Oakland Roots couldn’t hold the 2-0 lead and came away with a 2-2 draw against San Antonio FC at CSU East Bay (@oaklandrootssc image)

Saturday, September 30th, 2023

By Troy Ewers

Hayward, CA – Four games remaining in the season and Oakland is still fighting for a final spot in the playoff picture. Tonight the Oakland Roots face San Antonio FC at CSU East Bay in the final game of September. 

The Roots started with an amazing goal to open the game nine minutes in as Guillermo Diaz hit a deep pass to Johnny Rodriguez where he hit a fantastic spin kick to score, 1-0 Oakland. A minute later Anuar Palaez stole the ball from a San Antonio player and immediately followed up with a laser shot to score the second goal for the Roots, 2-0.

The remainder of the first half was San Antonio trying hard to develop an offense and they let some shots go, but none hit the back of the net and when the whistle blew for a halftime, Roots were up 2-0. 

The second half was the make or break half for Oakland. They needed to secure a W and lately they haven’t been able to do that in the second half conceding more goals than they’ve scored. San Antonio wanted to keep that streak going ten minutes into the second half, Santiago Patino scored the first goal for San Antonio off a gorgeous shot past Paul Blanchette making it 2-1.

As we proceeded through the second half, Oakland got more physical to hold off San Antonio and this strategy was successful all the way until stoppage time when a long pass was volleyed to Toni Oluwaseyei who scored off a straight shot past Blanchette for the equalizer. 2-2!!!

Oakland’s struggle to hold off opponents in the second half when they have a lead has been what has kept their playoff chances in limbo. The final whistle blew, but not without a little bit of controversy. On the last shot of the game, San Antonio claimed there was a foul to the point where a San Antonio player got in the ref’s face and was awarded a red card. Red card aside the game ended in a 2-2 draw. 

With only three games left, Oakland is fighting for their playoff spot and the next game on their path to the playoffs is against Orange County Sporting Club in Irvine, CA on October 4th.