Roots Play to 0-0 Draw Versus El Paso Locomotive in Oakland

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USL Oakland Roots

Roots Play to 0-0 Draw Versus El Paso Locomotive in Oakland

June 7, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Oakland Roots News Release


Oakland were able to secure a point in the Western Conference table on Saturday night at the Coliseum, as Roots played to a scoreless 0-0 draw versus visiting El Paso Locomotive in new head coach Benny Feilhaber's debut at the helm.

The match began with an excellent scoring opportunity right out of the gate for Oakland when a set piece cross from Panos Armenakas on the right side bent perfectly to find Peter Wilson who headed a pass to Julian Bravo right in front of the net. Bravo's shot required an outstanding save to keep the match level in the opening moments.

Following this opportunity El Paso began to play a bit of keepaway in the match, controlling possession for long stretches of time, and building a few decent scoring chances, but nothing truly threatening for Oakland netminder Kendall McIntosh.

Around the 30th minute of the match, Roots began to settle in and find their stride in the contest, playing fundamentally sound soccer and moving the ball well up the field. This shift in momentum lasted the rest of the first half as Oakland earned a few top notch scoring chances.

As both sides headed into their respective locker rooms at halftime, the match was still scoreless, but Oakland certainly held the momentum heading into the break.

The momentum that Roots brought into the locker room reentered the pitch with them in the second half. Oakland began to spend extended stretches in the attacking third, putting together a number of high quality scoring chances.

One of their best came in the 60th minute when José Luis Sinisterra managed to beat the back line and get in behind the keeper. But Sinisterra couldn't maintain his balance and lost his footing before getting a shot off.

Oakland's momentum continued for the remainder of the match, easily earning the lion's share of quality looks on goal. But despite looking like the better team for the final 45, neither side could find an advantage before the final whistle blew.

The 0-0 draw is still an impressive outcome for debut head coach Benny Feilhaber, as Roots earned a result for just their third time at home this season, and played to a clean sheet against one of the most prolific offenses in the USL Championship.

Roots will head out on the road for their next action when they head to Colorado Springs for a battle with the Switchbacks next Saturday, June 14th at 6 PM PT.

Talking With Head Coach Benny Feilhaber

What are your overall thoughts on the result tonight and the performance of the team?

Yeah, results, you know, better than a loss, not as good as a win. We're playing at home, so obviously wins are crucial when we're trying to get back into the playoff race and climb up the ladder. So I'd give it a five out of 10 in terms of a draw.

Performance is a little bit easier to talk about. I thought the first half was not good, and it was not good for one very simple reason - we couldn't complete passes. I thought the energy was excellent from the guys. I thought for the most part, we were organized defensively, with a couple exceptions in the game, but we just could not complete simple passes from A to B. And so when you're killing yourself defensively to win balls and put yourself in good positions to attack, but then instantly you give the ball back to the other team, it's deflating.

And to be fair, I didn't think any of the guys slowed down, which is probably what kept us at 0-0 at halftime, but it was very clear that that was the one thing that we needed to improve on in the second half. I thought the subs came in and made a massive difference. I thought Jurgen was very, very good. I thought Gagi was very, very good. And look, I didn't think Julian and Morey played poorly, but Gagi was just cleaner with the ball in possession, finding the right passes. And I thought, Jurgen, same thing. I mean, he provided us not only a lot of defensive effort, but the ability to get forward and connect passes in the attacking half.

So those guys made a big difference. I thought Danny came in and did well as well connecting passes through the middle. I mean, at the end of the day, our whole team just looked more cohesive with the ball, and that allowed us to grow into the game. I don't know what the possession stats were, but El Paso is a very possession oriented team, and I'm assuming that we had the vast majority of the possession in the second half. So it was a 180 from the second half.

And in terms of creation, I thought we had tons of chances. Could have easily gotten one of them and turned a draw into a win. But performance wise, I think it was perfect in the sense that we saw the bad and the good, and now we can show these guys the things that we need to continue to improve on and the things that are working well.

It's difficult to make a coaching change early on in the season, right? What has the response been from the team?

Exceptional. I have zero complaints. From player one to player 21 or however many guys we have, guys have been very welcoming. Guys have been very responsive. They want to learn. They want to get coached. They want to get better. Obviously, guys want to win. Every athlete wants to win. And they've given me everything they had, I think, the entire week of training and today in the game. So I couldn't ask anything more from them in that sense.

Oakland Roots SC vs El Paso Locomotive

USL Championship | June 7, 2025

Venue: Oakland Coliseum

Kickoff: 7:00 PM PT

Weather: 63 degrees, partly cloudy

SCORELINE:

OAK: 0

ELP: 0

DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:

ELP: Roberto Avila 25' (yellow card)

OAK: Ali Elmasnaouy 47' (yellow card)

OAK: José Luis Sinisterra 74' (yellow card)

ELP: Eric Calvillo 87' (yellow card)

OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Kendall McIntosh, Julian Bravo (Gagi Margvelashvili), Wolfgang Prentice, Peter Wilson, Panos Armenakas (Justin Rasmussen), José Luis Sinisterra (Luis Saldaña), Tyler Gibson, Neveal Hackshaw, Morey Doner (Jürgen Damm), Kai Greene, Ali Elmasnaouy (Daniel Gomez)

Unused subs: Camden Riley, Raphael Spiegel, Ilya Alekseev

Shots: 7 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 5 | Fouls: 19 | Offsides: 0

EL PASO LINEUP: Sebastian Mora-Mora, Wahab Ackwei, Eric Calvillo, Frank Daroma, Amando Moreno (Frank Lopez), Ricardo Ruiz, Wilmer Cabrera, Roberto Avila (Roberto Coronado), Gabriel Torres, Alvaro Quezada, Arturo Ortiz (Kofi Twumasi)

Unused subs: Robinson Moshobane, Marco Canales, Daniel Carter Bodden, Memo Diaz

Shots: 9 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 3 | Fouls: 14 | Offsides: 1

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