The Oakland Roots came out flat in their season opener, losing on the road to Rio Grande Valley 1-0. Here are three things we learned from the game:
Attack is very much a work in progress
After not returning their experienced attacking players from 2021, the biggest question heading into the season was who would score goals for the Roots?
Oakland did not have the most potent attack last year, but Wal Fall, Quincy Amarikwa, and Jeremy Bokila could get essential goals when it mattered.
First-year Roots head coach Juan Guerra started with a 4-5-1 lineup. Lindo Mfeka started up top, and the top three midfielder attackers were all new players: Juan Azocar, Charlie Denis, and Dariusz Formella. The team was able to have the slight advantage of possession for the game (51.6% to 48.4%). But they did little with it.
Mfeka, who often played the midfield last year, was a surprise striker for the game, where he received only one decent chance to score right before the half.
For the game, Oakland only had two shots. None were on target.
After the game, Guerra expressed his frustration.
“We were working on certain things for five and half weeks, and it took us too long to become who we are to become our identity, so that’s what hurts the most,” he explained.
Interestingly Jose Hernandez, an attacking midfielder in 2021, was positioned more defensively. Matias Fissore, who was the quiet strength of the midfield defense, was unavailable due to injury.
What does Guerra select next week when they travel to Memphis to take on 901 FC?
“We have to make sure that we are brave, that we have courage, that we keep the ball in the opponent’s half,” explained Guerra. “At times, we were too eager to go forward and be vertical, and it was at times not necessary. We lost possession of the ball too many times, and we want to be a team that can keep the ball. Today was a good test for us. We start thinking of Memphis, and we move on.”
Defense, as expected, is strength of team
One place where Oakland did improve during the offseason was in their already strong defense. Emrah Klimenta teamed up with former MLS player Alejandro Funmayor in the central defense. Memo Diaz and Hakeem Ward revised their roles as the wide backs.
The defense played a solid game except in the 34th minute. Rio Grande’s high-pressure forced Oakland defense back into their own box. A clearance from the new man on the defensive line, Funmayor, was intercepted by Rio Grande and quickly knocked to Frank Lopez found space in the box to shoot past Roots keeper Taylor Bailey.
But keeping a clean sheet on the road is particularly difficult, and Rio Grande converted their best opportunity.
It will be interesting to see if the same line is in place next week for Memphis, or Tarek Morad will get a chance to feature.
Who will be the starting goalkeeper for Oakland?
A bit of a surprise was seeing last year’s backup goalkeeper Taylor Bailey as the starting goalkeeper in front of Paul Blanchette.
Last year Blanchette took over the starting role from Zeus Delapaz and helped solidify the Roots defense that was leaking goals.
You have to suspect that Bailey must’ve impressed Guerra in pre-season. Despite Blanchette’s track record in 2021, Bailey was in the net for the opener.
Bailey did nothing wrong in his first start. He had no chance on Rio Grande’s goal. But the question is Bailey the new first-choice goalkeeper, or does Blanchette have an option to earn back his spot?
