Another stellar defensive performance and a pair of firsts propelled the Oakland Roots to their third straight victory as they defeated visiting Detroit City FC 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday night, July 5.
The Roots started the match as they have often in recent matches, outhustling the opposition and quickly dominating the possession game. Oakland spent close to the majority of the first 15 minutes of play in the attacking third, but found trouble turning the possession advantage into scoring opportunities.
Detroit flipped the script around the 20-minute mark, as they began controlling possession, working into Oakland’s territory and creating a few decent scoring chances, but nothing troubled netminder Kendall McIntosh.
The remainder of the first half was a dogfight at midfield. Both sides were creating turnovers on a rapid basis as neither could do much in the attacking portion of the pitch.
In the opening moments of the second half it looked like the battle at midfield would continue, as up to this point neither side had created a single shot on target.
But Oakland only needed one.
In the 55th minute, the Roots broke the deadlock when Panos Armenakas scored his first goal in a Roots kit, finally being rewarded after coming very close all season. A good setup pass from Ali Elmasnaouy found Armenakas at the top of the box. He had time and space to unload one on goal and beat the keeper just inside the right post. Elmasnaouy’s assist earned him his first USL Championship point.
Following the goal, the Roots stepped on the gas. They looked hungry to double their lead as they continued working into the attacking third and threatening the Detroit defense over and over again. Despite the pressure, however, the Roots wouldn’t earn another shot on target for the remainder of the match.
Fortunately, there are other ways to score. In the 86th minute, Gagi Margvelashvili created the Roots’ second of the night when a cross attempt from inside the box deflected off of Detroit’s Marcello Polisi and into his own twine to make it 2-0 Oakland late in the match.
Detroit didn’t earn their first shot on target until the 89th minute of the match, and by then it was too little too late, as the Roots continued to play solid defense and ran the clock out to secure their third straight win.
The Oakland Roots will be back in action at the Coliseum next Saturday, July 12, at 7 p.m., for the final match of their three-game homestand as they host Phoenix Rising FC in a USL Championship fixture.
Talking with the Head Coach
After the match, Head Coach Benny Feilhaber was asked, “What are your thoughts on the result tonight, the overall performance, and keeping it a clean sheet?” (See video, above.)
He said the result is “obviously very important,” noting that the work that players put into it “doesn’t always come with a result… It’s really nice when it does, because it gives you that added boost, that added confidence, that proof of concept. …It puts us back within touching distance of the playoffs, which is the first goal. But more than that, I thought it was a resilient performance, because in the first half it wasn’t pretty.”
Noting that, “There’s more than one way to win games,” Feilhaber emphasized that “keeping a clean sheet in that first half, when they kind of came at us for maybe 15 to 20 minutes… was important.”
Referring to changes in the second half, the coach said, “I thought the two subs at halftime were pivotal, and kind of what changed us in the second half.” He also emphasized the importance of shutouts. “If you get shutouts, more often than not you’re going to get results, and you’re going to get a lot of wins. And the defense has been resilient, 11 guys working to make it tough to get to Kendall’s goal.”
At the end of the day, Feilhaber said, “The biggest thing for us is just moving forward with the ideas, feeling more confident, more comfortable, the chemistry with the players.” Noting that there’s a lot of room for growth, he concluded that all in all it was a very positive result.
Feilhaber was asked about the big team huddle after the final whistle.
“I love doing that,” he said. Noting that he sometimes is not able to have a conversation with the whole team because it takes a while to get everybody in the locker room, the coach said, “It’s been something that I’ve enjoyed doing with the players on the field. …I think it does have that kind of sense of a team huddle, whether it’s good, bad, or ugly. It’s obviously great when it’s a win. … So, it was great to have that and then go see the fans afterwards.”
Summary
Scoring:
- OAK: Panos Armenakas 55’
- OAK: Marcello Polisi 86’ (OG)
Discipline:
- OAK: Wolfgang Prentice 35’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Ali Elmasnaouy 39’ (yellow card)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Kendall Mcintosh, Julian Bravo, Gagi Margvelashvili, Wolfgang Prentice (Daniel Gomez), Peter Wilson (José Luis Sinisterra), Panos Armenakas (Ilya Alekseev), Tyler Gibson (Bobosi Byaruhanga), Neveal Hackshaw, Morey Doner, Kai Greene, Ali Elmasnaouy (EJ Johnson)
Unused subs: Camden Riley, Raphael Spiegel, Julio Martinez, Luis Saldaña
Line: Shots: 2 | Shots On Goal: 1 | Corner Kicks: 3 | Fouls: 17 | Offside: 1
Detroit City FC
Lineup: Alexander Villanueva, Shane Wiedt, Darren Smith (Alassane Ates Diouf), Abdoulaye Diop (Haruki Yamazaki), Jeciel Cedeño (Marcello Polisi), Connor Rutz (Sebastian Guenzatti), Michael Bryant, Matthew Sheldon, Carlos Herrera, Devon Amoo-Mensah, Ryan Williams (Jay Chapman)
Unused subs: Dominic Gasso, Carlos Saldana
Line: Shots: 4 | Shots On Goal: 1 | Corner Kicks: 4 | Fouls: 16 | Offside: 0
