The Oakland Roots allowed an early goal from San Antonio FC and were not able to overcome it despite a late rally that fell short, as the visiting team won the match 1-0 and earned all three points Saturday night, September 14, at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward.
San Antonio didn’t take long to get to work. In the fourth minute of the contest, Jorge Hernandez worked in close to the goal line and chipped it over Paul Blanchette to a waiting Luis Solignac who booted it into the empty net to give the visitors the 1-0 lead. The Roots did look to rally, earning multiple scoring chances and playing fairly dangerous soccer for the remainder of the first half.
In added time of the first frame, Roots’ Camden Riley was shown back-to-back yellow cards and a subsequent red card, leaving the Oakland team down to 10 men for the remainder of the contest. Despite that, the Roots were clearly the more threatening team in what was an aggressive second half from both sides. Oakland came inches away from scoring on multiple occasions, but couldn’t find an equalizer before the final whistle.
The Roots will now head out on the road to Connecticut to face Hartford Athletic on Saturday, September 21 before returning to the East Bay for a home matchup with FC Tulsa on Sunday, September 29, at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward. Kickoff for that game is set for 3 p.m.
Talking with the Head Coach
After the game, Head Coach Gavin Glinton was asked what went wrong with these past two matches.
“Last week was an abomination, and nowhere near what we want or what we expect and what we demand. We were very, very clear about that,” Coach Glinton said. “This ne, it’s tough. We gave away an early goal. We need to be tighter there and a little bit more locked in. But we know that this team thrives on that. And going down to 10 men obviously changed the game.”
Despite those setbacks, Coach Glinton thought the Roots would come back. “I thought we were still proactive and good with the ball,” he said. “I’d like to see us be a little bit more dangerous when we come to the final third—just in terms of service and half chances, because we know that they’re going to pack in. They don’t care if they have the ball, they’re going to play long. So, even down to 10 men, we had moments where it just didn’t fall—a game of inches—but I can’t fault the effort and the commitment and the attention to detail.”
Asked what he wants the team to do, Coach Glinton said, “We need to be aggressive. … Last week, we were just very casual playing in our end and not looking to get in and attack the other team. I think we’re very, very tough to play against when we’re direct and we force the opposition to hold more defenders back, and it opens up the game for us. But we don’t get those moments unless we’re aggressive and getting forward and forcing teams to defend us.”
Summary
Scoring:
- SA: Luis Solignac 4’
Discipline:
- SA: Luis Solignac 43’ (yellow)
- OAK: Camden Riley 45’+ (yellow)
- OAK: Camden Riley 45’+ (2nd yellow) (red)
- SA: Luke Haakenson 45’+ (yellow)
- OAK: Niall Logue 49’ (yellow)
- SA: Richard Sánchez 58’ (yellow)
- OAK: Baboucarr Njie 62’ (yellow)
- SA: Juan Agudelo 63’ (yellow)
- SA: Omar Grey 65’ (yellow)
- OAK: Trayvone Reid 79’ (yellow)
- OAK: Rafael Baca 89’ (bench) (yellow)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Paul Blanchette, Niall Logue, Neveal Hackshaw, Gagi Margvelashvili, Justin Rasmussen (Ilya Alekseev), Camden Riley, Daniel Gomez (Miche-Naider Chéry), Memo Diaz, Baboucarr Njie (Irakoze Donasiyano), Dom Dwyer (Johnny Rodriguez), José Luis Sinisterra (Trayvone Reid)
Unused subs: Rafael Baca, Ali Elmasnaouy, Thomas Camier, Tim Syrel
Line: Shots: 13 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 6 | Fouls: 13 | Offside: 1
San Antonio FC
Lineup: Richard Sanchez, Mitchell Taintor, Carter Manley, Kendall Burks, Nelson Blanco, Rece Buckmaster (Omar Grey), Luke Haakenson, Jorge Nogueira [Burá] (Trova Boni), Jorge Hernandez, Juan Agudelo (Jake LaCava), Luis Solignac (Hugo Mbongue)
Unused subs: Kendall McIntosh, Shannon Gomez, Jesús Brigido
Line: Shots: 7 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 0 | Fouls: 18 | Offside: 1
