Live Blog: Oakland Roots vs. El Paso Locomotive (November 5)

Welcome to Friday's edition of the blog's live coverage of Oakland Roots' playoff opener against El Paso Locomotive, typing alongside a rowdy group of supporters at Old Kan Beer & Co. Wish me luck.

Saying the season had its lows and highs are all too obvious; trailing in last place at 2-5-8 and climbing all the way up to fourth in the Pacific Division. Here we are, Roots fans, in the playoffs in the organization's first USL Championship season.

To the Soccer Gods, please don't let this be the Roots' last game. Helping build RootsBlog while getting to know the staff, front office, and supporters has been an indescribable joy. We don't want the season to end; Bloom and myself both put 2-1 Oakland victories in the universe in his official preview. Lawson, meanwhile, is going the late, heartache and devastation route with El Paso winning 4-2 in PKs.

John Morrissey predicted a 3-0 El Paso win in his annual playoff preview, noting that Akeem Ward and Memo Diaz could be X-Factors for Oakland.

Lawson's breakdown of El Paso's system made a key point that corresponds with Morrissey; if El Paso leaves space down the wings, Diaz and Ward could have a busy day ahead.

Locomotive prefer working down their left, through Eder Borelli, who will take up very advanced positions with regularity. This means that there is space to exploit on that side of the pitch. This may be Oakland’s most promising opening. I would venture to guess that a majority of Oakland’s most progressive actions have run down their right, through Memo Diaz, Jose Hernandez, and Chuy Enriquez/Johnny Rodriguez/Quincy Amarikwa. I doubt very much that El Paso is going to go away from what they do in order to shut this off. I think they will rely on their mids and left-sided central defenders to cut down Oakland’s movement in these areas. But these guys can be put on islands, and if Oakland’s passing is crisp enough they can get opportunities in front of goal

Scroll down for all the latest updates.

Key Events

Jordan Ferrell quotes

Initial emotions:

The biggest thing, and I’ve said this all along is that we take this one game at a time. That’s what’s gotten us here and that with that approach, we weren’t concerned about El Paso’s home streak, their ranking, our ranking, anything like that. It’s a match up of two teams and I think that it feels good to come here to a strong footballing side like El Paso, I think they’re one of the best teams in the country and to get a good result. It feels good but now we await the winner of tomorrow night.

On being overlooked:

They can keep doing it, I don’t really care. What matters is within that locker room right now and the fans that have been supportive of us all of season. People can continue to overlook us and that’s great but we’re not concerned with how other people see us.

On Bokilas impact off the bench:

It’s a tough thing to say because no player wants to come off the bench, every player wants to start and I recognize that as a coach. It’s a challenge for me selecting a group, but Bokila’s insertion in the second half made the world of difference. From closing their defensive line down, making difficult for them to play, to scoring the goal and creating a couple other chances too. He’s been massive, he’s a big member of this team.

On how the team came together midseason.

[Laughs] Like I’ve been saying, we keep missing sitters. Matias (Fissore) and Kai (Greene) had the other one, even Johnny (Rodriguez) has that first chance of the game and went wide. I think for us as a group, not having been a team for a long time, the early part of the season where we didn’t find success, there were a lot of challenges. It’s very easy when you come together and start winning and everyone feels that momentum. You rely on some veterans, you rely on very optimistic youngsters, and I think that mix and as well people who bought in and looked around and said we had enough to be a playoff team. That loss in Tacoma, I think that was the moment where things clicked and they looked in each other’s eyes and said “we’re good enough”. It’s a special group of guys and once we got to the part of the season where we were playing games almost every three days we found a good rhythm both in training and on the pitch and got good results and just kept going from there and it’s gotten us here and we’ll keep rollin’ with it.

Roots Goal

BOKILA SCORES, ROOTS LEAD 1-0 AT 76'!!!!!

Memo with a flick on with his knee to Bokila, sends it past for the goal. Oh. My. God.

Oakland strikes first! Jeremy Bokila!! pic.twitter.com/2iZupLlLl6
— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) November 6, 2021

El Paso Starting 11

Ｐｌａｙｏｆｆｖｉｂｅｓ.
Your Loco XI is ready to take on @oaklandrootssc tonight!

Kickoff is only an hour away! #VamosLocos #ELPvOAK pic.twitter.com/VhB53WdTST
— y-El Paso Locomotive FC (@eplocomotivefc) November 6, 2021

Roots Starting 11

Historic. First @USLChampionship playoff lineup.

Let's Go Oakland. #ELPvOAK #KnowYourRoots pic.twitter.com/cZ3oGZWsF8
— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) November 6, 2021

Timeline

Sub - 89'

Parking the bus. Max Ornstil and Morad on.

BOKILA GOAL - 76'

BOKILA SCORES, ROOTS LEAD 1-0 AT 76'!!!!!

Memo with a flick on with his knee to Bokila, sends it past for the goal. Oh. My. God.

Bokila sub on -74'

Biog body Bokila on for Johnny.

Blanchette save - 71'

Luna with an attempt saved by Blanchette, skips for a corner.

El Paso attempt skips wide for corner - 68'

El Paso gets a corner, ball in skips around the goal. Just enough of a touch to put it wide.

