Luckily the Oakland Roots had already done enough work this season to make the USL Championship Playoffs.
Despite losing 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, the Oakland Roots qualified for the postseason after finishing in seventh place in the Western Conference. With the lowest seed, Oakland will travel to second seed San Diego Loyal on Sunday, Oct 23. Kickoff is at 7 pm.
The only team that could’ve jumped Oakland in the standings, the Las Vegas Lights, lost 2-1 against LA Galaxy II to ensure the Roots a playoff spot.
Late run helps Oakland make playoffs
Oakland started their run up the table with their most impressive win of the season back on Aug 24, defeating San Diego 3-1, shortly after interim coach Noah Delgado took the helm.
Including that game, the Roots earned 16 points over their final nine matches to climb into the final playoff spot. El Paso finished level on points with Oakland, but the Roots won the head-to-head tie-breaker thanks to drawing and defeating the Locomotive 4-0 in July.
Saturday’s game was mostly forgettable for Oakland after they jumped to an early lead thanks to a training ground exercise goal from Juan Azócar off a corner kick from José Hernández in the eighth minute.
After the early goal, Pittsburgh controlled the possession and outshot the Roots 13-5, with seven shots on target versus only two for the Roots.
Defensive miscues, which have become Oakland’s Achilles heel this season, were responsible for the first and second goals in particular. It’s a worrying sign against a Loyal side that scored 68 goals this season, the second most team goals in the league.
However, having made the postseason, it is an issue to address on the training pitch for the next week. First, the Roots can celebrate making consecutive playoffs in their first two seasons in the USL Championship.
