Tacoma Defiance (formally Sounders 2) came to Reno on Tuesday for college night (and Matt Bersano’s birthday). Not very many people came to this game because it was on a Tuesday. Reno was coming off of a tough loss to Fresno. Reno was also on a 4-game losing streak. Tacoma was in last place. They lost to Sacramento (0-3) back on Saturday, but they did win their game before that against San Antonio (5-0).

Pregame thoughts

I wasn’t confident that Reno would win despite Tacoma being in last place. Reno put themselves in a hole after losing 4. They needed a win. If they didn’t get a win then they could end up fighting just to stay in the playoffs. The other question if they lost was will they be able to win any of the remaining 2019 games if they lose to the last place team.

In order to win Reno needed to shoot the ball more. I thought that they should end every play with a shot on net. Shooting the ball was something I thought they struggled to do against Fresno. Going with that they needed to score the first goal. That was something that Reno hadn’t done since they started their losing streak. I thought that if they scored first it would be a huge momentum builder for the rest of the game. Lastly, I thought that they needed to not give up on the play. Its another thing that they were struggling with during the losing streak. It even lead to Fresno’s first goal on Saturday.

For Tacoma being in last place, I was thinking that they were in a position where they would be trying to create positives in each game and then build on that for next season. That being said I think that they would have liked to take advantage of a struggling Reno. I thought that if they were going to win they would be trying to create offense any way they can. Throw everything at the wall to see what sticks. My thought was that they shouldn’t worry too much about defense. Not letting a goal in effect how you play the game. Then waste time. I thought that they might try to waste as much time as possible if the game was tied or they were in the lead. This would make it harder for Reno to get an edge and win. I don’t like this strategy. A lot of teams have used it in the past against Reno. I think wasting time is part of the reason Fresno won.

Live: Reno 1868 FC vs Tacoma Defiance | 1868 Now https://t.co/sDcC228FYk — Zac Electrifly (@ZacElectrifly) September 11, 2019

What happened in the first half?

The game started off with a lightning delay. Instead of starting at 7:00pm the game started around 7:35

Reno started the scoring off early. Daniel Musovski would score in the 4’ minute. Brent Richards would get the assist. Richards launched the ball forward from behind the half line. Musovski hit the ball of his chest to move the ball forward and into the box. As soon as the ball was on the ground he shot it in.

Musovski did a good job of out muscling the defending player. The defending player was in a position were all he could have done to win the ball was foul Musovski, but he wasn’t going to do that because they were in the box. Lowell (GK) didn’t come out to challenge Musovski. I don’t get why because Musovski was the only guy in the box and Tacoma had defenders coming back. Also by not challenging for the ball it game Musovski more time to aim and shoot the ball with less pressure to do so. Lowell also left a lot of the net open.

Musovski would score again in the 26’ minute. The assist would again come from Richards. Richards took the ball down the wing. He crossed the ball into the box from outside of the upper right corner of the box. Musovski headed it in.

WATCH | He's literally scoring faster than twitter can handle. Here's the second of THREE Musovski goals.#VamosAzules | #COYBIB pic.twitter.com/uYUIcbqsgO — Reno 1868 FC (@Reno1868FC) September 11, 2019

It was a good cross from Richards. We don’t see a lot of those but it does show that he is improving on his crosses. Musovski has hops. His feet where at the waste of his defending player. Neither of the two Tacoma defenders near Musovski jumped to try to win the ball. Lowell did come out to challenge for the ball this time but he didn’t get there in time. Also on the replay it looks like he is trying to swat the ball with one hand while his other hand is down. I think it’s interesting that he tried to do that instead of using both hands to grab the ball.

Seth Casiple would score in the 27’ minute. Musovski would bring the ball towards the box drawing in three defenders. He then put the ball in front of Casiple who with one touch put it in the back of the net.

Firstly, it was good awareness from Musovski to know that he was drawing in defenders and that he had help coming in. Caspile did a good job out running Rogers to get the first touch. Lowell looked like he was expecting the shot to go to his right and it went to his left. This goal wasn’t really his fault though. His defenders didn’t do anything to stop Reno.

Musovski scored his third of the night in the 30’ minute. This one would be assisted by Corey Hertzog. Hertzog passed it to Musovski from the other side of the field. Musovski went one on one with his defender. Musovski stopped the ball. His defender over ran. Musovski turned took a shot and scored.

WATCH | Break the ankle, and then BANG IT ON 'EM!#DannyDeadly | #VamosAzules pic.twitter.com/FZar4gZQ4M — Reno 1868 FC (@Reno1868FC) September 11, 2019

Not much to say about this one. Musovski did a good job of beating his defender and finding the back of the net. Lowell was not really out of position but not in a position to block the shot that Musovski put on net.

Another Musovski and Richards goal came in the 41’ minute. This play looks pretty close to the first goal of the night. Richards took it down the wing. He crossed it. Musovski headed it.

What makes this goal special is that with this goal Musovski became the ninth player to score four goals in a USL Championship game. I learned that in the YouTube comments.

What happened in the second half?

It looked like Tacoma might score as Justin Dhillon took a dive in the box in the 46’ minute. He was awarded the penalty kick but it’s obvious on the Replay that he took a dive. He took the penalty kick. He went for the lower right box. The ball never left the ground. Matt Bersano made the save.

WATCH | Matt Bersano gave everyone else a gift on his birthday!!#VamosAzules | #COYBIB pic.twitter.com/sByKbn7cYd — Reno 1868 FC (@Reno1868FC) September 11, 2019

Will Seymore was awarded a yellow card in the 74’ minute. This was his eighth yellow card of the season. It was also reported that he will miss the next Reno match due to yellow card accumulation.

After match thoughts

We needed a win, we got a win. The defense played a lot better than they did during the losing streak. I hope that they will continue to play at that level. Musovski is doing really well right now. He has 6 goals in the last two matches. I really hope his play continues into the playoffs. Richards and Musovski look like they are tuning into a deadly offensive pairing. If they continue to play this level we could make a long playoff run.

Next match

This Saturday, September 15, 2019, Reno travels to Austin. They will be taking on Austin Bold. Last time these two teams played was back in March. Reno won that home match 2-1 in a come from behind victory. Both of Reno’s goals came in the second half of that game. Austin is currently in fourth place and is seven points behind Reno.