The Oakland Roots struggled through the first half of their East Bay match against Monterey Bay FC on Saturday, April 6, at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward. Despite bouncing back in the second, the Roots could not find the back of the net for their third straight match, eventually conceding a late goal and falling to visiting Monterey Bay 0-1.
Roots struggled to move the ball up the field from the outset, as Monterey Bay smothered any attempts from Oakland to form an attack. Monterey Bay had a few decent chances, but the Roots were able to do enough to keep the sheet clean heading into the halftime break.
Oakland looked much stronger at the beginning of the second half of play, pushing the ball up the pitch faster, pressing the opposition, and adopting a shoot-first mentality that earned them multiple top-tier scoring chances throughout the second 45 minutes of play. Despite the effective adjustments, however, the Roots could not convert any of their chances.
Against the run of play, and to the dismay of the boisterous crowd, Monterey Bay were able to take the lead in the 86th minute of the match, when Paul Blanchette couldn’t quite get his hands on a centering pass in the box. That left Monterey Bay’s Chase Boone all alone for the tap in to give his team a late 1-0 lead.
The Roots continued to apply pressure and nearly equalized multiple times during the waning moments of play, but the visitors were able to weather the storm and reach the final whistle still holding the lead.
Oakland will now head out on the road for their next USL Championship matchup to face El Paso Locomotive on Saturday April 13. The Roots will return to the East Bay to face NPSL squad El Farolito in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Saturday April, 16. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Talking with the head coach
After the match, Head Coach Noah Delgado was asked what went wrong for the Roots.
“We didn’t start well in the first half,” Delgado said. “I think we were giving away too many balls, making the game a real transition game that goes to their (Monterey Bay) style and what they can do. … Once we started to find pockets in between, finding players, and making good decisions, we had some really great chances. The second half I thought we did alright. We created some chances—I think we were solid. We knew transition moments were important. Their (Monterey Bay) goal came from a transition moment where we were attacking and getting a lot of momentum going forward. I think our initial shape was okay, I’ll have to look at it.”
Summary
Scoring:
- MB: Chase Boone 86’
Discipline:
- MB: Grant Robinson 48’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Neveal Hackshaw 60’ (yellow card)
- MB: Carlos Guzmán 76’ (yellow card)
- MB: Luther Archimède 77’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Daniel Gomez 90’+ (yellow card)
- MB: Mobi Fehr 90’+ (yellow card)
- OAK: Memo Diaz (full-time) (yellow card)
- MB: Jesús Enríquez (full-time) (yellow card)
- OAK: Neveal Hackshaw (full-time) (red card)
- OAK: Baboucarr Njie (full-time) (red card)
- MB: Walmer Martinez (full-time) (red card)
- MB: Carlos Herrera (full-time) (red card)
Oakland Roots
Lineup: Paul Blanchette, Niall Logue, Neveal Hackshaw, Gagi Margvelashvili (Miche-Naider Chéry), Daniel Gomez, Irakoze Donasiyano, Memo Diaz, Baboucarr Njie (Memo Diaz), Jeciel Cedeño, Trayvone Reid (Napo Matsoso), Lindo Mfeka (Johnny Rodriguez)
Unused subs: Etsgar Cruz, Javier Bedolla-Vera, Ilya Alekseev, Thomas Camier, Timothy Syrel
Line: Shots: 8 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 3 | Fouls: 8 | Offside: 3
Monterey Bay FC
Lineup: Antony Siaha, Kai Greene, Carlos Guzmán, Morey Doner, Grant Robinson, Rafael Baca, Mobi Fehr, Adrian Rebollar (Michael Gonzalez), Alex Dixon, Walmer Martinez (Chase Boone), Tristan Trager (Luther Archimède)
Unused subs: Carlos Herrera, Alejandro Lara, Pierce Gallaway, Jesús Enríquez
Shots: 9 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 6 | Fouls: 14 | Offside: 2
