The Oakland Roots [1] played up to their competition once again on Saturday at the Coliseum in a 1-1 draw versus Western Conference leaders FC Tulsa, earning an important point in the standings as the end of the season draws near and the playoff push intensifies.
[2]Oakland started the match looking like they understood the importance of the outcome, moving the ball quickly and decisively in the initial phases of the match, making good runs, and attempting to use burst speed down the wings to create space for their attack. That game plan worked well, as the Roots created a number of truly dangerous scoring chances early in the match.
The Roots capitalized on their hot start 23 minutes into the contest when Peter Wilson continued his hot scoring streak, finding room in the Tulsa box to receive a cross from Wolfgang Prentice. Wilson finished the tap-in for his club-leading 10th goal of the season and putting the Roots up 1-0.
Only one of Tulsa’s 12 first-half shot attempts found their way to Raphael Spiegel, while two rang the crossbar. Roots looked willing to allow volume offense from Tulsa while limiting the quality of those chances in order to open their own offense by allowing their wingbacks to push up.
Tulsa opened the second half looking better than they did in the first, and leveled the match in the 51st minute when Taylor Calheira forced a turnover on the left side of Oakland’s defensive third, taking the ball into the box himself before firing a low strike to the opposite side to beat Spiegel and make it 1-1.
The Roots struggled to repeat their offensive push from the first half, but found a groove late in the second, putting some balls in dangerous areas as time dwindled — and limited Tulsa’s chances as well.
At the final whistle, both sides were still deadlocked at 1-1, giving the Roots their second straight draw versus two top-tier opponents. While a draw isn’t as flashy as a win, it did push the Roots in the right direction for their late playoff run. It also provides an opportunity for the Roots to make their next match extremely consequential.
The Roots will now head out on the road to face current eighth-place Western Conference side Phoenix Rising in a huge six-point swing game which could go a long way in determining the playoff picture in the West. That game is scheduled for September 27 at 7 p.m. Pacific time [3].
Talking with the Head Coach
After the match, Head Coach Benny Feilhaber offered some thoughts on the Roots’ performance. (See the video for the full interview.)
“I thought the performance was pretty good, Feilhaber said. “I thought we started well. Hell of a first goal, really good ball from Wolfie, and unbelievable run and finish from Peter. …I thought we had some moments in the first half, even before the goal, that we looked like a very dangerous side, the aggressor in the game for the most part. …This is something that takes time, it takes work, it takes confidence. And we’re a team that’s still, you know, teetering. …We’ve had some good results, and we’ve looked like a better team as of late, but at the end of the day, results go a long way into making a group of guys believe that they can continue to go after a second goal and not necessarily give up a tying one.”
Feilhaber revealed that “the conversation at halftime was ‘we’re not going to win this game 1-0. We need to go and get a second goal and a third goal. And we’ve got to play the way that we want to play regardless of the score right now.’”
But the team was “still a bit tentative in the first few minutes” of the second half, Feilhaber said. “It’s one thing to ask the team to play a certain way. It’s a much harder thing to be able to follow through on the field when the other team is imposing their will, and they’re one of the top teams in the league, and they’re there for a reason. …So that’s one thing that we’re missing—the ability to continue to play on the front foot, which we’ve seen from our group at times, but not necessarily enough, especially when we’re winning the game.”
The coach said the Roots are definitely headed toward their goal, but “I just don’t know if we have enough runway anymore. So, it’ll be interesting to see how we react in these two games that we have on the road, back-to-back. That will play a big part in where we’re at.”
Summary
Scoring:
- OAK: Peter Wilson 23’
- TUL: Taylor Calheria 54’
Discipline:
- TUL: Owen Damm 42’ (yellow card)
- TUL: Boubacar Diallo 59’ (yellow card)
- TUL: Delentz Pierre 82’ (yellow card)
- TUL: Eliot Goldthorp 89’ (yellow card)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Gagi Margvelashvili, Daniel Gomez, Wolfgang Prentice (EJ Johnson), Peter Wilson, Panos Armenakas, Neveal Hackshaw, Bobosi Byaruhanga, Morey Doner (Jürgen Damm), Raphael Spiegel, Ali Elmasnaouy (Tyler Gibson), Faysal Bettache (Danny Trejo)
Unused subs: Kendall Mcintosh, Julian Bravo, Camden Riley
Line: Shots: 12 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 5 | Fouls: 9 | Offside: 1
FC Tulsa
Lineup: Owen Damm (Eliot Goldthorp), Travian Sousa (Harvey St. Clair), Delentz Pierre, Boubacar Diallo, Jamie Webber (Trevor Amann), Taylor Calheira, Lucas Stauffer, Alexander Dalou (Stefan Lukic), Giordano Colli, Abdoulaye Cissoko (Lamar Batista), Johan Penarada
Unused subs: Andrew Booth, Cole Johnson
Line: Shots: 18 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 11 | Fouls: 18 | Offside: 0