The Oakland Roots played an aggressive style of soccer at the Coliseum on May 4, but it was rival Sacramento Republic FC that would come away from the match victorious.
The Roots controlled every facet of the match in the first half, playing creatively and hemming Sacramento into their own defensive third for long stretches of the contest.
That pressure led to a prime scoring opportunity just eight minutes into the match, when a through ball from José Luis Sinisterra found Peter Wilson alone behind the defense. Wilson’s shot, however, was cleaned up by Republic keeper Daniel Vitiello, who handled the rebound try from Roots’ Wolfgang Prentice as well to keep the game scoreless.
Oakland continued to earn dangerous chances throughout the first 45 minutes of play, but despite tilting the turf heavily in their favor, they could not find the back of the net in the first half.
When the second half of play began, the Roots looked as if they were running out of gas. Just two minutes into the second frame, Oakland’s Baboucarr Njie conceded a foul in the Oakland area, prompting the referee to point to the dot. Sacramento took the lead on the subsequent penalty kick when Russell Cicerone sent his try to the low left side, beating Kendall McIntosh to give the visitors an 1-0 lead.
The Roots came back to life near the end of the match, earning a number of premium scoring opportunities, but failing to finish any of them.
The Oakland Roots will look to get back in the win column next Saturday when they travel to Texas to face conference leaders San Antonio FC on May, 10, at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
Talking with the Head Coach
After the match, Roots Head Coach Gavin Glinton was asked to share his overall thoughts on the game and the result.
“I thought the guys put a hell of an effort in on the day,” Glinton said. “In terms of the game plan, our ability to circulate the ball, repress and stay in their end, I was really happy with what we were able to do in the first 45 minutes. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to reward that with a goal. But we talked about staying locked in and continuing to do the job. Obviously, the penalty to start the second half is a gut punch, and they were able to kind of just sit back and protect a little bit.
“We had a couple moments that made the game a little bit more difficult,” Glinton continued, “but I thought we did a good job again, to not give up too much trying to stretch ourselves going forward. I would have liked us to create a little bit more, but when they’re sitting in deep it’s going to be difficult to kind of pull them out and get out. I thought we created some good movements and serving opportunities, a couple moments with second ball opportunities. Not enough to get the result, but definitely not for lack of trying and effort.”
Despite the outcome, Glinton said he was “really proud” of the effort. “It’s just tough to walk out of here when you know you have shots, passes in the attacking half, possession, all the silly numbers everyone talks about outside of the result, which is the thing that matters,” he said, noting that he was “gutted for the guys tonight, but really happy with their effort.
Asked for his thoughts on those little moments that didn’t go their way, Gavin said, “That’s football. …It’s a street fight, you know. I thought we did enough to at least come out with a point. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, especially when things are tough. But I think our guys are resilient. I think they have character. I think the performance that they’ll take out of this and what they were able to get done will help us take a step forward in the right direction. I think we’ll be proud of the performance even if we’re really frustrated with the result.”
Summary
Scoring:
- SAC: Russell Cicerone 48’
Discipline:
- OAK: Kai Greene 22’ (yellow card)
- SAC: Lee Desmond 24’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Baboucarr Njie 47’ (yellow card)
- SAC: Michel Benitez 74’ (yellow card)
- SAC: Luis Felipe 83’ (yellow card)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Kendall McIntosh, Baboucarr Njie (Justin Rasmussen), Julian Bravo, Camden Riley (Panos Armenakas), Wolfgang Prentice (Luis Saldaña), Peter Wilson, José Luis Sinisterra (EJ Johnson), Tyler Gibson (Daniel Gomez), Neveal Hackshaw, Bobosi Byaruhanga, Kai Greene
Unused subs: Gagi Margvelashvili, Abdirizak Mohamed, Raphael Spiegel, Ali Elmasnaouy
Line: Shots: 10 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 3 | Fouls: 22 | Offside: 1
Sacramento Republic FC
Lineup: Daniel Vitiello, Jack Gurr, Lee Desmond, Jared Timmer, Frederik Kleeman, Rodrigo Lopez (Nicholas Ross), Sebastian Hererra, Cristian Parano (Dominik Wanner), Russell Cicerone (Blake Willey), Michel Benitez, Luis Felipe
Unused subs: Ryan Spaulding, Da’vian Kimbrough, Rayan Djedje, Aaron Edwards, Lewis Jamieson, Jared Mazzola
Line: Shots: 7 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 6 | Fouls: 19 | Offside: 2
