Roots fans it is game day again! Roots travel down to Lancaster, California, in the extant Antelope Valley to face League 1 newcomers AV Alta F.C. in the Jæegermeister Cup at 7:30p.m. on May 31. The match will be available on ESPN+ and KTVU Plus.
Group 1 Standings
Roots are not out of this yet, but a win is basically necessary and still probably not sufficient, as there are only four games.
This weekend, Monterey Bay host Orange County and Republic host Lights, so there is the possibility for some dropped points above Roots on the table.
AV Alta F.C.
AV Alta place in Lancaster, California, the 158th largest city in America. The Antelope Valley was an important route on the Butterfield1 Overland Mail (re: stagecoach) line leading north from Los Angeles. Deposits of gold and borax2 in the general region fueled Lancaster’s growth in the early 20th century. Lancaster is now famous for hosting a men’s prison and the chapel from Kill Bill. The list of famous people from Lancaster is overwhelmingly “people whose parents were stationed at the southern arm of Edwards Air Force Base.”
AV Alta are in their first season in USL League 1.
Possibly to avoid people dunking on their badge, they don’t put together a neat little HUD-style graphic with all the details and instead make you watch a god damned video to find out what the colors and shapes mean.
Briefly, the letter “A” is shaped weird because it looks like the B2 bomber that was built there. The shield has a weird butt at the top because it’s actually poppy shaped, nothwithstanding Werner Herzog’s Sad Beige Babies color palette. The badge uses “AV” twice because their editor failed to catch. The green is “Joshua Green,” which is a name that appears at least 1,000 times on LinkedIn.3
The first listed owner is J. David Harden, who “has been mixing right-brain/left-brain work in technology and entertainment for more than 25 years,” and has an IMDB page which I encourage you all to peruse. Another owner is Paul Palmieri, who advertises on the club website that he’s an investor in two different Dr*ftKings subsidiaries, one a lottery simulator and one “that us[es] machine learning and automation to make every moment of every sporting event a betting opportunity.” Jesus fucking Christ. I may have never wanted the Roots to pound a team so badly. The only conceivable value I can see to using AI to run a sportsbook is that no sane person would set up USL prop bets, a thing that could take a lot of my money.4
Alta are 3-3-2 on the season, with a great home record and lousy away record. They had not won a game since April 12 until this past weekend they beat Charlotte Independence, once of the USL Championship, 2-1.
AV Alta have faced Las Vegas and Sacramento, losing 2-1 and 1-0, respectively.
Alta have scored 11 and conceded 12 on the season. They have two players on three goals apiece, Ronald Alexis Cerritos and Jimmie Villalobos. Some names you might recognize on the Alta roster include Miguel Ibarra, a Lancaster-native with appearances for the USMNT and some time with San Diego Loyal following a lengthy career in Liga MX and MLS; Elijah Martin, a Fresno-native who faced the Roots several times during his time with San Diego Loyal; Walmer Martinez, who was briefly with Project 510 and then a mainstay at Monterey Bay F.C. during their first couple years; and of course Javier Mariona who was at one point the Project 510 guy we most expected to see get minutes for the Roots, although he only ultimately played 15 minutes over the 21-22 seasons.
Roots’ Form
Oh, would you look at that, I’m out of time to write this before my publishing deadline. I’ll get back to you.
Match Predictions
Bloom
I think rotation will be minimal with no mid-week games and this being the Roots’ best chance to get much-needed points if they want to stay competitive in the cup. If someone is nursing an injury I can see them getting a break, but otherwise I expect whatever Glinton thinks is his best 11. The league is reporting that Doner is available, but I would be surprised if he is ready to start.
The Roots were better than Spokane but let themselves get behind and had difficulty making up the difference, but the Roots are better than they were a month ago, even if there is a long way to go still. I think the Roots make tidy business of Alta. 3-0.
Jon
I also expect minimal rotation with a week break until their next league match and the opportunity to get their first points toward the cup. Camden Riley was listed as questionable against New Mexico, maybe it’s a good opportunity to give him a run with another week of rest. I’m with Aaron below, its time for Roots to show they can overpower a lower league side.
Roots, 4-1.
Aaron
Who’s ready to get hurt again?! Haha, jk jk. (I think?) Lancaster the city has done some apparently pretty cool stuff with green energy and with greening up its downtown. That link is a year old, and the writing is…weird, but the transition is so recent that it isn’t captured on Google Earth’s satellite view. Its also driving distance to the State’s Poppy Reserve, and to one of the childhood homes of Afroman, so if you ever take a wrong turn off the 5 and don’t turn around for several hours, at least there’s some stuff to check out.
Another thing that might be cool to check out is Oakland’s upcoming demolition of AV Alta. I get the sense sometimes watching this team play lower division squads over the years that they use those games to try and work on stuff. (Tbf, I don’t think they’ve ever played a League 1 side/El Farolito at a time when Roots were in good form in the league.) For once, I wish they would just show up, play it like its a backyard 5-a-side, and just knock the other team out. No tactics, just vibes. I’m sure AV Alta is a fine soccer club. I’m just pretty sure Roots are better. Be cool if they showed it. 5-3 Oakland.
- Owned by John Butterfield, the father of Union general Daniel Butterfield, famous for writing the bugle call Taps and almost losing the battle at Gettysburg. ↩︎
- The large mine northeast of Lancaster was operated by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which was headquartered in Alameda County and owned by Francis Marion Smith, the “Borox King,” who also owned the development company that built the Key System streetcars. Is this thing on? Is there anyone out there? ↩︎
- I suspect there are more and the list just cuts off at 100 pages of 10 entries per page. ↩︎
- Always bet on the Dom Dwyer yellow card. ↩︎