The Oakland Roots SC have plenty to think about following an 3-0 loss to visiting Rhode Island FC on Saturday afternoon, April 5, at the Coliseum.
The match actually began well for the home side, who maintained momentum through the first 20 minutes of the contest. The Roots looked like they had a plan offensively, and were moving the ball bravely up the field, earning a lion’s share of the initial scoring chances.
After this initial pressure, however, the field started to tilt heavily in Rhode Island’s favor, as the Roots struggled mightily to possess the ball and exit their defensive third. This sustained pressure finally broke Oakland in the 40th minute when a bad giveaway near the back line led to an easy cross in front of goal for Rhode Island’s Jojea Kwizera, who found Albert Dikwa for the finish to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for Rhode Island to extend their lead. Just two minutes later, Roots’ goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh made a save on a hard shot that rebounded straight to Rhode Island’s Clay Holstad who banged home a rocket off the crossbar to make it 2-0.
Rhode Island still wasn’t finished in the first half. In added time, Holstad caught Oakland’s defense playing far too high, and sent a long ball from inside his own box to a running JJ Williams, who took a touch to beat McIntosh and walked in Rhode Island’s third goal in under ten minutes of play, making it a 3-0 advantage for the visitors.
Oakland played better in the second half, nearly getting a goal back on numerous occasions—but the damage was done. Rhode Island’s defense held strong for the remainder of the contest, holding their three-goal lead at the final whistle to earn their first win of 2025.
The Roots will now head on the road, still seeking their first victory, as travel to Oklahoma for a contest versus FC Tulsa at ONEOK Field on Saturday, April 12 at 5 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
Talking with the Head Coach
After the match, Head Coach Gavin Glinton gave his responses to a few questions about the frustrating loss.
What are your initial thoughts on the result tonight in the match?
“An unacceptable first half where you go down, just again, in control of the goals we gave up” Glinton responded. “Overplaying in the back with plenty of time to play forward, and we get picked. Second one, same thing, and then individual defending errors, and they run in behind us on the third one in a transition moment where we’re 2v1 or 3v1 with the goalkeeper, and we get beat to every ball.
“I mean, look, there’s no sugarcoating this. This is an unacceptable lack of responsibility. We had a game plan, and the few moments where we executed it, we created chances, we got in behind, and then for some reason, we decide we want to take six touches and pass it to the guy right next to us so he can be in trouble. Our circulation speed, our ability to fight, we talked about picking up second balls.
“We were nowhere near them on the day. We talked about our rest defense positioning to stop the counter attacks, and we got hit too many times just because we didn’t feel like sprinting three seconds earlier. We put ourselves in bad positions and had to try and recover. We talked about having the details to fight and win battles and make sure that we were able to outnumber people. And you know, for the most part, none of that happened.
“I’m tired of giving goals when we’re numbers up on positions, tired of giving goals when we’ve got easy passes to make and we can break lines. Instead, we want to take three or four touches and show I don’t know what. So, yeah, I’m pissed.”
You mentioned players late to balls, late to plays. What do you credit that to? What do you think is not clicking for these guys?
“You know, we talk about it, we train it, we stress the importance of it, we show it in video. And I think there’s just a bit of casualness in important moments when we need to react quicker. We’d rather jog two steps, and now instead of us being in control of a play, we’re chasing a play.
“We talk a little bit about wanting to get more possession, and that’s fine, but it’s the type of possession that we need. It’s not guys standing on the ball, taking three or four touches to say look at me, and then passing the ball to the guy right next to him to get blown up.
“We talk about circulation with intent, to move opposition players around and create gaps so that we can get forward. And, you know, whether it’s the recognition of those moments to play forward, the ability to play forward—which is the preparation that we need on both sides of the ball to do the little details right now—it’s not happening on a consistent enough basis.
“This is a terrible step backwards, especially with all the strides we’ve made from a defense perspective. Week in, week out, we talk about being better with the ball, and then all of a sudden the focus is make sure that we don’t give away what we put in last week, this week. Maybe it’s asking too much at times. But I think the match plan is clear, and when you see it, when you see the guys affect it, it leads to us being in dangerous positions and creating chances. And for some reason, we don’t want to do the simple things that lead to success—we didn’t do them today, for sure.”
Summary
Scoring:
- RI: Albert Dikwa 40’
- RI: Clay Holstad 42’
- RI: JJ Williams 45’+
Discipline:
- RI: JJ Williams 6’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Kai Greene 29’ (yellow card)
- RI: Marc Ybarra 75’ (yellow card)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Kendall McIntosh, Baboucarr Njie, Julian Bravo (Bobosi Byaruhanga), Daniel Gomez (Ali Elmasnaouy), Wolfgang Prentice (Justin Rasmussen), Peter Wilson, Panos Armenakas (José Luis Sinisterra), Neveal Hackshaw, Jürgen Damm (EJ Johnson), Abdirizak Mohamed, Kai Greene
Unused subs: Gagi Margvelashvili, Raphael Spiegel, Luis Saldaña, Ilya Alekseev
Line: Shots: 6 | Shots On Goal: 1 | Corner Kicks: 4 | Fouls: 23 | Offside: 2
Rhode Island FC
Lineup: Koke Vegas, Grant Stoneman, JJ Williams (Amos Shapiro-Thompson), Albert Dikwa (Aldair Sanchez), Noah Fuson, Clay Holstad (Rio Hope-Gund), Frank Nodarse, Jojea Kwizera (Joe Brito), Maxi Rodriguez (Taimu Okiyoshi), Marc Ybarra, Karfia Yao
Unused subs: Kevin Vang, Jackson Lee
Line: Shots: 13 | Shots On Goal: 8 | Corner Kicks: 2 | Fouls: 18 | Offside: 2
