At face value, the 1-1 draw between the Oakland Roots and Tulsa FC at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday night might appear disappointing. However, a deeper dive into the game’s specifics reveals that the ingredients coming together, that necessary tenacity and desire, which portend Oakland’s potential path forward for a successful season.
“When you start throwing in two injuries, two substitutions in the first half, plus the red card situation, and to come away with a point against the defending Western Conference champion, when you zoom out, it’s a good night at the office,” said Roots head coach Ryan Martin.
Oakland’s eventual struggle was not evident at the start of the game, as Wolfgang Prentice supplied a dream start four minutes in. Roots centerback Michael Edwards delivered a long ball that bounced high into the air behind Tulsa’s defense and held up long enough for Prentice to run underneath and head by Tulsa goalkeeper Dane Jacomen and into the net for the early 1-0 lead.
Oakland had a golden chance to double their lead in the 20th minute when forward Peter Wilson was served a brilliant through ball, leaving him one-on-one with Jacomen. However, Wilson decided to try to one-time the ball past the Tulsa keeper and missed just wide of the net.
“I thought [Wilson] could have probably driven the goalkeeper and tapped that one in,” noted Martin.
While everything on the offensive side appeared to go the Roots’ way, multiple problems started to crop up on the defensive side. First, left back Julian Bravo was subbed out in the 13th minute for Neveal Hackshaw after pulling a muscle attempting a cross. Then, in the 40th minute, centerback David García also suffered an injury, forcing midfielder Faysal Bettache into the match.
The confusion in the back line might have led to Oakland’s defense’s third setback. Shortly before halftime, defender Neveal Hackshaw’s tackle from behind on a breakaway attempt by Tulsa’s Rémi Cabral forced referee Ramy Touchan to show a red card and make the Roots play the remainder of the game a man down.
Down a man and with injuries to two defenders, the Roots luckily had the halftime whistle to regroup. Martin, who encourages his players to take ownership of the game, fell back on a patchwork five-man defense proposed by Edwards.
“I think Mikey Edwards suggested maybe we go with Flo [Valot] and Tommy [McCabe] as a two and push five a little bit higher when we’re a man down,” explained Martin. “I thought it was a good idea, and I didn’t think of it. So it was an easy one for me to say, ‘Okay, well, let’s try it. That makes a lot of sense.'”
For the second half, Oakland’s back five of Wolfgang Prentice, Bobosi Byaruhanga, Michael Edwards, Faysal Bettache, and Jesús De Vicente proved successful in stemming most of Tulsa’s attack except for one moment in the 70th minute when Bailey Sparks was able to get onto the end of a cross and tie the game at 1-1.
“I thought that we did the best we could. It didn’t help we had some injuries. A lot of people had to play out of position, which wasn’t ideal, but I thought the effort was there, and I feel that’s important,” explained Prentice.
Despite equalizing, it never seriously looked like Tulsa would score the winning goal, especially with Roots goalkeeper Raphael Spiegel playing brilliantly, recording seven saves, many of them of the acrobatic variety. It was the perfect bounce-back game for Spiegel after serving his unsportsmanlike conduct red card suspension.
“You get punished for one mistake or one bad moment, and everybody in the world talks about it,” said Martin. “He owned up to his mistake on the goal and the red card in terms of the Orange County game. He took accountability, took responsibility, and all you can do is try to be better the next day. And that’s all I asked of him. And to his credit, he just worked, put his head down, and came back strong.”
After seeing out the match and earning the point, Martin had nothing but praise for his squad for fighting for the result.
“The resiliency of the group is incredible,” he said. “I just told them I was incredibly proud of the way they fought for over half of the game, a man down.”
The game left Oakland with many positives and the ingredients to continue growing and succeeding.
One is Michael Edwards’ leadership of the defense. With David Garcia and Julian Bravo both going down with injuries in the first half, and then substitute defender Neveal Hackshaw earning a red card right before the break, Edwards was masterful in directing a makeshift back line consisting mostly of midfielders to hold onto a result.
“We put a lot of pressure on him,” said Martin about Edwards. “Some people don’t rise, and they don’t make it, and some people do. He’s on the right path.”
With their defense rounding into shape, the next part of the Roots recipe for success is addressing the lack of finishing, particularly from last year’s Golden Boot winner, Peter Wilson. But Martin believes the goals are coming.
“That’s something that will continue to hammer. The good news is, we’re getting to the spots. Now it’s okay. How do we [take] the next step forward?” he said.
But with the result showing Oakland’s strength and resolve, the ingredients Martin has been trying to integrate into the team all season are starting to come together.
“I think it shows the mentality of the group of where we are, and they’re disappointed we didn’t get three points, quite frankly, ” said Martin. “When you’re in that mindset, and you compete like that, it’s a recipe for good things, we hope.”
