Roots fans, for our sins it is game day once again! Roots are on the road this week, facing F.C. Tulsa at 5:00 p.m. Pacific at ONEOK Field in beautiful-ish Tulsa, Oklahoma. The match will be available on ESPN+ and KTVU Plus and the official watch party will be at the Oakland Athletic Club.
Western Conference Standings
F.C. Tulsa’s Form
After opening the season on the road in Phoenix, Tulsa are in their fourth-straight league home game (they traveled to Madison for the Open Cup in the interim, so it’s not like there has been no travel, but they also had last weekend off). Tulsa have three 1-0 wins and 1-0 loss, the loss coming to a solid North Carolina F.C. team. In the league, Tulsa have three goals from three different players, but have scored another four in the Cup, meaning their season goals leader is Taylor Calheira, a 22-year-old that Tulsa signed from the NYCFC academy in January. Calheira has three, with a penalty in each cup game. Fotmob rates right back/center back Arthur Rogers as Tulsa’s best player on the season so far. Rogers is English but has played his whole career in the U.S., including a stint with Northern Colorado Hailstorm where he shared the field with Wolfgang Prentice.
Tulsa’s most recent league game was a 1-0 victory over Sacramento on March 28.
Tulsa got the winner on a header off of a very well-placed corner kick in the 87th that Republic’s keeper just could do nothing about. As nice as it would be to face a team on difficult form, one cannot complain about Sacramento losing. The good news for Roots fans is that Tulsa’s offense has scored fewer goals than the Roots have.
Roots Form
I am not sure we are going to bother looking at the Rhode Island game in detail. Abdi Mohamed made two howler mistakes, the first leading directly to a goal, the second setting up a goal. On the third a quick turnover got Kendall McIntosh stuck in no man’s land and with his one, extremely slim chance to rescue the situation, he did not win the ball.
The vibes are an all-time low. Significantly worse than when the Roots have been eliminated from the playoffs and probably worse than when the Roots failed to make the playoffs in 2023.
Roots’ Reddit is a more negative group that Roots twitter used to be or the Roots discord, which is worth keeping in mind. Still, I think it’s indicative of the mood. Of the last fourteen posts, three are some variation on “Jordan Out,” one is “Glinton Out,” one is “this team is literally hopeless,” and two are “this other team fired their head coach.” The team got booed off the field last week against Rhode Island. At least one purported $25k+ community round donor posted one of the aforementioned “Jordan Out” open letters on Reddit.
The Coliseum did not feel empty on Saturday against Rhode Island, despite the small crowd. I think the small crowd was primarily a factor of the afternoon timing early in the season. Still, the Coliseum will start feeling very empty if the supporters groups start staying home, and I think that might be a real concern soon.
Lineup and Score Predictions
Bloom
I can’t predict a lineup right now. Gavin’s endless tinkering has baffled me. I’d be ready for Spiegel to get a run out, even though I think the goals-against record is somewhat unfair to McIntosh. I am back to “I would prefer to never see Njie play for the Roots.” I would like to see Sinisterra, Wilson, Damm, Bravo, and Byaruhanga get real minutes this week, preferably together.
In terms of a result, on one hand, I have not lost hope about this team. I think that there is certainly more in this group of players and this manager than we have seen through five weeks. That isn’t to say that it’s a slam dunk playoff team or something, but there’s at least something more than we have seen.
On the other hand, I do not see a win right now. Tulsa’s defense has looked stout and mediocre defenses are currently completely shutting Roots’ offense down. The Roots’ attack and midfield are both utterly broken until further notice. Roots lose 1-0.
Jon
Look, your guess is as good as mine. Roots have no injuries to report to its usual starters, so I have Tyler Gibson and Camden Riley back in the lineup. With the recent struggles from Abdi Mohamed, I’m slotting Riley at RB. I’m giving Julian Bravo his second straight start, allowing Neveal Hackshaw to move into the midfield once again. I’m also giving Jurgen Damm the nod over Jose Luis Sinisterra at right wing, while Wolfgang Prentice has proven to be the only player worthy of consistent starts. I also like Justin Rasmussen over Baboucarr Njie.
1-nil Roots. Don’t ask me about my confidence.
Aaron
Once again I am asked to make a prediction during sunny weather, after recording a podcast after my bedtime. There is, therefore, a remarkable difference in my mood, and therefore my outlook on this match. (Not the season, though, still very worried medium/long term.) For today, what that means is that I am reminded of the handful of times the last few years when things looked relatively hopeless for Oakland, only for them to put in a very good, and ultimately kind of one-off performance. (2-1 away to NMU, or 2-2 against a very good San Antonio during Roots epic 2023 collapse, for instance. Or 4-1 over Loudoun during the terrible stretch to start the Juan Guerra error.) How about one of those today? If only to lift our spirits briefly. Give me a weird 4-3 win or something. I shan’t be drawing any conclusions from it, but it could be a nice reprieve.