Quincy steals high, misses Chuy wide - 67'

Quincy wins possession high, can't find Chuy running down the wing.

El Paso attempt wide - 64'

El Paso's Luna with an attempt wide from above five yards above the area.

El Paso attempt wide - 62'

El Paso's Gomez with an attempt that skips wide.

Roots corner - 58'

After a nice pass in to Quincy by Memo, Amarikwa draws a corner.

Emrah attempt - 55'

Roots on the door step. Emrah a header on target on a beautiful pass by Memo in the 55th. Oakland pressing the action in the first 10 mins of the second half.

Memo plays behind - 53'

Roots with a chance to break into El Paso on a counter. Memo sends pass too far behind Quincy.

El Paso attempt wide - 49'

El Paso with an attempt skip wide. A terrible first-touch attempt by Gomez started things.

First Half Notes:

As pointed out in the El Paso breakdown by Lawson, a lot of passes into the area by the Locomotive. Oakland had an early attempt on net by Johnny Rodriguez tipped over the bar in the 5th minute, that was the Roots' best chance of the game.

Although El Paso is controlling the action and pressing in the midfield, as noted, they don't have many alarming chances.

Roots are holding 40 percent possession with five shots, one on target, and three chances created compared to El Paso's eight shots, one on target, and seven chances created.

Johnny draws foul - 42'

Free kick into the area skips around, Emrah Klimenta sails over a shot attempt on the volley.

Quincy draws foul - 38'

Free kick into the area by Jose, flicked on by Emrah. Nobody home.

Two attempts by El Paso - 36'

One shot blocked by Kai Greene. Follow up shot blocked.

El Paso corner - 29'

Ball bounces around, cleared out by Roots.

Nane yellow card - 26'

Longshot by El Paso, goes straight to Blanchette.

El Paso free kick - 25'

El Paso draws a free kick 20 yards above the area. Play in bounces around, shot blocked by Memo in a last-ditch effort.

Quincy draws foul - 21'

Quincy draws a foul about 10 yards above the area. Emrah lines up a shot, sails high.

El Paso tip over - 11'

Aaron Gomez with a tip over the bar after a ball in from the wing.

Roots corner - 9'

Roots corner, ball falls to no one. Akeem Ward skies an attempt.

Johnny attempt on target - 5'

Quincy wins possession high, feeds to Johnny--first touch shot tipped over the bar. Leads to a corner.

El Paso corner - 2'

Goes across area, no contact.

Talking Points

Roster decisions & dissecting Ferrell's words

It's never too early to talk about the offseason, right? As one Roots' front-office executive mentioned last week, Oakland's offseason has already begun. It's hard not to shift focus when the organization has an impending search for a new manager in addition to the high amount of roster turnover there's bound to be.

With Wal Fall and Soya Takahashi announcing they are on the outs after the postseason, it's clear that the club already has its wheels turning on its 2022 project.

Oakland's contracts are not public, meaning we're left to guesswork. Already needing to replace Fall's starting midfielder role, it would be a surprise if more core players can't be extended. The most obvious cuts are Zeus de la Paz, Tyler Blackwood, and Brandon Allen.

Given there are five holes to fill, will that spur Oakland into maintaining some of its current key contributors?

In our most recent interview with Jordan Ferrell last Saturday following the 1-0 win over Sporting KC II and qualification into the playoffs, the technical director made some mentions about rosters when comparing to the unique way Oakland made the postseason; mentioning how championship clubs like Phoenix Rising and Tampa Rowdies built a core group of players.

"There are some players there who are just some special human beings. Some players who have grown so much this year, many who have been injected midway through the season and have played big roles down the stretch, and other players who started for us who aren't here now. That's very different than Phoenix or Tampa Bay's situations where there's a consistent core of people.

"There's some USL clubs who've had stable lineups throughout the year and aren't in the playoffs... There's nothing like this group, and I wouldn't go into battle with anybody else."

If we're reaching for clues, it's logical Ferrell and Eric Yamamoto would want to keep a "core group" of the playoff roster and build a solid foundation of leadership heading into 2022.

On the defense, bringing back Kai Greene, Emrah Klimenta, Akeem Ward and Memo Diaz seems like a certainty. Tarek Morad began the year as the starter before suffering an injury. It wouldn't be shocking to see him offered a starting job elsewhere. With Travian Sousa and Tarn Weir, there's no alarming need to replace Takahashi.

In the midfield, Fall's departure creates an obvious candidate to find a new starter in the #8 type role. Matias Fissore, Joseph Nane, and Max Ornstil give Oakland solid depth, notably at CDM. Jose Hernandez has been confirmed to be on a two-year deal, while Lindo Mfeka is down with a season-ending injury and should be allowed time to recover. We're also hoping Ariel Mbumba's ultra-high potential is tied down.

For the forwards, with two Allen and Blackwood being obvious spots to fill, it will be interesting to see if Oakland brings back players with an intention of adding two first-team contenders. Johnny Rodriguez is among the longest-tenured players, Chuy Enriquez and Jeremy Bokila have clear connections to the fanbase, while Quincy Amarikwa is another leader, but could be the most expensive. Brian Brown returns to New Mexico from his loan, maybe he's a candidate to re-sign.