Oakland Roots came away with a scoreless tie with Miami FC, keeping them in third place of the USL Championship Western Conference at 4-5-3 with 17 points. It marked Oakland’s second consecutive clean sheet, while it marked their first clean sheet in league competition since their season opener 1-nil win over Monterey Bay.
Roots had its chances to score, and could’ve bagged three or four goals.
In the 33rd minute, Wolfgang Prentice fed Florian Valot down the left side before sprinting toward the central area of the box. Valot rolled a pass back to Prentice, taking a shot from around 15 yards that went straight to the feet of Felipe Rodriguez.
12 minutes later, Jesus de Vicente sent a cross from a long free kick to find Julian Bravo for a header, but it went about a foot wide of the right post.
The biggest opportunity of the game came in the 68th minute when Danny Trejo found himself in behind. In the buildup, Tommy McCabe sent a perfect pass from deep in Roots’ defensive zone to put Trejo onward to the goal. With Rodriguez rushing off his line, Trejo tried to roll the shot to the right of the goalkeeper, but Rodriguez made a great diving kick save.
Roots’ last chance of the match came in the 74th. This time, Valot sent a cross from the left corner to find Bravo leaping for a free header. Despite making great contact, Bravo’s shot went narrowly wide of the left post.
Here are our talking points from Saturday night.
Peter Wilson’s absence
Oakland Roots were without lead striker Peter Wilson, marking the second straight game for him to miss. Wilson was in attendance at the game, while head coach Ryan Martin indicated he is expected to appear in Wednesday’s match against Birmingham.
“Peter should be available for Wednesday,” Martin said.
Without their leading scorer, Oakland was obviously at a disadvantage.
“It affects a lot because he’s one of the best strikers in the league. But on their side, they were without their striker too for the World Cup. Peter and Jürgen Locadia are my two best strikers in the league,” Martin said. “But it affects a lot because he’s so selfless; he presses really well, he gets in behind, and is always in a good position.”
Martin thinks that with Wilson in the lineup, maybe Roots finish one of their crosses into the box.
“I’d like to think he would’ve finished one of the crosses where we got into a good position. But more so, we miss his personality, his ability to compete, and stretch the defense,” Martin said.
Martin described that they looked to get in behind from wider positions with Bertin Jacquesson and Prentice. They also experimented with two Central Attacking Midfielders with Faysal Bettache and Valot.
“We tried to get our running in behind with Bert and Wolfy coming wide to central. We tried to play with almost two tens to see if we could draw their center backs out to create space in behind. It worked a decent amount,” Martin said.
The Wild West
The Western Conference is shaping up to be wild, once again. With 17 points, Roots are just four points out of first place, but just two points away from 10th-place Las Vegas and six points ahead of last-place Monterey.
Still, Martin made clear that he never looks at the table. And still approaching the mid-way mark of the regular season, the squad understands there is a long way to go.
“You always want to string good results together, so does every team. You focus on yourself, and when you do the right things over and over, the results will come. That’s why I was happy with the performance, because if we continue to work the way we are, the results will come. I don’t look at the table at all, I’ve been in the league long enough to know that you’re not out of it until the last game of the year,” Martin said.
“Every point matters, and you just have to keep stacking them. I think our performances have been good in a lot of ways. If we continue to do that, results will fall our way. We as a group believe that, and you have to trust the process,” Kendall McIntosh mentioned.
There have been times this season that Oakland has shown how dangerous they can be, but other times where quality drops off a cliff — like in their 1-0 losses to Colorado Springs and Sacramento Republic. After 12 games, the up-and-down nature is a sign that Roots are still putting together the pieces of Martin’s system.
“100 percent, we knew it was going to take time,” Martin said. “We won games early, but its going to take time to refine things. I think what takes the longest time is the connection between the players and how they work together.”
Martin has mixed and matched throughout the season, especially when accounting for injuries scattered around the roster. On Saturday night, Bravo and Michael Edwards paired together for the first time at center back. Jesus de Vicente made his seventh start, while Valot got his third start of the year.
“There’s no way to speed up building that chemistry, it just takes time,” Martin said. “Wolfy and Jesus have played just 4-5 games together in their life, which isn’t a lot. Mikey and Bravo just played their first game together. Florian was out for a significant amount of time; it just takes time. Two shutouts in a row is no easy thing to do.”
McIntosh can also see the progress.
“An entire season is a roller coaster. It’s like life; sometimes you’re on top, sometimes you’re in the middle, sometimes you’re on the bottom. What Ryan has echoed is that we want to be the team that grows the most. From the first game to five games in, to 10 games in — we keep growing. We’re learning lessons and are trying to find solutions to certain problems. If we keep doing that, we’ll be in a really good spot come playoff time,” McIntosh said.
Julian Bravo making a case at CB
Julian Bravo made his second straight start, both of which resulted in clean sheets against Las Vegas and Miami. It marks a return to the lineup for him after suffering an injury back on April 18 against Tulsa.
