Roots fans it is game day again! Roots host Pittsburgh Riverhounds at 1pm Pacific at the iconic Oakland Coliseum. Roots are looking to build on their cagey home win over Monterey Bay, and they’ll need it, as they are running out of opportunites to close the gap on the playoff line.
Given what’s going on in the world, and their being from Pittsburgh, I thought this was a perfect time to feature some Anti-Flag, but turns out they broke up following rape allegations against the lead singer. So that sucks. Anti-Flag toured with Streetlight Manifesto in 2017 when Streetlight were touring the ten-year anniversary of Somewhere in the Between. I caught them at the Warfield, which I felt I had to make since I’d seen them tour the album on its original release in Harrisburg, PA. This song seems timely, and to my knowledge no one has accused the lead singer of being anything other than a garden variety asshole.
Around the Western Conference
Mixed bag of results for the Roots. Orange County droppoing points is great, but Roots need to catch one of Colorado Springs, San Antonio, New Mexico, or Phoenix (probably), and Roots would benefit a lot from the top of the Western Conference teams running away with things and taking points off of the mid-table teams.
Riverhounds’ Form
Riverhounds have two wins in the last two months, their most recent a 2-0 win over Rhode Island FC the first weekend of August. They are averaging about a goal a game during that time. Generally speaking their defense is quite good, if not quite elite, but they have a basically even goal differential because their offense just barely gets it done. Pittsburgh have only two road wins on the season so Roots can hopefully capitalize on an especially unfavorable travel for the Riverhounds.
Scoring in the second minute and then finding a way to lose? That’s so Roots-y.
Roots’ Form
I watched these highlights to prepare for this week’s RootsPod and frankly I regret it. Other than the Roots being lucky to get three points, there’s not much to say except that this season would be MISERABLE if it wasn’t for Morey Doner.
It was interesting to see Feilhaber try to get Damm on the field even thought he doesn’t exactly fit as an outside back right now. Unfortunately, Damm then went and showed his entire ass on social media this week. Fun stuff all around!
Match Predictions
Bloom
As to the game, I think the Roots will win. Rivershounds are not great on the road, and generally just not all that impressive. Roots really need this win, and although I think they’ll be missing some key players I still think they will have what they need to get the win. With the waning number of games, and the difficulty of the games that follow, Roots need this one. Roots 1-0.
As a side note, and I expect Aaron will get into this, Trump posted a threatening AI photoshop on Saturday depicting him as the Robert Duvall character from Apocalypse Now threatening violence against the people of Chicago. It’s not any worse because I love Chicago and love a lot of people who live in Chicago, but it feels closer to home for me than it might otherwise. This is appalling and he should be removed from office by force. There is no obvious mechanism for doing that, especially as Congress and the Courts have capitulated, but I feel like it’s worth saying. I am keeping the people of Chicago in my thoughts. I am concerned that Oakland will be next.
Jon
[insert something about a Roots win]
Aaron
Got to be honest, this preview ended up being a real trip down memory lane for me, because I was actually also at that 2007 Streetlight concert in Harrisburg. This was Pennsylvania in 2007, so you could still smoke in many indoor facilities, and the car picked up the whole stench on the way home. I left the windows cracked overnight to air it out, and it poured that night. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I had that Streetlight CD in the CD sleeve on the back of my rear view mirror in that car until I passed the car to my brother in 2013, when I moved to Chicago. If I were making a list of cities least likely to put up with the President’s shit, Chicago would be near the top. Part of me worries that’s the problem–this guy wants the violence because he thinks he’s in a TV show and he really likes the idea of a violent plot line where he comes out on top. But also, like Fran Liebowitz said, “You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump.” He’s going after Chicago because his brain is permanently frozen somewhere in the past, and he was 22 in 1968. But he’s also pretty much in a position where he can’t afford to “lose,” because he’ll be exposed as weak. And so even if he’s overreached (and he obviously has), people will get hurt. So fuck that guy.
Anyhoo, Roots-Riverhounds. This has all the makings of a slog, so good thing its in the middle of the day when the sun will be beating down on all of us. Should be a very enjoyable experience. Under normal circumstances I might point out that matches which by all rights should be slogs frequently surprise us, but I don’t see it here. I’m not sure either team really wants end-to-end football. This will be more like “first team to score takes the points.” 6-2 Roots.