Sports stats



USL Oakland Roots

Roots Dominate Possession, But Fall Due to Second Half Penalty

September 19, 2021 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Oakland Roots News Release


Oakland Roots fell to LA Galaxy II 1-0 in front of a packed house at Laney College on Saturday night. Rapper and East Bay native G-Eazy got the crowd going for a surprise pregame show, headlined by Grammy nominated artist Kossisko as Roots sought to beat Los Dos for the third time in four meetings this season - the tilt also gave the Roots an opportunity to reach a USL playoff spot for the first time in franchise history. Appearing for the first time ever for the Roots was forward Brian Brown and left back Joseph Nane. The Roots dominated possession in the first half but failed to create serious goalscoring opportunities; with the help from some stout Roots defense, the match remained scoreless at the half.

The second half opened with the Roots pushing up and seeking a way through the Galaxy II's backline. Matias Fissore and Jeremy Bokila entered the match and gave the Roots some attacking energy, but it was Los Dos who capitalized on a penalty kick in the 75th minute against the run of play. Taylor Davila sent Roots keeper Paul Blanchette the wrong way and netted from the spot. The Roots continued to press and search for an equalizer, with much of the end of the game being played in Galaxy's box, but were unable to come away with a goal.

The team continues their playoff push on Wednesday, 9/22 at Las Positas College when they host San Diego Loyal.

Head Coach Jordan Ferrell

Initial takeaways from the match?

It's a tough one to swallow. I just don't think we were sharp enough in front of goal tonight, and one decision gives them a goal. These are important ones to win and it's a sour taste for sure, but there was a lot of good stuff there tonight too so we shouldn't lose that piece.

Talk about the midfield, they seemed to have a lot of space. Tell me your assessment of that:

The communication of the midfield in the first half was really poor. It was disjointed on the ball and they were closing down spaces off the ball; they felt like they were overloaded, it was very frustrating for them. We talked about it at halftime and in the second half we were a little bit better and we created quite a few chances playing through the midfield first and then being able to get the outside backs in. So it's something we'll go back to and look at what issues were in the first half and then come back next Wednesday.

Oakland Roots SC vs LA Galaxy II

USL Championship | September 18, 2021

Venue: Laney College, Oakland, CA

Kickoff: 7:00 PM PST

Weather: 65 degrees, sunny

SCORELINE: 1 2 FT

OAK 0 0 0

LA 0 1 1

SCORING SUMMARY:

LA: Taylor Davila 75'

DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:

LA: Jorge Hernandez (Yellow 86')

LA: Joshua Drack (Yellow 90')

LA: Ethan Zuback (Yellow 90'+1)

OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP:

Ariel Mbumba (Matias Fissore), Soya Takahashi (Memo Diaz), Max Ornstil (Tarn Weir), Lindo Mfeka, Joseph Nane, Akeem Ward, Paul Blanchette, Emrah Klimenta, Brian Brown (Jeremy Bokila), Kai Greene, Johnny Rodriguez (Jesus Enriquez)

Unused Substitutes:

Taylor Bailey, Yohannes Harish

Shots: 12 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 6 | Fouls: 16 | Offside: 1 |

LA GALAXY II LINEUP:

Danilo Acosta, Jesus Vazquez, Justin Vom Steg, Justin Neal, Isaac Bawa, Taylor Davila, Owen Lambe (Joshua Drack), Daniel Aguirre, Ethan Zubak, Jonathan Perez (Marcus Ferkranus), Preston Judd (Jorge Hernandez)

Unused Substitutes:

Alan Solorio, Cameron Dunbar, Adrian Gonzalez, Remi Cabral

Shots: 11 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 1 | Fouls: 8 | Offside: 1 |

Check out the Oakland Roots Statistics



United Soccer League Championship Stories from September 19, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central