The Oakland Roots’ US Open Cup run came to a sudden end with a 1-0 loss at the hands of their bitterest rivals on Wednesday night.
Sacramento Republic FC’s Nick Ross scored the match’s only goal in the 49th minute on a shot from the left side. Russell Cicerone dished the ball off to the Scottish midfielder at the edge of the penalty area. No Oakland defenders stepped up to challenge him, so Ross took a couple of dribbles and blasted the ball just inside the far post.
The goal was Ross’s first since joining Sacramento Republic at the beginning of the 2022 season.
“Aldair [Sanchez] had a great run which set me up perfectly for the space,” he said. “I took a chance, and it hit. I didn’t think it counted because no one celebrated with me at first. I think everyone was in shock that I scored. It was nice for me, I had my wife and my son here. They’ve been waiting for a goal for two years. It’s nice for them to be here. I’m delighted and just happy that we won the game.”
No Goals in the First Half
The home side controlled most of the possession from the opening whistle, facing a Roots side that struggled in the 80-degree heat and battled the lingering effects of having played a match on the East Coast on Sunday.
The Roots’ best chance of the first half came in the 29th minute. Joseph Nane stole the ball and played a give-and-go with Darek Formella. Nane’s shot was on target, but Sacramento goalkeeper Carlos Saldana made a kick save.
Sacramento’s best first-half chance came on a corner kick 10 minutes later when Arnold Lopez’s header hit the crossbar.
Sacramento Turns Up The Pressure in the Second Half
Ross’s goal four minutes into the second-half gave the home side the lead, and Sacramento nearly scored another in the 60th minute when Russell Cicerone made a long run along the left sideline and fed the ball back to Jack Gurr, whose shot went sailed over the bar.
Sacramento Head Coach Mark Briggs was asked what adjustments he had made in the second half.
“I wanted intensity,” he said. “We had no intensity. The game was slow. We allowed them to break
up a play, to take time and stoppages, and we played into those tactics, so we needed more intensity… we needed to get after them. We needed to get in their face and press them a little bit.”
“We know they’re a good team,” Roots Head Coach Noah Delgado said. “We were more [focused on] just being organized and limiting transitions from them. They’re very good on set pieces. Our set pieces, we thought we could’ve had a chance there. I think it was just being organized when we’re in the mid-block, just closing out space for them.”
Oakland’s best second-half chances came on set pieces. Trayvone Reid’s free kick from just beyond the penalty area sailed wide in the 65th minute. In the 81st minute, Memo Diaz’s free-kick found Darek Formella, but his soft header went straight to Saldana.
Edgardo Rito made a run along the right side in the 82nd minute, but his shot hit the side netting. Rito, one of Oakland’s most dangerous attackers, was largely a non-factor in the match.
In stoppage time, Sacramento’s Sebastian Herrera was called offside as he received a long ball just as he was crossing midfield. Herrera ignored the whistle and dribbled past Oakland goalkeeper Paul Blanchette, who clipped him as he went by. Herrera dramatically fell to the turf; he and Blanchette both received yellow cards.
And as the match ended, Formella expressed his team’s frustration by getting red-carded in the fifth minute of stoppage time for a confrontation with the referee.
After the final whistle, players and coaches had time to reflect on their team’s performance.
“I don’t think we played particularly well,” Ross said. “Especially in the first half, we were pretty slow
with the ball, we kind of gave them too much space which isn’t like us. But [in] the second half we were a lot better and once we got the goal we were kind of comfortable in the end.”
“I thought the boys did some very good things tonight,” Delgado said. “They had some good quality chances to get a result. We made some changes from the weekend. The boys traveled across the country with one day less of rest. They came out and battled.”
“When you face a local rival like Oakland and what they bring to the game, it’s always gritty and it’s always a battle,” Briggs said. “I think you saw that throughout the game. It wasn’t really free flowing. There’s a lot of stoppages, a lot of fouls. So we had to handle that and adapt. But we’re in the draw tomorrow, and that’s all that matters when playing a cup competition.”
