All season long, the Roots have settled for draws. It was the same story against Detroit on Saturday.
The Oakland Roots gave up a goal in the 87th minute to end up with another tie, this time versus Detroit City FC, 1-1.
Oakland started brightly with several chances in the first twenty minutes. Nine minutes in, Mikael Tørset Johnsen set up Charlie Dennis on top of the box. His shot was pushed away by Detroit keeper Nathan Steinwascher into the path of Dariusz Formella, who was starting on top in place of Ottar Karlsson (away for the birth of his child). Unfortunately, Formella’s shot was deflected wide.
Nine minutes later, Edgardo Rito got the ball wide and crossed into Formella. However, his shot was pushed away by Steinwascher.
A minute later, the Roots almost gifted a goal to Detroit when wide-back Tarek Morad hit a square ball to center-back Alejandro Fuenmayor, who let it bounce behind him untouched.
Detroit’s Antoine Hoppenot ran onto the ball and poked it past Roots keeper Paul Blanchette. Fortunately for Oakland, the ball bounced off the right goal post, and Blanchette was able to recover and take away the scoring opportunity.
Early in the second half, Detroit returned the scoring opportunity to Oakland when Detroit’s keeper had a weak clearance that went directly to his feet of Dennis. He made no mistake in powering his shot into the goal to give the Roots a 1-0 lead.
From there on, Oakland looked comfortable with attempting to hold on to a vital three points for their playoff chances. After snuffing out several Detroit City chances, their luck ran out in the 87th minute when Hoppenot delivered a pass behind the Roots defense to Francis Atuahene, who calmly finished his one-on-one opportunity to draw the game.
It’s the twelfth draw of the season for the Roots in 25 games. No other team in the USL Championship has more than eight draws this season.
Oakland ended the night moving up a spot into ninth place but is still three points behind Las Vegas Lights for the final playoff spot. Only two points separate eighth-place LA Galaxy II and eleventh-place Monterey Bay FC in the Western Conference.
The Roots will have a week and a half off to think about their missed opportunities before traveling to San Diego to play the Loyal on Wed., Aug. 24th.
