With their playoff hopes on the line, the Oakland Roots lost their cool.
A Jose Hernandez red card for violent conduct in the 54th minute sucked the life out of the game for the Oakland Roots, who could not claim any points against Orange County.
“It’s a tough one, we did it to ourselves,” conceded Roots head coach Jordan Ferrell after the game.
The loss leaves the Roots outside the playoff race with three games remaining. They need several results to go their way to keep their playoff hopes alive.
First Half
After a rather even first quarter of an hour, Orange County got some sustained pressure on the goal against Oakland. They looked to capitalize in the 21st minute when the Roots’ Ariel Mbumba brought down OC’s Ben Mines in the box.
Orange County’s Dillon Powers scored on his penalty kick, but the referee disallowed the goal because of encroachment from another Orange County player. On the follow-up, Powers had his shot saved by the feet of Roots keeper Paul Blanchette to keep the game level at 0-0.
However, the Roots could not take advantage of the saved PK and conceded four minutes later when Mines scored on a cross from Ronaldo Damus.
Game Turns on Unfortunate Kick
The actual turning point of the game was in the 54th minute when Jose Hernandez was unable to keep his emotions in check after a foul near midfield from OC’s Mikko Kuningas. Hernandez kicked out at Kuningias’s crown jewels as he was on the ground. As Kuningias crumpled to the ground, referee Elijio Arreguin had no choice but to award a red card to Hernandez because of his violent conduct.
“We were going to push numbers to get the equalizer but the red card came as we were about to make that sub,” noted Ferrell about the unfortunate timing of the unsportsmanlike foul.
Oakland made several substitutions to try and come back from the man disadvantage. Still, their best chance to score was in extra time when Roots keeper Paul Blanchette, up for a corner kick, was able to head a ball towards goal that was saved off the goal line by an Orange County defender.
With the loss, the Roots playoff chances took a huge hit. They will hope that Los Angeles Galaxy loses their game against El Paso on Sunday, and Sacramento and Tacoma will draw their game.
The Roots will have to secure victories on the road next Wednesday against Tacoma and San Diego over the weekend to have their final home game against Sporting Kansas City II have any meaning.
