They did it again. Oakland Roots dropped its regular season finale 5-0 to Birmingham Legion, becoming its fourth game to concede five goals in a match. Four of those goals came in the first half.
Tonight’s results drops Oakland to seventh place behind Orange County. Roots will now travel to second-seed Colorado Springs for the first round.
Postgame Press Conference
Talking Points
- Lack of effort
Tonight marked the third 5-0 defeat and fourth time conceding five goals in a contest. When asked about why Roots continue to give up five goals, Glinton had harsh words for the effort he saw from players tonight. There were times players looked like they were at a walking pace.
“We have a lack of commitment and consistency in our mentality. The minute we have anything going right for us, we start to think we’re Real Madrid and we won’t have to work. Birmingham had nothing to play for; we’re on top of them, they transition and we feel like we don’t have to run back,” Glinton said.
“It’s embarrassing. It’s about having fight, commitment, and heart in a lot of these moments.”
Throughout the discussion, Glinton continued to point to commitment from players and a lack of competitive mentality following wins. In Oakland’s 13 wins on the season, they’ve dropped points in eight of the immediate following matches.
Each of Oakland’s three 5-0 losses came after wins. Their 1-0 win over Louisville was followed by the 5-0 loss at Pittsburgh, the North Carolina defeat was preceded by the 1-0 win over New Mexico, while tonight’s defeat was fresh off a 3-1 win at Las Vegas.
“We have to stop getting too high on ourselves too early. That’s been a problem, you see a lot of these 5-zeros come after big wins. We have to make sure guys don’t get carried away,” Glinton said.
Glinton said their message to the lineup was clear going into the match–they needed to fight for a result and gain points going into the postseason.
“It’s unacceptable. We’re talking about a game plan where we have to go, fight, and scrap for points. We’re talking about preparing for a championship and we act like we don’t need to execute the details. We didn’t respect the game, we didn’t respect the opponent, and we didn’t respect ourselves,” Glinton said.
Glinton said the match gives him decisions to make, while some of them won’t be difficult.
“Some of the choices might not even be so tough, to be very honest with you. Right now, we’re going to find out this week who is committed and wants to get the job done.”
- Finishing chances and the killer mentality
Oakland had its chances in both halves, but couldn’t find the finishing touch, once again. Trayvone Reid had perhaps the best chance of the game in the 11th minute when taking a ball over the top down into Birmingham’s penalty area, but his shot sailed high over the crossbar.
Johnny Rodriguez hit the post in the 27th minute, which would’ve tied the game at 1-1 at the time. Johnny also had a shot blocked inside the box six minutes later. In the late minutes, Miche-Naider Chery had a shot go wide left, while Niall Logue missed an open header from a corner.
It may not be the lack of commitment Glinton was speaking to in length on Saturday night, but players need to have the clutch gene when finishing chances. Is being a clutch and having the killer, “Mamba”, mentality coachable?
“You can. It’s got to be inside the players, for sure. As a coach you’re constantly trying to find that line between driving it and allowing them to find confidence and comfortability. There has to be a mentality to be dogged all the way through,” Glinton said.
- Style change from Las Vegas
Oakland Roots came into the night coming off a 3-1 win over Las Vegas, where they generated 16 shots with eight on target in just 22 percent possession. It marked the club’s most attempts on target since recording nine in their 4-1 win over, ironically, Birmingham on May 6, 2023.
But on Saturday night against Legion, Glinton and Roots opted to go more possessive based, finishing with 55 percent of the ball.
So, why the change? Glinton explained: “Las Vegas is a bit different in their type of possession. We were inviting them to have the ball so we could hit them on the counter. We know Birmingham likes to move the ball as well, but we knew we’d have opportunities with the ball.”
In the end, Glinton continued to point at their defense.
“Ideally, we’d bit more dangerous in the attacking third. But when you lose the ball, you can’t be that easy to play against. You have to care more. At this point of the season, that’s frustrating to continue dealing with,” Glinton said.
- Tough game for Syrel
It was a rough outing for young goal keeper Tim Syrel. The 51O call-up was done no favors by his defense and by the third goal that hit off his hands an into net, it looked like his confidence was rattled. Not every game is going to be sterling and tonight was one that allows the 20-year-old to learn through adversity.
“Keep your head up,” Glinton said of his message to Syrel. “He’ll be fine, it happens. There’s goals happening like that in the world every weekend. He’ll bounce back from it. It wasn’t his night, but he’ll be okay.”
- What needs to change?
A unique offseason for Oakland Roots is on the horizon.
Going into the offseason, Roots have a looming decision to make at for its head coach to lead the club into the Coliseum. Glinton currently marks the fifth coach in the club’s five-year history and the third time Oakland has had a head coach under the interim tag.
As one club source put, 2025 and 2026 are monumental years for the club. With the Coliseum providing a venue for Roots to find its peak attendance, building a successful program around a head coach is of the upmost importance.
The topic among Roots support is what needs to change at the club to evolve into a contending team and why can’t Roots get past the playoff-hopeful hump to be title contenders. When pressing Glinton on organizational changes, he said those discussions need to be kept internal.
