Oklahoma City Energy Football Club on the rise
OKLAHOMA CITY — Soccer is gaining more traction by the day in Northern America, especially in the United States and Canada, although one could argue that the sport is largely underfunded when compared to many European countries. However, it seems to be on the rise now and it’s nice to see more teams spring up and join the professional ranks.
OKC Energy Football Club, founded on July 2, 2013, plays in the United Soccer League (USL), the second division of the professional soccer league in the United States. There is significant progress being made in having formerly amateur soccer teams in the second division of professional soccer. OKC Energy belongs to Group C (Central division) and are currently the 5th of eight teams in that group and 11th in the Eastern Conference. OKC Energy is owned by Prodigal LLC and is coached by Leigh Veidman. Under the leadership of president Bob Funk Jr., OKC Energy play their home games in their 7,500 capacity Taft Stadium located in Oklahoma City.
Brief history
In 2013, Funk Jr. became franchise licensed with the USL, giving him the rights to own a team and OKC Energy FC was born. The holding company, Prodigal LLC, formerly owned and managed some other sports franchises before then, including Oklahoma City Barons (hockey), Oklahoma City Dodgers (baseball) and Oklahoma City Blazers (hockey). OKC Energy’s inaugural season was in 2014 and they have been a staple in the community ever since.
Having changed head coaches a couple of times, their playing style has changed slightly but their identity remained. Before moving to their current stadium (Taft) in 2015, they played their 2014 home games at Pribil Stadium which was on the Bishop McGuiness Catholic High School campus.
OKC Energy FC has had a really good run for such a young team. They made the playoffs for three consecutive seasons and were close to winning it all once.
OKC Energy’s main rival is FC Tulsa. They compete in the Black Gold Derby each season, and this derby is fast becoming a must watch for soccer fans. The grit, intensity, passion and tackles are the sort of things you expect in a local derby. The local derby record stands at 10-8-5 (W-D-L) in favor of OKC Energy FC.
On the pitch
This season, of 32 games played, OKC Energy has won eight (25%), drawn 13 (41%) and lost 11 (34%). Definitely not where they want to be as a team, but they are clearly better than they were at the start of the 2021 season. New head coach Leigh has been trying to implement some elements in their game. Leigh is from the UK, so there are some elements of English football there.
Energy FC sets up in a very narrow shape regardless of the formation they are playing. They usually play a 4-3-2-1, 4-2-3-1 and sometimes in the traditional 4-4-2. As a soccer lover, I would guess the reason for playing a narrow shape is to protect their backline, which at the moment is not too good. They have some good things going in their game plan like trying to play from the back, creating triangles for passing lanes in the middle of the pitch and counter pressing.
Some changes could be coming soon, especially on the roster. Virtually all good teams in the modern game have goalkeepers that are quite good with their feet which makes the game easier, especially if you want to play out from the back and create quality goal scoring chances. OKC Energy also need press-resistant midfielders. These are elements of the modern game believed to be of utmost importance as of now and they can improve on other areas of the pitch depending of the available funds.
OKC Energy FC is a young team with lots of potential to make it to the top.
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