Oakland Roots take a point in Benny Feilhaber’s debut as head coach, holding the third-highest scoring team in the league to a clean sheet in a 0-0 tie. Although Oakland remains in 11th place in the Western Conference, a draw against one of the top sides in the league is an encouraging result just five days removed from a coaching change.
“Better than a loss, but not as good as a win. When you’re playing at home, wins are crucial when you’re trying to get back in the playoff race and climb up the ladder, so I give it a five out of 10 in terms of getting the draw,” Feilhaber said.
Despite things being stacked against Roots coming into the night, they never looked outmatched and arguably had the best chances of the game. Oakland finished the night with seven shots and two on target and roughly split evenly on possession with 49 percent of the ball compared to El Paso’s nine attempts with three on target.
Julian Bravo had Roots’ best chance very early in the third minute of action, where Panos Armenakas sent a cross from a free kick along the right wing to Neveal Hackshaw running in unmarked. Hackshaw attempted to head a pass centrally, which fell to Bravo storming toward the net. Julian wisely took his shot on the first touch, but El Paso GK Sebastian Mora-Mora was there to pounce on the ball.
Oakland did well to get into dangerous areas in the second half, but couldn’t put anything overtly challenging on net. After going into halftime trailing in possession, Roots outpossessed El Paso 54-46 in the latter 45 minutes.
“First half was not good for one simple reason: we couldn’t complete passes. For the most part, I thought we were organized defensively with a couple of exceptions. But we could not complete simple passes. When you’re killing yourself defensively to win balls and put yourself in position to attack, but instantly give the ball back, it’s deflating. But to be fair, I don’t think anyone slowed down, but it was clear that was an area we needed to improve in the second half,” Feilhaber said.
Here are our talking points coming out of Saturday’s match.
Talking Points
- Working while short on time
Roots’ players arrived at their training facility on Tuesday morning with a new head coach and just four days of practice before welcoming El Paso Locomotive to the Coliseum. With all the drama to start the week, Feilhaber thinks the team has an “exceptional” response.
“Exceptional,” Feilhaber said when asked about how players approached the week. “I have zero complaints through the entire roster. Guys have been very welcoming, responsive, and eager to learn, wanting to be coached and improve, and obviously, to win. They gave everything they had the entire week of training and in the game.”
Feilhaber comes to Oakland looking to install his system, but entering with just days before Saturday’s game meant he could only spend about “half a day” focused on El Paso.
“In a normal week, you’re probably focusing on yourself about 70 percent and the other team 30. This week was probably closer to 90-10,” Feilhaber said. “I’ve got to get to know the players, and they have to get to know the way I want to play the game. We probably touched on El Paso for maybe half a day. The 90 percent was how we wanted to play.”
Veteran midfielder Tyler Gibson wore the captain’s armband on Saturday night. He thinks the change could be good for some players. Feilhaber, notably, praised Gagi Margvelashvili, who was looking like an outcast on Gavin Glinton’s squad.
“It’s always tough switching things up mid-season. I have a huge amount of respect for Gavin and Jesse [Cormier], but it comes with the sport. The energy has been good, and it can be a restart for a lot of players,” Gibson said. “It seems like we’re going in a good direction.”
Gibson mentions their “higher pressing” was one thing Feilhaber had them working on throughout the week of training.
“The week leading up was a good week of training. The energy is high, and we’re working on different things, like the higher pressing you saw,” Gibson said. “I don’t think El Paso had too many opportunities, and we were able to suffocate them pretty well. If we can just connect a few more passes, we can be dangerous.”
- Creating Benny-ball
Feilhaber comes to Oakland Roots following his time as Sporting Kansas City II’s head coach with some key differences to the job. In the MLS Next Pro, it was Feilhaber’s duty to develop players so they could fit into Peter Vermes’ system for the MLS first team. In the USL Championship, Feilhaber now has the chance to truly build his professional footprint and identity.
“I think the roster is better than the performances,” Feilhaber said. “For me, this is my first opportunity as a head coach of a first team. When you compare that to SKC II, it’s night and day. I’ve been waiting for this kind of opportunity, and this one felt right. The players that we have fit a lot of the things that I want to try to do.”
Oakland’s fluctuating system has been well-documented over the past two years, where teams run by Noah Delgado and Glinton varied in style based on their upcoming opponent’s tendencies. That’s something Feilhaber wants to change by giving Roots’ fans a style of play they can learn and love.
“One of the things Oakland has struggled to do during its entire time in the USL Championship is have a true identity on how they play,” Feilhaber said. “I come from Sporting Kansas City, and anyone who watches MLS knows exactly how they wanted to play. I want that. I want an ability for people to say, ‘that’s the way Oakland plays and that’s the way Benny coaches.'”
