RootsBlog

The Oakland Roots' season came to an end on Saturday, November 13 at Championship Stadium in Irvine, falling 6-5 in penalty kicks to Orange County SC after a full 120 minutes completed without a goal being scored.  Oakland came in with a specific game plan to stop OC's Ronaldo Damus, and they did so up until the final penalty attempt. Roots' keeper Paul Blanchette stopped Damus' initial try but was called for encroachment, resulting in the Haitian National burying his kick.  Damus was repeatedly called for offside throughout the 120.  "Penalties, I love penalties. I look at penalties and say that’s our game. I’ll continue to think that way even though things didn’t go our way tonight. We had a good game plan and created some good opportunities. I certainly think that we did enough tonight to be stepping into the Western Conference Final, but that’s knockout football," reflected technical director and interim head coach Jordan Ferrell.  "You play to PKs an...

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 ...

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...