Roots fans it’s game day! For the first time in weeks, things seem okay for the Oakland Roots, who secured a playoff berth with a win over Las Vegas Lights, and control their own destiny as to playoff seeding. In their final match of the regular season, and their final match at CSU East Bay, the Roots will host Birmingham Legion at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 26.
Around the Western Conference
Roots, OC, and Rising are locked into 6th through 8th, while any of Lights, Republic, Switchbacks, and 901 could end up anywhere between 2nd and 5th (more or less). The scheduling is weird, with very limited intraconference play for the decisive day of the regular season.
Roots face Birmingham Legion, who were effectively eliminated from the playoffs last week. Legion could catch the 8th place team on points, but they are on the wrong side of the tiebreakers. Orange County hosts Hartford, who are fighting for a playoff berth. Roots have the tiebreaker over OC, which only matters with a Roots loss and an OC draw. Phoenix hosts El Paso, who are eliminated. Phoenix has the tiebreaker over Roots, although that only comes into play with a Phoenix win and a Roots draw. Phoenix play at 4pm, and we will know the outcome before Roots kick off.
Even if you know who you most want Roots to face in the first round, it’s not clear what spot that means you want the Roots to land in. Lights travel to North Carolina, who are fighting to hold onto a playoff berth. Sac host Switchbacks, in one the only relevant 6-point match. They are tied, and the table appears to show that Sac hold the tiebreaker, so a draw would leave Sac above Switchbacks. That result would leave Memphis with a great opportunity to jump both. Memphis travel to New Mexico, who have nothing to play for, and a win for Memphis has to put them above either Switchbacks or Sacramento. A draw does not do anything for Memphis, who is on the wrong side of the tiebreaker for both Switchbacks and Sac. Interestingly, Memphis does have the tiebreaker on Vegas, so they would jump Vegas with a win and a Vegas draw.
Birmingham Legion
Legion are in rough shape. They have similar goals scored and goals conceded to the Roots, and a pretty similar record, but the much tougher East means that they are eliminated with a game still to play. They could catch the likely 8th place team on points, but on the wrong side of all tiebreakers with all relevant contenders, they come to the East Bay with nothing to play for. Legion started the season well, but going 2-1-7 since August 16 tanked their season. Unlike the Roots, their bad stretch was not a total goal drought (although they had three consecutive shutouts) but rather their defense just started conceding multiple goals in almost every game. Legion’s offense is led by Stephan Pinho, with 9 goals. He is supported by Enzo Martinez with 5 goals and 5 assists. Dawson McCartney has contributed 3 goals and 6 assists, but for some reason does not start.
Roots’ Form
Finally not shit!
This was such a satisfying game. A 3rd minute goal! Two more goals, including one from a new player! Two outrageous saves from Paul! 23% possession!
What stood out to me in this game is how hard the Roots played from the first whistle. They showed a fire that they haven’t shown since August, and while I wish we’d seen it come back sooner, this is very much “better late than never.” Everyone ran hard. The Roots pressed Lights in the midfield, forced turnovers in dangerous areas, and importantly, capitalized on those turnovers by running at the defense and playing the ball in at pace.
Lineup and Score Predictions
Kaylor (Twitter: @theUSLShow)
The same line up from our match up against Indy XI. Aside from Preston, this is the same line up we roll out every week, barring injuries. If there is a change, it will be Preston for Nwegbo or Pinho for Matheus.
Legion have always been a road dog, and with an atmosphere like you get in East Bay, I think this Legion team will really thrive on it. However, this team is well aware that all they are playing for is pride, so I’m not sure how much energy they will have. On the other side, Oakland just broke their winless streak and it looks like they finally have the monkey off the back. I’m taking 2-1 Oakland.
Bloom
I can see an argument to rest some of the lads or get minutes into some people’s legs, but unless anyone is really suffering I think building momentum might be the most important thing. Memo will be out on card accumulation, and I can see Alekseev coming to get the minutes rather than a more senior player like Njie. I think Jon may have it right below.
Roots are going to take this one, but I don’t think they blow Legion out. 2-1 Roots.
Jon
Memo Diaz is out with card accumulation, so I’m slotting in Ilya Alekseev, making an opportunity for the teenager to show he’s the fullback of the future. I’m going with a 4-2-3-1, putting Koze in the CAM spot after his nice assist against Las Vegas. Rafa Baca left the last game with an injury and I’m thinking Glinton is going to be conservative with him going into the postseason. With that, I have Riley and Gomez backing up Koze. I have Baboucarr Njie over Trayvone Reid to give the left side some defensive stability. Sinisterra on the right adds creativity and I also think it’s important to keep him in form, same goes for Johnny.
Putting up a prayer: 3-0 Roots. Go into playoffs on a high note.
Ivan (Twitter: @ivanornelas2 – IG: @ivanthewriter95)
The back four picks itself at this point especially as we are in the business end of the season. If there is a change in the lineup, I expect it in the front 6. Reid could be in line for a start against Njie given both players are inconsistent, so neither has won that starting job.
I would be floored if Rodriguez doesn’t start this one, but we’ve seen him dropped for Chery or Dwyer following previous goalscoring outings.
Oakland Roots 2-1 to give their home fans one last fun night, even beyond the usual fun standards win lose or draw as the Hayward era comes to a close.
Aaron
As Bloom details above, Roots are still playing for playoff positioning, but honestly I don’t know if it really matters with this team. Roots are headed on the road to play a team they have beaten or played competitively no matter what happens. The difference between 6th and 8th is way less significant than getting to Round 1 with the preferred XI intact. So here’s my proposal: play the kids. Some of these guys are pretty darned good, and it would be good to get the regular starters some rest and some real minutes in the legs of the backups. Moreover, Birmingham will know by kickoff whether they are, in fact, eliminated from the playoffs, so there’s not going to be a lot of intrigue here, with two teams likely to be looking ahead, either to next season or next week. I’ll say 1-0 Roots.