Roots fans it is a new day in Oakland! A Saturday. A new Saturday with a new coach. United States Men’s National Team legend-ish Benny Feilhaber takes the reins to try to salvage the Roots’ season. In addition to new friend Benny Feilhaber, this will be our first chance to welcome back old friend Memo Diaz, who returns for the first time to Oakland since departing in the offseason.
Around the Western Conference
What’s the hole Feilhaber has to try to dig out of?
Honestly, not too bad. Roots are at risk of things getting away from them, but it is far from too late. That said, Feilhaber will not have much time to settle before games become must-win.
Roots’ Form
After three wins in four where it looked like the Roots might have figured some stuff out they got blown out by Western Conference-leaders New Mexico United and then lost in a penalty shootout(?) in the USL Cup against a mediocre USL League 1 team that starts a guy who couldn’t hack it out of the Roots’ academy. The Front Office apparently considered this too much and gave Glinton the Kirk van Houten treatment.
I’m disappointed it didn’t work out for Gavin. He seemed like a nice guy and he occasionally had the Roots looking pretty good. I hope he gets another shot elsewhere.
We talked at length on RootsPod this week about what we know about Feilhaber (not much) and how weird it is that the Roots hired a non-interim manager mid-season on a four-month contract after extending their last coach in the off-season. John Morrissey went into a little more detail to try to parse out what to expect from Feilhaber.
El Paso’s Form
With 11 points out of their last 15 available, Locomotive have shot up the Western Conference table to second place. They are led by Wilmer Cabrera Jr., the (no joke) coach’s son who has a conference-leading 8 goals so far this season. This team is full of guys that you’ll recall from prior USL seasons: Frank Daroma (on those awful Lights teams in 21-22); Eric Calvillo (OCSC and ELP); Wahab Ackwei (Loudoun, RGC, Colorado Springs); and Alvaro Quezada (LV and Memphis).
All these veterans add up to a mediocre defense–16 goals conceded in 11 matches (still much better than the Roots’ 22)–and a the best offense in the Western Conference with 21 goals.
Match Predictions
Bloom
Well, how are we supposed to predict what kind of lineup a new coach is going to run out there? Normally I make lousy predictions based on a lot of evidence to sort through. What am I supposed to do with no evidence?
The safe money is probably on a veteran-heavy lineup and not too many changes from what the guys have been practicing so far this season. I don’t know where that puts us with Damm and Doner in the same position. Does a new manager also think that Njie can start at LWB? Does a new manager mean that Gagi gets a chance again? Can a new manager figure out how to more regularly get Sinisterra and Armenakas on the field together?
I think the Roots get a new manager bounce. 2-1 Roots.
Jon
With Feilhaber’s debut lineup, the big change will be in the midfield with Bobosi Byaruhanga getting national team minutes with Uganda. Baboucarr Njie was called up to Gambia as well and should be unavailable. In fact, both players are slated to play eachother on Monday. With that, maybe Danny Gomez gets called to start alongside Tyler Gibson. I’m figuring Feilhaber won’t change much, so I’m expecting a 5-3-2.
1-nil, Roots.
Aaron
If you’re Feilhaber, I’m guessing the first thing you do upon getting this job is figuring out how to shore up the defense. I think we’ll see a very conservative, defense-first approach over the next few matches. I think it will yield results. I’m guessing 2-1 Oakland in this one.