Jeciel Cedeño’s 72nd minute goal broke a scoreless tie and enabled the Oakland Roots to earn a 1-0 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Rowdies in front of a record crowd of 6,408 fans at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward. The match was part of a doubleheader with the Oakland Soul.
The goal was set up by a pass by Gagi Margvelashvili from just over midfield found Memo Diaz making a run along the right side. Diaz’s quick cross found Cedeño at the far post, and his emphatic header gave Tampa Bay goalkeeper Jordan Farr no chance.
Cedeño had been causing the Rowdies’ defense problems from the first minute of the match, when chased down a long ball into the box and tried to maneuver past a pair of Tampa Bay defenders. He managed to get off a cross, but his best chances came later in the match.
He also nearly scored in the 62nd minute, when his free kick appeared to be heading just inside the top corner, until Farr leaped into the air to tip it away.
The Roots had an opportunity to put the match away in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time when Baboucarr Njie earned a penalty kick after being taken down by Daniel Chrisostomo. But Njie’s spot kick bounced off the crossbar.
The referee blew the final whistle two minutes later.
After the match, Roots’ Interim Head Coach Gavin Glinton said that Cedeno’s versatility is crucial to the Roots’ success.
“He’s able to play in a number of different positions,” he said. “He’s able to run at defenders, he’s able to hold up the ball and bring people in, you know, we can use him as a center midfielder. And tonight, [we used] his ability to be able to pop up and join the attack as well.”
Oakland’s Defense Stands Out
In addition to Cedeño’s contributions, the Roots defense was able to frustrate one of the league’s leading offenses. The Rowdies entered the match having scored 24 goals in their first 12 matches of the season.
“We must have played probably four different formations tonight at some point or another,” Glinton said. “We knew that there are a real dangerous team and that they can get behind. So there were a number of a couple ways we wanted to make sure we stopped them, whether it was protecting the space in behind, whether it was choking and limiting their service and service area points. The guys did a great job with that.”
Oakland goalkeeper Timothy Syrel faced four shots on target in earning his first clean sheet as a professional. His most difficult save came in the 18th minute, when he reacted quickly to knock down a diving header from Manuel Arteaga.
Putting on More Pressure
Much of the match was played at a furious pace on both sides. Glinton said that the large and enthusiastic crowd may have been part of the reason.
“When we’re at home, we definitely have a lot of energy and electricity,” he said. “We want to make sure that we bring that for our fans. Our fans give us a lot of energy. And so, it’s, it’s easy for us to go out and have those high energy, high impact starts. Anytime we’re home, we want to make sure that we’re bringing and reciprocating that energy to the fans.”
Dwyer’s Debut
Since the Roots announced the signing of veteran forward Dominic Dwyer on April 25, Oakland fans have been eager to see what he can bring to a club whose front-line has often struggled to score goals.
Dwyer made his first appearance for the Roots last night, entering the match in the 79th minute, and earning a yellow card less than four minutes later. In his roughly 20 minutes of action, Dwyer also earned a pair of free kicks and committed another foul.
“Obviously, he’s been coming off a long time not playing,” Glinton said. “The build up for him and getting him the proper preseason has been important. He’s been flying around in training and we want to make sure that we’re getting into a place where we can give him the minutes without having setbacks, and I think we’re there now.”
