.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Copyright © 2019 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico United’s origins share some familiar flickers with Los Alamos.

The expansion United Soccer League team has meetings, meals, and use locker rooms at a remote warehouse so far south of the airport you pass “too far” to get there.

The squad buses to University of New Mexico for morning training sessions until a field is ready at Mesa De Sol. It’s a private and functional headquarters for the inaugural season.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip

................................................................

New Mexico United (0-0-2), which delivered a rousing home opener on March 9, returns to Isotopes Park tonight to face the Tulsa Roughnecks (1-0-1).

United tied Phoenix Rising 1-1 on Saturday.

New Mexico United has never trailed in 180 minutes. It held one-goal halftime leads in both games but conceded equalizers minutes after the interval. Phoenix rose from a goal down three times to draw United.

“We got to close out games and be complete in what we do,” New Mexico United coach Troy Lesesne said. “Throughout preseason and first two games of regular season we’ve consistently built upon our identity, our philosophy on field.”

New Mexico United is tied for 11th in the western conference with two points. Tulsa is in second, one of five teams on four points.

Tulsa is tied for most goals (six) in USL play after erupting for five on Saturday.

The Roughnecks are tops in “conversion rate” with those half-dozen tallies on just 17 shots.

New Mexico United is tied for sixth in the USL with its four goals and tied for 24th in shots. United has generated offense with some superlative solo efforts including two Saturday from its Spanish sparkplug Santi Moar.

“There are moments happening prior to those special individual moments that you can build off of,” Lesesne said. “A big change in the second week in preparation playing forward more often, playing through the middle, combining our passes, just being more dangerous.”

United posted 54.7 percent possession against Fresno but 41.8 percent at Phoenix. The club views possession as the key to control.

“We want to keep the ball as much as we can; we want to have possession for as long as we can,” goalie Cody Mizell said. “We want to get the ball on the floor and make teams work. We want to make people who come here hurt because of the altitude. The system we’re playing is working. We’re going to stick with it.”

Both goals United has allowed in the run of play have come from crosses in the channels finished with unmarked headers. That raises questions about defensive positioning and communication in closing down the wide areas and tracking runners.

“Our job as defenders is to eliminate both cross and shots,” Mizell said. “Our goal is not have either. Sometimes you have an athletic play like in Phoenix. We’ve dealt with crosses fine.”

It may take until June to draw too many conclusions.

“I don’t think the sample size is big enough to say we’re poor on crosses,” Lesesne said. “Every team is in fourths. At that point we’ll know what we are what we’re not. It will be a little bit more complete with our roster with our style of play with our performance.”

Tulsa finished bottom of the western conference table in 2018 which led to Michael Nsien being named interim coach during the season. He earned permanent head coach duties in December 2018. Tulsa did not make Nsien available for an interview.

Tickets are available online at www.newmexicoutd.com/tickets. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.com.

Tod ay

Tulsa Roughnecks FC at New Mexico United Isotopes Park, 7 p.m., espn3.com

