Oakland Roots played host to Tacoma Defiance Wednesday night for their second to last game at their alternate venue at Las Positas College in Livermore, California. Having split their first two meetings, with the most recent being a 3-1 win in late August, the game had major playoff indications with Tacoma holding the last playoff spot and Roots only being 6 points behind them. Roots got on the scorecard early with a goal from Lindo Mfeka in the 10th minute, his first of the season. From there they controlled possession for the majority of the half until Tacoma’s Ray Serrano netted the equalizer in the 32nd minute. With the game level again, the offense pushed again more into the attacking third and Wal Fall scored his fourth goal of the season off a beautiful ball from Mfeka in the 40th to put Roots back up going into the half.
The squad got off to a hot start in the second half with Lindo Mfeka scoring his second goal in the 52nd minute. Roots continued to press Tacoma, constantly finding themselves in the attacking third for the rest of the game. Mfeka nearly had a hat trick with an attempt that went wide. With 20 minutes left in the game, Head Coach Jordan Ferrell made some defensive moves to ensure the win, bringing in Tarn Weir and Max Ornstil for Mfeka and Mbumba to close out the game.
Roots are now sitting in fifth place and only three points back from the fourth playoff spot. They host LA Galaxy II this Saturday, 9/18 for Climate Night at Laney College.
Oakland Roots played host to Tacoma Defiance Wednesday night for their second to last game at their alternate venue at Las Positas College in Livermore, California. Having split their first two meetings, with the most recent being a 3-1 win in late August, the game had major playoff indications with Tacoma holding the last playoff spot and Roots only being 6 points behind them. Roots got on the scorecard early with a goal from Lindo Mfeka in the 10th minute, his first of the season. From there they controlled possession for the majority of the half until Tacoma’s Ray Serrano netted the equalizer in the 32nd minute. With the game level again, the offense pushed again more into the attacking third and Wal Fall scored his fourth goal of the season off a beautiful ball from Mfeka in the 40th to put Roots back up going into the half.
The squad got off to a hot start in the second half with Lindo Mfeka scoring his second goal in the 52nd minute. Roots continued to press Tacoma, constantly finding themselves in the attacking third for the rest of the game. Mfeka nearly had a hat trick with an attempt that went wide. With 20 minutes left in the game, Head Coach Jordan Ferrell made some defensive moves to ensure the win, bringing in Tarn Weir and Max Ornstil for Mfeka and Mbumba to close out the game.
Roots are now sitting in fifth place and only three points back from the fourth playoff spot. They host LA Galaxy II this Saturday, 9/18 for Climate Night at Laney College.
Initial Takeaways from the match?
It’s good. Obviously they’re a very good team. They’re very talented and for us to be in a game tonight that’s a six point game, I mentioned earlier that we had two games each against the teams that are in second, third and fourth. For us to win those games and climb the ladder it really matters. Tonight we did a good job getting the start that we wanted. We fell asleep a little or took our foot off the gas in the middle 15 minutes of the first half but then got the second before the half. We didn’t play our football towards the end but we defended well and that’s really what matters to come away with the three points.
It looks like you wanted to attack to start the game and weren’t leaving anything to chance tonight. Was that the game plan?
We learned a big lesson the first time we played them. I think if you give them a little time and space to build a rhythm, they can kill you. That happened in the first game. In the second game, we started off pressing them more, and we saw some rewards with that. Tonight, that first goal game with the team in a 30 by 40 stretch and made the spaces really tight, which worked well for us and was a bit more tough for them. They tried to play out of that and Lindo showed up well to finish.
It goes 1-1, take us from there:
When we played them at Laney a couple weeks ago, they scored one right before half. We were up by one, a situation that we’re not in all the time. We like to be in that situation a whole lot more and with the character of the group, that showed at the end of the first half to get that second goal. Then go into the second half, get the third goal and play strong defensively to close out the game really shows how strong the team is as individual players and as a group.
