RootsBlog

Oakland Roots made headlines when transferring lead striker Johnny Rodriguez to Las Vegas Lights, starting a new day for the attacking front line. Rodriguez goes down in club history as its current all-time leading goal scorer, now turning to a pair of newcomers to make an impact, Peter Wilson and EJ Johnson.

2025 marks head coach Gavin Glinton’s chance to fully deploy his system after being promoted from the interim role. Going back to his first interview following Roots’ U.S. Open Cup match against San Jose Earthquakes last May, Glinton commented he wants his team to hound the opposition and force them into difficult decisions.

At the club’s Media Day, Glinton detailed his expectations for the striker role.

“We expect guys who are going to put pressure on opposition defenses with their ability to run off the ball, to hold up the ball and bring people into play, their ability to finish plays and to be aggressive,” Glinton said.

Pressing from the front will be a big change to Roots under Glinton this season given it’s a strategy they rarely executed well last year. According to FotMob, Oakland won possession in the final third just 2.9 times per match to rank 21st of 24 teams. For Rodriguez, he only won the ball in the attacking area 0.53 times per match, finishing around the bottom half of players at his position.

Glinton thinks they’ve made strides in addressing the problem over the offseason.

“We’ve seen real instances of our identity that we want to create,” Glinton said. “That’s an aggressive team, a proactive team that plays on the front foot, is blue-collar, and resilient. We’ve had a good 5-6 weeks to onboard everybody, we’re really starting to see that take place.”

The injection of speed to the lineup has also been a marquee focus with the additions of Wilson, Johnson, and Jürgen Damm.

Rodriguez was never known for blistering speed, but was more of a physical presence in the box, acrobatic aerial target, and a big boot to line up a shot from 30 yards. Glinton thinks Johnson and Wilson bring the pace to run past back lines.

“We want to make sure we are forcing the opposition to worry about us, not only in front but in-behind. I think the strikers that we have will create a real handful of problems for the back line,” Glinton said. “We are very excited about what we can do along the front line and the variability we should be able to do it with.”

Maybe the team playing at the Coliseum and training at Harbor Bay Parkway draws some inspiration from the Raiders of old under owner and general manager Al Davis, who famously drafted Olympic sprinter and wide receiver James Jett. At Media Day, technical director Jordan Ferrell pointed out how Wilson and Johnson’s speed metrics were through the roof.

“We knew we needed pace in the forward line,” Ferrell said. “We signed three players who will likely end up being one of the fastest in the league with the way they want to play. Some data tells us EJ Johnson hit the max speed of all forwards in the USL. Jürgen Damm is rumored to be one of the fastest players in Mexico National Team history. In the country of Norway last year, Peter Wilson was clocked as one of the fastest players as well.”

Ferrell further laid out some criteria of Glinton’s vision.

“We needed to get a team that fit what Gavin needed. The profiles didn’t fit the way Gavin wanted to play; more uptempo, more exciting, energetic, intelligent and creative,” Ferrell said.

Glinton called their new guys like Johnson and Wilson dynamic players.

“I think we’ve got dynamic players coming into the group. We’ve got EJ, Jürgen, Peter Wilson; we’ve got serial winners who have been leaders at other clubs,” Glinton said. “We really believe in them, they are an amazing group. They’ve been able to embrace the process, that’s what we’ve seen this preseason.”

However, Wilson still hasn’t arrived as the league awaits his P-1 Visa to process. With the preseason nearly concluded and the regular season on March 8 in Orange County, everything is pointing toward Johnson getting the nod through at least the first week of action.

When asked about how Wilson’s current availability impacts his decision making at striker, Glinton made it clear that he doesn’t have a difficult decision until the Swiss and Liberian international’s arrival.

“It doesn’t, he’s not here,” Glinton said with a laugh. “I’m kidding. As [Wilson] gets here, the goal is to get him up to speed as quick as possible.”

Johnson having a full preseason means Glinton won’t have to rush Wilson into the starting lineup. The early weeks give the 21-year-old forward a prime opportunity to make an impression.

“But I think we have a deep and competitive team all the way throughout. That gives us the ability to not have to rush anyone along and get them the time they need to get up to speed,” Glinton said.

Wilson, 28, started his career with GIF Sundsvall of the Superettan, Sweden’s second division, in 2015 after emerging from their youth academy–making 98 total appearances for 19 goals and eight assists. He ventured to FC Sherriff in 2020, making 17 appearances and scoring seven times.

From there, he made his way to Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała of Poland’s third tier in 2021, appearing 13 times. Olympiakos Nicosia of Cyprus’ Second Division signed him later in 2021, appearing 27 times.

FK Jerv of the Norwegian Second Division signed him in 2022, appearing 42 total times and scoring 23 goals and two assists. He’s coming off a career year in 2024, scoring 20 goals.

Wilson is also a member of Liberia’s National Team, appearing 18 total times for two goals, per WorldFootball.net.

Johnson, 21, started his career with Hibernian FC’s under-21 side in 2022 and was loaned to Charleston Battery the same year, making 13 appearances. From there, he returned to Scotland in 2022-2023 with FC Edinburgh of Scottish League Two. He also appeared on loan with Austin FC II in 2023.

After concluding his contract at Hibernian, he signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh Riverhounds in 2024.

For his career, Johnson has appeared in 48 total matches and scored five goals.