Feilhaber wants his system to be unwavering regardless of the opponent, instead of a case-by-case scenario. With that, the coach explains he wants to have possession, create out of the back, and force teams into pressing situations.
“I would love to get to a point where we have less reactionary tactics and more of an ideology of how we want to play,” Feilhaber said. “I want an understanding that we’re going to play our style against whoever we’re playing against, and regardless of whether we’re home or away. Of course, the opponent plays a factor in the game, but we want to go in thinking, ‘this is the way we like to play.’
“I like to have possession, I like to create from the back, and to create pressing situations so the other team doesn’t feel comfortable in possession. I thought we did an excellent job of that in the second half. So, it was really good to see the guys pick up a lot of things on just four days of training. There’s a lot to be optimistic about.”
Feilhaber is looking to install Roots’ first possession-based system since Juan Guerra in 2022, which produced Oakland’s highest scoring squad with 51 goals.
“I think this team has the capability of playing more possession-based. I’m not a coach who likes possession for possession’s sake; it has to create opportunities, be entertaining, and be dynamic in the final third,” Feilhaber said.
Oakland has also suffered from mistakes in the back. Feilhaber wants to avoid putting his players in bad situations and “running around crazy.”
“Defensively, I like to put pressure in certain areas of the field. I don’t want our players to be running around crazy and getting tired. I like my attacking players to have energy when we have the ball. So, how quickly and effortlessly can we win the ball back? Can we put teams in troublesome situations?” Feilhaber said.
With Feilhaber’s experience as a midfielder on the United States Men’s National Team, Gibson is already learning techniques to be “more patient” in pockets of space. Gibson described that the coach wants them on the front foot and to avoid sitting too deep.
“He’s very demanding, which is great. I think everyone responds well to that. His coaching points have been really good on several different things,” Gibson said. “We don’t want to sit back, we want to be on the front foot, go forward, press, and not give other teams any joy. Both offensively and defensively, we don’t want to be known as a back-five. There’s going to be times when we are, but we want to get out of those moments quickly.
- Second-half adjustments
Both Feilhaber and Gibson pointed to their performance in the second half as a potential learning point for the team. Feilhber highly praised Jürgen Damm, Danny Gomez, and Margvelashvili for their impact in the second half.
“I thought the subs came in and made a massive difference. I thought Jürgen and Gagi were very, very good,” Feilhaber said. “That’s not to say Julian and Morey played poorly, but Gagi just cleaner with the ball in possession and finding the right passes. Jürgen, same thing, he provided us a lot of defensive effort and the ability to get forward and connect passes in the attacking half. Danny also did well connecting passes through the middle. Our whole team looked more cohesive with the ball by the end of the day and that allowed us to grow into the game. “
There were points in the first half where El Paso was dominating over 65 percent of possession before going into the break with a 57 percent advantage. That swung the other ay in the second half with Oakland holding 54 percent of the ball.
“El Paso is a very possession-oriented team and we had the majority of the possession in the second half. In terms of creation, I thought we had chances and could’ve turned a draw into a win. Performance-wise, we saw the bad and the good, and now we can show these guys what we need to improve on and what’s working well,” Feilhaber said.
Feilhaber added that the second half “painted a good picture” of what he’s trying to accomplish.
“I think the second half painted a good picture of what I hope this team looks like,” he said. “The only thing missing is more quality in the final third and in the box. We had tons of chances in and around the box; that’s one thing I’ll harp on in video and try to identify if we can make extra runs or find a more quality pass. I think we have a platform to build on from there.”
Gibson reiterated that they were too sloppy with their passing in the first half.
“It wasn’t perfect but we turned it up a bit in the second half. First half, we were errant on too many passes and gave up possession right after we won it,” Gibson said. “We put together a better performance in the second half. The second half was a complete change. We were better in possession. If we can win balls back, keep the ball, and suffocate teams, we’ll be able to create more and more chances. We take a lot of confidence from there. I think we’ll have a lot of video to watch and learn from.
- Objectives, goals, and the future
When Oakland Roots announced Feilhaber as head coach, president Lindsay Barenz specifically said he is hired “through the end of the season.” Although Feilhaber was brought into the fold, it’s a situation that currently leaves Oakland without a coach in 2026 and Feilhaber a free agent.
Now entering the remainder of 2025, Feilhaber has a chance to test his mettle. Should he succeed at the highest level, who knows what waits for him? He could certainly be an option for Roots in 2026, or maybe turn it into something even greater after proving he can create his own structure and system.
Feilhaber seems to understand that his short-term contract gives him a launching pad if things go right, while keeping the club safe should things go wrong.
