The Oakland Roots failed to score once again on Saturday night, October 12, in a 1-0 loss to Phoenix Rising FC at Pioneer Stadium. The Roots conceded all three points to the Phoenix side.
Though there was little fanfare in the first half in terms of stats, the Roots at least looked like a team playing with a purpose. Despite that effort, however, it was the visiting side that had the best scoring opportunity through the first half.
In the 27th minute, a Phoenix header on a rebound looked destined to float under the crossbar, but Roots keeper Paul “The Wall” Blanchette once again earned his nickname with an acrobatic leap behind him to punch the ball away from danger at the last moment.
After the break, Phoenix looked to take over the game. In the 55th minute, they scored the contest’s only goal when Emil Cuello worked his way to Oakland’s back line and chipped a short cross in front of the net and found an open Tomás Ángel, who finished the easy header to give his side a 1-0 lead.
The Roots looked better on the field than in the past few matches, but their scoring woes continued. Oakland failed to put a notch in the goal column for the sixth time in their last seven games and skittered to the 90-minute mark still trailing by one.
The Roots have two remaining contests left in the USL Championship regular season, as the playoff push intensifies. The squad will now face Las Vegas Lights FC at Cashman Field in Las Vegas this Saturday, October 19 before returning home for their final regular season match versus Birmingham Legion FC on Oct ober 26 at Pioneer Stadium.
Summary
Scoring:
- PHX: Tomás Ángel 55′
Discipline:
- OAK: Memo Diaz (yellow) 38′
- OAK: Johnny Rodriguez (yellow) 68′
- PHX: Pape Boye (yellow) 68′
- OAK: Gagi Margvelashvili (yellow) 70′
- PHX: Tomás Ángel (yellow) 73′
- PHX: Charlie Dennis (yellow) 90′ +
Oakland Roots
Lineup: Paul Blanchette, Camden Riley, Neveal Hackshaw, Gagi Margvelashvili, Baboucarr Njie, Daniel Gomez (Luis Sinisterra), Rafael Baca (Irakoze Donasiyano), Memo Diaz, Trayvone Reid (Miche-Naider Chéry), Dom Dwyer (Justin Rasmussen), Johnny Rodriguez.
Unused subs: Etsgar Cruz, Ilya Alekseev, Thomas Camier, Tim Syrel.
Line: Shots: 11 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 2 | Fouls: 12 | Offside: 1
Phoenix Rising FC
Lineup: Patrick Rakovsky, Pape Boye, Laurence Wyke, Alejandro Fuenmayor, Edgardo Rito (John Scearce), Giulio Doratiotto (Mohamed Traore), Charlie Dennis, Emil Cuello, Renzo Zambrano, Tomás Ángel, Dariusz Formella (Jose Hernandez).
Unused subs: Rocco Rios Novo, Federico Varela, Jamison Ping, Christopher Grote.
Line: Shots: 5 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 4 | Fouls: 17 | Offside: 1
