The Oakland Roots continued their most successful sequence of matches in club history with a 1-0 win over Louisville City FC on Saturday night.
All of the Roots’ nine wins this season have come by a single goal, propelling the Roots into second place in the USL Championship’s Western Division.
Last night’s result was the fifth victory in the past six matches, and the club’s fourth consecutive win at home. It was also the Roots’ third shutout of the season, after going 22 matches without having one.
This time it was especially challenging because Louisville is the league leader with 48 goals on the season, 12 more than the second place club. Last night’s match was the only the second USL Championship match where they’ve been shut out this season.
Louisville Has the Better Chances in the First Half
Oakland got off to a slow start in the first half. Louisville nearly scored in the 35th minute, when Ray Serrano appeared to have a clear shot on goal from just outside the six-yard box. But Oakland defender Camden Riley rushed into the open space and cleared the ball off the line.
Oakland also had another scare in first half stoppage time, when Louisville’s Jake Morris sent in a cross from the left sideline to Aiden McFadden. Goalkeeper Paul Blanchette came off his line and collided with McFadden, preventing him from getting a clean shot on goal.
After the match, Interim Head Coach Gavin Glinton acknowledged that his team got off to a slow start.
“They were able to pin us in a little bit in the first half,” Glinton said. “They’re obviously a very, very good team and they understand their system very well and they’re pretty fluid with how they move to it, whether it’s two or three forwards. We had a little bit of trouble getting pressure on the ball and getting wide.”
Oakland Takes Over in the Second Half
Glinton described the changes he made at halftime.
“We talked about making sure that our ball speed and circulation was a little bit cleaner, and picked up some spots that we were looking to hit them with,” Glinton said. “I think it was just a little bit more of a connection and us finding spots a little bit quicker for us to be able to break through. I thought we were a little bit slow and ponderous with the ball in the first half.”
The strike team of Lindo Mfeka and Johnny Rodriguez continued their run of excellent play.
In the 55th minute, Rodriguez’s cheeky backheel set up a shot for Mfeka from the penalty arc; but Mfeka hit the post.
The goal came in the 62nd minute, when Mfeka made a run into the box and slipped the ball by goalkeeper Damian Las and over to Rodriguez for the tap-in at the far post.
Blanchette was called upon to make a huge save in the 89th minute. He blocked Jansen Wilson’s header from close range with his chest and an Oakland defender was able to clear the rebound away.
“I’m so happy for our commitment, our attention to detail,” Glinton said. “We knew that team scores goals in bunches. And so, we had to be focused from Minute 1 to Minute 90. We had to live on the edge a little bit. I thought we did a great job, weathering the storm and turning the game a little bit more in the second half.”
Hot Weather for a Hot Team
This week, the Roots also overcame the challenge of record high temperatures throughout the Bay Area that prompted the State of California to issue an Excessive Heat Warning and Heat Advisory. Saturday’s high temperature in Hayward was 89 degrees, and it was 77 degrees at kickoff.
“I thought the guys did well,” Glinton said. “Obviously, anytime the weather changes there’s going to be a physiological adjustment. But, you know, our commitment and our ability to grind out that 90 minutes, especially after you go over some some nervy minutes there, but credit to the guys for being able to see it out and see it through.”
