RootsBlog

The wait is over, the 2024 USL Championship season is here with Oakland Roots hosting Indy Eleven on Saturday, March 9 at Cal State East Bay’s Pioneer Stadium. Roots return after going 11-9-14 (W-T-L) and missing the Western Conference playoffs after falling from third to tenth over the last two months of the season.

Last season’s fallout is still fresh on the mind of coach Noah Delgado and players from last season, describing on Media Day last month that they are walking into 2024 with a chip on their shoulders.

“The whole group has that in the back of their minds… I think the players and staff came in with unfinished business. There’s a chip on our shoulder, we have stuff we want to prove. We want to be patient during the season. We could be rolling with four or five wins in a row but still have a lot of the season to go. We could also face difficult results in the beginning, but there’s still time to go. The biggest word I’ve been using is ‘patience,’ we have to process. No matter the case, we have to stay relaxed. We all have an idea of how we make each other better,” Delgado said.

Oakland’s 2023 came down to a season-finale loss 2-1 loss to El Paso Locomotive, where Roots went down 0-2 including a penalty kick from Johnny Rodriguez that was stopped prior to halftime. He remembers the moment.

“The last game of the season came down to a win and you’re in situation. We had a penalty and I took it and missed, but that’s a part of the sport… But I feel like with the guys that came back and the guys who know how it ended have a little bit of that taste left. We want to go out there and show we’re still upset, we’re eager to get back and show what we can do,” Rodriguez said.

A total of 14 players return from the 2023 roster. Below is a rundown of the moves and systematic changes we can expect this year.

Roster Changes

With 14 returning players, Oakland Roots’ largest changes come along its back line. They washed the former trio of Emrah Klimenta, Tarek Morad, and Danny Barbir for Gagi Margvelashvili, Justin Rasmussen, Camden Riley, and Niall Logue. Defender and midfielder Joseph Nane also retired to join Roots’ coaching staff.

We’ll dive more into the center back rotation below.

Barbir is now on the opposing side for opening day after signing Indy Eleven, while Klimenta lands with Las Vegas Lights. Morad is still a free agent.

Oakland also allowed goal keeper Taylor Bailey to depart. Bailey signed a contract with Memphis 901. Rarely used English wingback Kevin Wright’s contract expired at the end of the season, with fellow wingback Wolfgang Prentice loaned out to USL League One side Forward Madison.

Roots also declined to exercise striker Anuar Peláez’s option, bringing in Hatian international striker Miche-Naider Chéry.

Defense

Starting with the back line, as mentioned above, Margvelashvili, Rasmussen, Riley, and Logue enter as the new center back rotation.

Margvelashvili, 27, is a Georgian international and split his career in the first tier of Georgian football, Erovnuli Liga, and the top tier of North Macedonia, the Macedonian First Football League.

Standing around 6 feet, 4 inches, one club source expects Gagi to line up as Oakland’s central center back, but also has experience to rotate to either side.

“He played left and right. He has Champions League experience, is a league champion, and he’s a good age,” one Roots’ source said under the condition on anonymity to speak freely.

Riley, 27, comes to Oakland after spending 2022-2023 with San Diego Loyal. Another team-source indicated he’s expected to start as the right side center back.

Sources describe him as a multi-faceted defender who can line up at center back, right back, and defensive midfielder. He’s considered a marquee addition to the back line.

Rasmussen, 25, was the most recent signing on February 2 after spending time with Timbers and Timbers 2. Multiple sources consider him to be starter at left-side center back and depth to the left wingback role. One source describes him as a center back who has the mobility to push up the field similar.

“He’s left-footed, he’s a center back and a left back who can move up and down the field. He’s very, very good with the ball and very strong. He has room to grow positionally but is good with the ball in the Barbir-type mold, but can provide a lot more going forward,” a source said.

Logue, 28, was a former starter at Memphis 901 in 2021-2022 before making his way to Hartford last year. He was a former captain on both rosters. Sources describe him as a potential left side center back who can rotate centrally when needed.

Although the wingback position usually represent defenders, Bryan Tamacas, Baboucarr Njie, and Memo Diaz also provide the team’s width down the wings.

