Oakland Roots played a strong first half, but failed to find a goal on Wednesday night in the East Bay as Roots fell to the visiting Rio Grande Valley FC Toros 2-0.
Oakland dominated possession time early in the match, looking to remain patient as they moved the ball around the field waiting for cracks in the Toros defense to appear.
This patience led to a few early scoring chances for Roots, and minimized Rio Grande Valley’s touches in the first half. Counter to Roots, the Toros opted for an aggressive game plan, attempting to push the ball up the field quickly whenever they gained possession.
Both teams had a fair number of scoring opportunities, including a shot from Roots’ Lindo Mfeka at point blank range in the 23rd minute that ricocheted off the Toros netminder. But key defensive plays and stellar saves from both goalies kept the score level at 0-0 entering halftime.
Roots looked to maintain their game plan in the second half, but Rio Grande Valley’s attacking pressure found more success in the second frame, leading to a Toros goal from forward Wilmer Cabrera in the 72nd minute. Cabrera found the back of the net again in the 80th minute, capitalizing on a well placed cross from teammate Frank Lopez.
Roots will look to regroup and get back on a winning track as they head on the road to face the Tampa Bay Rowdies on July 8th before returning home to host Memphis 901 FC back at Cal State East Bay on July 12th at 7:00 PM PT.
Hearing From Head Coach Noah Delgado
Obviously, not the result we wanted. Just what’s your initial reaction to initial takeaways?
Yeah, some mistakes I think, contributed from heavy legs for two games in a couple days, had some chances. You know, we knew this game was gonna be on us to push the tempo and dictate the game. We had some looks, Wolfy had some good runs in the first half. I thought we were okay. But just kind of cracking down on ourselves being disciplined throughout the whole game, I think was gonna be crucial. And I think we had some moments of lapses, and we got hurt.
Yeah, you know, what, what was the game plan? What do you think just went wrong?
I think they came in with an idea of, you know, sitting back letting us have the ball and counter attacking or taking advantage of the errors that we make. If it’s ball giveaways or long balls. We knew we’re going to deal with that. Us getting forward, getting crosses, and runs in the box. We knew we could do that if we’re going to play with three center backs. So they did a good job defending. We could have been a little bit more critical in some of the crosses and services. And a lot of it is a little bit of heavy legs with this turnaround.
Oakland Roots SC vs Rio Grande Valley
USL Championship | June 28, 2023
Venue: Cal State University, East Bay, Hayward, California
Kickoff: 7:00 PM PT
Weather: 62 degrees, sunny
SCORELINE:
OAK: 0
RGV: 2
SCORING SUMMARY:
RGV: 72’ Wilmer Cabrera
RGV: 80’ Wilmer Cabrera
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
OAK: 9’ Wolfgang Prentice (yellow card)
RGV: 39’ Eric Kinzner (yellow card)
RGV: 58’ Christiano Francois (yellow card)
OAK: 72’ Tarek Morad (yellow card)
OAK: 83’ Trayvone Reid (yellow card)
RGV: 87’ Christian Pinzon (yellow card)
OAK: 90’ Memo Diaz (yellow card)
OAK: 90’+ Memo Diaz (2nd yellow card)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Paul Blanchette, Danny Barbir, Joseph Nane, Tarek Morad, Wolfgang Prentice (Trayvone Reid), Jeciel Cedeño (Ryan Her), Daniel Gomez, Memo Diaz, Darek Formella, Johnny Rodriguez (Anuar Peláez), Lindo Mfeka
Unused subs: Kevin Wright, Emrah Klimenta, Etsgar Cruz,Taylor Bailey
Shots: 4 | Shots On Goal: 1 | Corner Kicks: 8 | Fouls: 12 | Offside: 0 |
RIO GRANDE VALLEY LINEUP: John Deric, Wahab Ackwei, Erik Pimentel, Eric Kinzner (Jonathan Ricketts), Gabriel Benitez (Ricardo Ruiz), Frank Nodarse, Christiano Francois (Frank Lopez), Christian Pinzon (Juan Galindvez), Taylor Davila, Ian Cerro (Wilmer Cabrera), Robert Coronado
Unused subs: Carlos Merancio, Tomas Ritondale
Shots: 12 | Shots On Goal: 5 | Corner Kicks: 2 | Fouls: 15 | Offside: 2 |
