Oakland Roots announced they signed their incumbent starting goalkeeper, Kendall McIntosh.
It marks a full circle moment for McIntosh and the club, who have targeted the veteran keeper upon its inception into the USL Championship given his ‘roots’ as a Town native.
“A lot of who I am comes from growing up in Oakland and Northern California,” McIntosh said. “Getting the opportunity to return home and play in a stadium I grew up attending is nothing short of special and a true full circle moment for me and my family.”
The move comes after Roots were reportedly in talks for Swiss international goalkeeper Raphael Spiegel, but the opportunity to add one of Oakland’s own was too fitting for the club’s brand to pass up on. It’s not definitive if this officially closes the door on Speigel, but it appears much less likely given the Swiss would be considered a marquee international signing and an overinvestment at one position. Roots’ staff members were unable to provide immediate comments due to holiday travels.
Aside from his upbringing fitting Roots’ culture, McIntosh was named New York Red Bulls’ Humanitarian of the Year in 2021 for his work in social injustice and fundraising for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Black Child Developmental Institute, and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
So what are Roots getting in the veteran keeper?
McIntosh comes to Oakland as an established shot-stopper throughout his career. In his 16 total appearances at Sporting KC, he averaged 3.47 saves per game with a collective save percentage of 73.05. Roots’ former keeper and fan-favorite, Paul Blanchette, finished 2024 with a 66.2 save percentage and 2.97 saves per game.
Blanchette also took a step down in playing safely in front of Roots’ own net, recording three errors that led to goals in 2024 and one the previous season after having none in 2021-2022. McIntosh, notably, has recorded no errors that led to goals over the last three years after having two in 2021 with Sporting KC II.
As a distributor, McIntosh doesn’t provide much of an improvement over Blanchette. Kendall had positive passing percentages during his time in MLS with a collective 73.9 percent, but his long ball distribution has never been his hallmark with 41.7 percent completion rate being his highest mark in 2022 when he made just two appearances with Sporting KC.
With that, it doesn’t appear like Roots will be planning to have a distributing goalkeeper like they would’ve attained with Spiegel. Blanchette’s 65.9 percent completion rate on long passes in 2024 was his best during his entire stay in Oakland–equating to the bottom 43 percent of USL Championship goal keepers, per FotMob. Benny Díaz holds the club’s highest long pass completion rate of 74.4 percent during his brief 13 starts in 2022.
McIntosh, 30, played youth soccer at Bay Oaks of Oakland and at Montclair Soccer Club. He attended high school at Sonoma Academy and joined Santa Clara University in 2012 as a five-star recruit. With the Broncos, he earned second-team All-WCC honors in 2014 and 2015, along with WCC co-Goalkeeper of the Year as a senior.
After stints with FC Tucson and Burlingame Dragons, McIntosh signed with Portland Timbers 2, where he made 60 total appearances from 2016-2019. He was selected by the New York Red Bulls in the re-entry draft ahead of the 2020 season and then was picked up by Sporting Kansas City in the following year’s re-entry draft.
He spent time on Sporting KC II in the USL Championship in 2021 and earned a promotion to the first-team the following two years, appearing in 16 total MLS matches. San Antonio FC signed him to a contract for 2024.
For his career, McIntosh has appeared in 98 matches for a total of 8,752 minutes.
Check our tracker for all of Oakland Roots’ roster news this offseason.