Roots fans it is game day again! I am nearly wrapping up my vacation so this will be a short post that covers all of our bases. The Roots are welcoming Orange County S.C. in the Jagermeister Cup with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff. Roots enter this match off of [an inspiring win/a devastating loss/an uncertain draw] away to Loudoun United and Feilhaber will be looking to [press the advantage/right the ship] against a decent but unremarkable Orange County side. I would expect to see heavy rotation as the Roots are [all but out of/actually out of] contention in this competition. Still, Feilhaber played the Monterey Bay game seriously and I don’t expect to see him just run out the kids here–not when it’s a free chance for a still new-ish manager to try out different looks with his senior players.
For context, the Roots can no longer win their group. Two wildcards are given to the high points-getters that don’t win their groups. Roots have four points and Monterey and Sacramento each have six and they play AV Alta and Spokane, respectively. Obviously it is possible for a USLC team to lose to either of those teams, but you would not bet on it. Roots need to win, likely with a lot of goals scored, and all but one of the following to happen: Sacramento loses to Spokane, MBFC loses to AV Alta, New Mexico loses to San Antonio, Birmingham loses to Madison, Hartford loses to Rhode Island, Detroit draws or loses to Westchester, Louisville loses to Lexington, Charlotte loses to Richmond, Greenville loses to Naples, and Miami loses or draws to South Georgia. Again, that’s ten results that need to go Roots way, almost all of them upsets, almost all of them need to be losses not draws, and Roots probably need to win with five or six goals scored. Many of these are teams that have a good shot to go through who the Roots’ need to be upset by teams that are eliminated. Dan Poulter tried to muddle through this issue as well here: https://youtu.be/D8CLmzFafew?si=QAx9Mfjz721nbXW7&t=1680.
The one consolation is that Orange County are fully eliminated and they may actually just play the kids. Given the relatively few berths to the knockout stages, the Roots would’ve considered seven points but no wildcard to be a pretty reasonable goal going into the cup. It’s just a little aggravating now to see that the group was winnable with a better result against Spokane or AV Alta.
Match Predictions
Bloom
Everyone has fun. Roots win 2-1.
Jon
Roots can technically achieve one of two Wild Card spots to reach the knockout stage, but it’s pretty much laughably low odds which requires Sacramento, Monterey, New Mexico, Louisville, Charlote Independenceand Greeneville Triumph to stay put at six points, along with scoring more goals than Birmingham, Hartford, and Phoenix (10 scored, hah). It’s so high of difficult odds that it’s difficult to justify playing a full slate of starters against Orange County, which is already eliminated and will undoubtedly play the kids/backups in a pointless Cup game. We’ll see what that means to the lineup, but I’d still like to see people like Panos Armenakas and Peter Wilson get minutes and keep their form.
Oakland wins 6-nil.
Aaron
No one gets injured. Roots by a field goal.