Las Vegas Lights FC fell on the road 2-1 to Memphis 901 FC in the club’s first match of the 2024 campaign. The lone goal was scored by newcomer Valentin Nöel in the 22nd minute. Read the full match recap.
Las Vegas Lights FC Head Coach Dennis Sanchez
On overall impressions of the match:
“We knew coming into the first game of the season that it’s very easy to go away from the identity that you’ve been trying to build, whether that’s from letting your emotions get to you, the environment, a smaller field. There are a lot of moving pieces that can veer you from your identity. You can see as the game wore on that we went back to what we’re trying to do, which is have better ball security, move forward together step by step and create goalscoring opportunities. We knew that there were going to be moments where we went away from it, but I was happy that we found ourselves again as the course of the game went on.”
On finding cohesion within a very new group:
“All the players that we’ve brought in have a ton of quality. It really comes down to, ‘How can you build relationships on the field? How can they get an understanding of each other?’ It’s not an easy thing whatsoever, but we’re not using that as an excuse. Of course we’ll improve in time, but there are definitely challenges there with trying to expedite the process of getting everybody on the same page. You couple that with our captain [Charlie Adams] coming off with an injury during warmups, having to replace him last-minute, it makes it even more difficult.
On coaching Valentin Nöel last season with Austin FC II and what he brings to Las Vegas:
“Val has a lot of football in him. He has a great IQ. He comes from a good footballing environment, a lot of similarities with what we were doing in Austin that will be taking place here. He’s a guy that I trust and can depend on, and you can see where he fit in pretty seamlessly in a short period of time with our group. He’ll only continue to improve.”
On getting ready for the home-opener against FC Tulsa next weekend:
“We talk a lot about the process here. I told the guys that this is a good learning opportunity for us today. We’ll take some things that we did well and keep accelerating those and find some areas that we can improve upon. You’re only as good as your next game. The idea is to remain confident in ourselves and our ability to keep pushing forward and to have a good performance next weekend in front of our home fans.
Las Vegas will kick off its 2024 USL Championship home slate next Saturday when the club welcomes FC Tulsa to Cashman Field (5 p.m. PT | TICKETS).
