On January 6, 2020, the USL Championship released the home openers for the 2020 season. The first thing that caught my eye was that Reno will be playing an away game in Tacoma to start the season. Reno went 1-0-1 against Tacoma last season. The first game in Tacoma ended in a tie. The second game in Reno ended in a 5-0 blow out win for Reno.
Reno is set for their home opener on March 14, 2020. This game will be against OKC Energy FC. I am excited about this game. I’m excited to get the soccer season started up again. OKC did not make the playoffs in 2019. OKC energy finished the 2019 season 15th in the western conference. Reno finished in 2nd place. OKC only had 45 goals in 2019. Reno had almost double that with 73. OKC ended 2019 with 6 clean sheets. Reno ended their season with 9.
The first game of the 2019 series saw the game end in a 3-3 draw. Brown, Casiple, and Gleadle all scored goals for Reno. Bosetti, Eissele, and Gordon scored goals for OKC. There was a total of 3 yellow cards in the game. Game two went a little differently. OKC went up 2-0 early in the game. Reno responded with three goals in the second half to win it at 3-2. The goals for Reno were scored by Mfeka, Apodaca, and Hertzog. The goals for OKC were scored by Brown and Gordon.
These two teams have some bad blood going back to the 2017 playoffs. OKC won the game and ended Reno’s season after an amazing first year. The game did end in controversy as a Reno did throw a glass cup at an OKC player who was celebrating in front of the Reno supporters. Reno went 1-1-0 with OKC in the 2017 regular season. In 2018 Reno went 2-0-0 against OKC. This puts Reno’s overall record against OKC at 4-1-1. While neither team has released a full roster yet, I think the odds favor Reno to win.
Zac Electrifly 