RootsBlog

Welcome to Saturday's edition of the blog's live coverage of Oakland Roots taking on Orange County SC from Championship Stadium in the USL Playoffs' Conference Semifinals.  We're not ready for this season to finish and are, once again, sending up a prayer to the Soccer Gods. It worked last week , please let it work again. Regardless of superstition, a divisional playoff matchup is what both teams wanted.  This is effectively the Pacific Division title with both San Diego and Phoenix eliminated. Anything can go down in a derby.  John Morrissey of USL Tactics writes that Oakland's x-factor is the creativity from wingbacks Memo Diaz and Akeem Ward.  For Orange County, Morrissey points out that Ronaldo Damus is the obvious man to stop.  Provided is Bloom's official preview of tonight's match where he highlights both team's meetings throughout the season.  Lawson also details Orange County is his latest running of "Know Your Enemy."  Oakland have f...

Oakland Roots, victorious over the Mountain Division champion El Paso Locomotive, will look to continue their playoff run against our old friends Orange County Soccer Club at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 13 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+ and KOFY TV.   Oakland’s History Against Orange County : Look, I mean, Orange County aren’t better than El Paso. Luckily, we have written some stuff previously on Orange County. June 12  - Orange County 1 - Oakland Roots 0 Preview Recap The Roots and the Blog were both still finding their feet when the Roots traveled to Orange County for just their fourth match of the season.  Ronaldo Damus scored the loan goal  July 31 - Oakland Roots 0 - Orange County 3 Preview Things to Watch Recap Orange County was already up 2-0 when Max picked up a questionable red in the 55th, and Orange County's third late was pretty meaningless.  The Roots were in rough shape here--this ...

Before we get to this weekend’s opponent, let’s briefly revel in last week’s win for Oakland Roots. Look at this goddamn picture: Source: Oakland Roots SC Put it in the Louvre. We don’t have a new enemy to get acquainted with this week, as Oakland’s conference semifinal is against old foe Orange County Soccer Club, the squad nice enough to do us the favor of beating LA Galaxy II so that Oakland could take the final playoff spot in the USL. This is currently the only playoff soccer being played in the state of California. We need a name for this, like the “Copa Calafia” or something. In many ways, last weekend’s opponent was the perfect matchup for Oakland. But we have plenty of evidence that that will not be true again this weekend. Orange County are on a bit of a tear, having now won 6 in a row. During that stretch they have surrendered only one goal. But if you were watching their quarterfinal matchup against Colorado Springs, you may have heard the play-by-play announcer say that th...

Keeping up with the USL as a whole is something of a struggle. With the exception of Akeem O’Connor-Ward, USL news does not make SportsCenter very often. For the Blog, I check FBRef pretty regularly, but even then it’s mostly research on the Pacific Division and whoever the Roots are playing that week. This article is my attempt to learn more about what is going on in the USL playoffs, and as long as I am doing that, to give you a little mini uh--I’m not sure I am permitted to say I am going to provide you with that, so like, here is a BlortsCenter--for the USL Championship playoffs. The Eastern Conference [Source: USLChampionship.com] [Source:  USLChampionship.com ] Eastern Conference Semifinal One - Tampa Bay vs. Birmingham Legion November 13 at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time. How Tampa Bay Got Here Tampa Bay Rowdies romped to an Atlantic Division title, racking up one shy of the best goal differential in the league. Tampa was only seventh in the league in goals, but had the best def...

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 ...