The Oakland Roots defeated Detroit City FC 2-0 in USL Championship play at the Oakland Coliseum Saturday night. Panos Armenakas scored his first goal of the season in the 55th minute, rifling a shot from the top of the box past Detroit’s goalkeeper Carlos Herrera.
Oakland doubled their lead in the 85th minute when a free kick led to an own goal by Detroit’s Marcello Polisi, who deflected a header by Gagi Margvelashvili into his own net.
Despite Detroit topping the Roots in total shots (four to Oakland’s two), they couldn’t capitalize, with Matt Sheldon missing maybe DCFC’s best chance in the 16th minute. This victory marked Oakland Roots’ third win and clean sheet under coach Benny Feilhaber, boosting their position at the bottom of the Western Conference table.
While any good fortune Detroit generated for itself over the past two games may have been erased after last night’s lifeless performance.
Something’s gotta give
The month of July for the Detroit City FC first team men’s side has undertaken a look that isn’t much different from what we’ve seen the past two months. Le Rouge has only had one league win since the beginning of May, which came via a 2-0 victory over The Miami FC on June 21. As a result, Detroit now sits level in points with the Riverhounds (20), good for fifth in the East, with Pittsburgh having a game in hand.
Last night, too, didn’t leave much for this team to build on.
Despite the home broadcast looking to the defense as a silver lining to an otherwise cringeworthy performance, it was the defense, more notably Michael Bryant, that was responsible for both Oakland goals. In the first half, his failed deflection kept the play alive in Detroit’s final third, giving Armenakas the chance to bury an opportunity before the half. If you want to call it unfortunate, that’s fine; however, fast forward to the 85′, and Bryant’s boneheaded shove to the back of Daniel Gomez resulting in the free kick that led to the own goal, putting the game completely out of reach for City.
It’s not just the play from Bryant, though, or any one particular player. You have to question why Ates Diouf isn’t getting a go in the starting eleven, or more playing time in general, given he’s been arguably the team’s most dynamic player the past month when given the opportunity. Last night, he was subbed in at the 67′ mark for Darren Smith of all people who has shown an ability to score goals if he has someone who can create plays for him, something Diouf has also shown the ability to do.
It’s also hard to look past Sebastian Guenzatti coming in for Connor Rutz at the half, which seemed like more of an opportune time to get Diouf into the match. Or Polisi coming in for Jeciel Cedeno in the 79′, which was a head scratcher given the situation Detroit was in and their need to have players on the pitch who could generate scoring opportunities.
And opportunity has been a huge question mark for this team this season when discussing the players who have and haven’t been given adequate chances to break into the starting lineup or obtain meaningful minutes during a game. Take former DCFC defender Morey Doner last night, who, for some reason, couldn’t really generate any playing time with Detroit but looked incredibly capable last night for Oakland.
Change, though, at least when it comes to the starting eleven or any kind of rotation, may be hard to come by, given some of the mounting injuries with the team.
Needless to say, the pressure should be on for a DCFC squad whose season is slowly getting flushed down the toilet.