RootsBlog

First of all, because I’m obligated to, the Roots face Colorado Springs Switchbacks at 7:00 p.m., on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at Pioneer Field on the campus of Cal State East Bay in Hayward, California. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+ and KTVU Plus. Whew, okay, that’s out of the way.

Guys.

…

HOLY FUCKING SHIT WE SIGNED A STRIKER!!!!

Here’s Jon’s post explaining the details.

This is like a better version of the Amarikwa signing. Yes, I wish it had been before the season started. Yes, I wish it was a guy on the right side of 30. But Amarikwa made a real difference for the Roots, and Dwyer has a lot better pedigree than Amarikwa did. Quincy had 32 goals in ten season in MLS. Dwyer had 34 goals in just 2014 and 2015, 81 total. He’s a level above the biggest named free agent that the Roots have ever signed. Obviously he’s 33 (about the age Quincy was when the Roots picked him up), which is long in the tooth for a striker. He took last season off, but it’s hard to know what to make of that in a vacuum. He may not be at full match sharpness, but that might mean he has a lot more gas in the tank than you’d expect at his age.

I am very optimistic about this signing. As Jon reported, Dwyer picked the Roots over some USL rivals because of the Roots’ commitment to the community. I appreciate that answer, but I think Dwyer is coming to a team that needs a striker and where he will get a lot of attention if he scores a lot of goals, and maybe a ticket back to the MLS, or a commentary job on CBS Sports Golazo. If he wants to bang in 25 goals so that Atlanta United decide they want him back in the off-season, or so that he can pick up 20k twitter followers, then fine, don’t threaten me with a good time.

Welcome Dom Dwyer, you have your work cut out for you in making this offense tick.

Colorado Springs Switchbacks

Folks were optimistic about Colorado Springs going into this season, having picked up Ronaldo Damus and Wahab Ackwei in the offseason. Switchbacks have not lived up to that optimism, with two goals and one point through six matches. The only defense to that record I can muster is that they’ve played some good teams, although they have a loss to Miami FC (last in the East) and their one point this past weekend against Indy Eleven (second to last in the East). Otherwise they have lost to Detroit, San Antonio, Sacramento, and Phoenix, who are undefeated, good, good, and okay, respectively. Switchbacks’ goals against is basically league average, maybe a little on the bad side. Their problem is their absolutely putrid offense (again… two goals). Pittsburgh is next worst at four, Memphis have five, and four teams are tied on six. Seven goals is a perfectly respectable mid-table goals tally that I have nothing bad to say about.

From looking at the Switchbacks’ stats, an obvious problem is difficulty getting their best 11 on the field. Only three outfield players have played every minute of their six matches so far. Three more have played more than four “full 90’s”.¹ After that there’s a lot of guys who have been on and off the pitch. Another thing that jumps out from their stats is that they are averaging a red card every three matches, which is probably just early season noise (should mean that Ackwei misses the match against the Roots though, as would new guy Koa Santos if his suspension was three games instead of just one).

Phoenix only have two wins on the season, and those wins are over the Roots and this match from April 13 over Switchbacks.

This game was close on the score sheet, and close in possession, but the highlights show one-way traffic and the numbers basically back that up. Switchbacks managed just four shots, only one on target. Phoenix had eight on target of twenty-one total shots.

In their most recent match, Switchbacks earned their first point of the season, hosting Indy Eleven.

Ronaldo Damus got his first goal of the campaign just after the two-minute mark on a cross that an Indy centerback got to at the same time as the Indy keeper, leading to the ball being chipped over the prone keeper and falling to Damus who just had to jump and contort himself into any kind of header on goal. He succeeded and the ball sneaked in before the Indy keeper could get back for it. “Surely we’re on our way to our first win of the season!” thought the Switchbacks fans, foolishly. Six minutes later, Indy gave away the ball leading to a 2-on-1 with Maalique Foster and Ronaldo Damus in the Indy box and rather than pass to Damus, Foster rocketed a shot up and off the bottom of the cross bar. Shooting was the right choice–although Damus called for the ball he didn’t realize two defenders had caught him. In the 31st a double-covered Augie Williams broke through the middle to nod home a long-cross for the equalizer. Switchbacks had some more chances, more than Indy anyway, but around the 60-minute mark they almost made a terrible turnover with former Roots’ keeper Christian Herrera 35-yards out of his goal, but in a panic, defender Wahab Ackwei two-footed someone on Indy and got himself a red and a weekend off instead of flying to Oakland. The highlights then skip to the end of the game, suggesting none of the players really though that 90 minutes was necessary in the snow in Colorado in April.

Roots Form

Well, look, it could be better. It was looking better before Detroit, and a trip to Detroit is something that no one in USL is coping well with so far this season.

I wasn’t going to post these at all, but Rasmussen’s goal is kinda fun. So just skip like four minutes into the video.

Roots got a little lucky in that build-up, but also played some really slick passes. Cedeño’s ball to Gomez under immense pressure (and, I’d argue, a red card-worthy tackle) is especially choice, and Gomez’s cross through the defense to a wide open Rasmussen is clever. Also holy shit Detroit City are sponsored by Faygo.² Note to self: photoshop the DCFC crest to be a juggalo. Anyway, then Gagi got a second yellow and I don’t know who will even be eligible to play for the Roots this weekend.

Roots sit in 8th on seven points, tied with Phoenix Rising, hilariously.

Lineup and Score Predictions

Bloom

I don’t think Cruz necessarily merits being dropped from the lineup, but this is my prediction. If Riley is still hurt then I think Gomez might take that slot with Cruz ahead of him.

I just have this feeling like we’re not keeping Colorado off the score sheet, despite their ineptitude. We haven’t kept a clean sheet in forever. Still, I have to believe. 2-1 Roots.

Jon

As both guys said, a lot is hinging on whether Camden Riley is able to return to the lineup given it has a direct reflection on how the right side operates. My lineup doesn’t have Riley, meaning Bryan Tamacas starts at RCB and Ilya Alekseev gets another nod at RWB. If Riley is back, I see him slotting into the RCB role to allow Tamacas back at RWB. Alternatively, Riley could play Hackshaw’s CDM role, moving Danny Gomez to the bench and keeping the Tamacas-Alekseev setup on the right. In the attack, I’m giving Etsgar another start, keep throwing the kids in.

Roots get their first clean sheet in 19 league matches (20 counting Open Cup), 3-nil.

Aaron

Look, I have hoped that the anemic on-field performance would prompt a shape change, but maybe being without a bunch of defenders due to red card suspensions will do the trick. We’ve got precisely enough senior defenders to run out the traditional 3-4-facking-3. But maybe we do something different so we don’t stretch ourselves too thin. Thankfully Colorado Springs is dreadful, because it doesn’t look like we have enough forwards or attacking midfielders that Noah trusts to run out any traditional formation. Shouldn’t be a problem here, but thankfully the cavalry is coming. 5-2 Roots.

1. FBRef provides total minutes played, and then that number divided by 90 to give some normalized perspective on how much a player has played, i.e., when they accumulate 15 minute sub appearances, or 60-minute starts before getting puled. ↩︎
2. This is, honestly, more insulting than any shit I’ve ever talked about DCFC. Speaking of which, their fans were chanting about the Roots moving to Vegas, and I made a mild riposte on twitter https://twitter.com/peterwbloom/status/1781803581554954268 which their fans got EXTREMELY MAD ABOUT. ↩︎