FC Tulsa climbed to within one point of the playoff line in the Western Conference of the USL Championship with a 1-0 win over the Oakland Roots on Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward.
The Roots finished their September schedule with losses in all four matches and no goals scored. But Tulsa has also been going through a rough time recently, having earned only one point in its previous four matches.
Aaron Bibout scored the only goal of the match in the 7th minute. Boubacar Diallo’s through ball from near midfield found Stefan Stojanovic as he made his run into the box. Stojanovic’s cross skidded along the turf to an unmarked Bibout who had plenty of time for the finish.
After the match, interim Head Coach Gavin Glinton agreed that the club lacked the vigor they’d shown in wins earlier this season.
“I think from a first standpoint, we haven’t brought the energy and the commitment that we’ve needed to earn the right to play the game,” Glinton said. “Losing a lot of second balls frustrated our defending, just the initial battle that you need to have as a baseline to be able to play this game. Before we start talking about passing and receiving and that stuff, just the commitment hasn’t been good enough.
“Scoring goals is the toughest thing in football,” he said. “Scoring goals and defending goals is where it’s about tactics, but it’s also about heart, commitment, and effort: making sure that you don’t let a guy free, and making sure that you create the space to get in. There’s no hiding from it right now, we’ve got to make sure that we’re looking to win the battles before we do anything else, and then we can start to talk about the quality, which we also need to improve on.”
First Half: Few Chances After Tulsa’s Early Goal
The home crowd was momentarily excited in the 14th minute when Dom Dwyer’s free kick from just outside the box curled around the wall, but settled in the side netting.
Dwyer also made a long run toward goal in the 30th minute, but once he got into the penalty area his shot went right into the arms of Tulsa goalkeeper Johan Peñaranda.
In the 34th minute, Oakland goalkeeper Paul Blanchette made an easy stop on a free kick from distance by Tulsa’s Milo Yosef, but Blanchette momentarily bobbled the ball, before diving at the feet of Bradley
Bourgeois to ensure that there would be no rebound.
Roots Show Renewed Vigor Late in the Second Half
The second half also yielded few chances.
In the 79th minute, Peñaranda rushed off his line to try and corral a free kick into the box from Memo Diaz. A Tulsa defender tried to make the clearance, but it came out to Oakland’s Irakoze Donasiyano, whose header went wide.
Oakland created their best chances in the waning moments of the match.
The first came in the 88th minute. Rafael Baca’s through ball from midfield found Johnny Rodriguez streaking into the box; Rodriguez’s one-timer was punched away by Peñaranda. Rodriguez chased down the rebound and crossed the ball to Ali Elmasnaouy, whose header went wide.
The second came in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Diaz tried a side valley on a ball from Justin Rasmussen, but the shot sailed wide.
Glinton said that the late surge in the second half was a positive sign, but he expressed his frustration with his team’s tendency to fall behind early in matches.
“100 percent, but you know that it keeps happening, right?,” Glinton said. “The San Antonio [match was] the same thing, we were better when we were down a man almost. It’s like we keep waiting to get hit in the mouth before we start forcing teams to have to defend us and worry about us. We talked about being aggressive and killer instinct and outside of the tactical stuff when we talked about the psychological things. Those were two of the big ones today and you know we’re not hitting on them. I’m going to go back and look for myself first and foremost and make sure that you know I’m doing what I need to to get that out.”
Tough Upcoming Schedule
The Roots will have a great opportunity to possibly improve their playoff seeding over the next three weeks. They are currently in sixth position in the Western Conference and will be taking on fifth-seeded Memphis, seventh seeded Phoenix, and fourth-seeded Las Vegas.
“We talked about trying to be aggressive, trying to make teams play on the back foot and getting them to the end,” Glinton said. “We looked at everything, you know, resting and making sure that we have enough energy to come into these games. And it’s been sadly missing for the last few. So right now it’s about finding the rhythm of the players who are going to get us three points at Memphis and that’s where all the focus is.”
