Here are three takeaways from the Lights’ overall performance after four USL Championship matches
The Lights are one month into the 2026 USL Championship season.
With 13.3% of all regular season games behind us, it’s early (perhaps too early) to draw significant conclusions on the team and its players.
However, the team’s first matches have generated sufficient individual and collective data points that we thought it’d be interesting to derive some insights from them, as this might offer us some foreshadowing about the team’s future performance.
Here’s what we’ve learned so far.
Abraham Okyere is HIM
Abraham Okyere has been one of the Lights’ standout players in these first few matches.
The young Ghanaian player arrived in Las Vegas with a reputation for being a skillful central midfielder who excels in tight spaces thanks to his elegance and technique.
But few people knew of his goalscoring prowess.
Okyere has scored three goals in three matches (one goal every 68 minutes), contributing half of the Lights’ goals this season. And most of them have been excellent goals, serving as testament to his top-tier technique and masterful finishing.
Despite arriving as a central midfielder, Okyere has found positional freedom under Devin Rensing, often acting as a box-crashing playmaker, a winger (on both wings), and a second forward.
His versatility has turned him into a powerful asset in attack, making him one of the players to watch this USL Championship season.
The Team’s Attack is Looking Better
Last year, the Lights’ offensive output was the worst in the Championship. The team only managed to score 0.77 goals per match with an xG (expected goals) of 1.11, standing at the bottom of the table on both metrics.
This year, things are looking up.
The Lights have scored six goals in four matches for a goals per match average of 1.5 with an xG of 1.33, and only one of them came via penalty kick.
While overperforming your xG is usually not a good thing in the long run, it’s still early in the season, and the team is producing higher quality chances than last year (the team currently stands 15th in big chances created; the Lights were dead last in 2025).
If anything, it points to the fact that attacking players are “hot,” and if they manage to keep it up, then Lights fans are in for a treat this season.
There’s Room for Improvement in Defense
Yes, the team’s defensive system needs some work.
After a successful preseason with three clean sheets in four matches and only one goal allowed, many fans were expecting the Lights’ defense to be an impassable unit. But reality has not met expectations… yet.
The Lights have conceded seven goals in four matches for a goals against per match average of 1.75 with an xGA (expected goals against) of 1.34. A higher goals against metric means that the team has been unlucky in defense, conceding goals that were less likely to go in from a statistical standpoint.
This doesn’t erase the fact that the team needs to drastically improve on some aspects, such as set piece defending, overall coordination, and communication.
However, the season’s just getting started, and the entire defensive line is relatively new. It will take time. As the team’s shutout against Monterey Bay FC makes evident, the work is being done. Patience will be key.
So… what’s next?
There’s still a long way to go this season, and the team has played three of its initial four matches on the road. Playing three consecutive games away from home after a two-week training camp in the Dominican Republic comes with a significant physical burden.
On top of that, most of the squad is new to Vegas, with only nine players returning from 2025. It takes time for a team to build chemistry on and off the pitch. Still, that collective identity is slowly but surely arising, and it becomes more noticeable with every match that goes by.
We can definitely expect Abraham Okyere to continue balling out as he contributes to both ball distribution and attacking efforts, the team’s attack to persist in generating significant chances in every match and scoring a growing percentage of them, and the team’s defense to improve as all players find their place within Devin Rensing’s tactical masterplan.
The Lights are in constant evolution and will surely improve with every matchday as the race for playoffs intensifies in a hyper-competitive Western Conference.
