County starts the 2024 season strong with a win

Composed by Peter Roose

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(May 21, 2024) — Oakland County FC starts the opening season with a huge win at Royal Oak High School stadium on Saturday evening. County was able to command USL2 newcomers Union FC Macomb by a score of 1 to 0 under the beautiful skies of Metro Detroit. OCFC now look to carry their momentum of this win into two games on the road, before returning home on June 1st in Royal Oak.

With 636 USL2 fans in attendance (breaking the season high record of 524 in 2023) at Saturday’s game, the fans were not disappointed. County put on a wonderful performance, striking 17 shots in the game and keeping Union goalkeeper Michael Sly quick on his feet. The purple gang were building off their best league finish to date last year, where they recorded their first winning season and forcing their way into playoff contention.

Thanks to the 6️⃣3️⃣6️⃣ strong that came out to Saturday’s season opener. It was rockin’!#BleedPurple | @USLLeagueTwo pic.twitter.com/GlaWSa1UfR

— Oakland County FC (@OaklandCountyFC) May 20, 2024

The lone goal of the evening came by a wonderful counter attack started by goalkeeper Robert Gjelaj, sending the ball out of his box soaring through the air, right to Alexsander Markovski, finding midfielder Chewe Mukuka, with a beautiful long ball to Malvin Gblah. Malvin takes on a defender, leaving him in the dust and cuts the ball right in front of the goal, where it deflects off a Union player into the back of the net.

2023’s ‘Iron Man’ Kai Yamazaki put on a brilliant performance in the game holding down the central midfield and thwarting opposing build up play with his great anticipation skills. He will be a strong member of the cast, playing all 90 minutes of the match and recording 956 minutes (the most by any OCFC player) last season for County.

Our @sweetgreen ‘Man of the Match, @kaiyamazaki_6! 👏#SweetGreen | #BleedPurple | @USLLeagueTwo pic.twitter.com/kixGjbESVf

— Oakland County FC (@OaklandCountyFC) May 19, 2024