start at 7:00 was pushed back due to heavy thunderstorms that came amidst warmups, delaying the match for just over two hours.
The Jacks had the strong chances in the first eight minutes. Just three minutes after #99 Christian Chaney fired wide, #9 Jon Bakero had the best chance of the first half for the Independence. #15 Rafael Jauregui centered beautifully, but the Spainard’s try from two yards out stunningly went wide.
Union Omaha won the possession battle in the first half and once they settled in, played the majority of the half in Jacks’ territory. The visitors registered four shots on target to zero for Charlotte.
#28 Ryan Becher had Omaha’s first attempt of the half in the 17th minute, but his header from five yards out missed the target.
After some half-chances from outside the box, Omaha’s #10 Prosper Kassim fired from the top of the box in the 31st minute. It went through #3 Pele Ousmanou’s legs, but right into the hands of goalkeeper #28 Matt Levy.
Omaha broke the deadlock a minute later. Becher got on the end of a brilliant ball from #20 Charlie Ostrem to make 1-0 from six yards out.
Becher remained Omaha’s most dangerous player in the first 45 minutes, firing off the crossbar from 20 yards in the 39th minute.
The road team took a one-goal lead to the halftime break.
The Jacks came out with a pep in their step and had the first great chance of the second half. #17 Clay Dimick centered nicely into #6 Omar Ciss’ path, but the midfielder couldn’t place it past Omaha keeper #24 Rashid Nuhu.
Omaha doubled their lead in the 65th minute. A whipped in ball from #5 Marco Milanese found the head of substitute #8 Sergio Ors at the back post.
The Jacks tried to get back into the game in the 69th minute. A nice transition moment resulted in #8 Juan David Moreno firing from outside the box, but Nuhu got down to his right to make the save.
Charlotte found their success through Moreno, but his crosses could not be converted. Omaha played a strong defensive block, not giving the Independence many moments in transition and limiting chances to outside the box.
The Jacks pulled one back in the 92nd minute, igniting a slimmer of hope into the crowd at Matthews Sportsplex. #16 Tresor Mbuyu played a gorgeous ball to the back post and Marou buried it to make it 2-1.
The Independence had one final push in the final seconds, but the ball to the back post could not be settled and the referee blew the final whistle, giving the visitors a 2-1 victory.
QUOTES:
Head Coach Mike Jeffries on the perfomance:
“Disappointed. We lost our way most of the first half, allowed them to dictate the game, and disappointed in both the goals that we conceded. The first one put us in a hole and both from needless giveaways and not reacting well enough in transition. The character of the team is good, and we showed fight the whole way and really had our best moments towards the end of the game, chasing the game, and pushed pretty hard. The goal came too late and we just didn’t really have enough time to make a push for a second one.”
Jeffries on preparing for a team with a new head coach:
“Yeah, they’re a good team and they’ve actually been playing fairly well and just not getting results. Getting a new head coach, we knew they’d have a push from that and I think we felt like at the beginning of the game, we could get at them maybe a little bit and we were able to, but they definitely played with energy and passion and to be fair, they closed hard, they pushed the game, and in some phases outworked us.”
Tumi Moshobane on his first game with the Jacks:
“It felt good coming back on the pitch again. I mean, like you saw in the first half, first 15 minutes we had them. It was pretty tough after they got momentum. But towards the end of the game too, we started showing our quality and the game could have gone either way.”
Nick Spielman on the result:
“We just came out flat both halves. We didn’t show enough effort, as simple as that, and they came here and showed effort, put in the work, and they got two good goals.”
