Oakland Roots announced the addition of Kai Greene on Monday, bringing back a fan-favorite from the 2021 roster that reached the USL Championship Western Conference semifinals.
Kai left the club as a fan-favorite, owning one of the club’s first chants for players. He still remembers falling to Orange County in penalty kicks at Champion Soccer Stadium, mentioning unfinished business from 2021.
“I’m excited to be back in Oakland. It’s one of the few places that have genuinely shown love for me, which was a big reason why I decided to come back. I remember we were robbed back in 2021 and I’m just here to try and finish the job and bring home some silverware,” Greene said.
Greene was one of Roots’ stalwarts at the center back spot from the 2021 squad opposite of Emrah Klimenta, who stayed on for two more seasons before Roots’ decided against bringing him back. Greene finished 2021 second on the team in minutes behind Klimenta, while Oakland had a +0.73 net goals per 90 minutes rating with him on the field.
So what are Oakland Roots getting now that a few years have passed?
The former Monterey captain was among the top distributors in the USL Championship in 2024 despite being a defender. His 4.91 accurate longballs per match ranked No. 12 out of 350 players, finishing with a 54.3 percent clip. Should Neveal Hackshaw return to the fold, Oakland would possess two top-15 long passers given Hackshaw finished No. 14 with 4.91 as well at 40.6 percent. It could be a sign of how Glinton wants his system to operate with frequent long passes.
2024 wasn’t a one-off productive season as a passer for Greene as well. He had 5.44 accurate long balls per match in 2023, 5.19 in 2022, and 4.30 in 2021 during his first stay with Oakland. He provides a considerable improvement over Gagi Margvelashvili as a passer, who only completed 2.54 long passes per match at 37 percent.
Gavin Glinton’s Roots also put an emphasis on defenders pushing into the midfield as playmakers. As a defender, Greene finished last season with 0.38 successful dribbles per match with a sterling 85.7 percent success rate. During his last stay in Oakland, Greene finished 2021 with 0.34 successful dribbles per match at 90 percent success.
Greene gives Roots some improvement with the ball at his feet. Comparing to Hackshaw, the T&T veteran had 0.54 successful dribbles per match at 63.6 percent in 2024, while Margevelashvili only had 0.12 successful dribbles per match at 60 percent.
Kai also shores up Oakland defensively. Greene had twice the number of successful tackles per match at 1.22 in 2024 compared to Hackshaw’s 0.66 while Margevelashvili had 1.11. He also had 1.13 interceptions per match to Hackshaw’s 0.77. Margevelashvili, who is younger than both players, was among the top players in the USL Championship on interceptions per match at No. 3 out of 356 with 1.98 per match.
Maybe most important is Greene’s background as a leader. Glinton expects Kai to “step right into” Roots’ leadership structure.
“Kai is a no-nonsense, hardworking defender who always puts the team above all else,” Glinton said. “I know how good he was here in Oakland in 2021, and now he’s become an even bigger leader, having served as a captain in 2024. We expect Kai to step right into a leadership role back here in Oakland and make a big impact on our defense.”
We’ll provide our tracker of Oakland Roots’ offseason transactions following its initial roster announcement.