Project 51O products like Ilya Alekseev and Thomas Camier will round out the back end.

Midfield

Roots didn’t have any midfield changes other than Ryan Her announcing his retirement. However, the additions to their back line allows one of last year’s big signings, Neveal Hackshaw, to focus on his natural midfield role.

“I’m naturally a midfielder, but when I was in Charleston, I was the only left footer left on the team and I was put at left center back, so my career grew from there. I’m not scared to play anywhere, but I like the midfield more. I like to control to take control of the game,” Hackshaw said.

Returning to the fold are Danny Gomez, Irakoze Donasiyano, and veteran Napo Matsoso competing for time opposite of Hackshaw. Gomez appeared to lock down a starting role at times last year, but an injury set him back. The same can be said about Donasiyano at the beginning of the season when he suffered a lower leg injury.

In 2023, Napo led the trio in minutes with 1,896 including three assists. Gomez had 1,178 minutes and one assist, while Donasiyano had 1,031 minutes but didn’t record a goal contribution.

Attack

It all starts with Johnny Rodriguez, the organization’s longest tenured player, leading the front line. He scored a career high of 12 goals last season in his first year as a starter and captured the club’s Goal of the Year for three consecutive seasons.

“I’ve played behind a lot of good strikers here; Jack McInerny, Matt Fondy, Jeremy Bokila, Ottar, and I would pick their brain and see how they work day-in and day-out. I feel like those guys helped me more than they will every know,” Rodriguez said, who originally signed on in 2020.

Johnny’s propensity for scoring Worldy-type goals has garnered him a reputation around the league. Now, he wants to put more of the easy ones away.

“We had our end-of-season meetings and we talked about how I had 12 goals and a few of them were crazy. The conversation was, ‘can you add 6, 7, or 8 simple goals.’ I’m personally taking that challenge and making the simple goals simple, and allowing the flashy goals to happen whenever they happen. I challenged myself this offseason to just pass the ball into the net,” Rodriguez said.

The big addition, literally, was Chéry. His official height has not been listed, but he stood a clear inch or two above Barbir when the blog spotted him at the Día De Los Muertos Festival back in October, meaning he’s at least 6 feet, 5 inches. He instantly comes to the United States as one of the USL Championship’s tallest forwards.

Lindo Mfeka, Jeciel Cedeño, and Trayvone Reid also represented wingers in last year’s 3-4-3 system. They’ll still be involved in the attack, although taking different approaches in 2024.

Ultimately, the offseason transactions at the forward positions dictate how Oakland’s system will look like in 2024.

System

Below is what I feel is a solid guess at Roots’ system based on what I’ve been able to put together. With just one marquee player signed to the attack in Chéry, Roots feature a dual striker system, allowing Lindo or Cedeño to play their natural Central Attacking Midfield role.

At the striker positions, the thought is you keep your highest scorer on the field, Rodriguez, and add a second center forward to the mix, Chéry. It’s still likely to have Project 51O callup Luis Saldaña as a backup, who’s on the mend from an injury but there’s optimism he’ll be ready at some point.

For Reid, who slotted in predominantly as a winger, he looks like Roots’ primary backup for both center forward roles to start the season. He also has experience in the Central Attacking Midfield role from his time in Jamaica and wouldn’t be farfetched to see him get time there.

Over to the CAM position, instead of Mfeka and Cedeño staying out wide in the 3-4-3, they kick inside to the #10 role. Both Mfeka and Cedeño predominantly appeared in the same position at earlier points in their careers, making this a move that should fit each of them. Cruz can spell the CF and CAM roles.

The system’s transition will also put more weight on the wingbacks, who were already heavily used in last year’s system. They act as much more than natural fullbacks and perhaps hold more responsibility than any position with roles as defenders, midfielders, and wingers when in attack.

Njie has received a lot of praise for his work this preseason, while Tamacas is perhaps the most valued player on the team. Memo provides reliability as a passer and will start at right wingback when Tamacas goes on international duty.

Stay tuned for Bloom’s Indy Eleven preview. For all of Oakland Roots’ offseason roster moves, check out our 2024 offseason tracker.