Oakland’s comeback fell short at the Coliseum on Saturday night as visiting Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC held on to a one goal lead at the end of 90 minutes, defeating Roots for the fifth straight contest in a 1-2 finish.
The match started a bit sloppy for both sides as Roots shook off the rust from their bye week rest. While there were no dangerous chances from either club in the first phase of the match, Oakland did manage to earn four corner kicks within the first 14 minutes of the game, showing that while the finishing wasn’t quite there, they were moving the ball well into dangerous spaces.
Both clubs were still searching for their first shot on target when Colorado opened the scoring with their first in the 43rd minute. In the waning moments of the first half, a clever run through traffic in Colorado’s attacking third ended with a well placed through ball in behind the back line from Marco Micaletto, finding Jonas Fjeldberg who was there to clean up the wide open look and make it 0-1 Switchbacks.
Colorado got right back to work after the halftime break, doubling their lead early when a 49th minute cross inside the Oakland box from Fjeldberg found Quentin Huerman across the face of goal. Huerman buried a tough angle shot into the top twine to make it 0-2.
Roots pulled one back for their first goal versus the Switchbacks since August 2023 making it 1-2 when in the 59th minute Bobosi Byaruhanga played a picture perfect throughball that skidded along the turf through plenty of traffic and eventually found the left foot of Peter Wilson who powered the one-touch shot into the back of the net to bring the contest back within reach.
The goal powered a surge of energy from Roots who began to tilt the field in their favor, hustling for loose balls and making good runs that nearly led to an equalizer on a number of occasions.
But just as swiftly as the momentum shifted in Oakland’s favor, the Switchbacks were able to halt it, slowing the game down and frustrating Roots’ attack.
A few late scoring chances nearly saw Oakland salvage a point from the contest, but the final whistle blew before they could accomplish that goal.
Roots will now head on the road for a crucial two game stretch, first up I-80 versus NorCal rivals Sacramento Republic FC on August 16th and then on to Kentucky for a battle with Lexington SC on August 23rd.
Talking With Head Coach Benny Feilhaber
What are your overall thoughts on the result tonight and the performance?
It’s always frustrating when you lose, especially at home and against a team that I think we’re quite obviously competing for a playoff spot. So, it’s frustrating. I think the guys are disappointed. Obviously, the staff is disappointed as well. It’s always tough coming back after a break to be clicking, but at the same time, I think we had enough of the game in the first half to, you know, at least get to half time at zeros, if not, maybe, you know, stick one in the back of the net ourselves before they they went up.
And look, they’ve been on a good run as well. They’re a good team right now. I know that they were one spot above us, but I think they’re playing at a pretty high level, really good defensively, and they took their chances, which in this league I think is so crucial. And for us I don’t think we had the same composure close to goal to create the types of runs and types of passes and obviously finishes that they did. So I think they deserve the win. And it’s time to get back on the training field on Monday and get back to work for another game, obviously a big one against Sacramento next weekend.
Kind of a similar result to the last match against Orange County. You guys get the ball in good areas, create a lot of shots, but just can’t put them all away. What do you think was missing? What would you like to see there?
I mean, I’d like to see us be a little bit more composed in front of their box. I wouldn’t even say final third. I’d even say further closer to the goal, right? We haven’t scored a ton of goals, and when you don’t score a ton of goals, I think you almost view every opportunity that you get close as like this ultimate chance. And so your eyes almost get too big. I think there were moments like that where we maybe rushed the shot, there’s maybe an extra pass available, or the cross doesn’t necessarily come to the right player. And so I think just little moments like that, I would love for us to get a little bit cleaner, more composed, and, change a 20-30% chance to score into maybe an extra pass that gets you maybe a 50-60% chance to score, right?
So again, things that we continue to work on, things that we try and improve on every day. But I think that’s kind of what was lacking a little bit, especially in the first half. And then in the second half, again similar to, like you said, the Orange County game, where, when you do fall behind, other teams are going to be tough to break down.
And the one thing that I thought we did a little bit better than Orange County was we put a lot of balls into dangerous areas. Obviously, we get the one goal off of not even a cross, right? It looks like a shot from Bobosi and Peter committed to the run and was able to get on the end of it. And I mean, we had some other moments in the second half after that goal. We put some balls into the box, and we’re just a little bit late, or you don’t get the final touch, or the cross isn’t exactly in the right spot, but I think that’s what you’re going to see a lot of times at the end of games when teams are defending deep in their in their half. So that was a little bit better than Orange County, which is something that we continue to work on. But I would say that in the first half, it would have been nice to kind of obviously go up 1-0. The game is completely different. And we had some moments where I think we could have.
Oakland Roots SC vs Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
USL Championship | August 9, 2025
Venue: Oakland Coliseum
Kickoff: 7:00 PM PT
Weather: 68 degrees, Clear Skies
SCORELINE:
OAK: 1
COS: 2
SCORING SUMMARY:
COS: Jonas Fjeldberg 43’
COS: Quentin Huerman 49’
OAK: Peter Wilson 59’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
COS: Akeem Ward 30’ (yellow card)
OAK: Gagi Margvelashvili 33’ (yellow card)
COS: Markhus LaCroix 67’ (yellow card)
COS: Adam Beaudry 68’ (yellow card)
COS: Zachary Zandi 69’ (yellow card)
OAK: Kai Greene 81’ (yellow card)
OAK: Panos Armenakas 90’+ (yellow card)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Kendall Mcintosh, Julian Bravo, Gagi Margvelashvili (Jürgen Damm), Daniel Gomez (EJ Johnson), Peter Wilson, Panos Armenakas, Tyler Gibson (Bobosi Byaruhanga), Neveal Hackshaw, Morey Doner, Kai Greene, Ali Elmasnaouy (Faysal Bettache)
Unused subs: Camden Riley, Wolfgang Prentice, Raphael Spiegel, Thomas Camier
Shots: 17 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 5 | Fouls: 21 | Offsides: 3
COLORADO SPRINGS LINEUP: Akeem Ward (Markhus LaCroix), Matthew Mahoney, Jonas Fjeldberg (Levonte Johnson), Zachary Zandi (Brennan Creek), Quentin Huerman, Steven Echevarria, Adam Beaudry, Aidan Rocha, Marco Micaletto (Tyler Clegg), Garven Metusala, Juan Tejada
Unused subs: Christian Herrera, Isaiah Foster, Charles Adams
Shots: 7 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 1 | Fouls: 21 | Offsides: 1