Oakland Roots SC vs Tacoma Defiance
USL Championship | September 15, 2021
Venue: Las Positas College, Livermore, California
Kickoff: 7:00 PM PST
Weather: 73, sunny
SCORELINE: 1 2 FT
OAK: 2 1 3
TAC: 1 0 1
SCORING SUMMARY:
OAK: Lindo Mfeka 10’
TAC: Ray Serrano 32’
OAK: Wal Fall 40’
OAK: Lindo Mfeka 52’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
TAC: Tom Brewitt (Yellow 49’)
OAK: Wal Fall (Yellow 51’)
TAC: Alex Villanueva (Yellow 70’)
OAK: Soya Takahashi (Yellow 78’)
OAK: José Hernandez (Yellow 87’)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP:
Ariel Mbumba (Max Ornstil), Soya Takahashi, Wal Fall, Matias Fissore, Lindo Mfeka (Tarn Weir), Jose Hernandez, Paul Blanchette, Emrah Klimenta, Memo Diaz, Kai Greene, Johnny Rodriguez (Jeremy Bokila)
Unused subs: Zeus De La Paz, Jesus Enriquez, Akeem O’Connor-Ward, Tarn Weir, Yohannes Harish
Shots: 8 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 3 | Fouls: 12 | Offside: 0 |
TACOMA DEFIANCE LINEUP:
Christian Herrera, Jackson Ragen, Eric Kinzer, Tom Brewitt, Ethan Dobbelaere (Reed Baker-Whiting), Carlos Anguiano (Alec Diaz), Danny Robles (Obed Vargas), Alex Villanueva, Marlon Vargas (Juan Alvarez), Samuel Adeniran, Ray Serrano (Cody Baker)
Unused subs: Wyatt Nelson, Randy Mendoza, Reed Baker-Whiting
Shots: 11 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 4 | Fouls: 13 | Offside: 1 |
Initial Takeaways from the match?
It’s good. Obviously they’re a very good team. They’re very talented and for us to be in a game tonight that’s a six point game, I mentioned earlier that we had two games each against the teams that are in second, third and fourth. For us to win those games and climb the ladder it really matters. Tonight we did a good job getting the start that we wanted. We fell asleep a little or took our foot off the gas in the middle 15 minutes of the first half but then got the second before the half. We didn’t play our football towards the end but we defended well and that’s really what matters to come away with the three points.
It looks like you wanted to attack to start the game and weren’t leaving anything to chance tonight. Was that the game plan?
We learned a big lesson the first time we played them. I think if you give them a little time and space to build a rhythm, they can kill you. That happened in the first game. In the second game, we started off pressing them more, and we saw some rewards with that. Tonight, that first goal game with the team in a 30 by 40 stretch and made the spaces really tight, which worked well for us and was a bit more tough for them. They tried to play out of that and Lindo showed up well to finish.
It goes 1-1, take us from there:
When we played them at Laney a couple weeks ago, they scored one right before half. We were up by one, a situation that we’re not in all the time. We like to be in that situation a whole lot more and with the character of the group, that showed at the end of the first half to get that second goal. Then go into the second half, get the third goal and play strong defensively to close out the game really shows how strong the team is as individual players and as a group.
Oakland Roots SC vs Tacoma Defiance
USL Championship | September 15, 2021
Venue: Las Positas College, Livermore, California
Kickoff: 7:00 PM PST
Weather: 73, sunny
SCORELINE: 1 2 FT
OAK: 2 1 3
TAC: 1 0 1
SCORING SUMMARY:
OAK: Lindo Mfeka 10’
TAC: Ray Serrano 32’
OAK: Wal Fall 40’
OAK: Lindo Mfeka 52’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
TAC: Tom Brewitt (Yellow 49’)
OAK: Wal Fall (Yellow 51’)
TAC: Alex Villanueva (Yellow 70’)
OAK: Soya Takahashi (Yellow 78’)
OAK: José Hernandez (Yellow 87’)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP:
Ariel Mbumba (Max Ornstil), Soya Takahashi, Wal Fall, Matias Fissore, Lindo Mfeka (Tarn Weir), Jose Hernandez, Paul Blanchette, Emrah Klimenta, Memo Diaz, Kai Greene, Johnny Rodriguez (Jeremy Bokila)
Unused subs: Zeus De La Paz, Jesus Enriquez, Akeem O’Connor-Ward, Tarn Weir, Yohannes Harish
Shots: 8 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 3 | Fouls: 12 | Offside: 0 |
TACOMA DEFIANCE LINEUP:
Christian Herrera, Jackson Ragen, Eric Kinzer, Tom Brewitt, Ethan Dobbelaere (Reed Baker-Whiting), Carlos Anguiano (Alec Diaz), Danny Robles (Obed Vargas), Alex Villanueva, Marlon Vargas (Juan Alvarez), Samuel Adeniran, Ray Serrano (Cody Baker)
Unused subs: Wyatt Nelson, Randy Mendoza, Reed Baker-Whiting
Shots: 11 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 4 | Fouls: 13 | Offside: 1 |
