Orange County 2-1 Oakland Roots
Well, that sucked.
Oakland came out in something resembling a 4-4-2, with the now typical back 4, plus Johnny Rodriguez and Brian Brown up top. The midfield was incredibly fluid: Ariel Mbumba largely stayed on the left side of the field, but Jose Hernandez, Max Ornstil, and Matias Fissore were constantly swapping positions in the center of the park, and Hernandez also regularly joined the front line. This movement was a tad disjointed early on, though it hardly mattered: Oakland’s early chances all came through the movement of Memo Diaz on the right. In the 5th minute, he dribbled out-to-in then found Hernandez sprinting uncovered out into a wide zone, eventually setting up an inviting cross (to no one, unfortunately), and then in the 6th minute Diaz hit two absolutely gorgeous crosses to Rodriguez. The second, in particular, deserved more, but Rodriguez’s first touch let him down.
The midfield pretty quickly got in gear. Oakland fired a warning shot in the 13th minute with some controlled buildup play involving several passes that went essentially uncontested by OCSC. Oakland’s lone goal, in the 19th minute, featured more of the same. The wrinkle in this move is that Rodriguez and Hernandez swapped positions (something they did pretty regularly throughout the match). You can see below that Hernandez has made a run through the box, and Rodriguez has filled the space in the middle of the field. OCSC has made the interesting decision to track neither of them:
When Rodriguez receives the ball from Fissore, he draws out an OCSC center half, requiring the fullback on the right to pinch in. Two easy passes (Rodriguez to Brown, Brown to Mbumba) get the ball to Mbumba in a dangerous spot, and not that OCSC tried, but there’s not a whole lot they could have done with this:
Roots had *at least* four more really good chances over the next 20 or so minutes. The movement in Roots’ midfield appeared to completely befuddle OCSC. OCSC also kept their midfield incredibly narrow, which meant that any time the ball was played out to Memo Diaz, the team was in scramble mode, and Oakland would usually have one or two free passes to see if they could make anything happen.
A 28th minute chance that, frankly, should have been Oakland’s third goal, was a particularly extreme example of this:
I mean, look at that space. There's no one within ten yards of Diaz, and no one who even looks interested in closing him down. And you can see up top that Rodriguez has started his run and the reaction from OCSC is...minimal.
Oakland’s inability to finish off its chances was part of its undoing. Orange County scored two goals from set pieces, one in first half stoppage time, the second in second half stoppage time. On the first one, Oakland made the intriguing decision not to put anyone at the far post, surrendering the freest of free headers.
Incompetent USL refereeing was the other part of Oakland’s undoing. OCSC’s other set piece goal came from Mikko Kuningas, who arguably should not have been on the field after kicking Jeremy Bokila during a dead ball situation. (I say “arguably” because it was a really weak-looking kick, and if he got yellow instead of red because of how pathetic the kick was, well, fair play to the ref, I suppose.)
More galling, though, was this beautiful Quincy Amarikwa goal that was taken off the board by an overly aggressive offsides call in the 67th minute:
Ayfkm?
And then this was somehow not a penalty in the 81st minute:
I mean, come on. This is unbelievably bad stuff. You might as well let the players call their own game if this is what we’re going to get. It’s too bad, too, because this was otherwise a fairly compelling contest between two sides that match up very well.
For Oakland, I think this was a game that showed both how far they have come, and what they need to tighten up down the stretch. You might recall that, during that run of games in which Oakland was basically wandering in the wilderness, we regularly documented here on the Blog that Roots would control the middle of the park, but generate only a few chances every game and simply not convert them. Well, they’re still controlling the middle of the park, and now they’re generating even more chances, but the conversion rate is still too low. Their one goal this match could have been 3 with competent reffing, and it could have been 5 with more clinicality in the final third. The four forwards we saw in Irvine are, I think, going to be given every chance to prove they have the cutting edge that can get Oakland over the playoff line. But it’s also clear that Roots believe they need goals from their midfield if they’re going to succeed. (See, for instance, Hernandez’s regular runs ahead of the forwards, and Mfeka’s start as the number 9.)
The bad news is that this loss probably puts the third spot in the division out of reach. Never say never, of course--I mean, who would have predicted Roots would follow up a 1-3-8 run to open the season with the current 7-3-3 run. And OCSC has a fairly difficult run in, including a trip to Laney. But realistically, 7 points is a lot of ground to make up in 7 games. The “good” news is that both Sacramento and Tacoma lost this weekend. So this will go down as a lost opportunity, rather than anything that puts Oakland in a bad spot.
