Coming in to a first-ever home game at the gorgeous Cardinale Stadium, Monterey Bay FC was in the pits. The side sat last in the Western Conference, struggling to stop opponents; their most recent result was a 6-0 loss away to San Antonio FC. Frank Yallop's expansion crew took their lumps in early games against Phoenix and El Paso as well, but this matchup was the worst of the bunch. For one, San Antonio was hugely successful getting out in transition against an unshapely defensive system.
In this sequence, Monterey's press is highly unstructured. Six players are well above the halfway line, and the right winger and right back are both high. Jordan Farr punts long, and Monterey is slow to track back and address the second ball. From there, Morey Doner is caught in a real pickle, with multiple players bearing down on him. Doner validly steps to Justin Dhillon but is played past, and his teammates overcommit to a break Connor Maloney. It's an easy rebound for Elliott Collier in the end in the vacant space.
Still, things aren't all that they seem on this play: Monterey's defense features a spate of out-of-position players. Their lineup saw right-winger Sam Gleadle at right back; granted, he has vast experience there at other stops, but that's not his charge in this squad. Worse, preferred right-back Morey Doner covers in the middle, paired with central midfielder Mobi Fehr. Jiro Toyama is the at left back in his third-ever start at the Championship level. Basically, you have a wholly unfamiliar defensive unit with no first-choice starters.
That said, Monterey didn't make life easier for themselves, regularly turning over possession at the back. Here, they work back to the goalkeeper well outside of his box, and the centerbacks split wide as passing options. 'Keeper Dallas Jaye plays up the middle to a centerman, but SAFC jumps on the pass to initiate a break. It's a bad miscommunication no matter how you slice it, and Fehr worsens the issue by overplaying the interceptor. Collier collects a pass from there and gets a clean look at goal.
I've harped on the topic from the first matchweek onward, but Monterey has a turnover problem in defense. Their completion percentage for passes played by defenders is fifth-from-bottom even as their share of long passes sits just 1% off of average. In essence, this means that Monterey is playing short but still turning the ball over. Incompletions aren't dangerous if they come far down the pitch off of long balls, but they became a huge source of consternation in your own half.
Against Las Vegas, the turnover problem still reared its ugly head, but Monterey reacted better to changes in possession. Here, a sloppy ball into the middle looses the Lights, but an immediate close-down from Robbie Crawford, a central midfielder, and good recovery rotation from Simon Dawkins, a left winger, stifle a potential break. Later regaining, Monterey gives the ball right back. However, their structure holds. The slide to the flank from the back line is disciplined, and the second dangerous moment is cleanly addressed.
Personnel plays a part here. The Las Vegas game saw Monterey start their preferred back line of, from left to right, Grant Robinson, Hugh Roberts, Kai Greene, and Doner. Their superior chemistry and positional intelligence is blatant. That isn't a knock against Fehr and Doner against San Antonio; they were in unfamiliar positions! Still, it's hard to undersell the value of rolling out that first-choice unit for Monterey. As graphed, the expansion side is poor defensively with a first-choice eleven, signified in the chart by Greene's smiling mug. Still, the six games where Greene has featured have seen his team fall within the normal bounds of USL defending. In the three games without Greene, things have been atrocious. Monterey has shipped an outlandish five-plus goals a game and not earned a single point.
Las Vegas is inferior to San Antonio as an attacking team, but they use a similar system, and the comparison in defensive performances is thus instructive. Powered by that Cardinale atmosphere, Monterey looked night-and-day better. Against the long goal kick here, the improvement in organization is immediately noticeable. The back four stays firm as one member moves up to challenge in the air, and they repeat the trick after another dinked pass. Even when Las Vegas settles into possession, Walmer Martinez does well to close to the wing, and Chase Boone joins the fun to solidify the 4-4-1-1 shape.
The added confidence at back let Monterey grow more aggressive in their pressure up the pitch. Their deep 4-4-1-1 becomes a proper 4-4-2 here, allowing the side to address both opposing centerbacks. Las Vegas drop a midfielder into the mix to overwhelm the pair of pressers, but Monterey force play wide. Next, Boone drops deep to mark that low central midfielder, and Christian Volesky closes to the ball. Volesky's angle as he runs at his man denies a pass to the center, forcing Las Vegas to the right; there, Crawford and Dawkins are already moving to harry the target of a potential pass. Monterey is anticipating. They're one step ahead, and every action is counterbalanced by rotation to shore up potential gaps.
I don't think that Monterey are a juggernaut in disguise, but I do think they've underperformed a decent roster. Can they make a playoff run? I doubt it, but the example of Oakland in 2021 means that you can't count this team out. If that Robinson-Roberts-Greene-Doner line can stay healthy and the midfield in front of them continues to find its footing, then Cardinale Stadium could see some fun soccer in the months ahead.
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