The drumbeat through Loudoun United’s offseason were a couple of things; the desire to be broader from players 1-18 and the inclusion of veteran signings, players who have logged some miles and won some hardware in the USL. Some random observations:

On rookie…mistakes?

I think Christiano Francois would be the first to tell you his retaliatory headbutt on Mitchell Taintor that earned him a red was foolish, and by no means would I defend it. But this apparent elbow on Francois by Lucas Silva (who wound up scoring the game’s first goal ten minutes later) getting a free kick and little else is kind of hilarious:

To the tune of ‘Oh Yoko’ (Flo Valot)

Loudoun’s first goal? Fun as hell and check it out. There was a second exchange that made me do the double take:

Both opportunities were rightfully started by pressure Loudoun’s attackers put on the SAFC backline. But Valot’s workrate, first touch and ideas were notable with and without the ball. The with part I should only include for fairness, as he starts the team moving downfield, and ends things with, well:

Collective Loudoun attacks through the years have always missed one component, while having complementary parts. The result made things clunky and fruitless. You may as well read this thing with a “Week One Takes” tattoo scratched into your arm, but Valot potentially gives the Loudoun attack a cohesion they haven’t had since Year One (read this from Protagonist Soccer who was more gung-ho on this move early on).

Another veteran move. Shortly before Valot’s tying goal, this was almost it:

One of the things about the offseason was Ryan Martin saying the team has a bunch of de facto leaders now so he doesn’t have to say much. And what do you tell your players when Drew Skundrich, running his ass off for 90 minutes and down a man for more than an hour, can find himself on the end of a brainfart backpass by Mitchell Taintor, the 2022 defender of the year?

It says if he can do it, you can as well, a perfect illustration of the team dynamic at the moment.

The old new and the new-er new. Along with expected introductions like Robby Dambrot and Wesley Leggett, Loudoun included Yanis Leerman and Abdellatif Aboukoura in the mix; both missed time to injury, the former missed most of preseason, the latter made his first onfield appearance since October 2022. Both handled themselves well, and I personally root like hell for ‘Bouchy’, who despite his absence is still only 19, but the overall point being both are very good players who stand to make the team better with their respective contributions.

Random stat: 0.01 (the difference in Expected Goals between San Antonio (.96) and Loudoun (.95) per ASA).

So where does this leave us? I guess if anywhere, it’s cautious optimism. There’s a lot of things to be nervous about; the injury to right back Keegan Tingey which forced an early sub, so the backline remains fragile. A 2-2 draw against San Antonio isn’t anything to sneeze at, given the teams played to a draw last year at Segra and lost 2-1 at Toyota Field in the latter’s 2022 Championship season, and look how the last two seasons went. The good start to the season, which past Loudoun teams have had only to see them deteriorate in April.

Next up is North Carolina FC, last year’s League One Champions who played Charleston to a formidable draw Saturday night. Week 2 will be a better gauge for both sides, and hopefully things can continue trending upward for Loudoun in their home opener this week.