First home picture of season in the signature black jerseys at UC Cal State Hayward on Sat Apr 1, 2023 (Photo from Oakland Roots Instagram)

By Troy Ewers

HAYWARD–After moving their home opening game a week later to Hayward, the Oakland Roots had their first match in the east bay this season against New Mexico United. This match was a big match for Oakland, because energy after their last game was up and a postponed game could slow down that momentum, but it seems like the home fans kept that momentum going into this game.

Johnny Rodriguez who’s been making noise the past two weeks, got his second goal of the season from the center of the box off an assist from Dariusz Formella giving the Roots the only score of the game in a 1-0 victory at Pioneer Field in CSU, East Bay.

The Roots started strong, but were unable to score in the first half of the match. Rodriguez’s goal wouldn’t come til the 63rd minute, but that’s because the pace of the game was slowed down from all the penalties New Mexico had. NMU had four yellows and one red card (Penalty on Justin Portillo) through 85 minutes.

Oakland didn’t let up all game and had played a way cleaner game than their previous two matches. Less penalties and a more fluid style of offense was the highlight of this game and we even saw the Roots have a chance to double up their score on multiple occasions in the closing minutes of the game.

Next game for Oakland is still in Hayward at CSU, East Bay on Tuesday, April 4th (7pm) against El Farolito in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup and it feels like the squad and the fans are riding this wave of positive momentum into the month of April, but we can’t forget it’s still a long season ahead.

Troy Ewers is a Oakland Roots beat writer at http://www.sportsradioservice.com