KICKERS HAVE ENOUGH CHANCES TO WIN ... BUT STILL CAN'T SCORE AGAINST OMAHA



 Well, your Richmond Kickers certainly had their chances 

to upset top-seeded Union Omaha in the quarterfinals of 

the USL League One playoffs Sunday. A breakaway 

opportunity in the 14th minute went wide right by RYAN 

SIERAKOWSKI then, on a corner kick early in the 

second half, EMELIANO TERZAGHI and KLAIDI 

CELA both knocked the ball off the crossbar … At that 

point, with the score still 0-0, the Kickers let down just 

long enough for the home team to score the only goal on 

a counter-attack … and send a small crowd of about 

2,500 – as well as a couple of Omaha cheerleaders calling 

the game for the CBS SportsNetwork – home happy ... 

Next for Union is a semifinal date with fourth-seed 

Greenville, a 2-1 winner over No. 5 Knoxville. The other 

semifinal will match No. 7 Spokane, which routed No. 2 

Northern Colorado 3-0, with No. 3 Forward Madison, a 

2-0 winner over sixth-seeded Charlotte.


For Richmond, which barely qualified for post-season 

play at No. 8, the end came in the 52d minute, moments 

after Union survived Terzaghi and Cela beating veteran 

keeper RASHID NUHU only to watch the ball remain in 

play by hitting the crossbar. Omaha quickly countered, 

with LAGOS KUNGA and KEIKA LEWIS exchanging 

passes before Kunga, alone with the ball, easily beat 

rookie keeper JAMES SNEDDON from 10 yards … 

Playing his eighth straight game in his first pro season, 

Sneddon, 18, also came up with two big saves of point-

blank shots to give the Kickers the opportunity to pull this 

one out … but, as it was most of the difficult campaign, 

marred by injuries to key personnel, scoring goals 

continued to prove an adventure. They were blanked in 

all three games with Union this year, tying 0-0 and losing 

3-0 and 1-0 ... If Kunga, 26, sounds familiar to Kicker 

fans … in 2018, on the last day of the regular season, the 

native of Angola scored two goals as Atlanta United 2 

edged Richmond 3-2 in a USL match.


Until next time ...









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