RootsBlog

My friends, it is game day, and the Roots are traveling down 880 to face the San Jose Earthquakes at 7:00 p.m. on May 7, 2024 at Paypal Park. A live stream should be available here, although that might change and you may be better off just searching for it on the US Soccer website. You should also just get down there if you can stomach the traffic. Tickets are cheap and it will be hilarious if Roots fans outnumber Quakes fans.

Having won their home game against El Farolito, the Roots earned the right to face San Jose in the Round of 32. If the Roots win, it is a clear sign that they are the preeminent men’s soccer team in the Bay Area. If they lose, it’s meaningless and/or rigged.

Why? Come on, you know why.

San Jose Earthquakes

For a primer on the Quakes, what we can expect from them, how they’re doing, check out Ivan’s thoughtful, quality sports writing dropping later today on RootsBlog. You know that’s not what you’re getting in my post. Here’s Ivan’s projected lineup for the Quakes, though:

Long-time readers will recognize Preston Judd from some early Roots’ player hater rankings.

Why do I not like the Quakes? I mean, I don’t like John Fisher. But really, I think this is the reason:

I know it’s unfair. I know Wondo was great for the Quakes, and that he’s beloved around here, and that this miss hurt him more than it hurt me. But it still hurt me. I mean, imagine having the chance to beat Marouane Fellaini on the world’s stage and scuffing it. Honestly, do you think Kevin de Bruyne becomes the player he is now if he loses this game? Thanks for Manchester City, Wondo. This happened after my first year of law school and it still sticks with me as one of the most painful memories that year.

I also find it distasteful that the Bay Area’s representation in MLS is in San Jose. On the other hand, perhaps MLS is the San Jose of sports leagues.

Apparently the first incarnation of the Quakes were originally going to play in San Francisco and made a late pivot to San Jose State Spartan Stadium. The team was briefly known as the Golden Bay Earthquakes, flummoxing the audience.

The quakes played in whatever the hell was going on with US soccer in the 1980s, and folded when NASL folded in 1988. When teams were getting off the ground for MLS in 1994, a San Jose group was able to get chosen, although (per Wikipedia) pressure from Nike lead them to choose the name “Clash” instead of Earthquakes.

They changed in 1999 back to the Earthquakes in response to fan confusion relating to their badge, an arcade claw machine. Although there’s only 8 years of gap between the old Quakes and new Quakes playing, it seems like a world of difference in American soccer. I think that is largely because it’s easy to forget how stupid early MLS was. Anyway, eventually Fisher will be forced to sell the Quakes for, per MLS front office sources, being “good lord, too much of a tool even for us.” When that happens, I think they should rebrand as the Clash with their weird guitar badge.

Roots’ Form

Well, one decent result does not make a turnaround, but it is where you have to start.

San Antonio got one in the back of the net early with some clever play to Machop in the box, but he was ruled offside, which the San Antonio color commentator on the highlights admits. She then, presumably looking at the lineup of youth players the Roots had run out, observed that that’s what you’d expect to see the rest of the match from San Antonio. She was, uh, not correct. San Antonio dominated possession, but the Roots played some of their best soccer of the season, at least through the midfield. San Antonio’s 5 shots on target also flatters them, since at least two were essentially nothing. The first really big chance somehow came from Trayvone Reid, popping up on the right side of the field (he lined up on the left and hooking a left-footed shot from 25 yards out that the SAFC keeper barely saved over the bar. With the match still tied in the 60th, and the Roots’ kids growing into the game, Glinton sent in Neveal Hackshaw and Gagi Margvelashvili for Napo Matsoso and Cam Riley, respectively. Four minutes later, Hack carried the ball through the middle and played Reid into space on the attacking left. Reid faked his defender out, faked himself out, recovered, faked his defender out again, and side-footed a slow arcing cross out of the reach of the keeper, where Chery could bounced his header slowly past the keeper again the other direction. 1-0 Roots.

