Las Vegas Lights vs. Oakland Roots (July 10, 2021) - Match Preview

 The Roots host the Las Vegas Lights at 7:00 p.m. at Las Positas College in <checks notes> Livermore, California.  If you think the Roots playing in Livermore means that we’re going to give the Central Valley and the rest of the non-Bay Western United States less shit, you are 100% wrong.  Our takes are only going to get worse.

The Club

The Las Vegas Lights Football Club was founded in 2018 and have played all of their seasons in the USL.  Their erstwhile rival Reno 1868 (former employer of familiar faces Emrah Klimenta, Chuy Enriquez, Tucker Bone and Duke Lacroix) folded last year, leaving them in the market for a new rival.  Lights are the passion project of Brett Lashbrook, owner and General Manager, who served as Special Assistant to the Commissioner’s Office & Legal Counsel for Major League Soccer, and apparently also was COO for Orlando City SC’s transition from USL to MLS.  Lashbrook’s bio states that his extended family has called Las Vegas home for nearly 20 years.  Readers, it is hard for me to decide which of those three facts is the most concerning.  The Lights are on a one-year affiliation deal with LAFC, making them sorta like Will Ferrell’s weird nephew or second-cousin.  

The Lights play at Cashman Field, which Wikipedia tells me, without attribution, was named for “Big Jim” Cashman, and his family, who have been Las Vegas entrepreneurs for several generations.  It is imperative that you never follow someone named “Big Jim Cash-Man” to a second location.  You will not escape with the preferred number of vital organs.  Apparently the Lights do cash-drop promotions, one of which resulted in an FAA violation in 2019.

The Lights are currently coached by Steve “most successful American in the Bundesliga between 1945 and 2018” Cherundolo.  The Blog has nothing bad to say about Cherundulo, who we wish all the best during his three-year residency at “Big Jim” Cashman Field.  The Lights were previously coached by Eric Wynalda, and the Blog has so many bad things to say about Eric Wynalda that we can’t pick one--all the bad things are trying to crowd through the same doorway at the same time and preventing any one from getting through. 

2021 Season So Far

The Lights are off to a rocky start to their 2021 campaign with ten points from ten matches.  They sit sixth in the Pacific Division, four points ahead of the Roots, with three more games played.  Their goal differential is a truly remarkable -11. The worst in the USL.  The Lights won their last match 1-0 over Tacoma Defiance at "Big Jim" Cashman Field, but that came after back-to-back losses to SD Loyal and Orange County.  To their credit, the Lights have not been shut out since late May.  I wonder what that’s like.  Sounds nice.  

Players to Watch

Chinenye “CC” Uche # 4 - 23-year-old American defender Uche has captained the Lights in six of their ten fixtures to date.  Per Wikipedia, Uche has played only 14 professional games, during and following several years at the collegiate level.  Uche is a tall-ish defender who was selected by parent-club LAFC 41st overall in the MLS Super Draft.  

Daniel Crisotomo # 8 - Crisotomo has played every minute of the Lights’ season.  The 24-year-old American captained the Lights on the four occasions Uche did not.  Crisotomo is a deeper-lying midfielder who played four years for UC Irvine, and spent the last two seasons with Orange County SC.  

Cal Jennings # 26 - Joint lead-scorer for the Lights with three, we do not expect to see Jennings in the match-up, as his last two matches have been on recall to parent club LAFC. I misread his name as CAT Jennings and had a whole riff here on Kat Dennings and Arsenal-legend Pat Jennings, but now no one gets to have it.  See screenshot of tweet above. 

Daniel Musovski # 16 - Native of nearby Henderson, Nevada and joint lead-scorer for the Lights with three, with an assist to boot.  Musovski has moved between LV and LAFC on seven separate occasions this season, a drive many Angelenos with gambling problems are familiar with.  Musovski scored the game’s only goal in LV’s recent win over Tacoma, pouncing on a loose ball in the box that had been pried free from the defense by Molina on the high press.

If these players seem young, it’s not because of sample size.  The Lights are a young team.  The Roots’ average player age is 26.  The Lights only have one player over 26 years old.

Predictions

FPR

At this point how do you predict anything other than a 0-0 draw?  Roots are going to utilize the thus-far-only-experimental 7-3-0 formation, developed in a Greek lab before the 2000 Euros.  I predict a 0-0 draw--as I have yet to be correct on a prediction, this should get someone at least one goal in this match.  It could also get us another cancelation.  Please see tweet above. 

RootsBlog

As I noted before the last match, Roots are swinging exclusively between 0-0 draws and 0-1 losses, and friends, it's time for a 0-1 loss. Now, I hear what you're saying: Surely Oakland won't go scoreless against a side that has surrendered 24 goals in 10 matches. To which I say: Yes they can. And don't call me Shirley. Vegas is coming off a 1-0 win over Tacoma Defiance, which is sort of like the universe providing proof of concept for a scoreline that seemed impossible until last Saturday. I'm going to pick Vegas to repeat that "feat" again tonight. But I am an optimist: I also think Oakland will get upwards of 2 shots on goal in this one.