It seemed like Wednesday night’s game was shaping up to be the turning point of a difficult inaugural USL season for the Roots.
Oakland controlled the possession and attack against their NorCal rivals, but they just couldn’t put a goal into the net, settling for a 0-0 draw against the Sacrament Republic at Las Positas College in Livermore. It was the third consecutive tie between the teams.
“It was good to welcome back a couple players and [new signing, ex MLS player] Quincy [Amarikwa] getting his debut with us, the squad is starting to come together,” remarked Roots head coach Jordan Ferrell. “We just have to put those chances away, it was also nice for us to get that clean sheet.”
The Roots controlled sixty percent of the possession for the game and Sacramento looked content to sit back, wait for the Roots to make a mistake, and pounce on it.
But unlike their previous game on Sunday, Oakland played error-free ball and had two excellent chances to take the lead early in the first half.
Twelve minutes in, Chuy Enríquez had a shot from a tight angle that Sacramento keeper Tomas Gomez pushed out. It fell to the Root midfielder Ariel Mbumba who’s attempt sailed high over the crossbar.
Five minutes later, Yohannes Harish got in behind the Republic defense thanks to a nice pass by Danny Flores and earned a corner. On the ensuing play, the ball once again found Harish in the box. He took a strong shot that looked destined for the upper right corner of the net until Gomez made a nice reflex save to keep the ball out of the goal.
SECOND HALF
Oakland continued to control the game through the next forty-five minutes.
Jeremy Bokila subbed into the game in the 63rd minute and almost scored right away. On the ensuing play, a lofted pass from Emrah Klimenta bounced into the box and ended up at Bokila’s feet. Unfortunately, his point-blank shot went right at the Republic goalkeeper who saved it.
In the 75th minute, Oakland once again hemmed in Sacramento in front of their goal, and a swift cross from Enriquez skimmed just past the head of Bokila.
On a corner kick in the 82nd minute, it looked like Wall Fal would score the Roots’ first goal, but his header bounced just wide of the post.
In the last five minutes, the Roots had several corners and free kicks. Sacramento’s defense bent but did not break.
After the game, Ferrell shared he believes it’s just a matter of time until the Roots start scoring goals again regularly. “We’re also seeing relationships between players start to form, like with Bokila, Quincy, and Brandon as they haven’t played many minutes together. Fortunately, there’s a lot of minutes to go around in the coming week,” he said with a laugh.
Oakland will look to finally get that elusive win and goal against Los Angeles Galaxy II on Saturday afternoon at Merritt College. The kickoff is 2 pm.