In the second game of a home double-header that featured an early win from women’s side Oakland Soul, Roots held onto a 1-0 victory in the East Bay versus visiting Tampa Bay Rowdies.
The match began with little fanfare, neither side seeming to be able to gain momentum. The brightest area for Roots in the first half was the play of goalkeeper Tim Syrel who made some key early saves to keep the match level heading into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room at halftime, Roots began to press the Tampa Bay defense, earning more scoring chances and looking generally like the more dangerous side.
This tenacity would be rewarded in the 72nd minute when Memo Diaz added onto his already all-time team lead in assists by feeding a dime across the face of the goal to a waiting Jeciel Cedeño who buried it to send the crowd into a frenzy and give Oakland a 1-0 lead.
The home fans remained roaring for the remainder of the contest, getting especially loud for the introduction of forward Dominic Dwyer, who made his Roots debut in the 79th minute.
Roots earned a penalty kick late in the game, and hoping to seal the win, Baboucarr Njie lined up on the dot to do just that. Despite his shot ringing the crossbar and ultimately being cleared by Tampa Bay, Oakland was able to earn the clean sheet, reaching the final whistle still holding a 1-0 lead.
Now Roots will head on the road for a rivalry matchup versus Sacramento Republic on June 15th before returning home to the East Bay to face El Paso Locomotive FC on Wednesday, June 19th at 7 p.m. PT.
Talking with Head Coach Gavin Glinton
Great win today, it really felt like you controlled the opportunities they were able to get. What did you do to frustrate them and keep them away from goal?
Yeah, I mean I think we must have played probably about four different formations tonight at some point or another. We knew that they are a real dangerous team and that they can get behind, so there were a couple of ways we wanted to make sure we stopped them, whether it was protecting the space in behind whether it was choking and limiting their service and service area points but I thought the guys did a great job with that.
The first half it felt like the attacks were fewer and further between, and you had to put out a lot of fires in your own defensive third, but then it felt a bit more controlled in the second half. Did you make any tweaks during the halftime?
We thought we had gotten into a lot of good attacking areas and just didn’t get anything out of them. So you know, a lot of that work ended up being wasted I thought in the first half. In the second half we tried to be a little bit more aggressive, especially with the final product and finishing off plays and getting into the box. Working to get corners getting behind that line. I thought we did a good job of loosening them up a little bit.
Oakland Roots SC vs Tampa Bay Rowdies
USL Championship | June 8, 2024
Venue: Pioneer Stadium, Hayward, California
Kickoff: 7:00 PM PT
Weather: 63°F, Sunny
SCORELINE:
OAK: 1
TBR: 0
SCORING SUMMARY:
OAK: Jeciel Cedeño 72’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
OAK: Dominic Dwyer 83’ (yellow card)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Timothy Syrel, Justin Rasmussen, Neveal Hackshaw, Gagi Margvelashvili, Memo Diaz, Camden Riley (Niall Logue), Napo Matsoso (Daniel Gomez), Trayvone Reid (Dom Dwyer), Lindo Mfeka (Baboucarr Njie), Jeciel Cedeño (Kieran Bracken Serra), Johnny Rodriguez
Unused subs: Miche-Naider Chéry, Ilya Alekseev, Kieran Bracken Serra, Edwin Rodriguez
Shots: 12 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 7 | Fouls: 8 | Offside: 3 |
TAMPA BAY ROWDIES LINEUP: Jordan Farr, Jordan Doherty, Frederick Kleeman, Aarón Guillén, Pacifique Niyongabire (Damian Rivera), Lewis Hilton (Leo Fernandes), Edwin Munjoma, Daniel Crisostomo, Charlie Dennis (Josh Pérez), Cal Jennings, Manuel Arteaga
Unused subs: Phil Breno, Nathan Worth, Zachary Herivaux, Cristian Ortiz
Shots: 14 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 4 | Fouls: 13 | Offside: 1 |
