August 11, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Oakland Roots News Release
Oakland Roots’ Trayvone Reid on game night
(Oakland Roots)
Gagi Margvelashvili put on a show Saturday night in the East Bay, playing all 90 minutes and earning two assists in Oakland’s 3-1 victory over visiting Loudoun United FC.
The match started out slow, with both teams trading possession at midfield throughout the first 10 minutes of the contest.
Roots then began to pick up a little steam, and earned the first goal of the night in the 24th minute when Margvelashvili made a spectacular run into the Loudoun box and put a shot towards the far post that beat the United keeper. The ball was a slow roller though, and a defender looked to clear the ball off the line, but Roots’ Baboucarr Njie was just quick enough, tapping the ball across just before the defender could reach it to give Oakland a 1-0 lead.
Loudoun had prime opportunities following the Roots goal, with two shots on an empty net that both sailed over the crossbar.
Despite these misses, United would level the match in the 54th minute when a corner played in short led to a well placed cross in front of the net from Florian Valot that found Kalil Elmedkhar in front who finished the header to draw even once again.
From here on out, Roots would take over the match.
In the 62nd minute Oakland’s all-time leader in assists Memo Diaz sent a long ball up the field to find Roots all-time leading goal scorer Johnny Rodriguez. Rodriguez controlled the long ball and made a brilliant run into the box, chipping the ball over the Loudoun keeper to give his side a 2-1 lead.
Margvelashvili picked up his second assist of the night in the 81st minute with a gorgeous through ball up the right side to a sprinting Trayvone Reid. Reid took a touch inside the United penalty area to shake a defender, and rocketed a tough angle shot past the Loudoun keeper to give Oakland a two goal cushion and push the score to 3-1.
Roots maintained their aggressive approach and nearly added on before the final whistle, but were content to earn the victory without piling on further.
Oakland will now head on the road to face Rhode Island FC on Saturday, August 17th before returning home to the East Bay to host Memphis 901 FC on Saturday August 24th.
Talking with Head Coach Gavin Glinton
Gavin, huge win, solid execution, and it’s what you want to see out of a long break, right? What are your thoughts on the performance?
So happy with the performance. I thought it was a…