Roots fans it’s game day once again and we are fired up about our Oakland Roots. Roots travel to Smithfield, Rhode Island to face USL Championship newcomer Rhode Island F.C. at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 17. Roots’ official watch party will be at Tiger’s Taproom.
Around the Western Conference
Things went about as well as they could for the Roots last weekend. Tulsa and Orange County played to a 0-0 draw, San Antonio and Pittsburgh played to a 0-0 draw, Colorado Springs and Memphis got beaten soundly in North Carolina and South Carolina, respectively. Sacramento lost a heartbreaker in Louisville. lol. Monterey lost to Birmingham on the Central Coast, Vegas drew 1-1 with Detroit in Vegas, and Phoenix Rising drew at home to Tampa Bay in the Charlie Dennis derby. Basically only New Mexico won of the Roots’ Western Conference opposition.
Midweek, Memphis looked like they were going to drop points in Miami, but then they went off for four goals in ten minutes to win 5-1. New Mexico fell behind Tulsa 3-1, scored a cluster of goals to even things up, but couldn’t find a winner in the last 30. El Paso lost in Sacramento.
Roots are genuinely in third, as they are no longer at a relevant games-in-hand disadvantage. It is setting things up for a furious end to the season that the Roots are three points out of second and nine points out of tenth.
Rhode Island F.C.
Rhode Island came into USL with intent. Veterans JJ Williams (BHM, PHX, TUL, TB), Conor McGlynn (HFD), Albert Dikwa (PIT), Prince Saydee (MIA, PHX, CHS, HFD), Grant Stoneman (SD), Koke Vegas (SD), and Frank Nodarse (CHS, RGV) make for a team that long-time Roots fans will recognize, if in the wrong jerseys.
Sure enough, RIFC has been pretty good this season, although moreso in the second half. Since June 22, are 7-2-1 with an away win over Louisville the pick of the bunch. In six of those ten games they scored three or more goals.
RIFC’s goals come from Dikwa and Nodarse, plus four goals and six assists contributed by Noah Fuson, who jumped from Forward Madison to Columbus Crew, did not play, and has found his way to Rhode Island.
Roots’ Form
Pretty good. Two wins on the trot, one away from home. That’s good. They were not the most convincing wins, and they were away over an awful team and at home over a medium team that had to travel a long way. At no point did the Roots look like they were as good as they were before that hiccup against Pittsburgh and Sacramento. But two wins on the trot is how you rebuild that momentum, right?
I liked a lot of things about this game. The fast-break chances that the Roots created were awesome. Johnny is pretty great when he gets into those positions and a frustrating aspect to the Roots’ form over the last several seasons is their limited success in getting Johnny the ball with a full head of steam towards goal. Memo’s pass to Johnny on the second goal was absolutely flawless and Johnny’s flick, at speed, to get the ball between his marker and the keeper was :chef’s kiss:.
The opening goal isn’t making the USL goal of the week list, but I love seeing Gagi marauding up the pitch with that level of success. He’s such an overall talented player, I think the Roots’ FO deserves some real credit for identifying this guy. Especially because, per Jon’s reporting in the off-season, he came from the same international agency as Kevin Wright, who did not contribute last season.
Loudoun had some big chances that they didn’t put on net, and I think if they convert those the game looks pretty different, as the Roots would not be able to sit back and try to counter with as much comfort. Still, they did not convert, and overall I think the Roots did a pretty good job of keeping Tim Syrel out of much trouble.
Lineup and Score Predictions
Bloom
We discussed the 3-4-3 on this week’s Pod and while I have mixed feelings about it, I don’t think that Glinton changes it right now. He had two weeks to prepare for Loudoun, ran that formation out, and got three points. I think Roots can be more certain of Rhode Island attempting to control the game so I wonder if either of Njie or Mfeka might be replaced by Reid to try to punish Rhode Island on the counterattack. Dwyer wasn’t on the team sheet for the last match, hasn’t been in recent training pictures, and isn’t in the travel pictures. I wonder if we’ve seen his last Roots’ appearance.
2-1 Roots sounds like a score I’d like. I want the three points but I don’t want to mess with our immaculate goal differential.
Jon
I’m renewing the 3-4-3, mostly because I’m unsure about the RW spot in a 4-3-2-1, and I’m doubting Dwyer gets a start after being a healthy-scratch from the win over Loudoun. With that, I’m plugging back in the same lineup.
I’m going 2-1 Roots. Rhode Island has shown they can score in bunches, I think Oakland has to avoid getting in a high-scoring game.
Aaron
The lineup is what it is at this point, I would imagine. And finding some consistency is good. I feel like I heard Jon Champion and Julie Foudy say “Emma Hayes says championships are built on lineup consistency” two dozen times during the olympics, followed immediately by concerns about fitness. The Roots don’t have to worry about the demanding schedule of olympic soccer, but if they’re going to play a back 3, there aren’t a whole lot of opportunities for rotation. But that’s a problem for Future Us. In the Here & Now, let’s run it back and hope we can cope with the jet lag. 5-3 Roots.