In the 70th minute, Glinton replaced Chery and Cruz with Johnny and Rasmussen, which seemed like a change of shape, but Rasmussen actually ended up playing as a central midfielder. SAFC equalized with a long cross into Juan Agudelo who got the jump on Gagi and slotted the ball in past Tim Syrel. Syrel had a great save on a free kick from close range, and did well on a corner to come off his line and punch the cross away. Unfortunately, following that up, SAFC played another similar ball in and Syrel came out to claim the high cross, but failed to secure it, allowing the weak SAFC header to bounce past him and into the net. Even with the Roots playing on a level we have not seen so far this season, that seemed like it was probably it for the Roots on the road against a decent team. But then in the 82nd minute, a Roots’ corner made it all the way through to Thomas Camier alone at the back post, who controlled the ball admirably and took a shot right into the outstretched arm of an SAFC defender, winning the penalty. For a centerback–controlling the ball and shooting on goal is great, but for a guy in his first USL start? Tres bien. Johnny’s penalty kick was an unsaveable rocket to the left and the Roots hung on through 7 more minutes and 8 minutes of stoppage time for a draw that felt every bit a win.

Lineup and Score Predictions

Bloom

Alekseev is the only starter from St. Anthony that I have starting in St. Joseph. I think Jon maybe right that the player getting that honor is Riley, but with Riley working his way back from injury, my gut says Ilya, and I think that means Tamacas at RCB. The players are going to be up for this one. Most of these guys are fresh. If Dwyer slots in well, and still has the juice, I think this is just going to look like a different Roots team than we have seen during the stop-start early weeks of the season. I’m ready to believe. 2-0 Roots.

Jon

I’m near total agreement with Peter, but I’m switching in Camden Riley at right center back and Bryan Tamacas up to right wingback. Riley was signed to play the center back role and they haven’t gotten much opportunity to get him fully engrained into the system. This includes Tamacas, who has slotted in at center back without Camden. Now that you finally have both available, I think you see what the back line looks like with your initial list of primary options. At striker, you see it, it’s Dom Dwyer time.

The Bay is mosaic. Roots 2-1.

Aaron

Longtime Roots degens will recall that back in 2021, apparently at the behest of then-manager Jordan Ferrell, the Roots treated their formation like it was a nuclear secret. Not content to post a lineup graphic that merely listed 11 names (plus however many “changemakers” or whatever were available to sit on the bench that day), Roots would put out a lineup tweet with an actively misleading formation. I have no idea why, particularly once we reached the part of the season in which Roots finally figured out what they were doing, and did roughly the same thing each match. This practice mercifully ceased during the Juan Guerra and Noah Delgado eras, but with the return to the sidelines of a head man whose first (according to Wikipedia) coaching job with a professional-ish, for-profit organization was at the Sac Republic academy alongside Jordan Ferrell, the shenanigans returned, as the Roots pretty clearly played in a back 4 from the start at SAFC despite the lineup tweet suggesting otherwise. I was amused to hear KTVU PBP guy Joe Malfa (aka “Joey Malfs”) suggest that we likely wouldn’t see that going forward. Like, come on. Anyway, the Roots will almost certainly post a lineup tweet that suggests they’re playing in a back 3, and then obviously not do that, which will give the TV guys something to talk about for a few seconds around the 10th minute. Maybe the 5th if they’re really on top of their shit, but probably the 10th because the other thing they’ll be talking about is DFD–Dom Fuckin’ Dwyer. I’m thinking he plays behind the striker. Peter can recite more about the exact role, and its historical evolution, from the relevant Wikipedia article. Anyway, I’m seeing a hugely defensive back 6, and a lot of pressure on Dwyer and Cedeno to shift the Roots from defense to attack when the opportunity presents itself. Getting a 5th or 6th guy into an attacking phase will be key. That responsibility will probably fall to Memo and Riley. (Also, with Reid and Njie both unavailable, who fills the 11th spot on the field–in my prediction the left wing, but in a back 3 one of the center mids–is anyone’s guess.) Anyway, 3-2 Roots.