In what is becoming a familiar pattern, the Oakland Roots fell behind early but rallied in the final minutes to earn a 2-2 draw with visiting Rio Grande Valley FC in what Head Coach Juan Guerra described as “probably our worst game of the season” on Saturday night.
The visitors took the lead in the 13th minute on the counterattack. Oakland goalkeeper Benny Diaz’s clearance went straight to Jonathan Ricketts, who fed the ball to Ricky Ruiz making a run down the left side. Ruiz’s cross found Isidro Martinez, who headed the ball to Robert Coronado, unmarked in front of goal for the left-footed tap-in.
Rio Grande Valley’s second came in the 24th minute. After a corner kick, Lindo Mfeka’s attempted clearance was intercepted by Coronado sent a ball back into the box. Oakland’s Danny Barbir tried to head it away, but Wahab Ackwei hit a volley that gave Diaz no chance.
The visitors nearly scored a third in the 39th minute, but Diaz made the save, coming off his line to stop a shot by Coronado on a breakaway.
“I didn’t like the attitude in the first half,” Guerra said. “What were we? We probably thought we’re just gonna step on the field and it was gonna be an easy game. You don’t have those and we’re not gonna have an easy game from now until November.”
In the second half, Guerra switched the club’s formation to a 4-4-2 and made three key substitutions. He brought in Dariusz Formella at the start of the second half and Johnny Rodriguez and Charlie Dennis at the 67 minute mark.
At first Oakland struggled to break down the visitors’ defense that was sitting back in hopes of running out the clock. The home side did appeal for a penalty kick for a hand ball after a shot attempt by Óttar Magnús Karlsson in the 59th minute, but the referee ignored their pleas.
Oakland finally pulled one back in the 79th minute, as several players headed a corner kick around in the box until Juan Carlos Azocar headed it into the net from close range. The two teams scuffled after the goal was scored as Azocar tried to grab the ball from Ackwei to speed up the restart of the match.
And in the 88th minute, Dennis scored the equalizer on a shot from just inside the penalty area as he was slipping to the turf. Edgardo Rito earned the assist after laying the ball off to Dennis after a run along the right side.
“I was actually thinking about it before the moment happened,” Dennis said. “I knew I wanted to get it on my left. Yeah, and get a shot off and the touch got a little bit away from me, but I was kind of through that ball, no matter what, and I did. I sort of fell over and hit the ball and as I got up, it was in the back of the net. So it doesn’t really matter how it goes in at the end of the day, it goes as a goal.”
Dennis also had one final chance in the 6th minute of stoppage time, after goalkeeper Javier Garcia made an excellent save on a shot from Azocar.
“Another chance fell to me at the end,” Dennis said. “I saw the defender coming in and dived in, but he managed to get the block off on my right foot unfortunately.”
In the end, Guerra was happy with his team’s resiliency, even if he was frustrated with the final result.
“At home we want to win,” he said. “But after the performance we had tonight, walking out with a draw is not that bad.”
