Despite going down early in the match, Oakland Roots never lost their composure, looking like the superior team for the better part of 90 minutes in the East Bay on Wednesday night versus El Paso Locomotive FC in a 2-1 victory.
Just five minutes into the contest, the visitors found the back of the net when a poor clearance attempt from a Roots defender ricocheted off a Locomotive player and landed at the feet of El Paso’s Justin Dhillon, who buried a shot from inside the box to give his team a quick 1-0 lead.
El Paso was playing an aggressive style of soccer throughout the match, but Oakland’s defense never wavered again, and this risky attacking style led to breaks in the Locomotive back line.
In the waning moments of the first half Roots leveled the contest at 1-1 courtesy of Napo Matsoso, who corralled a deflection inside the box in the 45th minute and lasered a shot into the bottom left of the goal.
Looking to take the lead in the second half, Oakland made some key substitutions to try and build some offensive momentum.
This strategy paid off in the 72nd minute when Justin Rasmussen found space on the left side of the El Paso box and played a perfect pass across the face of the goal just out of reach of the Locomotive keeper. His pass found Ilya Alekseev who buried a one-timer into the top twine to give the home side a 2-1 lead.
Roots would find some more offensive chances before the end of the match, but were content to reach the final whistle still holding their 2-1 lead, giving the squad three straight victories — tying the team’s all time record.
Oakland now faces a quick turnaround, heading south to face Monterey Bay FC this Saturday, June 22 at 3 PM PT. Roots will return to the East Bay on July 6th to face Louisville City FC.
Talking with Head Coach Gavin Glinton
Three wins in a row. It’s the first time since July of last year. What went right today?
Not the start, that’s for sure. But everything after that went pretty well. It’s the guys’ commitment. Again, another tricky team — they’ve been doing well, under Wilmer. For us, we had to deal with a lot of their attacking talent. Made some rotations today, and the depth of this squad is fantastic. I thought the guys communicated well, I thought we held on and defended when we needed to. We were tough as nails tonight.
The culture has changed on this team. How far can you take this?
That’s what we’re all waiting to find out, right? I think the guys have done a fantastic job right now. You know, we’ve had a good couple of weeks now. We’re just working on maintaining our level and being consistent. And so the next step is how long can we maintain our level? And the guys have been fantastic in their application. So, we continue to take steps together and we’ll see how far it goes.
Oakland Roots SC vs El Paso Locomotive FC
USL Championship | June 19, 2024
Venue: Pioneer Stadium, Hayward, California
Kickoff: 7:00 PM PT
Weather: 60°F, Sunny
SCORELINE:
OAK: 2
ELP: 1
SCORING SUMMARY:
ELP: Justin Dhillon 5’
OAK: Napo Matsoso 45’
OAK: Ilya Alekseev 72’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
OAK: Camden Riley 19’ (yellow card)
ELP: Eder Borelli 34’ (yellow card)
OAK: Baboucarr Njie 38’ (yellow card)
ELP: Justin Dhillon 42’ (yellow card)
ELP: Miles Lyons 45’+ (yellow card)
OAK: Irakoze Donasiyano 78’ (yellow card)
ELP: Javier Nevarez 90’ (yellow card)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Paul Blanchette, Justin Rasmussen, Niall Logue, Thomas Camier, Bryan Tamacas, Camden Riley (Ilya Alekseev), Napo Matsoso (Daniel Gomez), Baboucarr Njie (Johnny Rodriguez), Etsgar Cruz (Jeciel Cedeño), Irakoze Donasiyano, Miche-Naider Chéry (Dominic Dwyer)
Unused subs: Memo Diaz, Ali Elmasnaouy, Kieran Bracken Serra, Timothy Syrel
Shots: 13 | Shots On Goal: 7 | Corner Kicks: 2 | Fouls: 12 | Offside: 2 |
EL PASO LOCOMOTIVE LINEUP: Ramon Pasquel, Eder Borelli (Javier Nevarez), Noah Dollenmayer, Brandan Craig, Miles Lyons, Tumi Moshobane, Bolu Akinyode (Jeremy Garay), Eric Calvillo, Ricardo Zacarias (Nick Hinds), Joaquin Rivas (Petar Petrovic), Justin Dhillon
Unused subs: Javier Garcia, Javier Monsalves, Gonzalo Pelua
Shots: 8 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 1 | Fouls: 11 | Offside: 0 |
