Oakland Roots’ Historic Home Opener Ends in Heartbreak

The Oakland Roots opened their first homestand of the year in the USL Championship in last place of the Western Conference. However, unlike their former neighbors, the Oakland Athletics who spent much of the last few years in last place in the American League West, the Roots drew a club attendance record breaking crowd at the Oakland Coliseum. 26,575 was the final attendance count Saturday, but it felt like a lot more as the fans packed in, chanting and cheering, excited to take in semi-pro soccer in a historic venue. Coach Gavin Glinton praised the fans post match, “What an amazing atmosphere. I think it exceeded the expectations. I don’t think anyone could’ve expected it to be anything like this. Our crowd… is the best in the world and tonight they came out and really showed it.”  Legendary Bay Area rapper Too $hort performed at halftime and that, paired with an awe-inspiring fireworks show, kept fans in their seats well after the final whistle. 

Unfortunately for Oakland, the Roots dropped a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to first place San Antonio FC. Following two tough losses to Orange County SC and Monterey Bay FC, the Roots were looking for a positive result heading into Saturday’s match, but within the first five minutes, the Roots looked to be outplayed. San Antonio dominated possession and attacked the flanks profusely at the start, scoring almost immediately. About four and a half minutes into the game, San Antonio’s Jake LaCava attacked the flank, drove inside the box and put in a nice cross to Alex Greive who put it in the back of the net to give San Antonio an early lead. 

Oakland bounced back nearly immediately, earning a corner kick about a minute after play restarted. Midfielder Panos Armenakas delivered a wonderful ball on the near post and Camden Riley gave a great effort in the air, heading it goalward, but San Antonio midfielder Luke Haakenson met him in the air and the ball was sent high into the air towards the top of the box. Oakland defenseman Justin Rasmussen saw the ball falling towards him and flew into the air with an ambitious bicycle kick, connecting with the ball and sending it past goalkeeper Richard Sanchez’s dive and into the back of the net for the game tying goal. The stadium erupted as most fans couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed. Even the media were shocked. In postgame, Rasmussen had this to say about the atmosphere, “For all of us, that was a very surreal moment. Taking in the Coliseum, all the fans that came and showed out for us tonight… For me, to experience this gameday, it was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced so far in a Roots jersey… I know Oakland for sure has the best fans in the league with this type of cathedral to play at, again, best one in the USL. Arguably, best one in the world. So we have the best fans here in Oakland and we’re just going to keep working to keep giving them something to celebrate.” Rasmussen has seen action at all levels, in the NCAA with Grand Canyon, in the National Premier Soccer League with FC Arizona, in USL League Two with Portland Timbers U23 and Orange County SC U23, and with Portland Timbers in MLS and MLS Next Pro. 

The offense pretty much stopped after the seventh minute goal from Rasmussen. Fifteen minutes into the game, San Antonio dominated possession and passes as well as pass accuracy. San Antonio held possession 62% of the opening fifteen minutes, passed the ball 164 times and were accurate eighty percent of the time with those passes. Defensively, San Antonio was shutting down Oakland, holding the Roots to just 65% pass accuracy. San Antonio had some great chances throughout the first half, but Oakland keeper Kendall McIntosh made some great saves and the backline for the Roots were forced to clear the ball frequently. By the end of the game, Oakland had 36 clearances as opposed to San Antonio’s eighteen. Consistent with San Antonio dominance, they had eleven interceptions and won 64% of tackles as well as 52% of duels. At halftime, it was still knotted up, but San Antonio were constantly knocking on the door.

San Antonio came out of the break red hot and were back attacking consistently and clinically. Jimmy Medranda was a key player who starred in San Antonio’s attack and kept their high press on sending cross after cross and creating chance after chance. Eventually, the flood gates opened for San Antonio as in the 69th minute, Medranda sent a ball into the box that Oakland attempted to clear, but it fell to forward Luke Haakenson who put it over McIntosh’s head to give San Antonio the lead with just 20 minutes left to play. Despite great offensive effort from Oakland and ten minutes added on in stoppage, the Roots never equalized. However, they did do something they couldn’t do in the first five halves of the season, they kept possession. San Antonio dominated possession in the first half holding the ball 65% of the time. At full time, that number had decreased to 54%. The Roots created chances in the second half with five shots in the half, but only one on goal. By the end of the game, San Antonio had nine total shots with five being on target. 

It was another unfortunate result from the Roots, but the season is young and the Roots are very new. However with the new system of promotion and relegation that the USL has just introduced, the Roots may not be selected to be a part of USL Division One starting in the 2027-28 season. That may seem far away, but time for action is now as only 12-14 teams may make the top division under the new format. The Roots have put themselves on track to be a premier club in the USL with a record breaking crowd at such a historic venue, but their quality of play has been lackluster. Coach Glinton had this to say in postgame about the defense issues in the first few matches, “We’ve talked about taking plays off for some of the goals we’ve given up. Some poor moments where we’ve had some individual defending moments where we’ve let guys come inside and we’ve really talked about focusing in on that and we’re kind of battening down the hatches.” Glinton stayed positive, though, adding “In the attack, we’ve shown real good moments to come back after going down… (and we’ve) sustained pressure when we’re even.” The problem for the Roots isn’t solved yet, but they showed some good moments throughout the game against San Antonio, especially in the second half, and look to right the ship during this three game homestand as they have a long season ahead. The Roots don’t face particularly tough competition coming up with a 7 PM home game against Western Conference 8th place Las Vegas Lights FC on Saturday, March 29th, followed by a Saturday matinee match against Eastern Conference 10th place Rhode Island FC. The turning point must come now for the Roots or else it will be a grueling season.