Hello and welcome to the blog’s live coverage of Oakland Roots hosting RGV Toros at Pioneer Stadium. Roots are walking in on a five-match unbeaten run but have tied its last three games. It’s a big opportunity for Oakland to gain three points against 11th place RGV.
With tonight being the only USL Championship game, Roots can overtake San Antonio in fourth with a win while a multi-goal victory moves Oakland to third over Monterey Bay by goal differential. Roots enter a 10-day break between its next match, making tonight a critical time to get three points.
In his match preview, Bloom highlights Toros poor run after reaching last year’s postseason. He names Wilmer Cabrera as his Taylor Davila primary players to watch with Frank Nodarse making the players-with-funny-names list.
Toros are just not having the season they hoped for, and sit eleventh in the western conference on 16 points, ahead of only the dire Las Vegas Lights (womp womp). RGV have scored only 15 goals on the season, which is better than Lights, Detroit City, and no one else. They have conceded 24, which is not great, although not as much of an outlier as their goals for.
https://oaklandrootsblog.com/2023/06/28/oakland-roots-vs-rgv-toros-match-preview-june-28-2023/
Initial Takeaways
- Not a home playoff draw performance. Good teams beat bad teams by a lot and they never had an answer against RGV. It was one of Roots’ worst performances and it came against a bottom-tier team.
- Roots play down to other teams. RGV is 11th in the West, while Loudoun is 8th and Hartford is last in the East. If you want a home playoff game, you handle these teams.
- Sloppiness against Phoenix built into this. Roots were lucky to not lose against Rising due to its mistakes. This time, Oakland’s mistakes came back to haunt them. The first goal was a mistake pass by Nane and then there was a ball over the top on the same side.
- No one wanted to shoot. This team is missing someone who can pull the trigger without thinking about it. If this team is going to make an addition, the time is now. There’s 10 days until Tampa Bay and Oakland should’ve blostered the lineup ahead of RGV. It’s bad to squander points, so when does the fix come?
Starting Lineups
- Oakland Roots Starting 11
No surprises with the attack with Johnny up top, Formella on the left, and Lindo on the right. In the midfield, Jeciel Cedeno gets his third straight start, while Danny Gomez returns to the starting lineup. In the back line, Joseph Nane returns for his third straight start at center back. Morad slots in on thr right. The outside back role features Memo Diaz at right wingback, which is no surprise, while Wolfgang Prentice gets his second straight start.
Worth noting there is no Napo Matsoso on the subs and instead is a 51O callup, Etsgar Cruz.
- RGV Toros Starting 11
Timeline
GAMETIME! Can Roots get the job done against a struggling Western Conference foe? A win goes a long way going into a 10-day break.
Wolfy shot in target – 4′
Play to him in the box, nice cutback to himself and takes a shot on target. Ball goes off keeper for a corner.
Barbir shot cleared off the line – 5′
RGV free kick in good area – 9′
Just a few feet above the box on the right side.
Shot goes straight to Paul. Easily handled.
Roots corner – 11′
Bad play leads to counter. Leads to nothing.
Memo blocks shot after Roots give away in back- 13′
RGV corner – 13′
Leads to nothing.
Johnny shot in target – 22′
Nice work in transition. Formella fed Lindo, who fed Johnny in front. Draws a corner.
Leads to nothing.
Memo ball targets Johnny, pushed away – 25′
Memo ball in toward Johnny grabbed by keeper – 35′
RGV near chance – 38′
Pimentel shot goes just wide. Nearly cleaned up, but ball goes into side netting.
Wolfgang ball towards net, easy grab – 43′
RGV shot goes just wide by Davila- 45′
Paul saves a shot, forces corner – stoppage
RGV corner leads to nothing.
First half notes:
Not good enough from Roots. Two huge chances in the first 5 minutes and nothing since. RGV has had the more dangerous looks in transition. The attack just not clinical enough when trying to break through RGV’ block.
And the stats show RGV is the better side. Roots with 2 shots, 1 on target and 1 blocked to RGV’s 6 shots, 3 on target.
Memo shot sails – 49′
Receives longball from Nane over head of Nodarse. Shot goes way over.
Lindo header cant make good contact – 52′
Paul save, makes it look easy – 58′
Closes out Francois. Makes it a good angle.
Reid on for Prentice, Anuar on for Johnny – 66′
RGV free kick good area – 68′
Ball falls to RGV, shot goes wide
Memo ball to Anuar claimed -71′
RGV scores – 73′
Nane attempts to clear and ball goes straight into Cabrera and starts a counter. Cabrera gets fed in front at slots it in. Oakland has been flatout bad.
Roots need someone who can shoot. They don’t have any willing shooters.
Roots corner leads to nothing – 77′
Ball to Anuar in front too hot to handle – 80′
RGV goal – 81′
Too easy for them. Play in behind, ball goes across the face for a tap in. Worst performance all season.
Roots corner – 90′
Memo red carded – stoppage
just passing and standing around and staring, and not moving to space. No long ball switches to keep defense on heels and the wingback system isn’t creating more chances. Too many players trying to do too much on their own, not trusting each other and are not on the same page and they look like they aren’t having fun. Lackluster and stagnant and for that I blame Delgado for poor tactics and adapting. We are trying tiki taka and possession and it’s just not our game, and it isn’t always successful for many teams that try it. Need to play fast in middle in early build up, push it out and get down, then play it back in to the final third to create chances.