Oakland Roots vs. Sacramento Republic - Match Preview (August 11, 2021)
Roots host the Sacramento Republic tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Las Positas College in Livermore. The game should be on ESPN+ and KOFYTV, for those not willing to make the trek. This is the first Wednesday night Las Positas match that the Blog has considered getting out to, and Google Maps only had the Oakland to Livermore drive at 38 minutes last night at 5:45. So maybe you won’t lose your sanity if you try to make it out there.
This is the rescheduling of the June 19 Roots Home Opener that surely anyone who reads this blog recalls was canceled five minutes before kick-off.
NEW SIGNING
https://www.oaklandrootssc.com/news_article/show/1177903
Roots have signed 33-year-old Quincy Amarikwa--a name we at the Blog have been hearing for so long we were surprised to see he never got a run out for the US Men’s National Team.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_Amarikwa#/media/File:Quincy_Amarikwa.jpg)
Amarikwa hails from Bakersfield, and was a standout player at UC Davis. He was taken by San Jose in the MLS Super Draft in 2009 (Fun fact! That is just about the halfway point of MLS’s entire existence). Amarikwa played all over MLS, his longest run of appearances coming for San Jose in 2015-2018. It was during this period that Amarikwa scored this absolute belter:
Towards the end the Roots got completely jobbed by a couple lousy offsides calls. Here are the highlights, such as they are:
Republic's Form Since the Last Match-Up
Republic are sit in the lower mid-table of the Pacific Division, which makes sense for a team that went winless between May 12 and July 14:
They have turned that around some in the last month, picking up two wins and two draws, including a draw against Orange County S.C., a quality team. That draw salvaged Republic’s season series with OCSC, having finished all four of their matches with a 0-1-3 record.
Here are highlights from Sacramento’s 2-0 win over Las Vegas lights, apparently filmed by a Weeble:
Tucker Bone scored a brace in that match, but has not even made an appearance on the bench for Republic since that match, so potentially he will still be out against Oakland tonight.
Sacramento’s 3-1 win over Red Bulls II also featured a brace, this time by Brazilian Luis Felipe:
This is the rescheduling of the June 19 Roots Home Opener that surely anyone who reads this blog recalls was canceled five minutes before kick-off.
NEW SIGNING
https://www.oaklandrootssc.com/news_article/show/1177903
Roots have signed 33-year-old Quincy Amarikwa--a name we at the Blog have been hearing for so long we were surprised to see he never got a run out for the US Men’s National Team.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_Amarikwa#/media/File:Quincy_Amarikwa.jpg)
Amarikwa hails from Bakersfield, and was a standout player at UC Davis. He was taken by San Jose in the MLS Super Draft in 2009 (Fun fact! That is just about the halfway point of MLS’s entire existence). Amarikwa played all over MLS, his longest run of appearances coming for San Jose in 2015-2018. It was during this period that Amarikwa scored this absolute belter:
We are especially excited the Roots have signed a player with a highlight reel we can link to.
Amarikwa has had a hard time getting game time since 2016, with only 20.6 Full 90’s in that time. We at the Blog are excited to see what Amarikwa can bring to the team. A rough offensive patch for the Roots has turned into an overall rough patch, but the team needs goals one way or the other. Amarikwa’s stint with Las Vegas Lights last season did not produce any goals, but he is obviously more than talented enough to thrive in the USL. Hopefully the time off from the constant grind of the game means there is some life left in Amarikwa’s legs.
Last Match-Up
The last match-up between these teams at Heart Health Park in Sacramento was a 0-0 draw. Matias Fissore came off injured early in the second half. Sacramento did not play great, but Roots could not conjure anything offensively. You may recall:
Last Match-Up
The last match-up between these teams at Heart Health Park in Sacramento was a 0-0 draw. Matias Fissore came off injured early in the second half. Sacramento did not play great, but Roots could not conjure anything offensively. You may recall:
Towards the end the Roots got completely jobbed by a couple lousy offsides calls. Here are the highlights, such as they are:
Republic's Form Since the Last Match-Up
Republic are sit in the lower mid-table of the Pacific Division, which makes sense for a team that went winless between May 12 and July 14:
They have turned that around some in the last month, picking up two wins and two draws, including a draw against Orange County S.C., a quality team. That draw salvaged Republic’s season series with OCSC, having finished all four of their matches with a 0-1-3 record.
