RootsBlog

Oakland Roots' technical director and interim head coach Jordan Ferrell had one message to the organizations around the USL which have doubted them, "keep doing it."  "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," said Ferrell.  The Roots entered with the odds stacked against them at over 6/1 underdogs. And rightfully so; in addition to El Paso not losing a home match in 470 days, Oakland started the first two months of the season 1-3-8 without a home match at Laney. Things obviously took longer to jell than initially hoped for. "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 e...

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 ...

Against all odds, the Oakland Roots will travel to El Paso to face the Locomotive on November 5, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. PST.  The match will be broadcast on ESPN+. The Club El Paso Locomotive F.C. made their USL debut in the 2019 season.  Locomotive play at Southwest University Park, which is called (at least by the people on the Seriously Loco Podcast ) the "Swup."  Locomotive share the Swup with the El Paso Chihuahuas the San Diego Padres Triple-A affiliate (Tatis Jr. never played there, he jumped from AA to the majors). The Locomotive website claims that their colors are "West Texas Sky" and "Desert Dusk" and "High Noon Sun."  Oakland Roots' gear gets worn on Blindspotting.  Per their site, "the Locomotive is the engine that drives the train.  It is strong, loud and its booming sounds can be heard from miles away."   Anyway, their logo is pretty dope, but the color names are incredibly lame. Interestingly (I will not be reading the co...

Sun Tzu So here’s the thing about El Paso Locomotive: They’re really good. And they’re even better at home. Locomotive are 13-3-0 in El Paso this season, having scored 36 goals in those matches while surrendering 10. They are a thoroughly pedestrian 5-7-4 on the road, with only 20 goals for and 24 against. Unfortunately, Friday’s match will be in El Paso. El Paso's seriously dope  culture flag Roots enter the match at 11-8-13, though that record is somewhat deceiving. They are 10-5-5 over the final 20 matches of the season. If they had gotten results at that pace from the beginning, they’d have 56 points, and be hosting Colorado Springs Switchbacks this coming weekend. At the same time, during that 20-match run, Roots are “only” 3-2-3 on the road, with 10 goals for and 11 against. Their only road win in the “non-Las Vegas Lights” category was the 4-3 barnburner against San Diego Loyal. Locomotive play at a slightly faster tempo than Roots. Their general shape to start the season w...