Roots Blank Tampa Bay Rowdies at Home, Win 1-0

June 9, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Oakland Roots News Release

Oakland Roots’ Bryan Tamacas on game day
(Oakland Roots, Credit: Oakland Roots SC)

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…