Two early goals doomed the Oakland Roots to a loss on the road against the undefeated Detroit City on Saturday afternoon, 3-1.
Oakland was looking to build on a two-game winning streak over all competitions but quickly fell behind to the home side in the eighth minute.
Faced with some soft pressure at the midline, Roots midfielder Daniel Gomez passed the ball square across the field, which Detroit’s Ben Morris easily intercepted. He immediately pressed his advantage on the backpedaling Oakland defense and slotted his ball into the far post for the opening goal.
The advantage soon became 2-0 when Oakland’s Bryan Tamacas took down Detroit’s Alex Villanueva in the box. City’s Maxi Rodriguez stepped up to the spot and converted the penalty.
Detroit landed the knockout punch in the 51st minute. With Oakland pressing up the field, the ball was turned over, and a slow-motion counter-attack started. The ball eventually ended up at the feet of City’s Victor Bezerra, who touched his shot into the back post.
Justin Rasmussen gave the Roots a brief hope when he got onto the end of a Gomez cross to score in the 57th minute, but in the 60th minute, Oakland center-back Gagi Margvelashvili earned his second yellow of the game and reduced them to ten men on the pitch.
With the loss, Oakland returns home to the friendly confines of Pioneer Stadium next Saturday, looking to grab a full three points against the Colorado Switchback. The Switchback currently sits in last place in the USL Championship Western Conference with no win so far this season. Kickoff is at 7 pm.
