Roots fans it is game day once again! The Roots host Loudoun United F.C. at 7:00 p.m. at Pioneer Stadium on the campus of CSU East Bay in Hayward, California on August 10, 2024. The Roots will be celebrating Marvel Superheroes night. What does that mean? Unclear!
Loudoun are no longer the push-over they were when they were DC United’s farm team, and in fact sit in 7th place in a pretty competitive1 eastern conference (two points off of 5th). Still, as we discussed on RootsPod this week, Loudoun have to make the three-time-zone journey out for this week.
Around the Western Conference
After the the Roots’ last match on July 27th, Vegas beat New Mexico in Albuquerque on Wednesday, July 31, which is an annoying result as New Mexico’s lead is still probably unassailable, but Lights are really pushing their way up the table.
During the off week, this week’s opponent Loudoun pummeled Miami, although Miami was leading until getting two reds and conceding a penalty late in first half stoppage time and in the first minutes of second the second half.
The results for Roots were better than we could have hoped for. Memphis and El Paso drew 0-0 in Memphis. Tulsa beat San Antonio 3-0 in San Antonio and Switchbacks beat Phoenix 2-0 in Colorado Springs, which are both fine results for keeping the Roots in a playoff spot. New Mexico dropped points again, tis time to an Eastern Conference team. Orange County fell 1-0 at home to North Carolina FC and Monterey Bay drew 2-2 at home to Tampa. Sacramento lost 1-0 to Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
On the Friday night of matchweek 25, Orange County and Tulsa drew 0-0 in Tulsa, which is a great result for the Roots.
Roots’ games in hand situation is much stabler than it was three weeks ago, with only New Mexico and Tulsa on a two-game difference from the Roots. Incredibly, ninth place Tulsa could catch third place Roots with their games in hand, still. The important thing is that the games in hand have shook out such that the Roots are firmly in the 3rd-6th bunch, with a (small but noticeable) step above 7th-8th place Orange County and Monterey Bay. Roots’ next little run of games is tough, and Loudoun is one of the easier fixtures in the run, so points here are valuable.
Roots’ Form
Every season Jordan, Nana, the money guys, Aaron, Jon, Ivan, Jack and I (in varying levels of decision-making authority) try to come up with how to field a winning Roots team and every year the answer is the same.
Marvel Superhero Night
| Johnny Rodriguez | Iron Man | Reliable offensive firepower. |
| Memo Diaz | Captain America | Ostensibly defensive equipment used to great offensive effect. |
| Paul Blanchette | Joshua “the Wall” Waldemeyer | Well, duh, everyone was aware of this character and saw this one coming. |
| Neveal Hackshaw | The Hulk | Hack Smash! |
| Gagi Margvelashvili | Groot | I am Gagi |
| Etsgar Cruz | Baby Groot | I am Gagi? |
| Dom Dwyer | Captain Marvel | By far the most talented; inexplicably absent when needed. |
| Cam Riley | Johnny Storm | Orange-y Red |
Lineup and Score Predictions
Bloom
Roots ran a back three against Miami, and started Niall Logue and benched Lindo Mfeka and Cam Riley, so I think that lineup might have been tactical and/or based on fitness. I like that Dwyer got 60 minutes. I don’t really want to go back to a back three permanently, but I remain as skeptical of our midfield as I was ten weeks ago.
I think I said 2-2 on RootsPod this week and I guess I’ll stand by it. It would at least be pretty fun to watch.
Jon
My only change from Bloom’s lineup is Gomez at CM, not for any particular reason. All in all, I think thisnis a pretty strong lineup and I’m excited to see more of the Johnny+Dwyer combination up top. I could also see Reid at LW, but Njie seems to have the edge.
I’m going 2-1, Roots.
Aaron
The good part of the roster is now comprised entirely of centerbacks and guys who play through the middle in some form in attack, so I expect a return to a formation that seeks to control the middle of the pitch because otherwise what in the world are we doing here. I said 3-2 on the pod, with the caveat that it will almost certainly just be 1-0 if the Roots are on top, and that’s still how I feel. I’m excited for an underwhelming victory, after which Roots are somehow in 2nd place in the west due to the 12th tiebreaker (proximity to an ACC school) or something.
- I’m pretty sure the Eastern Conference has been beating the hell out of the Western Conference this season, although it’s annoyingly hard to check on FBRef. ↩︎