Preview: Tulsa vs Pittsburgh for the 2025 USL Championship Trophy

“This one’s for all the marbles.”

“It’s really gonna come down to who wants it more.”

“When you look up at the out-of-town scoreboard and there’s nothing on it, you realize that you’ve reached the end.”

A championship game is just begging for a well-worn cliché to kick things off. I kind of see why. Most writers, like me, will perhaps only cover a championship final of the beat they follow once or twice in their lifetimes. I write primarily about the Riverhounds and the Colorado Rapids. I’ve been writing about soccer for eleven years. This might be the only time I ever preview the Championship game. Because we’ve never been there before, we lean on the old chestnuts to help us give us structure.

I will say that a few years ago after a playoff match, I asked Robbie Mertz a question and he said something to the effect of “We gave it our all, and I’m sad that this will be the last time I see many of these guys.” That was an insight on a final USL match that literally had not occurred to me before – that after the game, players shower and dress and go home. And then a few weeks later they schedule a meeting with the GM or Sporting Director, and they come in, and about half to two-thirds of them will then clean out their lockers and move to Richmond or Vermont or Sacramento or Charleston or Tacoma for the next season.

A championship game in a league where all the contracts are pretty much one year or two year deals is pretty special. All the right guys put together their best season, all at once, to accomplish something. Win or lose, the 2025 Pittsburgh Riverhounds have really achieved something great. “They’re playing with house money,” Matt Popchock said on the video/podcast we did earlier this week. For sure. But these guys are going to want to finish the job. The Riverhounds are going to want to achieve something, for themselves, and for each other, that will serve as their enduring legacy on the beautiful game.

For all the marbles. The Riverhounds are playing for a championship tomorrow.

Personnel

As would be obvious from the team that finished first in the USL Western Conference, Tulsa FC – who were once known as the Roughnecks, because that’s an oil rig thing – are a very talented team.

The main players to keep an eye on are their front four. Against New Mexico United, that was Kalil ElMedkhar, Jamie Webber, Alexander Dalou, and Taylor Calheira.

ElMedkhar was born in Delaware and came up through the Philadelphia United Academy. He joined MLS’ FC Dallas in 2021 and was used sparingly in 2021 and 2022, totalling just 126 minutes. From there he went to Loudoun United, where he flourished in 2023, scoring 8 goals and 5 assists. He even had a goal that year against the Hounds, here in Pittsburgh, in a 3-1 Loudoun defeat. Tulsa Head Coach Luke Spencer liked what he saw and brought him in for 2025, and he has 6 goals in 1323 minutes.

Jamie Webber is a South African player from a team called Supersport FC in Pretoria, also in his first year with the team. He’s more or less a replacement for Boubacar Diallo, who had surgery due to injury a month ago. Diallo was more defense-minded, with just 2 goals, 0 assists in 2,287 minutes this year. Webber, in only 1245 minutes, has 3 goals, 3 assists.

Alexander Dalou is Tulsa’s answer to Jamie Vardy – a lower-league semi-pro dreamer that wants to go from zero-to-hero. From 2021 to 2023 he played for Oakland County FC, then Detroit FC, then Gold Star FC, and then Albion SD. Oakland is semi-pro, the others are (were) pro-ish teams in a 3rdish-4thish tier league called NISA. All those teams are on hiatus or have folded. NISA still exists (barely). Anyhow, Dalou trialed with Tulsa in 2024 and scored a job, and he’s been a hard working, hard pressing forward that has earned a steady diet of minutes this year.

Last of the forwards is Taylor Calheira, a 23-year old striker that was drafted out of University Maryland Baltimore County by NYCFC. Calheira had 15 regular season goals this year, plus a brace against NM United. He’s very quick to pounce on a loose ball, very poised, and seems to know how, when, and where to appear in the box in time to score a goal.

Another player of note includes Travian Sousa. The left back is also a long throw specialist. He’s  incredibly fast and tends to get forward in the attack. The 23-year-old is on loan from Seattle Sounders. I think a good showing in the USL Final might earn him a trip to a bigger league, because he has real raw athletic ability that, if refined, could help some very good teams.

Lastly, we have something of a goalkeeper controversy. Tulsa started the season with Johan Peñaranda  between the pipes and playing almost every game from March through September. Then Peñaranda suffered an injury mid-September, and Tulsa needed a backup for Cole Johnson, so they pulled former MLS Houston Dynamo keeper Tyler Deric out of hibernation/semi-retirement as an emergency signing on September 26. In his 16-year career in soccer, Deric has played 122 USL games, 90 MLS, and 1 game in NASL.

For Tulsa this year, Deric played a pair of games while Peñaranda was out. Then Peñaranda took over again on October 18 and 25. Peñaranda started the USL Playoffs for round 1, but then Head Coach Luke Spencer had Deric start the Western Conference semis and finals. Who will start the USL Championship Final? I have no idea.

Tactical Preview

Tulsa FC had the 3rd-best overall record in USL this year with 57 points, behind only Louisville City and Charleston Battery. They were 10-3-2 (WTL) at home; a very good rate, but not quite as indestructible as Lou City, who were 12-3-0 at home this season. Until the playoffs. When they were upset at home 1-0 by Detroit City. Tee hee.

They’re a tough defense, particularly at home. The Roughneck/Golden Swallows (check their crest) haven’t conceded a home goal since Sept 6. They lined up in a 4-2-3-1 against New Mexico, although they used the 3-4-3 a lot for the first half of the season.

Their defining characteristic is a withering high press, which they pretty much used  press can be withering. El Medkhar, Weber, Dalou, Calheira head things up, with the fullbacks in support leaping in to intercept passes when they can. They make it really had to advance the ball out of the back. Typically, against a high press, your tactical choices are A) break the press with aggressive play-it-out-of-the-back ground passes; then exploit your opponent’s lack of manpower in the midfield and final third to race to the end for a shot, or B) have your GK kick it long to midfield, try and win more aerial 50-50s than your opponent, play it safe, live to fight another day. New Mexico mostly opted for the former. It didn’t work. They lost 3-0.

And how did Tulsa beat New Mexico? Well, the first goal for Tulsa came in the 39th minute … off a GK error during the high press.

Pittsburgh definitely are planning around this. Will they be able to execute, foil the press, and get a goal on the road? Or perhaps will Tulsa play this as a ruse – letting PGH plan all week around the press, then use it sparingly?

Starting XI Last Week

Game Info

Riverhounds vs. FC Tulsa
Date: Saturday, Nov. 22
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: ONEOK Field, Tulsa, Okla.
Odds: Hounds +220 / Draw +210 / Tulsa +120 at FanDuel (After 90 minutes of play)
TV: CBS (national); KDKA (local)
Streaming: Paramount+
Radio: Sirius 137, XM 202 and Radio Las Palmas, 92.9 FM HD2
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Live updates: @pittsburghsoccernow on X/Twitter
Match hashtags: #TULvPIT and #USLPlayoffs

Mark Asher Goodman

Mark Asher Goodman is a writer for Pittsburgh Soccer Now, covering the Riverhounds, the Pitt Men's and Women's teams, and youth soccer. He also co-hosts a podcast on the Colorado Rapids called 'Holding the High Line with Rabbi and Red.' He has written in the past for the Washington Post, Denver Post, The Athletic, and American Soccer Analysis. When he's not reading, writing, watching, or coaching soccer, he is an actual rabbi. No, really. You can find him on twitter at @soccer_rabbi