RootsBlog

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?

Your undefeated Oakland Roots kick off their season on March 9 at 7:00 p.m. at Pioneer Stadium on the campus of Cal State East Bay against Indy Eleven. Pre-match entertainment will be provided by Oakland based collective(?) Grand Nationxl. I implore you to watch this video and just pay attention to the lady in the back in the mask.

Indy Eleven

The “Boys in Blue” are a USL stalwart founded as a NASL club in 2013 and making the jump to the USL Championship in 2018. Indy had a good debut season in 2019, but have been bad or mediocre since. Last year was a decent year, finishing 6th, and in a playoff spot, but with only a +5 goal differential. Speaking of which, +5 was Charleston’s goal difference over Indy in their first round playoff match-up (the empty seats in that video are… embarrassing).

In the offseason, Indy let Solomon Asante walk, and shored up their respectable defense (tied for third fewest goals against in the league) with two former MLS-cusp caliber players: Aedan (lol) Stanley and our friend Danny Barbir. Indy also figured if Augi Williams played for them he couldn’t hurt them again (he scored and assisted in the playoff drubbing).

The History

Roots have faced Indy Eleven one time, one of the Roots’ few really great games in the 2023 season.

I don’t recall putting Formella -> Mfeka for the opener as one of my goals of the season, but it was pretty great. Required taking advantage of a massive error by GK Yannik Oettl, but you just don’t expect to see Lindo beating a keeper in the air. Just watch the highlights, the Formella and Rito goals were also exquisite. Unfortunately, the Roots will have to win this time with neither Formella nor Rito (who, annoyingly, both now play for Phoenix).

Players to Watch

Sebastian Guenzatti #13 – Thirty-two year old Uruguayan forward Guenzatti is in his sophomore season with Indy Eleven after six seasons with Tampa Bay. In his time in Tampa, he led the Rowdies in goals over four straight seasons and is the Rowdies’ all-time leader in goals with 65. Last season was somewhat less prolific, tallying only 11 in 32 starts. Guenzatti played the first four years of his career with NY Cosmos in NASL, where for the 2013 and 2014 seasons he started alongside Joseph Nane. Guenzatti has faced the Roots three times,, scoring once in the 3-0 drubbing that the Roots took in Tampa in September 2021 (part of a 17-2-1 run by Rowdies). Guenzatti was Indy’s captain in 2023 and you’d expect him to return in that role.

Augi Williams #9 – Williams was Indy’s big offseason signing, coming off of a 13 goal/2 assist season where he fired Charleston Battery to a third place finish in the Eastern Conference (and the aforementioned 5-0 deconstruction of Indy in the first round of the playoffs). Williams is 6’2″ and a strong presence in the box. Williams has bounced around some, as the MLS-cusp guys tend to do, and has managed to face the Roots five times with three different teams (Charleston in 2023, and both Loyal (x3) and Galaxy II in 2021). He has ony scored in one of those games, the Roots’ 4-3 win over Loyal in 2021 that got the Roots into the playoffs and got Akeem Ward onto Sportscenter. Williams went to high school at Mt. Eden in Hayward, and lists Hayward as home on his Insta bio.

Roots’ Form

Clean slate, baby! We heard the preseason was a mixed bag, but the Roots are settling a lot of players in and trying to make some calls at the margins of the squad, which means giving game time to guys you really hope you don’t have to play much. We also heard the Roots beat Sac 2-1, in a match-up featuring primarily starters.

Lineup and Score Predictions

Bloom

Most likely changes here would be Logue in for someone on the back line, or Donasiyano in for Gomez. On the pod I called for 2-1 Roots with a goal from one of the new defenders, thus presumably on a corner kick. I am standing by that prediction.

Jon

I feel like this is a good guess at what the starting 11 based on what I’ve heard throughout the offseason. The one difference between mine and Bloom’s prediction is who is slated alongside Hackshaw in the midfield. My early guess would’ve been Gomez, but I’ve heard good things about Donasiyano–so I’m going Koze.

I’m sticking with my 2-1 win prediction on RootsPod, goals by Johnny and Chery.

Aaron

Lineup: 3-5-2. Blanchette / Riley-Gagi-Logue / Njie, Donasiyano, Hackshaw, Cedeño, Tamacas / Rodriguez-Chery

Look, your guess is as good as mine. Unless you’re Jon, his guess is definitely better than mine. I expect the game will be a bit of a mess, as Indy is adjusting to a new coach, and Roots are adjusting to a new backline. The difference, I hope, is that the Roots are at home, and there’s not much new that’s outside of the backline. 3-2 Roots.