For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.

So, off the top, we have to give a big shout-out to Roots leadership for the watch party they put on. They definitely made the best of a bad situation. On to the recap. I have to warn you, it was not the most exciting game.

Roots set up in a 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond. The narrow midfield was likely due to the narrow pitch at Las Positas College, our venue for the match. I believe the center backs were Klimenta and Morad, with Ornstil occupying the #6 role at the base of the diamond, but on TV the numbers on Oakland’s silver kits are unreadable, and from a distance all three look the same. A humble request to these three from the Blog: Please dye your hair different colors so we can tell you apart. Anyway, Akeem Ward played right back, with Soya Takahashi on the left. Chuy Enriquez and Danny Flores played up front (Tyler Blackwood was injured and not in the match day squad), and the other three in midfield were Fissore, Mbumba, and Mfeka.

Austin Bold were very comfortable sending balls over the top to their forward line, which helped Austin pin Oakland deep in their own end for the first quarter hour of the match, though, portending how the game as a whole would play out, they failed to generate many dangerous chances. The nerviest moment of that stretch came in the 11th minute, when Bold’s Diouf got in behind Akeem Ward and put in a cross that found the foot of a Bold teammate, but the shot went wide.

It was not until the 19th minute that Oakland enjoyed any extended possession in their own offensive half, but they did not find any success. In fact, Roots’ only on-target effort of the entire game came in the 22nd minute, from outside the box off the foot of Enriquez. 

From there until the halftime whistle the game remained evenly poised. Roots found some success clogging up the midfield, but they were frequently betrayed by their first touch. And Austin seemed to prevent Akeem Ward from finding much joy on offense by sending runners at him, specifically Diouf and Hinds, forcing him to remain back. Without Ward’s forward runs, or much consistent possession, Oakland asked almost no questions of the Bold defense.

On the other hand, Austin did create a few chances, testing Zeus de la Paz on his first game back from international duty with Curacao. Zeus passed nearly every test with flying colors, including a great diving save in the 36th minute to keep out a header generated off a corner kick.

Austin also enjoyed most of the ball in the first quarter hour of the second half. Just 32 seconds into the second half, Zeus gave the ball away to Bold’s Sean Okoli just outside the 18-yard-box, eliciting a drawn out “oh my god” from the ESPN+ color commentator. This time, however, it was Bold’s first touch that let them down, as a heavy first touch gave Zeus enough space to rescue the situation. Zeus would go ahead and totally redeem himself just two minutes later with a great save to keep Austin off the scoreboard. 

Jordan Farrell made two offensively minded subs at the hour mark, bringing on Kai Greene for Ornstil, and Jeremy Bokila for Ariel Mbumba. Greene’s introduction pushed Ward into the midfield, allowing him more freedom to get forward, and Bokila obviously set up shop in the front line as a target man. After the changes Roots started to play on the front foot, and generated several half chances over the next 19 minutes or so, but, as was typical of the evening, they put nothing on target, and their two most promising attacks didn’t even result in shots: In the 70th minute Ward makes a dangerous run into the box, but can’t find the end of a Takahashi cross. In the 77th minute Takahashi makes a deep run, but his cross to Enriquez is off by a couple of feet, and the moment passes.

Austin regained the initiative for much of the rest of the game, but Oakland very nearly secured victory in the first minute of second half stoppage time: Danny Flores received the ball in the middle of the pitch, played it out wide to Memo Diaz (who had come on for Ward in the 83rd minute), and then sprinted unmarked towards the six-yard box. Diaz lofted what appeared to be an inch perfect cross to him, but a Bold defender made a desperate, game-saving tackle to prevent a shot from point-blank range. Were we in a world with VAR, I imagine that would have been checked, as the defender wiped out Flores in addition to clearing the ball:

So the game ends in a 0-0 draw. What are the big takeaways?

So…the offense. 

The Roots have now gone 204 minutes without scoring. And for large stretches of this game they didn’t even look threatening. The Blog’s early assessment was that Tyler Blackwood was underwhelming in the middle of the front line, but perhaps we need to reconsider that stance. The quick turnaround before Tuesday’s game against San Diego might not be enough time to find answers, though maybe more game time will be enough to bring Oakland to life. At least San Diego has been a little leaky at the back, surrendering 17 goals in 10 games so far. 

Zeus’s triumphant return. Zeus made a few jaw-dropping errors early in the season, but he looked, for the most part, very collected against Austin, and in command of the 18-yard box. Austin Bold asked very few difficult questions of Zeus, but he did make two terrific saves. The near howler in the 46th minute was almost a disaster, but a clean sheet is a clean sheet.

Ornstil at the #6. This is the second straight match in which Ornstil has moved into the defensive midfield role. We are fans of this for several reasons. First, it lets Fissore move up. Fissore is clearly Roots’ most well-rounded midfielder, and his ability to recycle possession further up the pitch will pay dividends at some point, even if it didn’t yesterday. I think it also helps Roots defensively to have a third natural CB provide defensive cover when the fullbacks maraud forward.

But about those fullbacks. It is clear that Jordan Farrell wants to play Akeem Ward at right back. And I get it: It’s his natural position, he’s right footed, etc. But the offense has looked so much more fluid with him on the left and Memo Diaz at right back. Takahashi made some decent runs from left back in this game, but he doesn’t seem to have the same flair, or the same chemistry with the left-sided midfielders and forwards, that Ward has. At the same time, Takahashi put in a shift on defense, and it seems like Farrell really values that at the moment. Something will need to change though. The fullbacks are providing all of the offensive width in this system, so any turnaround on offense starts with them. And at some point Oakland will need to score.