RootsBlog

Photo by Jonathan Comeaux. Yohannes Harish surrounded after his goal. The Oakland Roots got their first win since May 23 while under the sun at Merritt College, a 2-1 victory over LA Galaxy II. Town-raised players Max Ornstil and Yohannes Harish scored in quick succession at 25 and 26 minutes.  Oakland trailed 1-0 at 12 minutes after Jorge Hernández banged in a free-kick a foot above the penalty area, but Roots stormed back with some help of a red card against LA's Owen Lamb at 22 minutes. "Good overall performance from the team. We had to dig deep on our bench; a fortunate red card changed the game, I don't know if it was or not, but whatever.... It’s good to get on the win column, but hopefully LA Galaxy II isn’t the only team we are beating this year," said head coach and technical director Jordan Ferrell .  Ferrell believes we're starting to see the Roots roster come together and his favorite starting 11 formulating.  "A little tweak with Quincy [Amar...

Here is a full transcription of Oakland Roots' head coach and technical director Jordan Ferrell 's quotes following their 1-0 loss to Phoenix Rising on August 4.  Question: Initial thoughts on the game? "It's a beautiful night at Laney. We've been telling everybody this is what it feels like; this is what real-life is like for us here. I thought it was an amazing opportunity to show the whole world what the magic of Laney is like. Unfortunately, the result didn't go our way.  "I think we had better opportunities in the first-half, really. I think we controlled a lot of the game, but the game is built on moments and the time between them. In that moment, they took advantage of their chance." Question: Regarding the impact of Tarek Morad and Tarn Weir's injuries. "Obviously, you have your captain center back go down with an injury, that unsettles a team somewhat. He was a monster for us in the first half and basically up until that point [of hi...

The Oakland Roots took a 2-1 loss to the Las Vegas Lights in its first appearance in front a home crowd at Livermore’s Las Positas College, its temporary home through the next week of matches. The Roots felt the energy from its supporters after going ahead 1-0 after 24 minutes by Tarn Weir, but conceded to the Lights at 55’ and 74’ to fall behind.   “We’ve had a zero in the goals scored column for quite some time, and I think we made some very good chances tonight. A couple at the end, obviously in the first half with Tarn finishing—that’s a big positive for us. We’ve also not been conceding cheap goals and that’s something we’ve got to improve,” said manager and technical director Jordan Ferrell after the match.  As mentioned by assistant coach Chris Malenab, Saturday’s match was the first home appearance in front of Roots fans for nearly the entire roster.   “The home crowd is huge; for a lot of these guys, it was their first opportunity to play in front of the Oakland ...