LV Lights vs. Oakland Roots - Match Preview (August 21, 2021)

Roots travel to Las Vegas to face the Lights at 7:30 p.m. on August 21, 2021, a game that will be broadcast on ESPN+ and theoretically KOFY TV (was the last game on there? I checked and it wasn’t…). The Roots also announced that they would broadcast in Spanish on TeleXitos.

Bon Voyage Danny

Oakland Roots legend Danny Flores has gotten called up to the ACC, departing the team for the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Flores has the third most minutes of any Roots player this season, which is pretty incredible, since he has missed two full games in a row. Flores scored the Oakland Roots first goal in the USL, this absolute beauty:



Flores’s name has come up regularly at the Blog’s daily editorial staff meetings for player of the season. He has shown flashes of brilliance, and seemed like a player who would really benefit if the Roots managed to improve the link from defensive possession to attacking possession.

That said, we wish Danny nothing but the best. We have loved watching the local youngster represent the Town, and we hope that he absolutely demolishes the ACC--a conference that deserves nothing but the worst. In particular we hope that he humiliates Clemson--a university built on land granted by John C. Calhoun, arguably the worst American ever.

We will try to keep an eye on his (Flores's, not Calhoun's) progress for everyone.

Last Match-Up

These teams last met on July 10 at Las Positas. That was the first match in Livermore that allowed fans. It was also the match where Roots starting lineup was announced as the players came onto the field, and then the team kicked off with a massively overhauled 11 with no explanation until a tweet several minutes into the game. This was somehow only the second most disappointing five-minutes-before-kickoff announcement of the season so far.

We recapped this debacle and the game itself in more detail here



Lights’ Form Since the Last Match-Up

The Lights have STRUGGLED since the win over the Roots.


[Source: FBRef]

There is no shame in losing to El Paso, who sit second in the most recent USL Power Rankings [link]. Losing to Sacramento (a team that has not beat the Roots in three tries) and to Real Monarchs (the worst team in the Mountain by some margin) is more suspect. Likewise, a win over Orange County and a draw to Phoenix are both quality results, but losing to Sacramento AGAIN and then getting played off the pitch by San Diego are . . . not quality results.

We looked at the match reports for those and none involved red cards.




This fixture will be the Lights’ third in seven days, which hopefully means they will not have a freshness advantage on the Roots.

Roots’ Form Since the Last Match-Up

Roots went into the last matchup alternating draws and losses over the five games following the win over LA Galaxy II. Specifically, Roots had not scored in four games going into the match, and had brought in Brandon Allen in hopes of shoring up the attack. Everything went off the rails with the COVID results right before kickoff, and the 2-1 loss to the Lights opened the door to four more losses on the trot. The first was really a sign of how much the COVID disruption affected the team, as LA Galaxy trounced the Roots 3-0. Galaxy II have five wins to their name, but the Roots have shown twice that the Roots are the better team. The 3-0 loss to Orange County was frustrating, and there were confounding factors.

The Roots form then really changed, even if their results did not immediately improve. They held Rising to one goal in a loss at Laney College, and lost 3-1 to Tacoma. The Tacoma loss had positive moments for the Roots, but was extremely disheartening at the time. It is worth noting that Tacoma came into that match 1-4-0 run, and has won both of their subsequent games, for a record of 4-4-0 since July 6. The fact that the Tacoma match was so heavily dependent on questionable refereeing decisions looks even better for the Roots given Tacoma’s subsequent victory over San Diego and drubbing of Orange County.

Maybe the Tacoma loss galvanized the Roots, who then shut out Sacramento in a mid-week draw at Las Positas, beat LA II at Merritt College, and gutted out a 1-1 draw against a team that is actually used to playing in the troposphere.

Roots’ form is the best it has been all year. They are playing a ton of games, and their legs may be in rough shape. But they finally have some rhythm to their games and some regularity in their starting 11.

Players to Watch

Cal Jennings # 26 - We highlighted Jennings in our last preview, but pointed out he likely would not play as he had been recalled by parent club LAFC. He did, in fact, play a full 90 against Oakland, recording 6 shots. He has started all six games for Las Vegas since the Roots game, and has netted three and assisted two in that time. Here are highlights of Vegas’s win over Orange County including a Jennings’ brace:



Predictions

Bloom - Roots are catching Las Vegas at the end of a rough patch that also involved playing twice weekly on occasion. The Roots looked tired at the end of the New Mexico match, but I suspect Ferrell will rotate where he can, and that a lot of that was the altitude anyway. Roots draw 2-2 with a goal in each half.

Lawson - Despite the circumstances surrounding the last match, Oakland looked competitive during the first half. Now that they’ll be able to field a full 18, I see no reason to think they can’t also be competitive in the second half. But I’m concerned about midfield fitness. The preferred midfield has been playing a lot, and I don’t know how much they have in the tank. Can the midfield control the game? For the full 90, I don’t know. I’m thinking a 1-1 draw, with the goal coming in a scrum following a corner kick. I’ll say Ariel Mbumba is the one to slot it home.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Oakland Roots Player of the Year Fan Vote

Oakland Roots Song & Chant Tracker

Live Blog: Oakland Roots vs. Orange County SC (October 16)