Oakland Roots 0-0 San Diego Loyal

 

Oakland threw a bit of a wrinkle at San Diego, moving from their 4-1-4-1-slash-4-2-3-1 to a 3-5-2. The benefits were obvious: San Diego have three potent forwards, so Oakland made sure they were not outnumbered at the back. Likewise, utilizing wingbacks meant Oakland could transition quickly from defense to offense, and could commit extra numbers in defense without sacrificing offense.

The tactical shift, plus some brilliant individual play (especially from Jose Hernandez and Chuy Enriquez), seemed to give Oakland the early upper hand. On a few early occasions, Oakland outnumbered San Diego in midfield, enabling it to break the normally stout Loyal press. But despite getting the ball to the box early, Oakland asked very few questions of the Loyal keeper.

San Diego reacted well, though. After taking about 15 minutes to get a grip on what Oakland were doing, San Diego raised the tempo of the game. They also sought to use Oakland’s formation against them, sending their wingers wide to open up space between Oakland’s centerbacks. Douglas Martinez, Jr., in particular, sought to exploit that space to make run after run in behind Kai Greene. Greene held up admirably under the pressure, but these moves helped San Diego pin Oakland back. Loyal fullback Elijah Martin also got more aggressive about preventing forward runs from Memo Diaz as the half wore on, depriving Oakland of a much needed release valve along the flank.

Yet despite their possession advantage, San Diego had trouble generating decent chances. Oakland man-marked Loyal’s two holding mids, Collin Martin and Charlie Adams, as well as Corey Hertzog, Loyal’s #10 and one of their best players, following them all over the pitch. It was a team effort marking Martin and Adams, with Fall, Hernandez, and Rodriguez in particular getting in on the action. But Matias Fissore took the lion’s share of the responsibility for shutting down Hertzog, and he was magnificent. He would alternate between playing behind Hertzog to discourage passes into his feet, and occupying the space in front of him to gum up San Diego’s offense. This defensive pressure prevented Loyal from consistently stringing together progressive passes despite dominating possession, and Loyal eventually resigned themselves to playing a series of balls over the top, many of which were ultimately harmless. With notably rare exceptions….

The Green Wall, Paul. Incredible save by Paul Blanchette keeps the score level. #OAKvSD pic.twitter.com/sWgA9SVg2a

— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) September 12, 2021

The final quarter-hour of the first half followed the same script as the middle quarter-hour: San Diego dominated possession, but Roots would be able to nick the ball off of them occasionally. Neither team found much joy in the final third. The closest either team came to scoring was an incredible Charlie Adams volley in the 40th minute from about 25 yards out. Roots had a couple of opportunities, but could not connect the final pass.

Roots had two early sights of goal after the interval, but it was San Diego who saw most of the ball again in the early part of the second half. San Diego’s biggest adjustment appeared to be how they positioned their midfielders. Charlie Adams and Corey Hertzog set up much wider in the second half. Both started finding space to operate. Hertzog in particular had a lot of room to make runs out-to-in. This never hurt Roots, though, because Loyal seemed determined to play down their left (through Charlie Adams) and Roots were generally able to keep San Diego from switching play (to Hertzog). When San Diego played down their right, though, Hertzog was always ready to make a dangerous run, testing Emrah Klimenta.

All that to one side, San Diego had a golden opportunity off a free kick in the 54th minute. Oakland failed to clear, and the ball found Josh Yaro at the back post, who had gotten goalside of Max Ornstil. Blanchette stood on his head, again. Oakland could clear only as far as the edge of the box, and the ball eventually found the right foot of Josh Yaro (again) who put it just over the bar, and then jogged back down to the other end of the field with his hands out and eyes up, as if asking the soccer gods what exactly he needed to do to get those shots home next time. Two minutes later, Loyal won a free kick in nearly the exact same spot, and this time Collin Martin went for goal. Luckily, Blanchette was wise to that move.

San Diego tried to shake things up with substitutions in the 68th minute, bringing on Alejandro Guido for Collin Martin, which shifted Hertzog to a deeper role. This actually did allow Hertzog more time and space on the ball, but, on the other side, it also allowed Akeem Ward to get forward down the left, something he hadn’t done much of given his defensive responsibilities to that point.

