Bay Area Soccer Spotlight: Oakland Roots’ First US Open Cup Victory

Prior to last Tuesday night, the last US Open Cup game I attended was six years ago during my undergraduate program at UC Davis. I witnessed the Sacramento Republic upset Real Salt Lake (albeit with a number of Real Monarchs players involved) 3–1. This time, Hayward was the setting as a newer USL Championship side Oakland Roots matched up against NPSL’s El Farolito.

This is the third season of the history of Oakland Roots, and due to COVID-19 implications in 2021 and a tough road game in South Carolina in 2022, it took them three seasons to win their first US Open Cup game. Even as the favorites in this encounter, it was worth the wait to experience what hundreds of American clubs have experienced in the oldest soccer competition on these shores. This was already a special day in San Francisco Bay Area soccer history as NWSL officially announced the Bay would feature their newest expansion side. The Roots added to that joy by ticking off another first in their own history books.

This second round U.S. Open Cup game featured USL Championship club Oakland Roots and SF based NPSL club El Farolito.

Lineups

Oakland Roots: Taylor Bailey; Bryan Tamacas, Drew Murray (Danny Barbir), Neveal Hackshaw; Wolfgang Prentice, Ethan Kohler, Joseph Nane (Daniel Gomez), Kevin Wright; Ryan Her (Memo Diaz), Johnny Rodriguez (Anuar Pelaez), Trayvone Reid (Darek Formella)

El Farolito (SF): Johan Lizarralde; Werner Santos, Johnatan Mosquera, Jhonatan Perez; Hurick Balierio, Jehimy Arias, Luis Becerra, Camilo Monroy (Elier Aponza); Ricardo Delgado; Judas Higuera, Cesar Benitez (Dembor Benson)

Scoring Summary

12’ Johnny Rodriguez 1–0

19’ Wolfgang Prentice 2–0

24’ Wolfgang Prentice 3–0

45’ Ricardo Delgado (PK) 3–1

Notable Match Events

• The first big chance of the game came from an El Farolito free kick just outside the box. The curling effort forces a big time save from Taylor Bailey.
• Oakland Roots displayed precision and consistency through their opening goal, scoring from their initial corner kick but having to retake it as the referee had not yet blown his whistle. The second attempt yielded the same result, providing the first score of the night.
• Wolfgang Prentice confirmed a player of the match worthy performance with a pair of goals in the space of five minutes and he would continue to give the El Farolito defenders on the left side of their defense problems all night long.
• Around the 30 minute mark, Taylor Bailey made an erroneous pass that should’ve led to a Farolito goal but he made a save to make up for it.
• Right before halftime, Bailey conceded a penalty by lunging at an attacker and Delgado scored the awarded penalty, giving the contingent of El Farolito fans something to cheer for.
• The second half was less lively compared to the first, with Oakland Roots feeling more content holding onto their lead than adding a fourth or further goals. El Farolito threatened on few and far between occasions, largely through set piece opportunities, but aside from clipping the cross bar with five minutes to go not much came from them.
• Noah Delgado’s substitutions justifiably centered around spreading the minutes around while protecting key players to ensure their availability for the trip to Indy Eleven at the weekend. There were a few instances where Roots and Farolito players exchanged words, but thankfully those encounters didn’t escalate beyond that.

These games are not always the easiest to draw conclusions from because the Oakland Roots were expected to win, but expectations don’t always lead to reality. Last year’s US Open Cup Competition saw Sacramento Republic reach the final, leaving multiple MLS clubs in their wake. While at times the gap in quality between these two sides showed, El Farolito can keep their heads held high. They earned their spot in this match by beating International San Francisco 3–0 after extra time, and San Francisco like Oakland is full of passion for soccer. Here’s to their continued presence in the Bay Area soccer scene and more US Open Cup memories in their future. Oakland Roots will certainly have more of those this year, but for now attention shifts to Indy Eleven.

In the post game press conference, Noah Delgado expressed pleasure in seeing the quality in depth in his squad. That is a fair assessment as multiple players such as Wolfgang Prentice gave a good account of themselves, and the likes of Kevin Wright and Bryan Tamacas showed why they are involved in their respective national teams (Sierra Leone and El Salvador respectively) by marshalling the defense and letting few balls get past them while also spurring on the attack. It was a mixed bag for Taylor Bailey, but realistically there wasn’t much he could do in this game to close the gap between him and established starter Paul Blanchette. Delgado embraces the prospect of a more challenging outing in the next US Open Cup game, but hopes for more consistency and fewer mistakes when they take on Indy Eleven this Saturday.

Nights like these are what Bay Area Soccer, and U.S. Open Cup soccer, is all about. Regardless of the score, that game was a celebration of what soccer means to all of us and why every club in this country is a part of that meaningful bond that we all share in this sport.