The Ballad Of El Mago
On Oscar Jimenez, the signing class of 2017, and the Boys of Slugger
In March of 2018, in a couple of important ways, my life changed forever. First, a friend showed me the video of that yodeling Walmart kid, which led me to reevaluate who I was spending my time with. Secondly, and this is the one that's actually pertinent to the story, I finally talked myself into believing that $100 was a reasonable price for a jersey. But, c’mon, it was a sweet black and purple gradient, and we had just won our first USL Cup, and a friend told me a local screen printing shop would put a name and number on the back, so I figured it was about time.
Walking into the storefront I was nervous, because this was basic human interaction, something I’ve never been particularly good at. But as the heat press hissed and unclamped, I knew I had done the right thing. The first name I got on the back of a LouCity jersey was a first name.
Oscar Jimenez got his start professionally in 2015 with the then Tulsa Roughnecks, before spending a year in the semi-pro trenches with Mississippi Brilla FC in the PDL. Brilla, not to be confused with delicious birria, were not only not tacos, they were not winners. Despite their losing record, Oscar led the team in assists, which was enough to convince his coaches that he was built for bigger things than the 4th division, something he already knew. At the end of the year his head coach lobbied his USL rolodex looking for a tryout, and fortunately for us it was JOC who took the chance.
Coming into the 2017 season, City was riding a wave of success and momentum that would be impressive for any club, much less one only 2 years old. Their record stood at 31 wins, 15 draws, and 12 losses, and they put up a combined goal differential of +46, easily the best in the league over that period. To cap off the stellar regular season performances, City had been to two straight conference finals, which at the time was notable, rather than something we set our watches to. I mean, I don’t wear a watch, but maybe you do, I don’t know.
The 2015 season was all about Matt Fondy. Fondy would break the USL record for goals in a season (22) winning the golden boot and MVP in the process. He was also second on the team in assists, those rare occasions where he didn't just score himself. But Matt left at the end of the year, taking Bryan Burke and our attack with him to the NASL’s Jacksonville Armada. Fuck.
Luckily in 2016 we signed Chandler Hoffman. Hoffman wouldn't break any league records, but he still put up 15 goals, good for second in the league, and 10 more than #2 scorer Guy Abend. Proportionally he was doing even more of the work than Fondy was (please don’t check my math on that). But Hoffman was also on a one year deal, and left Slugger’s pitch of many colors for the green fields of Herriman, Utah and the Real Monarchs (where he would play with a young, fresh faced Danny Cruz). Fuuuuck.
The glass half empty types in the audience might be clearing their smug throats right about now and saying “Matt, doesn't this just show that we can't win the big one? Have teams figured out that they only need to shut down one guy and they’ve got our number?” To which I would say “Shut up”, because I'm bad at debating. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before we broke through. We just had to try something a little different.
Enter the signing class of 2017. Oscar was one of the last additions to the roster, signing a deal in March. He joined a group of newcomers including *shudder* Cincinnati native target man Luke Spencer, former Houston Dynamo and Richmond Kicker Brian Ownby, and 2 former champions who had both knocked LC out of the playoffs in previous years, Devon “Speedy” Williams, and Sean “Totsch” Totsch. These were players who had faced early career adversity, but were starving to show the league what they could do if just given the chance. Oscar fit hand in glove like a Smiths song.
OJ started the first of his 34 games at left back in a 4-2-3-1. But a funny thing happened 11 games into the season. After splitting center back duties between Totsch, Paco Craig, and Tarek Morad, who had all been playing well in rotation, JOC decided, hey, why not play ‘em all at the same time? So Oscar shifted up to the left wing of the midfield. Free of his deeper backline responsibilities, he was able to focus all his time on picking apart whatever defensive formations were unlucky enough to be downfield of him.
A good way to illustrate the effects of the formation shift is by looking at the 2017 Dirty River Derby matches. The first 2 games against Cincinnati that April and July, Oscar didn't make the starting 11, and wouldn’t end up seeing the pitch at all. Instead the team played with a 4 man backline that was more defense oriented. We couldn't pick up the win in either game. The first game was a 1 all draw that saw us concede the tying goal late in front of 20,000 at Nippert. The game we lost at Slugger we couldn’t even score in the open field, just managing to put 2 on the board via PK and Cincy own goal.
By the time the third game rolled around on August 12th we had switched to our 3 in the back look. That game we took 30 shots and won 5-0. Oscar fired in a team high 9 crosses and recorded an assist on a first half stoppage time goal from Luke Spencer. Then a week and a half later we hung 5 more goals on Harrisburg, another team we lost to in our 4 back phase earlier in the year.
Whenever Oscar had the ball you just knew he was going to find a way to get it forward. The players ahead of him must’ve been giddy whenever he put his laces to it, because they knew a perfectly weighted pass was coming their way. He played in a way that made it clear he was one step ahead of the ball, scanning the field with a calm poise, before making the decision to fire it forward well before he actually got it at his feet.
One of his great strengths, especially as the season progressed, was putting a pass in space and trusting his teammates to go get it. No one was better at catching players in stride. My favorite example of this is in the first round playoff matchup against Bethlehem. In the 69th minute Oscar gets the ball just past the center circle. Between him and the goal there are (3) Bethlehem outfield players and (1) Luke Spencer, with another Steel player closing in to his right. Oscar takes a single step and threads it between all (4) men just in front of a galloping #12, who flicks it over the keeper’s right shoulder to put City comfortably up 3. It’s a wonderful exchange that took all of (5) seconds to pull off.
His ranginess was especially evident if you were watching the game on TV, where he was in 80% of the shots. He was everywhere. The camera couldn't shake him. It was the El Mago Show, a primetime buddy cop dramedy starring Oscar and the ball. It was a gamble greenlighting a show where one of the stars repeatedly kicked his partner in the face, but hey, that's showbiz.
A good portion of that camera time found him preparing for free kicks. Oscar took most of our indirects and corners, able to whip it in with either foot. His left was especially dangerous, volleying the ball into space where it bent into outstretched limbs on it’s way to netting. He knew just who to find when he stood above a dead ball, and more importantly he had the ability to get it to them from just about any angle.
Oscar started 34 out of 36 games for Louisville City in his first year, tallying a team high 2,977 minutes. He led the USL in chances created with 77, and led the team with 6 assists on the year. He took an astounding 257 crosses, 182 more than anyone else. The attack in 2017, a year in which every player sans Greg scored, was a team attack, and it ran through Oscar Jimenez. The first year Louisville won silverware was also the first year it didn’t have a player in contention for the golden boot. And it didn’t matter. Because while Slugger was witness to some great individual performances in years prior, it had never seen a team like this.
I step out of Dirty Tease into a chilly March dusk, jersey over my shoulder. I still can’t believe we won that cup. How many supporters never get the opportunity to experience a championship in their lifetime, and I was just on the field as my team danced in the confetti of a league title. Crazy. I’m sure that this is the best team Louisville City has ever fielded. And, but for a moment, I wonder to myself, “What would this squad look like if it did have a player in golden boot contention? What if we could combine an individual season as good as Matt Fondy’s 2015 with this Championship winning side? Wouldn’t that be a great team.”
Somewhere, off in the distance, Cameron Lancaster laughs.