If the Oakland Roots are to keep “leveling up,” as their co-founder Edreece Arghandiwal likes to say, then they ought to start winning cup games against lower-division teams at the very least.
Last year, at the US Open Cup, the Roots couldn’t even do that. In their first-ever appearance in the nation’s oldest soccer tournament, they were bounced by semi-pro side Greenville Triumph in South Carolina.
They watched as fellow USL sides Sacramento Republic and Union Omaha made deep runs in the tournament, raising their teams’ profiles as they upset some of the nation’s best teams.
In the minor leagues of soccer, these are the rare opportunities that players and coaches live to play for.
The Roots took that lesson to heart within 30 minutes of their first cup game this year and banged in three first-half goals to put El Farolito, a San Francisco NPSL club, away 3-1.
Two youngsters, who have battled ups and downs in their brief time in Oakland, delivered the game’s most decisive moments, booking the Roots’ first ticket beyond the second round of the cup.
Johnny Rodriguez, who leads the team in goals this year while coming off the bench in USL, opened up the scoring in the 11th minute, finishing an in-swinging cross. It was his third goal in as many games, creating an interesting dilemma for head coach Noah Delgado, who is seeking to inject life into an anemic starting lineup.
“Johnny is scoring a ton in training, too,” Delgado said. “You can see his sharpness and confidence growing each week. Competition in the squad is good.”
Another prospect, Wolfgang Prentice, who spent time on loan last year in USL League One searching for playing time behind a crowded frontline, scored twice playing in an unorthodox inverted right wingback role.
Delgado said he hopes the result will set a new tone for the year.
“Yeah, [that Greenville result] was definitely in the back of our minds,” said Delgado after the game. “But I’ve just been telling the guys that this is a special opportunity. These [single-elimination] games replicate what we want to experience in the playoffs.”
Coming off a hard-fought win against New Mexico just two days earlier, Delgado opted to rotate his entire starting XI while keeping his preferred 3-4-3 shape in place. Key international signings Kevin Wright, Bryan Tamacas and Neveal Hackshaw all made their first starts for the club and played a full 90 minutes.
Wright occupies an especially important spot in the Roots team, which relies heavily on its fullbacks for chance creations and goals. His predecessor Juan Azócar, who signed with USL defending champions San Antonio FC during the offseason, was second on the team in goals and shots last year.
The Sierra Leone international, by way of England, was recruited specifically to fill that void. During a training session before the 2023 season, Roots technical director Jordan Ferrell shared with Soccer Bay Area that the left-sided wingback was discovered on TransferRoom, the sport’s newest popular online marketplace.
Ferrell said the platform has been instrumental in expanding the front office’s reach and that they otherwise might not have known about a player like Wright in previous years. “We can advertise what we need, and it sort of removes the gatekeepers from the market,” Ferrell said.
In the first half of his debut, where Oakland dominated, Wright combined with his teammates well. Two of the Roots’ three goals were all originally worked from his left side of the field. He later picked up a yellow card in the second half, when the Roots mostly retreated to absorb the frantic El Farolito attack.
“I thought [the new guys] did well,” Delgado said. “A big part of tonight was ramping up their fitness. It’s hard to replicate that in training, so it was good to give them an intense game like this.”
The next round of the Open Cup will be drawn on April 6 and will introduce 18 MLS teams into the competition.
Until then, the Roots will turn their attention back to USL, where they are set to play five straight Eastern Conference teams.
About the Author: Kevin V. Nguyen has covered soccer for The Guardian, The Sacramento Bee, and The San Francisco Standard. Follow him on Twitter @KevinNguyen_89
