The Oakland Roots flipped their familiar script on Wednesday night, taking an early lead but faltering in the second half of their 2-1 loss to New Mexico United Wednesday night at Laney College.
Oakland was facing a challenge from one of the hottest teams in the USL Championship. The win was New Mexico’s fifth straight and enabled them to move into third place in the Western Conference, while the Roots remain in ninth place.
The Roots took control early in the match and opened the scoring in the 20th minute on a strong individual effort by Edgardo Rito. He received a pass from Mattias Fissore at the 35 yard line, sprinted into the penalty area, and fired a shot that took two bounces and settled just inside the far post.
Oakland’s offense suffered an unexpected loss when Rito had to leave the match in the 32nd minute after suffering an injury, and was replaced by Memo Diaz.
And as the half went on, New Mexico began to assert itself, particularly on set pieces. Kalen Ryden’s 36th minute header off of a corner kick went wide. Harry Swartz’s header in the 43rd minute went straight to Oakland goalkeeper Paul Blanchette.
New Mexico’s best chance came in stoppage time, when Blanchette rushed out to the edge of the box to challenge Neco Brett, who got off a weak shot, giving Blanchette time to return to his net. Tabort Preston’s shot off of the rebound was blocked by Fissore.
Head Coach Juan Guerra said that the Roots were the better side for the first 30-40 minutes of the first half, but he saw signs of trouble.
“We let them get too comfortable in the first half, even though we were up,” Guerra said. “I mean it’s not that they were creating clear chances. But I had a feeling that on the ball they were too comfortable.”
As the second half began, Oakland nearly added a second goal in the 51st minute, when Dariusz Formella laid off the ball for Óttar Magnús Karlsson, but Karlsson’s shot attempt was smothered by New Mexico goalkeeper Alex Tambakis.
But the visitors tied the match on the counter in the 57th minute thanks to 18-year-old Cristian Nava, who had just come on as a substitute two minutes earlier. Nava sent a long pass to Sergio Rivas on the right side of the penalty area. Rivas found Brett unmarked for the perfectly placed shot, just out of the reach of a diving Blanchette.
Oakland was now visibly struggling and a second goal seemed inevitable. It came in the 67th minute and was also set up by Nava, when his cross found Chris Wehan for the header from just outside the six-yard-box.
The Roots now searched for the equalizer that they had gotten so many times before. They had a chance in the first minute of stoppage time, when Mikael Tørset Johnsen sent in a free kick from distance. Karlsson was able to get a head on it, but it went straight into the arms of Tambakis.
The two teams got into a scuffle shortly afterward, with the players pushing and shoving along the sideline. New Mexico’s Jerome Kiesewetter was red carded for violent conduct, while the Roots’ Emrah Klimenta (Oakland Roots) was shown a yellow card.
The Roots had one more chance on a free kick in the 6th minute of stoppage time, when Karlsson flicked the ball with his head into the path of Johnsen. But Tambakis grabbed the ball just before Johnsen crashed into him.
Guerra said that he was frustrated by the loss, but encouraged by the team’s development.
“When you’re up 1-0 and you feel like you’re dominating the game, we have to make sure that we keep our foot on the pedal,” he said. “When you’re winning one-zero at home and you attacking and you’re going at them, you have to make sure that the other team is saying that there’s absolutely no way that they can come back and and that’s that’s a lesson that we learned from tonight.”
