Oakland Roots beat Louisville City 1-0, and the USL’s top side in points and goals leave Hayward with neither. The cleansheetless streak feels so distant.
Now, 4-0-0 in his time as interim head coach, Gavin Glinton is helping turn Pioneer Stadium into a fortress.
“Being able to represent this club, the Bay Area, Oakland, and to have our fans come here with everything they do; it’s a special place,” Glinton said. “I’m very, very happy that we’re able to reciprocate that energy and some of that happiness. We want to protect this place as if its a fortress, I want our fans to go home smiling, partying, and feeling happy about the energy that they gave to the guys. One game at a time.”
In the 62nd minute, Johnny Rodriguez headed a long pass from Paul Blanchette to the feet of Miche-Naider Chèry, and the big forward played a pass through to Lindo Mfeka. The smaller attacker kept his balance in bumpy traffic and slotted a pass back to Rodriguez who tapped in the game’s only goal. The Roots created good opportunities on direct play throughout the match, with Rodriguez being the primary target for most of the blog passes.
The goal scorer kept busy in front of net, in the air, and defensively, giving players like Mfeka the space to move freely.
“[Johnny] does everything,” Glinton summarized. “He tracks, he works, he holds up the ball, he runs hard, gets in the box, scores great goals; he does a lot on both sides of the ball.
The midfield pairing of Daniel Gomez and Napo Matsoso worked hard throughout the game to disrupt play centrally and cut off crucial Louisville City passes to quell an attack.
City’s preferred 3-4-3 shape resembles an idealized version of the Roots of yesteryear, preferring to build and attack through their wide players. Louisville move the ball quickly around their outside players, and are comfortable making sideline-to-sideline passes in their attacking third.
Unlike past Oakland’s past iterations of this shape, Louisville City dominate the midfield. Elijah Wynder and former California Golden Bear, Taylor Davila, are a technically sound wrecking crew, and wide players crash aggressively to make the center of the park an unpleasant place to be.
Gomez, the Project 51O alum, put together one of the most impressive games of his Roots career. He took care of possession under pressure and looked a step ahead of LouCity’s attack in his 90 minute performance. Whether running side-by-side with Matsoso or at the base a 4-1-4-1 defensive structure, Gomez shined in his baptism by purple fire.
Overcoming a ponderous first half
The Roots opened the game like a team determined not be caught out. They played cautiously with possession in the back, with Blanchette taking more touches than plenty of the outfield players.
“We didn’t start well, they were able to pin us in a little bit in the first half… We talked about making sure that our ball speed and circulation was a little bit cleaner in the second half,” Glinton said postgame. “I thought we were a little bit slow, ponderous, with the ball in the first half. A team like that gets really good pressure on the ball and we struggled.”
While it took Oakland a while to get up to Louisville speed, and the visitors had the better chances in the first half, the Roots defense held strong. Their midfield and defense were comfortable in extremely tight spaces, and Blanchette’s reflexes were incredible.
“Paul is big for us. We knew he’s have to make some stops again, that Louisville team is a very good team that can score in bunches. We did a great job defending, but we had to ride our luck at times and Paul gives us an extra-man back there.
Oakland held Louisville to nine shots with four on target. Roots defense was able to stop three big scoring chances, including Camden Riley clearing a shot off of the line the 36th minute.
“It was just us coming back out after halftime, regrouping, getting back to the gameplan and understanding that we had to make adjustments,” Glinton said. “When you’re able to effectively implement the game plan, that helps a lot in being able to save some of your legs as well. We knew there would be moments we had to suffer, but we want to be the proactive ones. We’ve had some good moments, especially with our adjustments in the second half. Credit to the guys.”
A clean sheet against the top scorers
Holding the league leaders to a shutout was unimaginable going into the night. It marked Louisville’s first time being held to no goals since tying Rhode Island 0-0 on May 25. City hasn’t lost in shutout fashion since September of last year against New Mexico in a 2-nil defeat.
“I’m so happy,” Glinton responded when asked about the shutout. “For our commitment, our attention to detail. Sometimes you have to live on the edge with team’s that score a lot of goals. We knew Louisville scores in bunches, so we had to be focused from minutes-1 to minute-90.”
Neveal Hackshaw and Camden Riley had dominant performances in central defense, as their partnership continues to familiarize.
“[Riley] and Hackshaw have been nails right now at the back. Their ability to read the game, communicate, solve problems, has been excellent.”
Glinton agreed postgame that Neveal Hackshaw has been one of the USL’s top defenders, and praised how his aggressive nature sets the tone defensively.
“Hack’s been fantastic, I agree he’s been one of the best defenders in the league, especially over the last few months,” Glinton said. “He allows us to take more risks and be more aggressive out of the back. We talked about his relationship with Cam and their ability to read the game and solve problems.”
While Gagi Margvelashevli continues to get into game shape, the Roots center backs have stepped up, but it has been a full team effort to replace the Georgian. More midfielders have stepped up with Riley’s move to back line over his last two appearances. Roots’ attack more than pulled their weight off the ball.
Rodriguez’s commitment to tracking back defensively allowed Oakland to be comfortable without the ball, but the the attack’s total commitment to keeping Louisville under pressure made sure City were never too comfortable in possession.
Playing direct from the back
Rodriguez’s goal came from right down Route One.
“We’ve worked a lot. We talked about being unpredictable. There’s been goals where we string together passes, then there’s been goals where we be direct. That unpredictability allows Paul to thrive with his decision-making. Then with Cam and Hackshaw, they can dictate the rhythm of the match. We have three veterans who are very intelligent with the ball and it allows us to be both direct and ponderous.”
Blanchette was given the time and space to send long passes, and Rodriguez was usually his target. Despite the taller Chèry being on the field, the Rodriguez was tasked with aerial duals. Like in the 62nd minute, by being the player furthest forward, and heading the ball backwards, Johnny was able to slide behind the defense and be the Roots player best positioned to score throughout the night.
Johnny has now scored goals in three straight games, accounting for a half of his goal-tally so far this season. It’s been a mighty response to dealing with a lingering groin injury to start the year.
The same can be said about Lindo Mfeka, who nearly missed the entire month of April. Lindo has now put in all of his four goal contributions over the last four games. His two goals, two assists, and four goal contributions all ranks third on the team in just 586 minutes.
“Credit to our medical staff for getting the guys to a level they can play for 90 minutes. You see Lindo being able to produce and grow stronger late in games. It’s important to have him on the field as much as possible. Then with Johnny, if we can have him on the field for 90s minutes, we’re going to be in the match,” Glinton said.
The Roots next home game will be their network TV debut, as Sacramento Republic take the trip down i80 (to 580 East, or 680 South to 580 West if traffic is bad in the East Bay). Glinton will look to make it five wins in five home games in what should be his toughest test to keep it Pioneer Stadium fortified.
I’d be there if I were you.