The Oakland Roots secured a crucial 1-0 victory over Western Conference foe Monterey Bay FC at the Coliseum on Saturday night, August 31, earning the full six-point swing to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Monterey Bay began the match playing a high press defense that initially stymied Roots, as the visitors were in command early in the match. But Oakland was frequently able to find wide-open spaces in the counterattack leading to a few decent early scoring chances.
The Roots were able to capitalize on one of those opportunities in the 34th minute when a throw-in from the left side of the final third was played into Faysal Bettache. Bettache delivered a well-placed pass to Morey Doner just beyond the center circle, and Doner weaved around a defender to deposit a low strike to the left side from outside the top of the box, giving the Roots a 1-0 lead.
Following that goal, the Roots took control of the momentum, and almost doubled their lead just moments later on a tap-in from Peter Wilson, but the play was deemed to be offside.
Oakland dominated possession in the first half, controlling nearly 70% when the halftime whistle blew. The Roots also held Monterey Bay without a shot on target through the first 45 minutes, while delivering three of their own, including the eventual game-winner.
The match became a grind in the second half, as both teams fought desperately to score. But despite good chances from both clubs, and a late push from Monterey Bay, the Roots were able to fend off a comeback, reaching the final whistle with their lead intact.
Oakland will hope to build a streak this Sunday, September 7, when they host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC at the Oakland Coliseum at 1 p.m.
Talking with the Head Coach
After the match, Roots Head Coach Benny Feilhaber was asked what he thought of the match and the Roots’ performance.
“I’ll start with the result being the most important right now in this part of the season,” Feilhaber said. “Today was a massive three-pointer for us. You know, it’s almost less about the six-point game against Monterey, but it’s more so about who are the four teams that we have to surpass to get into the playoffs. … From the perspective of the performance, I thought that we did a lot of good things in the first half. We wanted to make sure that we kind of came back to the way that we want to play.”
Feilhaber also noted that the Roots “did a pretty good job of still being proactive, still trying to go for it, you know, finding opportunities to try and get the second goal.” The second half started similarly, he said, but early on Monterey “started getting a little bit more of the game. You know, it’s not what we really wanted to do, but unfortunately we had to defend more than we would have wanted.”
The coach praised the subs, who “came in did an exceptional job of knowing their role, being influential, and preserving that result. …From the 80th minute on, so 15-20 minutes, I thought we actually were able to kind of get a grasp on things, not give up too many opportunities, keep possession in their end, kill time, kill clock, find some fouls, which is all a big part of seeing results out.”
Feilhaber called the second half “an incredibly professional performance,” but noted that he “would love to find us a different way of keeping a 1-0 result and maybe turning that into two, as opposed to suffering for as much as we did in moments in that second half.”
Summary
Scoring:
- OAK: Morey Doner 34′
Discipline:
- OAK: Morey Doner 23’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Julian Bravo 25’ (yellow card)
- MB: Pierce Gallaway 51’ (yellow card)
- MB: Tarik Scott 73’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Bobosi Byaruhanga 86’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Daniel Gomez 88’ (yellow card)
- MB: Joel Garcia Jr. 90’+ (yellow card)
- OAK: Panos Armenakas 90’+ (yellow card)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Kendall Mcintosh, Julian Bravo (Bobosi Byaruhanga), Gagi Margvelashvili, Daniel Gomez, Peter Wilson (EJ Johnson), Panos Armenakas, Neveal Hackshaw, Jürgen Damm (Wolfgang Prentice), Morey Doner (Camden Riley), Kai Greene, Faysal Bettache (Tyler Gibson)
Unused subs: Raphael Spiegel, Ali Elmasnaouy
Line: Shots: 11 | Shots On Goal: 5 | Corner Kicks: 4 | Fouls: 15 | Offside: 2
Monterey Bay FC
Lineup: Nicolas Campuzano Jimenez, Nicholas Gordon, Carlos Guzman Fonesca, Adrian Rebollar-Cortes (Anton Horup), Mobi Fehr (Xavi Gnaulati), Pierce Gallaway (Wesley Fonguck), Joel Garcia Jr., Tarik Scott (Diego Gutierrez), Sami Guediri, Luke Ivanovic (Paul Gindiri), John Klein
Unused subs: Alejandro Lara, Dallas Odle
Line: Shots: 15 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 6 | Fouls: 17 | Offside: 2
