Oakland now just 4 points below playoff line
It was a tale of two halves for the Oakland Roots at Phoenix Rising Stadium on Saturday night, as they came out of the gate firing but couldn’t close out the match, earning a point in the Western Conference table with a 3-3 draw versus Phoenix Rising FC.
Photo by Oakland Roots SC.
The Roots took no time to get on the board, as Danny Trejo kicked off the scoring in the very first minute of the match when a turnover led to a one-on-one with the Rising keeper. Trejo had no trouble depositing it into the twine from the top of the box to give Oakland a lightning-quick 1-0 lead.
The Roots then doubled their lead just moments later, when a deep pass from Panos Armenakas led to yet another breakaway opportunity, this time at the feet of Peter Wilson, who came close to mirroring Trejo’s finish. Wilson bagged the eighth goal in eight appearances to make it 2-0 Oakland in the 9th minute.
To cap off a dominant start, the Roots added one in the 22nd minute, when both goal scorers combined for Oakland’s third of the first half. Trejo worked the ball into the box down the left side before putting a simple cross at the feet of Wilson, who earned an easy brace for his 12th goal of the regular season, extending an unbelievable stretch of offense from the number nine.
Oakland continued to earn scoring chances, but former Roots player Charlie Dennis cut into the lead as time expired in the first half, when a rebound off a save from Raphael Spiegel landed at Dennis’s feet and he put the ball into the empty net to make it 3-1.
Phoenix nearly pulled another one back in the 66th minute after a net-front scrum led to a shot on target that Gagi Margvelashvili was able to freeze on the goal line, allowing Spiegel to clear it at the very last second.
Peter Wilson was everywhere in the match, and he nearly found a hat trick on multiple occasions, including the 70th minute, when he found himself alone in the back yet again—but this time his shot was wide of the target.
Phoenix began their comeback in earnest when Charlie Dennis earned a brace of his own after Rising earned a free kick just outside of the Roots’ area. Dennis banked the service off the Oakland wall, and the shot found its way off the hands of Spiegel and into the net to make it 3-2 in the 86th minute.
In a stunning turn, Phoenix tied the match after earning a penalty kick in added time following a foul in the box that led to two red cards and two yellow cards being shown. Rémi Cabral was the man at the dot and finished his shot into the right side to salvage his side a point with the final whistle blowing at 3-3 just second later.
Luckily for the Roots, results around the league were favorable, and despite the late comeback from Phoenix, Oakland still managed to gain ground on the field, now just four points below the playoff line.
The Roots will remain on the road for their next action as they head to El Paso for a mid-week matchup with Locomotive FC on Wednesday, October 1, at 11 a.m. Pacific Time.
Summary
Scoring:
- OAK: Danny Trejo 1’
- OAK: Peter Wilson 9’
- OAK: Peter Wilson 22’
- PHX: Charlie Dennis 45’
- PHX: Charlie Dennis 86’
- PHX: Rémi Cabral 90’+
Discipline:
- PHX: Carl-Fred Sainte 30’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Ali Elmasnaouy 45’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Faysal Bettache 65’ (yellow card)
- PHX: Daniel Flores 88’ (yellow card)
- OAK: Gagi Margvelashvili 90’+ (red card)
- OAK: Raphael Spiegel 90’+ (yellow card)
- PHX: Daniel Flores 90’+ (2nd yellow card) (red card)
Oakland Roots SC
Lineup: Gagi Margvelashvili, Daniel Gomez, Peter Wilson (EJ Johnson), Panos Armenakas, Tyler Gibson, Neveal Hackshaw, Morey Doner (Kai Greene), Raphael Spiegel, Ali Elmasnaouy (Bobosi Byaruhanga), Faysal Bettache (Jürgen Damm), Danny Trejo (Wolfgang Prentice)
Unused subs: Kendall Mcintosh, Camden Riley
Line: Shots: 15 | Shots On Goal: 4 | Corner Kicks: 5 | Fouls: 25
Phoenix Rising FC
Lineup: Peter Rakovsky, Carl-Fred Sainte (Pape Boye), Axel Essengue, Daniel Flores, Collin Smith (Rémi Cabral), Hope Avayevu (Jean Eric Moursou), John Scearce, Noble Okello (Xian Emmers), Ihsan Sacko, Darius Johnson, Charlie Dennis
Unused subs: Rafael Czichos, Triston Henry, Ryan Flood, Tristan Shaw, Pierce Rizzo
Line: Shots: 19 | Shots On Goal: 8 | Corner Kicks: 7 | Fouls: 16