The Oakland Roots took another step down the playoff ladder (at least temporarily) with their 1-0 home loss to Phoenix Rising FC in front of a sellout crowd of more than 5,000 at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward.
Goals and Wins Have Been Hard to Come By
It’s been a rough patch for Oakland since their August 31 victory over Western Conference leaders New Mexico United. Including this match, Roots have earned only a total of 1 point in next 6 matches.
Earlier in the season, they had ambitions of finishing in the top four of the conference and hosting at least one playoff game. Now they’re just trying to hang on to a spot in the eight-team tournament.
At least for now, Phoenix Rising has taken over the sixth seed in the Western Conference and Oakland has fallen to seventh. But even that position seems perilous, with eight place Orange County only 2 points behind the Roots, and ninth seeded San Antonio only 3 points behind.
“We’ve given ourselves chances to get points and win games and we haven’t been very lucky,” interim Head Coach Gavin Glinton said after the match (and postgame Pixar drone show). “There’s also a little bit of more of our movement and discipline to help us create more of these chances. Because you can see what happens when we start to flip a switch a little bit and it’s just not happening enough.”
A Single Goal Is Enough
The only goal of the match was scored in the 55th minute, when Phoenix’s Tomás Ángel nodded in a header from very close range. It followed a sustained period of possession by the visitors and was set up by Emil Cuello, who grabbed a loose ball in the left side of the box, avoided a sliding tackle by Memo Diaz, and lofted a soft header that Ángel made quick work of.
Glinton explained what went wrong.
“The ball came in after it spilled back out,” he said. “Probably went to ground too early and then and then lost a mark. Didn’t track and a simple simple finish on the tap-in. A bit disorganized from the first cross, but again, we had enough numbers in the box to deal with that. I’ll go back and look a little bit more closely. It gets frustrating because we were in control of the moment initially.”
A Quiet First Half for Both Sides
Only a few chances were generated by either team in the first half, and most were half chances.
In the 9th minute, two former Roots players nearly teamed up on a goal for Phoenix, with Alejandro Fuenmayor sending in a cross that Charlie Dennis headed over the bar.
Two minutes later, Ángel put the ball in the net on a breakaway after a long pass out of the back, but the linesman’s flag was up for offside.
Oakland had a rare chance on set piece by former Phoenix Rising defender Baboucarr Njie in the 16th minute. Camden Riley emerged from a group of players charging the goal, but his right-footed shot sailed over the crossbar.
Dennis had a shot from distance in the 25th minute, but Oakland goalkeeper Paul Blanchette put his hands in the air to block the shot and caught it without yielding a rebound.
In the 27th minute, Ángel won an aerial duel with Oakland’s Neveal Hackshaw, but Blanchette was able to stretch himself enough to guide the ball over the bar.
Second Half Goal Proves to Be Decisive
The Roots nearly took the lead in the 47th minute, when Njie’s cross found Diaz unmarked in the box, but his attempt at a volley misfired.
Oakland responded to Ángel’s goal with a key substitution in the 60th minute, bringing in Justin Rasmussen in place of Dom Dwyer. The change seemed to energize the club, and Oakland began creating more chances.
Glinton explained his reasoning.
“Justin likes getting 40,” he said. “Against Memphis last week, he had a couple of good opportunities getting in to the back post. I thought we needed to make some change, get some energy going in there. And he came in and [was] good, just not enough for us to put one in the net, another one off the post, another one off the line.”
Oakland had a chance to equalize in the 88th minute on a one-timer from Diaz from the penalty arc, but his shot went straight into the arms of Phoenix goalkeeper Patrick Rakovsky.
Diaz also set up Oakland’s best chance in the second half with a curving cross that found Miche-Naider
Chéry waiting at the back post, but the Haitian striker’s header hit the post.
Now Oakland only has two regular season matches to try and secure that elusive playoff berth, on the road in Las Vegas on Saturday October 19 and at home to Birmingham on Saturday October 26.
“We still control our destiny and we have everything to play for,” Glinton said. “If we were getting beat by, you know, two and three goals every game and not having the chances to win it would be something different. We know it’s close. Today is close, last week in Memphis was close, and I’m tired of saying that. We have to make sure that we we tighten up a couple of those moments and be more aggressive staying disciplined when we have the ball.”
A Roots Reunion
Phoenix has six former Roots players on their roster this season, and four of them started the match (Dennis, Alejandro Fuenmayor, Dariusz Formella, and Edgardo Rito).
Glifford was asked whether it heightens the Roots’ rivalry with Phoenix when so many former teammates are on the other team.
“There’s obviously a competition there,” Glinton said. “They’ve been here, we know they were here, I coached a few of those guys. And, you know, it probably means something a little bit extra when you’ve got so many guys who’ve been together and been part of the club. But every single match is points we need, so it doesn’t matter if it’s Phoenix. Memphis, Vegas, or Birmingham. We need to treat every single one like the biggest rivalry game of our lives.”
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