ROOTS FANS IT’S GAME DAY! The Oakland Roots, again of Oakland, California, kick their season off with a trip down to the O.C. to face the O. County Soccer S. at the Orange C. Great Park in beautiful-ish Irvine, California at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 8. It’s a fresh season with a lot of fresh faces and hope springs eternal around the league. A fresh season with a fresh table and the Roots firmly grasping their rightful spot tied for 8th in the table.
In an attempt to shake off past season collapses, this season we will be featuring some local artists that I think you can throw some listens to. This is a brand new track from Richmond-based 2morrows June, a band that supports God’s own Oakland Roots. Check their website for upcoming appearances, including a rumored one at the end of this month. This feature will continue for as long as I remember or until I start scapegoating the bands for bad performances on the field.
Roots’ Offseason
Jon’s offseason tracker links to his write-ups on all the new players and some of the more noteworthy departures.
I also wrote-up my thoughts on the offseason as a whole here.
I sat on that post for a week figuring there might be more news. Then the team announced that Johnny was being sold to Las Vegas and I was like “oh, I can probably update the article and post now,” and that morning the team clowned me by signing a new player, Bobosi Byaruhanga.
The good news is that, since his signing, Roots’ social media has shown that he is in training, as are Peter Wilson and Jürgen Damm. I am skeptical that we can count on Bobosi or Wilson to start as early as this weekend, but with them in training, I think there is a chance we can at least see them off the bench.
In my preview, I provided a suggested Week 1 starting lineup, and I’ll use the same or similar below. I have also been wondering if the Roots might run out a 3-4-3, which fits better with Rasmussen/Njie on the left and Mohamed/Damm on the right. Here is a potential depth chart in that formation (note–Mohamed and Damm might alternate at RWB rather than Mohamed in RCB).
Elegant.1
I think there is something to this lineup.
The Roots somewhat surprisingly announced on Friday that newcomer Tyler Gibson has been named captain and that last year’s captain Hackshaw has been named vice-captain. I think Hackshaw moving to vice-captain is pretty telling about whether he’s a locked-in starter for the whole season, but I do think he’s likely a week 1 starter. I also think Gibson moving to captain suggests that Gavin, at least, thinks he’s still got the juice.
As I described in my season preview post, and as we discuss on this week’s RootsPod, I am somewhat optimistic about this season. It is worth noting that neutrals are not optimistic about this Roots’ offseason. John Morrissey has the Roots finishing last in the West.2 Nicholas Murray, who does the media for the USL itself, has the Roots 19th in the preseason power rankings, implying a 9th place finish in the West. The basic reasoning is what you would expect, and have probably feared if you have followed the Roots’ offseason–the departures might seriously hurt and the incomings, outside Armenakas and Greene, all have reasons they might be duds. I think there is reason to be optimistic about the guys that the Roots are bringing in and I think John and Nicholas would both acknowledge that neither knows exactly what the Roots are getting in Wilson or exactly how much Damm has left in the tank. These are huge questions that a neutral, with no stake in the Roots’ success, has no reason to assume will be answered in the Roots’ favor.
Still, it’s the week before the season kicks off. Just try to convince me Wilson won’t score 25. You literally can’t.
O.C.’s Offseason
Let’s see, Orange County picked up Tristan Trager, okay, that seems pretty good for them, they also picked up a standout USL1 player, right-back Grayson Doody,3 USL veteran Tom Brewitt, and attacking midfielder Chris Hegardt.
They lost Owen Lambe, Dillon Pow–wait.
Wait. Hold on.
Tom Brewitt? THE Tom Brewitt? Of the Liverpool Brewitts?
The Tom Brewitt who has repeatedly appeared on the RootsBlog Player Hater Top Five?!
Here is probably the quintessential Tom Brewitt ragging: https://oaklandrootsblog.blogspot.com/2021/09/oakland-roots-vs-tacoma-defiance-match.html
Would it get worse for Tom that week?
In my October 2, 2021 preview of a Roots’ match against Las Vegas Lights, I published a first official player hater ranking with Tom squarely at the top:
This was before Andrew Carleton played in USL.
(In case you were wondering how I remembered his name and how pleased I am with this search working).
Brewitt still took second as recently as October 6, 2022, in the rankings’ graphical high-water mark:
In July of 2023, Brewitt was relegated to emeritus status with his move to Europe:
I am pleased that Brewitt has returned to USL to make this fixation less insane.4
What’s that you say? What about the rest of Orange County’s offseason? Sorry, the editors have said that I am not allowed any more words today because I have “abused my privileges” and “flagrantly wasted our readers’ time.”
