Oakland Roots Postgame Presser: Full Quotes From Jordan Ferrell Following 2-2 Draw With Las Vegas

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It was a disappointing 2-2 draw for the Oakland Roots against Las Vegas Lights after conceding a goal in the 89th minute. Although Roots came away with a point, it left an all too familiar sour taste similar to their recent 2-1 loss to OCSC.

Technical director and interim head coach Jordan Ferrell's bitterness after the match was easy to sense. Perhaps some annoyance from having to answer questions added to a night of frustration. 

With an 8-7-11 record in sixth place, Oakland is still one point shy of a playoff spot but also one point up on Tacoma Defiance in seventh. 

It builds up to a critical Wednesday night at Laney between the Roots and Sacramento Republic. It marks the final match between the two sides this season and also the first time Republic returns to Oakland since they initiated the USL postponing June 19's match. 

Here is a full transcript of Ferrell's post-match press conference:

Your reaction from the game:

Ferrell: "We gave away two points tonight, for sure. We saw a couple of minutes before the end, it was certainly overconfidence from being up 11 players to 10 that killed us.

"You saw one ball in behind and all of a sudden Cal Jennings is one-on-one. It's not like they require a lot of positional attacks to be able to create opportunities. We had plenty of chances, balls fizzed across the face of goal. It wasn't like we didn't have chances. The PK is criminal on our side of things, but we're glad to be creating chances." 

Regarding the missed chances in the last two matches:

Ferrell: "It hasn't been up to snuff, we've put ourselves in good situations. Against OC, there were a lot of really good chances left on the table. Today, I felt like we created more clearcut chances to be able to finish. A lot of slipping and sliding out there tonight." 

On Lindo Mfeka's recent impact:

Ferrell: "His progression has been awesome. Having last year off, we knew it was going to take some work to get his engine going. You saw a couple of moments tonight where he can do things that other players can't do; whether it's dribbling the ball in tight spaces, playing one versus two, or seeing passes. I think it's our responsibility to put him in good positions and to really put players around him who understand what he needs. 

"He needs runners, he needs people attacking space for him to play people through. As the season has gone on, the relationship between him and others has progressed. And then we also have the ability to use him differently, we used him as a #9 against Tacoma, have sometimes used him as a #10, and then we can ask him to drop a little deeper when we need control.

"He's a super-intelligent footballer. Especially in the first half, there was a lot of good stuff from him. He'll be a really important player for us down the stretch." 

Regarding the team's mentality going forward:

Ferrell: "We focus on Sac. There's no looking at the table to determine how we feel. Every single game, we reset and focus on the next game. When we got done with OC, we started focusing on Vegas. This is a race, there are games going on right now that affect us. It's going to go up and down, if we start changing our emotions or approach based off of what the table looks like, three days later things can look very different. 

"For us, it's about coming back and sealing the deal against Sac and making sure we see out a 90-minute performance. There's really nothing else that we are looking at."




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