Uncertainty around the club is the elephant in the room. Who is to blame for the consistent inconsistency? What is success to people within the club?
It was a bit jarring to see fans clap the team off of the field following an abysmal 5-nil result. Perhaps the happy-clapping of some is a testament to a nature of cluelessness around the organization. There is no standard of success.
The blog spoke to several supporters group members following Saturday’s result as to what they think is going wrong. SG members seem to all agree, the problems start at the top and go down from there.
“There’s no winning culture. There’s no standard to be held accountable to. Other teams expect to win, we just hope to win and that seems to be okay with the higher-ups,” said one Homegrown Hooligans member, Ming Thach.
One anonymous supporter reiterated feelings of how Roots’ issues start at the top.
“I believe there are people outside of the players who make things difficult. You have to look at what’s happening above. Sure, I’ll put some blame on the players as well, but I think we need to fix what’s going on up top.”
Los Roots SG leader, Jorge Bejarano, also wants to know what standard of success is being held at Roots.
“It’s easy to blame the coach. But understanding more of how the game works, you understand its not just coaching and the people above, the blame has to go from the top down. Are the people in charge being checked? Is just getting to the playoffs good enough? Is that the standard for a successful season? Or are we pushing for a championship? If we were, this would not be the standard,” he said.
“For me, it needs to start at the top. It starts with whoever is allowing people to have power and not reprimanding people responsible for this. Is this okay with them? If it is okay with them, why are they a part of our club? We’re demanding more.”
Roots’ go into the offseason with very important decisions that will shape the futures of several different figures at the club. If we’re starting at the top, it’s going to be critical for club chair Steven Aldrich to make sure his most trusted executives like president Lindsay Barenz, technical director Jordan Ferrell, director of player personnel Nana Attakora, and vice president of soccer Eric Yamamoto all make correct choices.
If the supporters groups’ thoughts indicate anything, its patience is wearing thin.
Staring Lineups
- Oakland Roots Starting 11
I get nine out of 11 in my starting lineup prediction with Syrel in for Paul and Njie at LB instead of Rasmussen. I’m interested to see how Oakland’s midfield handles the operation with Koze, Gomez and Riley. Ilya with a big start at RB, huge night for him to show his potential.
- Birmingham Legion Starting 11
Timeline
GAME TIME! Goodbye Pioneer!
Out of town scoreboard:
North Carolina beat Las Vegas. LV sits at 50 points.
Louisville won 4-1 on Phoenix. Rising sits at 42 points and stays in 8th.
Memphis up 2-1 on NM. Memphis up to 2nd at 51 points.
Legions corner- 10
Reid golden chance missed – 11′
on a good counter attack, really just had to put it on frame
Legion corner – 17′
scrum in the box, almost a dangerous look for Birmingham. Can’t make contact on a shot
Johnny shot high – 18′
From above the area
Birmingham scores on a beautiful shot – 21′
Absolutely beautiful curling shot by Etaka
Roots free kick – 24′
Ball in cleared. Hackshaw can’t make square contact on a shot
Ilya dangerous pass – 27′
Looks for a back across the face. Fall to Sinisterra but a weak shot was blocked
Johnny hits the post – 27′
Dangerous play in the area and a deflection falls to Johnny with his back turned to goal. He turns for his shot but it curves off of the far post.
Johnny shot blocked- 31′
Syrel gets caught off of his line – 31′
Long ball into space and Syrel gets caught way out of position by Pinho. Not good.
Reid misses the goal by 70 feet to the right – 34′
Birmingham goal from a free kick – 35′
Nice header zips into net. It’s 3-0 and the demons are back.
Roots corner – 38′
Johnny header attempt doesn’t make good contact.
Birmingham scores a fourth – 40′
Etaka just sends a shot at Syrel and he really botched it. Dribbles into the net. It’s a blowout.
First half notes:
It’s about as bad as it can get for Roots. Down 4-0 with some mistakes by the academy graduate Syrel, his confidence looks shaken.
Oakland could have a couple of goals, at least. Reid should’ve put his shot away in the early minutes, then Johnny hit the post. Roots need to just finish with something to be proud of in the second half. Roots with 6 shots, 1 on target, 55 percent possession. Birmingham with 5 shots, 4 on target.
Roots corner 51′
corner leads ro another
Roots corner- 52′
Roots corner – 55′
Legion shot high- 57′
Chery in for Johnny
Cam shot high on volley- 58′
Out of town scoreboard: OC up 2-1 Hartford
Legion corner – 60′
Roots corner – 63′
Roots corner – 64′
do nothing with it
Etsgar on for Sinisterra
Roots corner -72′
foul on Roots
Legion longshot sails – 76′
Roots free kick from distance – 79′
Chery shot deflects out for a corner – 85′
Roots corner played short, pass sails – 85′
and there’s a fifth on a bending laser of a shot – 88′
Marks the fourth time Roots have given up five goals.
Roots corner -90
Logue skims a header wide, gotta finish that.
Martinez given a red at – 90+1′
Roots free kick
Cam header loops over
Chery sends a good opportunity wide