In the week to come, six League One clubs will face off against MLS competition in the Open Cup. Those sorts of games are always a big deal for USL organizations, and they made Week 6 something of a squad-rotation balancing act. Deep teams like Spokane and Omaha illustrated their ability to win in different ways; other clubs weren’t so lucky.
Who came out of Week 6 looking most impressive, and what else caught my eye across the division? Let’s dig in.
The chameleonic Spokane Velocity
There’s nothing I like more than disagreeing with myself, and Spokane is forcing me into that position. Coming out of Week 5, I said that Velocity’s “off-ball structure…[has] become their calling card.” In Week 6, they beat AV Alta by a 3-1 margin while keeping 58% of the ball and doubled down against Richmond with another 3-1 win on an identical possession share.
I wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t wholly right, either. Spokane is terrific sitting in a mid-block 4-4-2, but they’re every bit as good in possession.
Against Alta, manager Leigh Veidman’s rotated squad still put Spokane’s attacking principles on show. The Velocity pressed with Shavon John-Brown – usually the starting right winger – at the No. 9 spot and natural midfielder Nil Vinyals operating as a second striker. In possession, that changed. The shape was more like a 2-2-4-2, with Vinyals dropping next to 18-year-old Rocky Wells as dual No. 10s. Up top, John-Brown stayed steady while right winger Marky Hernandez tended to hedge high as a No. 9 and lead the flank open for an overlapping fullback.
Something to be said for a very rotated Spokane team beating Alta at their own game; their possessive structure was *so* good, and 18-year-old Rocky Wells (seen receiving as a line-breaker here) was really key.
— John Morrissey (@usltactics.com) 2026-04-08T14:20:48.064Z
Here, Wells and Hernandez’s in-possession shifting from the wings into the central spaces is on display. Wells – mostly used as a center mid in his 2025 cameos – is able to receive in the channel, flanked by an overlapping run by left back Moses Mensah. On the weak side, Vinyals fills the right halfspace, while Hernandez and John-Brown push forward and force the defense narrow. The symmetrical 2-2-4-2 challenges Alta’s structure and allows for entrance into the box.
