The Tacoma Defiance moved into a tie for the most points in MLS Next Pro with a back-and-forth 3-2 win on Wednesday over The Town FC, the San Jose Earthquakes’ affiliate. The Defiance jumped out to leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before Osaze De Rosario bagged the eventual game-winner in the 78th minute.
It was a particularly important win for Defiance, who play their next four games on the road and won’t play another home game until June 6.
Key performances
Faysal Bettache: The midfielder contributed to all three Defiance goals, scoring the first one and assisting on the next two, and was a bit unlucky not to score at least one more. Bettache now has four goals and three assists, while powering the league’s top-scoring offense. For good measure, he also won 2 of 4 tackles and 5 of 8 duels.
Georgi Minoungou: MLS Next Pro does not give out secondary assists, but the midfielder would have likely been given two as he effectively set up the first two goals. Minoungou was once again very direct in his play and caused constant problems for The Town. Even without those secondary assists, he currently leads MLS Next Pro with five assists.
The defense: Collectively this was just not a very good performance. Aside from allowing equalizers just a few minutes after taking the lead on both first-half goals, they were a bit lucky not to go behind in the second half, too. The Town hit the crossbar with one chance and had at least two open headers flash wide. More broadly, they’ve now given up 12 goals in seven games, which is tied for the second most. They’ll need to clean that up if they are to contend for a title.
Highlights
Stats
MATCH SUMMARY
Tacoma Defiance 3 – The Town FC 2
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Venue: Starfire Stadium
Referee: Andrew Musashe
Assistants: Eric Krueger, Ryan Jung
Fourth official: Christopher Calderon
Weather: 53 degrees and drizzle
SCORING SUMMARY
TAC – Faysal Bettache (Snyder Brunell) 18’
TFC – Sean Bilter (Aaron Edwards) 22’
TAC – Travian Sousa (Faysal Bettache) 39’
TFC – Eduardo Blancas Maravilla (Aaron Edwards) 41’
TAC – Osaze De Rosario (Faysal Bettache) 79’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
TAC – Antino Lopez (caution) 26’
TAC – Faysal Bettache (caution) 61’
TFC – Casey Walls (caution) 65’
TAC – Frank Daroma (caution) 76’
LINEUPS & STATS
Tacoma Defiance – Lars Helleren; Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, Antino Lopez, Stuart Hawkins, Sota Kitahara; Snyder Brunell (Osaze De Rosario 71’), Frank Daroma; Georgi Minoungou (Chris Aquino 66’), Faysal Bettache – captain, Travian Sousa; Yu Tsukanome (Elias Katsaros 88’)
Substitutes not used: Trevor Wilson, Owen O’Malley, Burke Fahling, Gio Miglietti
Total shots: 11
Shots on goal: 7
Fouls: 15
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 7
Saves: 1
The Town FC – Mikolaj Bieganski; Joel Garcia (Jermaine Spivey 90+1’), Casey Walls, Sean Bilter, Oscar Verhoeven; Cruz Medina (Alexander Chow 85’), Edwyn Mendoza, Beau Leroux (Julian Donnery 85’); Riley Lynch, Eduardo Blancas Maravilla, Aaron Edwards (Roka Tsunehara 85’)
Substitutes not used: Alejandro Cano, John Nicolson, Ricardo Ibarra
Total shots: 13
Shots on goal: 3
Fouls: 14
Offside: 1
Corner-kicks: 4
Saves: 4