“It’s a project that’s short-term,” Feilhaber said. “How many coaches has Oakland had in four and a half years? There have been five coaches before me. I think that’s a worry, you don’t want to keep putting coaches on long-term deals and not necessarily believing in them, or getting the wrong person. For me, with the size of the project and the opportunity to showcase what I can do, I thought it fit in for me as well. I think the club’s perspective is that they like what I’ve done, but want me to come and show it, and then we’ll see what the future holds. I’m totally okay with that.”
Feilhaber reiterated his thoughts from USL All Access, saying qualifying for one of the eight playoff spots is a “bare minimum” goal. He’s hoping they can refine their potential into production in time to pursue a home playoff berth.
“From a results perspective, in American sports, playoffs are always the bare minimum. Eight out of 12 teams is a low bar for any team, but that’s where it starts,” Feilhaber said. “It doesn’t matter what identity you have if you’re losing every game. But I have bigger goals. If we can get this team to play more like they did in the second half, I think we should have real ambitions of trying to get a home game in the playoffs. You may not achieve it, but those are the goals.”
When discussing his system and building a structure for the fans to learn, Feilhaber made sure to mention that he can stay put and build a team into 2026.
“The fans can understand what we’re trying to do, win, lose, or draw. They can talk about our team and be able to educate people on how Oakland plays. I think that’s an incredibly important thing. 18 games down the road, I hope people can say this was how Benny played.
“If I’m here further than this season, that’s what they can expect.”
Press Conference
Starting Lineups
- Oakland Roots
It looks like a 3-5-2 with Ali Elmasnaouy getting the surprise start and Kendall McIntosh back in goal. Morey Doner makes his debut in the starting lineup, while ‘Sininakas’ makes a reappearance with Panos and Sinisterra. Wolfgang Prentice and Peter Wilson make the two-pronged attack.
- El Paso Locomotive
Timeline
HERE WE GO FEILHABER!!!!
Free kick – 3′
Long ball from Panos finds Hackshaw, who heads it centrally for Bravo.
Bravo shoots from close distance on his first touch, but GK there to jump on it quickly. Biggggggg chance.
Sinisterra tackled from behind in the box, obvious PK but no call – 8′
El Paso shot narrowly wide by Moreno – 12
El Paso slow shot on target in box – 23′
Free kick – 27′
Along left
Gibson shot blocked leads to a corner – 28′
Corner 28′
El Paso corner 30′
header sails over the net after near post run
QR CODE DISCOUNT
Corner 37′
tipped back over bar by GK for another corner
Corner 37′
Free kick dangerous area 39′
Drawn by Wilson on the corner a yard above. Panos over it. Airmailed the shot
El Paso shot sails very high 44′
hits the tifo
El Paso shot rolls wide slowly 45′
Panos shot on target but it was deflected and slowly rolled to the GK 45+3′
Corner 45+6′
First half notes:
Roots should arguably be leading 1- or 2-nil after Bravo’s shot in close distance was saved early and Sinisterra obviously fouled in the box without a call made (how surprising). Oakland with the lesser side of possession with 44%, but 4 shots and 2 on target to El Paso’s 6 shots with 2 on target.
Damm on for Doner, Gagi on for Bravo – 46′
Ball passed to Panos in a dangerous area, but he doesn’t take a shot on his first touch and El Paso clears it – 54′
Gomez on for Ali – 56′
El Paso free kick – 58′
Ball in skips around, Oakland blocks a bicycle attempt before a slow shot on target in close distance goes straight at McIntosh.
Ball over the top to Sinisterra by Greene. Sinisterra tries to take a touch by the keeper but its too heavy and goes out the back – 61′
Attendance: 7,586
Sinisterra centers a pass in the box, but deflects to no one – 64′
Damm looks for Wilson on a lofted header in front, but Wilson can’t make square contact – 66′
Was wiiiiiiiiide open.
Long free kick – 71′
Looks for Hackshaw, but his header sails very high.
Rasmussen coming on for Panos – 72′
Corner – 76′
Drawn from a dangerous pass down by the end line.
Rasmussen cross in batted away by the GK.
Hackshaw shot from distance very wide – 79′
Saldana coming on for Sinisterra – 84′
McIntosh slow to get up – 87′
Not what you want to see after returning from a concussion, but he’s able to keep going. Didn’t look like he took a shot to the head.
Nice through-ball from Damm in behind to Wolfgang – 90′
Wolfy sends a pass toward Wilson instead of shooting, too far ahead of Wilson.
Rasmussen whips a ball through the area, no one can make contact – 90+1′
Damm sends a dangerous cross in, but can’t find anyone – 90+5′
