Oakland Roots Close Out at Home, San Jose Earthquakes’ Struggles in Doing so Continue
Whenever both Oakland Roots and San Jose Earthquakes play at home on the same weekend, it makes me happy. Conflicted sure because I cannot attend both games at once, but the Bay Area is big enough to support two clubs. A concept once shared with football and baseball, but soccer will keep that tradition going. The Roots and Quakes each went 1–0 up in their respective games, but then the paths diverged.
Oakland Roots Continue Their Winning Streak against San Diego Loyal
This season has been a tale of two strikers and for the first time this season, they both scored! Jonathan Rodriguez and Anuar Pelaez presented Noah Delgado his biggest selection headache of the season, alternating which player he started in an attempt to bring out the most goals in this team. On this occasion, Rodriguez scored early and Pelaez killed the game off with his late goal. While San Diego Loyal’s defense focused on minimizing Dariusz Formella’s impact, that impact came from elsewhere. With a little help from the defense and Paul “The Wall” Blanchette keeping a clean sheet, Oakland Roots continue their edge over their Southern California rivals stretching back to their 3–0 victory in last season’s playoffs. San Diego Loyal, who remain committed to contributing to San Diego’s soccer community even with the announcement of a separate MLS club within the city, stay in 4th in the West Conference. This Roots win boosts them to 5th, just 3 points behind Loyal.
San Jose Earthquakes Blow the Opportunity to Get Back on Track
After the euphoria of a 2–1 victory over LAFC at Levi’s Stadium, San Jose couldn’t get much going in their pair of games in Los Angeles, losing to their biggest rivals LA Galaxy and their rematch to LAFC. This was on brand for the season so far: winning most of their games at home, losing most of their games on the road. While FC Dallas presented a formidable test at PayPal Park, fans were banking on their home form to get back on track. It looked like this would be a Bay Area double when Benji Kikanovic marked his best start during this period with Cade Cowell representing the USA U-20 team with a goal. However, for the 3rd time in a row the San Jose Earthquakes conceded a goal in stoppage time in the form of a looping header by Nkosi Tafari. This adds to a problematic trend Andrew Wiebe pointed out:
https://twitter.com/andrew_wiebe/status/1662678550716063744?s=46&t=3hiIdotSanhzfjnZHivEVw
The results after this San Jose Earthquakes match sees FC Dallas in 4th place and the Quakes in 5th place with a similar gap (4 points). However at the time of writing Houston Dynamo has a game in hand and are coming off of an impressive victory in the Copa Tejas against rivals Austin FC.
Upcoming Fixtures
San Jose Earthquakes are back on the road this week, going to Seattle Sounders on Wednesday and then to Colorado Rapids on Saturday. As poor as they’ve been on their travels, the Rapids game is their best chance to break that bad habit. They return home the following weekend on Saturday, June 10 to host another strong opponent in the Philadelphia Union.
The Oakland Roots schedule is less congested but they will also play their next two games on the road, facing Colorado Springs Switchbacks on Friday and then heading to Phoenix Rising. Their next home game is Saturday, June 17 hosting Pittsburgh Riverhounds, one of the two USL Championship sides (along with Birmingham Legion) in the US Open Cup Quarterfinals.
Both fanbases have reason to be frustrated: Roots being exiled to CSU East Bay in Hayward as they await a return back to Oakland next season, and Earthquakes with their Jekyll and Hyde form. But with both clubs in their respective playoff places, it’s still a good time to be a Bay Area soccer fan. It also helps seeing Cade Cowell and Niko Tsakiris perform well in the U-20 World Cup. As summer draws near, both the Oakland Roots and San Jose Earthquakes will be in my plans along with watching the Nations League, Gold Cup, and Women’s World Cup. They should be in yours too!
