Juan Guerra’s East Bay homecoming ended in a 1-1 draw in the USL Championship match between the Oakland Roots and Phoenix Rising on Saturday night at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward.
The ending was appropriate, since Guerra’s half season as Oakland’s head coach was marked by goals scored late in matches and goals given up late in matches, as well as a large percentage of matches ending in draws.
Oakland’s goal came in the 82nd minute on a brilliant finish from Darek Formella. He blasted the ball into the net, narrowly avoiding a tackle attempt from Phoenix’s Eddie Munjoma. Formella then took off his jersey and tossed it in the air as the home crowd celebrated their club’s likely victory.
The goal was set up by a chain of passes from Jeciel Cedeño to Johnny Rodriguez to Lindo Mfeka.
But the visitors answered in the third minute of stoppage time. Erickson Gallardo’s cross found Manuel Arteaga for a leaping header that settled in the top left corner. It was the first goal Oakland had given up at home since April 15.
Oakland had a final chance two minutes later, when substitute Trayvone Reid got behind the Phoenix defense, but Phoenix goalkeeper Rocco Ríos Novo dove to the turf to get a hand on the ball and deflect his shot away.
Phoenix had had the bulk of the chances earlier in the match, but had difficulty getting shots on target. These misfires included a 9th minute header off of a free kick by Arteaga and a 66th minute strike from Gallardo, both of which went wide.
After the match, Oakland Head Coach Noah Delgado said he was happy with his team’s overall performance.
“I thought we had a good second half. We got the goal to get ahead,” Delgado said. “It comes down to marking in the box. We’ll continue to focus and concentrate on those key moments. I thought we played well, good enough to win the game. And we’re just going to watch film and move on from there.”
Phoenix has had 7 draws in 16 matches this season, while the Roots’ last three matches have all ended in draws.
“We’ve been leading in two of those games,” Delgado said. “Pittsburgh is a very good defensive team as well. That was going to be a very defensive game with minimal chances for both squads. There were more than 400 minutes without a goal scored on us at home. [We’ll keep working on] moments of the game, especially as we get closer to the end of the season, Closing out games, starting the half well, that’s important.”
Wolfgang’s Opportunity
Oakland’s lineup included the first-ever start for Wolfgang Prentice in a USL Championship match. Prentice has spent most of the past two seasons on loan to Northern Colorado Hailstorm and Forward Madison FC of USL League One.
Prentice had an excellent scoring chance in the 38th minute, redirecting a cross from Johnny Rodriguez on target. But Ríos Novo reacted quickly to deflect it away.
The former Cal State Northridge player also had another shot 4 minutes later that sailed over the bar.
“I thought [Prentice] did well,” Delgado said. “He had a couple of chances in the first half and he had a great work rate getting up and down. I think he’ll just keep building off that. I thought it was a solid performance for his first start.”
Angry About Guerra
Many Oakland fans are still bitter about Guerra’s sudden departure from Oakland last season to take the job in Phoenix. Throughout much of the second half, many Oakland supporters section replaced their usual chants with anti-Guerra insults.
“The fans can say [whatever they want],” Delgado said. “I have my personal relationship with Juan and I didn’t hear the chants. I don’t know what they were saying but this game’s over, move on to RGV next week.”
