It was a tale of the two goal scorers in the Oakland Roots’ 2-0 win over San Diego Loyal on Saturday night at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward.
Johnny Rodriguez gave the home side the lead in the 7th minute. Memo Diaz grabbed a loose ball just outside the penalty area and threaded the ball into the box as Rodriguez made his run. San Diego defender Kyle Adams tried to muscle him off the ball, but Rodriguez was able to lift the ball of the head of goalkeeper Duran Ferree.
The goal was Rodriguez’s fourth of the season, tying him with Darek Formella for the team lead. Rodriguez replaced Formella in the starting lineup this week, his third league start of the season to go along with six appearances as a substitute.
“Johnny’s been playing really well,” Roots Head Coach Noah Delgado said after the match. “We’re a team that’s going to use a lot of players and use different lineups. It’s important for players to get different experiences and make it a challenging environment in the team.”
Anuar Peláez closed out the match with his first goal of the season in the 5th minute of second half stoppage time. After two successful seasons in the Venezuelan first division, Peláez has been expected to be one of the team’s leading goal scorers this season, but he hasn’t started a match since April 23.
“I’m excited for him,” Delgado said. “He’s put in the work. You know, he does stuff after training, he does a lot of work, you know, we keep telling him ‘let’s stay focused, but keep going, keep going.’ And the whole team was happening for him today.”
Oakland’s Defense Frustrates San Diego
In earning their fifth shutout of the season, Delgado described the Roots’ defensive approach as “keeping our lines tight, not giving a lot of space in between lines, forcing the ball out wide. When they’re getting it, they’re going to play some long diagonal balls early on, but they didn’t get behind us. So, getting pressure on the ball, countering pressure was important.”
But even though San Diego struggled to create good chances, goalkeeper Paul Blanchette was still called upon to make a few difficult saves.
San Diego’s best first half chance came in the 33rd minute, when Nick Moon stole the ball from Diaz 25 yards from goal and made a run into the penalty area. His shot was on target, but Blanchette reacted quickly to deflect the shot away.
In the 59th minute, Blanchette somehow got a foot and then an arm on a point blank attempt from Evan Conway. Moon then collided with him as he hunted for a rebound, leaving Blanchette writing in pain on the turf.
In the 73rd minute, Alejandro Guido beat Oakland’s Danny Gomez off the dribble. His shot looked like it was ducking in under the crossbar, but Blanchette leaped to deflect it away.
Both Sides Look for a Late Goal
In the latter moments of the match, the tempo quickened, as both sides hunted for a goal.
In the 83rd minute, Oakland’s Lindo Mfeka was unmarked on the left side of the box. Ferree came out to cut down the angle, and he was able to make a kick save to keep his team in the match.
San Diego had one final chance to equalize in the 90th minute, but Blanchette was up to the task again, getting in the way of Ronaldo Damus’s blast from the edge of the 6 yard box.
Oakland put the match away a few minutes later. Blanchette booted the ball into the San Diego half. Defender Blake Bodily mishandled the ball, leaving Peláez wide open and chased by a pair of exhausted San Diego defenders. Ferree rushed out, but Peláez calmly tucked the ball inside the far post.
With the win, the Roots move up to 5th place in the Western Conference standings. After a pair of road matches at Colorado Springs and Phoenix, they return to Hayward on Saturday, June 17 to take on the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