Oakland now have a week off before hosting Las Vegas Lights, practically a must win. Let’s get it.
Oakland came out in something resembling a 4-4-2, with the now typical back 4, plus Johnny Rodriguez and Brian Brown up top. The midfield was incredibly fluid: Ariel Mbumba largely stayed on the left side of the field, but Jose Hernandez, Max Ornstil, and Matias Fissore were constantly swapping positions in the center of the park, and Hernandez also regularly joined the front line. This movement was a tad disjointed early on, though it hardly mattered: Oakland’s early chances all came through the movement of Memo Diaz on the right. In the 5th minute, he dribbled out-to-in then found Hernandez sprinting uncovered out into a wide zone, eventually setting up an inviting cross (to no one, unfortunately), and then in the 6th minute Diaz hit two absolutely gorgeous crosses to Rodriguez. The second, in particular, deserved more, but Rodriguez’s first touch let him down.
The midfield pretty quickly got in gear. Oakland fired a warning shot in the 13th minute with some controlled buildup play involving several passes that went essentially uncontested by OCSC. Oakland’s lone goal, in the 19th minute, featured more of the same. The wrinkle in this move is that Rodriguez and Hernandez swapped positions (something they did pretty regularly throughout the match). You can see below that Hernandez has made a run through the box, and Rodriguez has filled the space in the middle of the field. OCSC has made the interesting decision to track neither of them:
Big steppin’. That’s four on the year for @apoppa_. Roots take the lead.
— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) September 26, 2021
0-1 | #OCvOAK pic.twitter.com/5tswGHWcuN
A 28th minute chance that, frankly, should have been Oakland’s third goal, was a particularly extreme example of this:
OCSC eventually started pressing Diaz using Ben Mines, on loan from FC Cincinnati, to stymie Oakland’s buildup, and it worked. Oakland’s attack was dormant for the last part of the first half. After the interval, Oakland switched to a more single-high forward look, but had difficulty getting any sustained possession until bringing on Lindo Mfeka and Quincy Amarikwa around the hour mark.
Oakland’s inability to finish off its chances was part of its undoing. Orange County scored two goals from set pieces, one in first half stoppage time, the second in second half stoppage time. On the first one, Oakland made the intriguing decision not to put anyone at the far post, surrendering the freest of free headers.
Incompetent USL refereeing was the other part of Oakland’s undoing. OCSC’s other set piece goal came from Mikko Kuningas, who arguably should not have been on the field after kicking Jeremy Bokila during a dead ball situation. (I say “arguably” because it was a really weak-looking kick, and if he got yellow instead of red because of how pathetic the kick was, well, fair play to the ref, I suppose.)
More galling, though, was this beautiful Quincy Amarikwa goal that was taken off the board by an overly aggressive offsides call in the 67th minute:
For Oakland, I think this was a game that showed both how far they have come, and what they need to tighten up down the stretch. You might recall that, during that run of games in which Oakland was basically wandering in the wilderness, we regularly documented here on the Blog that Roots would control the middle of the park, but generate only a few chances every game and simply not convert them. Well, they’re still controlling the middle of the park, and now they’re generating even more chances, but the conversion rate is still too low. Their one goal this match could have been 3 with competent reffing, and it could have been 5 with more clinicality in the final third. The four forwards we saw in Irvine are, I think, going to be given every chance to prove they have the cutting edge that can get Oakland over the playoff line. But it’s also clear that Roots believe they need goals from their midfield if they’re going to succeed. (See, for instance, Hernandez’s regular runs ahead of the forwards, and Mfeka’s start as the number 9.)
The bad news is that this loss probably puts the third spot in the division out of reach. Never say never, of course--I mean, who would have predicted Roots would follow up a 1-3-8 run to open the season with the current 7-3-3 run. And OCSC has a fairly difficult run in, including a trip to Laney. But realistically, 7 points is a lot of ground to make up in 7 games. The “good” news is that both Sacramento and Tacoma lost this weekend. So this will go down as a lost opportunity, rather than anything that puts Oakland in a bad spot.
Oakland now have a week off before hosting Las Vegas Lights, practically a must win. Let’s get it.
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