The latter stages of the game also saw Emrah Klimenta bomb forward on a couple of occasions. My best guess for what he was seeing is that San Diego, given all the work they had done, was starting to tire. Klimenta made two notable runs, both of which ended with through balls that nearly got Roots on the scoreboard, and during both, Loyal players largely stood around flat footed. Indeed, San Diego’s movement dropped dramatically after the 70th minute, and Oakland clearly sensed the opportunity.

A 76th minute sequence was probably Roots’ best opportunity: Off a goal kick, Akeem Ward outdueled Oliver Larraz for the second ball, springing Lindo Mfeka (who had come on for Chuy Enriquez) down the left flank. Johnny Rodriguez made an underlapping run, ultimately drawing a desperate clearance that was tracked down by Fissore and recycled immediately to Wal Fall, who found Memo Diaz sprinting into the box from the right. Diaz fizzed a low cross to Mfeka, but it went out of bounds before Mfeka could control it.

Ward outdueled Larraz again just one-minute later, causing Hertzog to start shadowing Ward. That reaction caused a ton of space to open up on the left side of Oakland’s midfield, and the first person to take advantage of it was Emrah Klimenta, who made yet another adventurous run forward.

Oakland looked for all the world like a team that would score in the game’s waning moments. In the 79th minute, following another forward run from Klimenta, Wal Fall found plenty of space to dribble down the middle of the pitch. He squared the ball to Lindo Mfeka in the box, but Mfeka’s first touch was loose, allowing Loyal to recover. In the 80th minute, Kai Greene played a beautiful 1-2 with Memo Diaz, and got all the way to the corner, sending an inviting cross into the box that nearly found the head of Mfeka. Roots had two corners in the 88th minute that led to quarter-chances. In the 90th minute Loyal’s keeper came off his line but misread a bounce, momentarily leaving the goal open. Ultimately, though, Oakland could not slot home the winner before the final whistle blew.

A number of noteworthy performances. We here at the Blog are not generally fans of moral victories, but man. It is absolutely a sign of how far this team has come that, for 90 minutes at least, they looked the superior side to a San Diego Loyal squad that, to my mind, has been the second best in the division. If SportsCenter were covering this match, you’d see a lot of Paul Blanchette, and rightfully so, but I think every Root on the pitch last Saturday tangibly contributed. Some of my favorites:

Max Ornstil: Ornstil got a very early yellow (9th minute), but continued to play excellent defense in the middle of Oakland’s back 3. And in the second half he made two last-ditch tackles that had to be timed perfectly or else he ran the risk of a second yellow, and he executed each flawlessly.

Matias Fissore: I think Fissore’s defensive positioning in the first half did more to prevent San Diego from executing their gameplan than anyone else on the pitch. And then, over the last 20 minutes of the match, he was regularly involved in Oakland’s buildup play, always picking out a pass that allowed the buildup to continue.

Johnny Rodriguez: Rodriguez’s defensive contributions also played a role in keeping San Diego off the scoreboard in the first half, but his offensive movement in the second half was superb. He looked every bit a quality #9.

Emrah Klimenta: The Montenegrin has been a rock at the back for Oakland, but he stretched his legs in this game, and nearly always contributed positively when he marauded forward. I don’t know how many opportunities there will be for more moves like that, but it is nice to know what he can do as a spare man. Perhaps the biggest compliment is that Klimenta’s runs drew an almost immediate defensive adjustment from San Diego.

Also notable is how much harder Oakland ran in the final quarter hour than San Diego. You have to think that level of full-match fitness will help them nick a point or two they might not otherwise have coming to them.

On the other hand. All that said, the best scoring opportunities all belonged to San Diego, including a set piece in the 3rd minute of second half stoppage time that led to a shot from the middle of the six-yard box. Blanchette’s superb goalkeeping is, in the end, the only reason Oakland walked off the pitch at Laney with a point. It will be interesting to see what kind of moves Landon Donovan and Jordan Ferrell make for the next matchup between these sides, which occurs in less than 2 weeks.