A new year, a new season of hope opens the way for Orange County SC, which opens its USL season at home against Republic SC of Sacramento (7 pm) in a Championship Soccer Stadium that hopes to have its fans, which will be observing social distancing.
Although the stadium will operate at 30% of its capacity, for veteran OCSC captain Michael Orozco, it is better than seeing the property located in the Great Park completely empty as they lived in a 2020 pandemic.
“After a difficult year on and off the court for everyone … it was difficult to plan everything in our lives,” Orozco told the LA Times en Español. “One who is an athlete, expects to be on the court with all the fans. Nowadays you can already have something of a hobby, so you can enjoy how beautiful soccer or any other sport is ”.
The OCSC leader said he was encouraged by the possibility of a return to normalcy as things improve in relation to numbers affected by COVID-19.
Irvine’s eleventh saw big changes in their squad for this season, which started the season with a loss on May 16 in Seattle to Sounders FC 2 by the slightest difference.
Among the important changes to Braeden Cloutier’s eleventh is the arrival of forward Ronaldo Damus, who has played two games for the Haiti national team and was scorer with North Texas SC in the USL League One in 2020.
“He is a player very hungry to succeed,” explained the captain. “He is very excited to grow as a footballer and do everything for his country. He had the misfortune of not playing in the pre-Olympic, I talked to him a bit about that and he tells me that yes, he will continue to give everything on a day-to-day basis ”.
The Mexican American feels that this year he has a team that is capable of competing for great things.
“We have a very good, competitive team,” he said. “The team is ready, we have players who have adapted very well, who have come from Europe and in addition to the local players.”
In relation to protecting himself from the coronavirus, Orozco said he had been vaccinated with his family as soon as it was allowed.
“You have to continue taking care of yourself because this is not over yet, besides that I will be traveling a lot and I don’t want to take anything back home,” said the player.
They departed: Aodhan Quinn, Frederik Due, Aaron Cervantes, Danny Crisostomo, Sean Okoli
They arrived: Patrick Rakovsky, Abraham Romero, Adam Jahn, Chris Wehan, Ronaldo Damus, Eero Markkanen, Mikko Kuningas, Brent Richards
–