John Morrissey thinks that Orange County are going to be really good and Nicholas Murray thinks they’re going to be pretty good but better than the Roots. I think that sucks.
Predictions
Bloom
I think Jon’s predicted lineup below is a good one to start the season. Like Jon, I don’t think Bravo jumps straight into the starting lineup. Damm trained with the team on the their Mexico trip, so even though there was a hold-up with him rejoining the team in Oakland, he may be “settled” for starting purposes. If not then I think Njie probably get the start on the left with Sinisterra on the right.
The Roots are settling in a lot of new players. Of Jon’s predicted 11, Riley-Rasmussen-Hackshaw are the only 3 who played more than 500 minutes together last season (this basically just excludes Sinisterra).
Obvioiusly it’s hard to tell how these teams will match up right now. Orange County are settling in almost as many new key players as the Roots are, so I think there’s reason for optimisim even if you think Orange County are a better team on paper (I refuse to acknowledge this at this time). Still, I think this is a tough first match up, it’s on the road, and these guys have just barely spent any time playing together under duress. 1-1 and we call it a point well earned. I probably predicted a win on RootsPod but I am a known liar.
Jon
First off, predicting the opening day lineup is mighty guesswork when accounting for P-1 visa processing, practice time, and how certain players fit into the mix.
I have EJ Johnson getting the start over Peter Wilson given the Liberian/Swedish striker took time to arrive in the United States. Jürgen Damm could very well start at right back over Abdi Mohammed, but I like the stability with both in the lineup. With that, I have Jose Luis Sinisterra on the left side despite nothing telling me that’s a plan. In the midfield, I can easily see Bobosi Byaruhanga starting over Tyler Gibson, but I’m unsure about how much time Bobosi has had to get integrated. At centerback, I have Kai Greene and Neveal Hackshaw. I’ve heard good things about Julian Bravo and that he could challenge for a starting spot, but for now, this is what I’m going with.
Roots start strong with a 2-1 win.
Aaron
Peter references the disconnect between our optimism about this Roots squad, and the predictions from people who cover the league as a whole, and alludes to the open questions surrounding this team that probably drive this disconnect. Let’s be more specific, because more than formation or whatever, this is what I’m watching during the first few weeks:
- Can Peter Wilson and EJ Johnson combine for 20 goals? Last year’s squad had 2 guys on it who scored more than 2 (!) goals, and they’re both gone (Johnny R. and Jeciel C.). Someone needs to replace that “production,” and it looks like these are the guys the Roots have tapped to do so. And while the Roots took some bigger swings elsewhere, these are more “typical” Roots gambles: A striker who is a reasonably sized fish playing in, soccer-wise, a tiny pond, and a local lad. The difference this year is that Wilson comes with a much more established pedigree than Roots’ previous signings of this ilk (Trayvone Reid, Anuar Pelaez, Miche-Naider Chery), and Johnson is someone whose potential already has been recognized at this level. Whether these guys look like scoring will tell us a lot about what kind of season this team will have.
- What is Jurgen Damm bringing to the table? Damm has the pedigree, there’s no doubt about that. And he got regular playing time off the bench for a middle-of-the-pack Atletico de San Luis squad in 2023-24. But that playing time dried up in this year’s Apertura, as Damm recorded only a single substitute appearance. Now, I tend to watch Liga MX on days when the Warriors are playing on the west coast and I’ve finished making dinner before tip and I need to watch something in the meantime, so I can’t tell you what exactly happened. But there are younger players now on the Atleti roster in Damm’s positions, and some of the more established players are coming into their primes. So it may very well just be that it was time for Damm to move on, and there’s very little to read into it. I think we should have a good idea pretty quickly.
- Is Julian Bravo the real deal? We’ve heard rumblings that, yes, yes he is the real deal, and frankly, this whole roster makes a lot more sense to me if Roots are getting positive contributions from both Bravo and Damm. Still a very-defense heavy team, but one that you can imagine transitioning to attack at pace. With a facilitator in the middle like Panos Armenakas, and power on the flanks, you could be looking at a more potent attack than we’ve seen in any season that didn’t involve Nordic invaders (assuming a positive answer to question 1).
Anyway, that’s what I’m watching. For week one, 3-1 to the good guys.