Here are highlights from Sacramento’s 2-0 win over Las Vegas lights, apparently filmed by a Weeble:
Tucker Bone scored a brace in that match, but has not even made an appearance on the bench for Republic since that match, so potentially he will still be out against Oakland tonight.
Sacramento’s 3-1 win over Red Bulls II also featured a brace, this time by Brazilian Luis Felipe:
Roots' Form Since the Last Match-Up
The Republic match turned out to be the last in a line of stout defense performances from the Roots, who have conceded 12 goals in 5 consecutive losses since. Roots best defensive performance came against Phoenix Rising--one of the best teams in the league. Perhaps not coincidentally, that is the only game played at Laney College so far this year.
In our last Roots-Republic preview, we shared a meme expressing our concern with Roots’ goal-scoring. Well, in the five games since, the Roots have scored only twice. The Roots average 0.67 goals per game; the next lowest in the league is 0.87.
The last three matches have been extremely frustrating. The July 31 match against OCSC at Las Positas had the ambient tropical storm-level winds that meant Roots could not pass the ball in the air in the first half, and as soon as the Roots got the wind in the second half the Ref showed Max Ornstil an inexplicable red card. The Roots then hosted Rising and played extremely well, conceding a commendable single goal against the class of USL, and threatening several times. Finally, in their most recent fixture, the Roots were again foiled by dubious refereeing.
Notwithstanding this cavalcade of bad luck, the Roots need to play better. It has to suck to basically never get home games, especially when Laney College appears to make a real difference for the team. But the F.O. cannot seem to find a way to get games at Laney College, so the team is going to have to find a way to win without it.
Predictions
Bloom: Sacramento has only two clean sheets this season: the first game of the season, and the last match-up against the Roots. Sacramento won’t keep a clean sheet again. So help me god I will predict a 2-1 win to the Roots until it happens.
Lawson: I am having a hard time feeling optimistic, but I chalk that up mostly to the fact that I didn’t get much sleep last night. Roots have shown promise in recent weeks, but also I am loathe to predict that their luck will turn around, mostly because I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment. This season has cursed vibes, man. Add in to the mix that the health/availability of some key players (Morad, Hernandez, Weir) is up in the air, and the fact that wind is always a possibility in the Tri-Valley, and you have an unpromising brew. Plus it’s a derby, so the universe demands shenanigans. Despite my pessimism, I don’t think Sacramento outclasses Oakland at all. I’ll say 1-1.
The Republic match turned out to be the last in a line of stout defense performances from the Roots, who have conceded 12 goals in 5 consecutive losses since. Roots best defensive performance came against Phoenix Rising--one of the best teams in the league. Perhaps not coincidentally, that is the only game played at Laney College so far this year.
In our last Roots-Republic preview, we shared a meme expressing our concern with Roots’ goal-scoring. Well, in the five games since, the Roots have scored only twice. The Roots average 0.67 goals per game; the next lowest in the league is 0.87.
The last three matches have been extremely frustrating. The July 31 match against OCSC at Las Positas had the ambient tropical storm-level winds that meant Roots could not pass the ball in the air in the first half, and as soon as the Roots got the wind in the second half the Ref showed Max Ornstil an inexplicable red card. The Roots then hosted Rising and played extremely well, conceding a commendable single goal against the class of USL, and threatening several times. Finally, in their most recent fixture, the Roots were again foiled by dubious refereeing.
Notwithstanding this cavalcade of bad luck, the Roots need to play better. It has to suck to basically never get home games, especially when Laney College appears to make a real difference for the team. But the F.O. cannot seem to find a way to get games at Laney College, so the team is going to have to find a way to win without it.
Predictions
Bloom: Sacramento has only two clean sheets this season: the first game of the season, and the last match-up against the Roots. Sacramento won’t keep a clean sheet again. So help me god I will predict a 2-1 win to the Roots until it happens.
Lawson: I am having a hard time feeling optimistic, but I chalk that up mostly to the fact that I didn’t get much sleep last night. Roots have shown promise in recent weeks, but also I am loathe to predict that their luck will turn around, mostly because I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment. This season has cursed vibes, man. Add in to the mix that the health/availability of some key players (Morad, Hernandez, Weir) is up in the air, and the fact that wind is always a possibility in the Tri-Valley, and you have an unpromising brew. Plus it’s a derby, so the universe demands shenanigans. Despite my pessimism, I don’t think Sacramento outclasses Oakland at all. I’ll say 1-1.
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