The Oakland Roots had won three out of their past four USL games going into their match with the El Paso Locomotive on Wednesday, June 19, at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward, and they were determined to make it four out of five.
Despite going down early in the match, the Roots never lost their composure, looking like the superior team for the better part of 90 minutes in a 2-1 victory.
Just five minutes into the contest, the visitors found the back of the net when a poor clearance attempt from a Roots defender ricocheted off a Locomotive player and landed at the feet of El Paso’s Justin Dhillon, who buried a shot from inside the box to give his team a quick 1-0 lead.
Oakland’s defense never wavered after that. El Paso continued to play aggressively throughout the match, but their risky attacking style led to breaks in their back line.
In the waning moments of the first half, the Roots leveled the contest at 1-1 courtesy of Napo Matsoso, who corralled a deflection inside the box in the 45th minute and lasered a shot into the bottom left of the goal.
Looking to take the lead in the second half, Oakland made some key substitutions to try to build offensive momentum. That strategy paid off in the 72nd minute when Justin Rasmussen found space on the left side of the El Paso box and played a perfect pass across the face of the goal just out of reach of the Locomotive keeper. His pass found Ilya Alekseev who buried a one-timer into the top twine to give the home side a 2-1 lead.
The Roots found more offensive opportunities before the end of the match but were content to reach the final whistle still holding their 2-1 lead, giving the squad three consecutive victories—tying the team record—and four in the past five games.
Oakland now faces a quick turnaround, heading south to face Monterey Bay FC at Cardinale Stadium (CSU Monterey-Seaside) this Saturday, June 22. The Roots will return to the East Bay on Saturday, July 6, to face Louisville City FC at Pioneer Stadium in Hayward.
Talking with the head coach
After the game, Head Coach Gavin Glinton was asked what went well for the Roots. “Not the start, that’s for sure,” he said. “But everything after that went pretty well. It’s the guys’ commitment. Again, another tricky team. We had to deal with a lot of their attacking talent. Made some rotations today, and the depth of this squad is fantastic. I thought the guys communicated well, I thought we held on and defended when we needed to. We were tough as nails tonight.”
Coach Glinton was then asked about the team’s changing culture and how far he can take that. “That’s what we’re all waiting to find out, right? I think the guys have done a fantastic job right now,” Glinton said. “You know, we’ve had a good couple of weeks now. We’re just working on maintaining our level and being consistent. So, the next step is how long can we maintain our level? And the guys have been fantastic in their application. So, we continue to take steps together and we’ll see how far it goes.
Summary
Scoring:
ELP: Justin Dhillon 5’
OAK: Napo Matsoso 45’
OAK: Ilya Alekseev 72’
Discipline:
OAK: Camden Riley 19’ (yellow card)
ELP: Eder Borelli 34’ (yellow card)
OAK: Baboucarr Njie 38’ (yellow card)
ELP: Justin Dhillon 42’ (yellow card)
ELP: Miles Lyons 45’+ (yellow card)
OAK: Irakoze Donasiyano 78’ (yellow card)
ELP: Javier Nevarez 90’ (yellow card)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Paul Blanchette, Justin Rasmussen, Niall Logue, Thomas Camier, Bryan Tamacas, Camden Riley (Ilya Alekseev), Napo Matsoso (Daniel Gomez), Baboucarr Njie (Johnny Rodriguez), Etsgar Cruz (Jeciel Cedeño), Irakoze Donasiyano, Miche-Naider Chéry (Dominic Dwyer)
Unused subs: Memo Diaz, Ali Elmasnaouy, Kieran Bracken Serra, Timothy Syrel
Line: Shots: 13 | Shots On Goal: 7 | Corner Kicks: 2 | Fouls: 12 | Offside: 2
El Paso Locomotive FC
Lineup: Ramon Pasquel, Eder Borelli (Javier Nevarez), Noah Dollenmayer, Brandan Craig, Miles Lyons, Tumi Moshobane, Bolu Akinyode (Jeremy Garay), Eric Calvillo, Ricardo Zacarias (Nick Hinds), Joaquin Rivas (Petar Petrovic), Justin Dhillon
Unused subs: Javier Garcia, Javier Monsalves, Gonzalo Pelua
Line: Shots: 8 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 1 | Fouls: 11 | Offside: 0
