Roots fans, it is game day once again, and the 2024 Oakland Roots host the 2022 Oakland Roots (Phoenix Rising) at 7:00 p.m. at Pioneer Stadium on the campus of CSU East Bay with a chance to secure a playoff berth. The Roots enter off of their best performance in a month away at Memphis 901 F.C., where they were likely the better team, but were once again hamstrung by conceding in the first ten minutes.
The RootsBlog Preview strike is on hold due to the draw last weekend, but it is not fully lifted because a draw ain’t a win.
Around the Western Conference
The Roots drew 1-1 away at Memphis, a pretty good result in a vacuum, so held steady with them as it relates to fifth place. San Antonio beat Sacramento, keeping SA in the running to pip one of the current playoff teams. El Paso beat Tulsa 1-0, which is a helpful result for the Roots in clinching. Lights and Orange County drew, leaving Roots a path to finish above both (if they can ever win).
Midweek, Tulsa fell away at North Carolina, leaving them 7 points behind Roots, each with three matches to play. San Antonio drew 2-2 away at El Paso, giving the Roots a six point cushion there. Monterey drew 2-2 away at Sacramento, which should be a good result for them but they cannot afford it, with only two games to play. Orange County beat Switchbacks, which presents the Roots a challenge (as OC chases them) and an opportunity if they can get their form back together. Most importantly, Phoenix beat New Mexico 2-1, bringing them within 2 points of the Roots before their trip to Oakland on the same number of games.
Rising’s Form
This team currently features Alejandro Fuenmayor, Edgardo Rito, Jose Hernandez, Charlie Dennis, Juan Carlos Azocar, and Dariusz Formella. It’s funny that they’d be a powerhouse with Ottar Magnus Karlsson, y’know, the reason that team was good.
United have all but clinched first in the West, so have relatively little to play for except to try to stay in form. The teams traded penalties in the first half, and Charlie Dennis scored the winner in the 59th to take the points in Albuquerque. The Dennis goal is worth checking out in the highlights above. I think he’s redirecting what is a very off-target shot, and he just sorta stabs his leg out at it and between his jerky kick and the power on the initial shot, it rockets into the net. I don’t think its winning goal of the season just because it’s so fortuitous, but fair play to him, it is what he’s trying to do.
Juan Carlos Azocar picked up yellow cards in the 89th and 94th minutes, meaning we will not be seeing him make his return to the East Bay (at least, in a jersey).
Roots’ Form
Well, progress?
The best part about this game is how everyone said it would be on ESPN+ and then it wasn’t so a bunch of people couldn’t watch it because they hadn’t made plans to get to a bar.
I feel like we have seen the Roots concede this goal dozens of times, not just because it was 4 minutes in. Someone gets the ball to the goal line and squares the ball slightly backwards towards the penalty spot, and it doesn’t matter that the Roots have three centerbacks and two defensive midfielders, all those guys are marking one forward in the six-yard box while another forward lines up a shot through traffic from twelve yards out. To the Roots’ credit, they didn’t let it happen again. Memphis had some good chances that the Roots got bailed out on (I think) a correct offside call and some good last-ditch defending. Cam Riley nodded home an equalizer in the 35th off of a Njie corner kick, channeling Gabriel Magalhães. After the equalizer, the Roots played Memphis pretty even. Fotmob says that there were only two big chances in the game, both for the Roots, and neither was the goal, which is a little funny.
Trayvone Reid laced a hell of a shot in the 52nd that wasn’t too uncomfortable a save from Deric, but on a luckier day for the Roots, Deric doesn’t see it coming and doesn’t have time to jump/dive (given where this shot was taken, I’m not sure this was one of the big chances, either).
Okay if you watch later into the highlights you find the two big chances and let me tell you–the Roots could have walked out of there with three points and I had forgotten how close it was. My mind has blocked Johnny’s shot off the post to try to preserve my sanity.
Lineup and Score Predictions
Bloom
Probably the same lineup as last time, or maybe Dwyer starts because we’re at home. Liked Baca in the midfield even if he’s slow. Continue to think Sinisterra looks like he’s going to become an utter menace as soon as he really settles in (which, unfortunately, might mean next season).
2-1 Roots.
Jon
Call it a hunch. Dom Dwyer gets the start up top with Johnny playing his rotating winger role opposite of Trayvone Reid. In the midfield of my 3-4-3 is Baca and Gomez, pushing Cam Riley back to the LCB spot with Niall Logue out with an injury.
I’m feeling there’s going to be a lot of emphasis on defense and staying stable for 90 minutes. Roots 1-0.
Aaron
If it were me, I would choose the lineup that doesn’t concede in the first quarter hour. Here’s my suggestion in that regard. On the last pod, we expressed two possible reasons for optimism: (1) not many points were needed to make the playoffs, regardless of how the Roots perform (Jon), and (2) if they could just stop conceding early, these games would look a lot different. We have decided not to do #2 (at least not yet), so its good that results elsewhere continue to go the Roots’ way. I think Oakland can take this one, but I’m mostly interested in whether we can maintain defensive solidity from minute one. 2-1 Roots.