Blues in playoff hunt
Eight matches remain on the Orange County Blues FC schedule, and if the United Soccer League playoffs were to begin now, the Blues wouldn’t be in.
Orange County enters Saturday’s match against the Austin Aztex at 7 p.m. at UC Irvine one spot out of the final postseason berth in the Western Conference. The Blues (9-8-3) head into the final six weeks of the regular season with some momentum.
The Blues are 2-0-2 in their past four contests, both wins coming against the Real Monarchs SLC (2-11-6), one of the worst clubs in the USL. They also tied the Los Angeles Galaxy II and OKC Energy FC, the Galaxy II (11-7-3) share the top spot in the Western Conference and the OKC Energy (9-5-7) are in fourth.
The top six clubs in the Western and Eastern conferences qualify for the playoffs. Sixth in the Western Conference currently belongs to the Tulsa Roughnecks FC (9-9-4). The Roughnecks are one point ahead of the Blues with 31 points. Tulsa also swept the two-game series with Orange County this year.
On the Blues’ side is that their next four matches are against teams below them in the standings. In two of those, their opponent is the Aztex.
Austin (7-10-3) has won two of its last three. The Blues are at their best at home, posting a 6-3-1 mark, while Austin is 3-6 on the road. Earning three points against the Aztex will be critical for the Blues because Tulsa is at the Real Monarchs on Saturday, and it plays host to the Real Monarchs on Thursday. Those two results should go to the Roughnecks.
Orange County goes into Saturday without defender Jefrey Payeras. Guatemala’s under-23 national team called up the 6-foot-2 Payeras to participate in the qualification for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, which will be in the U.S. in October.
“The entire coaching staff is very pleased for Jefrey’s call up to the Guatemala U-23 national team,” Orange County Coach Oliver Wyss said in a press release. “He has been continuously improving over the last two months and the call up is a well-deserved reward for Jefrey.”
Payeras will miss Orange County’s next two matches, the second is on the road against Arizona United SC on Aug. 15. His Guatemala side has Group B matches in the Central American Zone against Honduras on Tuesday and Belize on Thursday in Guatemala City.
Payeras has started in each of the nine matches he’s appeared in for the Blues, including their 2-1 win at the Real Monarchs last Saturday. He assisted on the first of Pavle Popara’s two goals. Those two goals were the first by Popara for the Blues. The Serbian midfielder signed with Orange County in mid-July, and since then, the Blues haven’t lost.
Popara will try to keep the Blues’ unbeaten streak alive and help them get back into the playoff picture.