Roots still require some time until David Garcia returns from his injury, meaning it’s a critical time for Bravo to impress. And it seems he’s doing just that.
“It’s hard to not challenge for time when you get two shutouts back to back,” Martin said. “He’s definitely put himself in a position where it’s hard to take him off the team when you’re getting two shutouts, and you’re the consistent No. 1 fixture in both of them. He made some tremendous plays, we’re just happy to have him back and healthy.”
McIntosh also stood behind Bravo, saying he thinks the defender will continue to develop with more time in the lineup.
“Julian’s the guy. He’s fought hard, he’s had a fantastic mentality and attitude,” McIntosh said. “Toward the start of the season, he got injured, and has been incredible to fight back. I think you’re going to see that he’ll be more incredible going forward, in whatever capacity that is. You’ll see growth from him for the rest of the season. I can’t back him enough.”
Kendall McIntosh
Kendall McIntosh got his second straight league start as Roots’ goalkeeper. It marks a resurgence for the veteran keeper, earning the role after sitting behind Raphael Spiegel for nine games.
McIntosh explained that he’s been focusing on “execution” and trying to put consistent performances together in training.
“Execution every day I go out there and do my best to do that. Whatever circumstance I’m in, in this role or a different one. I spoke a lot with all the coaches, just trying to consistently put together those eight out of 10 performances, in training and everything. I think that’s really helped me to just focus on my performance,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh understands the job could go back to Spiegel at any moment.
“We have two good goalkeepers. I don’t have anything bad to say about Rapha; he’s been a competitor. I look forward to continuing the season, and if I’m not the starter, I will be the best teammate and whatever I need to be for the group,” McIntosh said.
Injury updates
Oakland Roots still await the return of starting center back David Garcia and fullback Mark Fisher. Martin gave an optimistic timeline for their possible return, saying both could be back in two to three weeks.
“We’re expecting them back in training in the next two to three weeks,” Martin said.
Garcia has been out since suffering a knee injury against Tulsa on April 18, while Fisher has been gone since March 21.
Starting Lineups
- Oakland Roots
The biggest surprise is that Peter Wilson is still missing after not being included in the USL Cup match last week. We’ll find out more from Ryan Martin in our postgame coverage. Neveal Hackshaw also on the subs. Without Wilson, Roots will look to an attack of Faysal Bettache and Florian Valot in what could be a dual 10/9 type of lineup. Wolfgang Prentice, per usual, is on the left and Bertin Jacquesson is on the right. Julian Bravo enters at CB opposite of Michael Edwards with Keegan Tingey to the right and Jesus de Vicente to the left. Bobosi returns to the starting midfield spot opposite Tommy McCabe. Kendall McIntosh gets the nod in goal.
- Miami FC
Timeline
free kick – 6′
De Vicente ball leads to a corner
corner – 7′
Miami corner – 15′
Corner – 19′
Valot ball finds Edwards at the back post, chips it centrally but GK there to bat it away.
Miami corner – 21′
Free kick – 32′
Jacquesson shoved down abiut 10 yards above the box.
Wolfy big chance – 33′
Good feed down the wing to Valot, he centers it to Wolfy for a first touch shot
Miami shot on target from distance forces a diving save – 36′
McCabe being checked out – 37′
Free kick – 44′
Good pass from De Vicente finds Bravo for the header, goes narrowly wide
Miami free kick – 45+3′
Near goal, McIntosh there to stop it in close distance
First half notes:
Tied 0-0, but Roots have had a some good chances. Wolfy with a shot in the box and a header by Bravo narrowly wide. Oakland with 66% possession, 3 shots, 2 on target, 5 touches in the box. Miami with 5 shots, 1 on target.
Wolfy sails a shot – 46′
Tingey good low cross almost finds Jacquesson – 50′
Corner – 50′
Faysal hits the post on an outside boot shot/cross – 51′
Leads to Valot sending a shot high
De Vicente almost finds Valot – 57′
Corner – 57′
Bravo misses on a volley attempt- 58′
Gibson and Trejo on for Bobosi and Faysal – 59′
Miami shot skims wide – 60′
Miami corner – 64′
Miami corner – 64′
header loops over
Corner – 66′
Trejo huge chance missed – 68′
Perfect run in behind and feed by McCabe, but he shoots it straight into the keeper rushing at him. Gotta finish that
Gibson good ball looks for Jacquesson, no contact on shot. 70′
Corner – 70′
Corner – 74′
Bravo another header narrowly wide
Lepley on for Wolfy – 75′
Jacquesson shot blocked – 83′
Kiil on for Jacquesson- 84′
McIntosh diving save, rebound cleared for a corner- 85′
Miami corner- 85′
Miami sails a shot – 86′
Lepley long shot just skims wide- 88′
Trejo dangerous pass in front knocked away by the GK – 89′
Miami sends a shot high and wide – 90′