Memphis 901 FC struggles continue in emphatic loss to San Antonio FC

The unbeaten streak that seemed to never end has quickly shifted with Memphis losing at home to San Antonio, just a week after their 6-0 defeat against Phoenix Rising. Memphis could not recover from Tani Oluwaseyi’s first half hat-trick, the final scoreline climbing to 4-0.

The three goals from Oluwaseyi came in a 25 minute flurry. The first two were almost gifted to the striker in the form of an errant pass and a ball unable to be contained by goalkeeper Bill Hamid. The third was a quality strike from outside the box, assisted by Jorge Hernández as he split through the Memphis defense.

“I’d say we lost particularly bad goals, which is a consequence of players making individual mistakes,” coach Stephen Glass said. “I think other than the goals that went in, the game was pretty much in the balance.”

Oluwaseyi is clearly the star man for San Antonio as he has now scored two hat-tricks since arriving in April (the other against Charleston Battery in a 7-0 win). He has thrived in their attacking style of lofting balls forward as quickly as possible, often relying on their defense to quickly switch the run of play.

Memphis was haunted by miscommunication and critical errors during the match. Hamid, in goal for the first time in six games, had a moment in the first few minutes. The midfield had trouble linking consecutive passes together which ultimately hindered the amount of chances for the attack. This trickled down to the back line who were far from a connective unit.

“We’re going to have to get used to the physical aspect of these games at times,” Glass said. “They’re not going to allow us to play our football.”

When 901 eventually looked like their usual confident selves, the dangerous build-up play refused to translate to the ball hitting the back of the net. The intensity and effort did not drop despite the deficit, especially when Laurent Kissiedou, Luiz Fernando and Emerson Hyndman checked in. The announced crowd of 3,623 also got to see Leston Paul for the first time in AutoZone Park this season.

Coach Glass has had the luxury of depth the past couple of months due to everyone stepping up and performing well. Now that players are returning from injury and form has dropped, it will be interesting to see what the starting eleven will look like in the near future.

Memphis will go on the road next to face two more Western conference foes: at Oakland Roots SC on Wednesday July 12 and at Sacramento Republic FC three days later on Saturday.