RootsBlog

Roots fans it’s game day! Oakland Roots and a strong contingent of supporters travel up 80 to Sacramento where they will face the hated Republic at 8:00. For those of us who are not blessed with the chance to tell Sacramento was we think of it in person, the match will be broadcast on KTVU Plus and CBS Golazo.

Brief preview today, as this week was busy. Predictions down below. The big news for the Roots this week is the signing of Danny Trejo. If you told me in 2022 that the Roots would be signing the promising young attacking midfield talent from the USL with the same name as a movie star, I’d have been very excited, then very disappointed you didn’t mean Diego Luna, but still pretty excited that you meant Danny Trejo. Not sure if Feilhaber will throw him right into the fire away at Sac, but he appears to have been training with the team this week, so maybe he’ll get some minutes.

Around the Western Conference

Roots dropped a golden chance to move up the table last weekend when many of Roots’ rivals dropped points. Still, they hat cushioned the blow of losing to Colorado Springs, and Roots’ recent week off leaves Roots with games in hand against the other teams trying to work back into/cling to a playoff spot.

Match Predictions

Bloom

Sacramento comes into this game in blistering form, only two dropped points in their last possible 18. They have a veteran lineup full of guys who would start anywhere in the league and appear to have started to click.

Roots, on the other hand, still look better under Feilhaber, but other teams are figuring out how to respond and Roots’ attackers are again coming up short.

Shit.

Still, rivalry games are famous for throwing form out the window.

Jon

The question for Oakland Roots going into the Derby is whether Danny Trejo starts. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does, but I mostly expect him to be on the subs list for Benny Feilhaber’s 18-man lineup. If Trejo does start, I could see him in Danny Gomez’s position from last week. Aside from that, I’m going no changes from the last match; Julian Bravo at LWB, Gibson and Ali make the midfield pivot.

Roots win, 3-1.

Aaron

The president said earlier this week, when announcing his ludicrous plan to militarize DC because Big Balls was embarrassed he got beat up by a 15-year-old girl, that if you “even think about” destroying a statue or monument, you would go to jail for 10 years. I mention this for two reasons. 1. This might be my last contribution to the Blog, because I am always thinking about destroying statues in Washington, D.C., even though it is 3000 miles away and I have no designs on visiting. 2. He also said he wanted to bring this nonsense to other cities, including Oakland. So now is probably the time to start thinking about which statues you want to destroy here. A suggestion: I believe one of the Stomper statues is still up at the Oakland Zoo. We could take that one out.

Anyway, about the game, Oakland are arguably better against Sac up in the Camellia City. Old heads will remember that during the Roots’ halting start to USL play (which included Sac refusing to play at Laney on the old madras field), Roots had two matches up in Sac which they drew. They were 1-1-8 against everyone else, and somehow 0-2-0 against Sac. Since then, results on the road against Sac have involved someone getting a brace (Ottar in 2023, Lindo in 2024). So I guess that’s the key. Peter Wilson needs to score two goals. Thankfully, there is little evidence he can’t accomplish that. 6-2 Roots.