The Oakland Roots vaulted to an early three-goal lead and hung on to earn a 3-1 victory over El Farolito in the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Tuesday night.
“I think we made the game a lot more difficult than it should have been,” Roots head coach Noah Delgado said after the match. “But I thought the end goal was accomplished, the guys won the first ever US Open Cup in Roots history.”
Oakland’s lineup included three experienced internationals who were making their first start for the Roots: Kevin Wright (Sierra Leone), Neveal Hackshaw (Trinidad & Tobago), and Bryan Tamacas (El Salvador). It also included three young players who had seen limited playing time with the club: Drew Murray, Ryan Her, and Wolfgang Prentice.
El Farolito, who won the 1993 US Open Cup under the name CD Mexico, was missing their captain, Herlbert Soto. He was red carded in their First Round Open Cup match against International San Francisco.
Twelve Minute Lapse Ends El Farolito’s Open Cup Dreams
The visitors made a promising start to the match. Their first chance came in the 7th minute, when Ricardo Delgado’s free kick from 25 yards out was on target, but Oakland goalkeeper Taylor Bailey made an acrobatic save to keep the ball out.
Two minutes later, Delgado went down in the box, but the referee decided that Oakland’s Trayvon Reid had taken away the ball cleanly.
But then things fell apart for El Farolito.
In the 11th minute, Oakland’s Johnny Rodriguez was taken down to the left of the penalty area. Ryan Her took the free kick and an El Farolito defender headed it into his own goal. But the referee hadn’t blown his whistle, so the kick was taken again. Her’s second attempt curved toward the near post, and Rodriguez headed it in.
Oakland added another in the 15th minute, when Ethan Kohler grabbed an outlet pass from El Farolito goalkeeper Johan Lizarralde and dished the ball to Prentice, who cut back toward the middle and blasted a shot that Lizarralde couldn’t reach.
The third goal came in the 24th minute, when Trayvon Reid took on a pair of defenders and dished it to Rodriguez as he made his run into the penalty area. Rodriguez’s cross was perfectly timed as Prentice made his run to the back post for his second goal of the game.
After the initial shock, El Farolito scrambled to get back into the game. Their first chance came in the 30th minute, when a backpass to Bailey took a funny hop on a patch of turf in front of goal. Cesar Benitez intercepted the ball, but Bailey made the save on his shot attempt from close range.
The visitors received a lifeline in the 45th minute, when Bailey’s clearance was intercepted by Benitez, who dished the ball off to Delgado, who was taken down by Bailey. Delgado converted the subsequent penalty kick.
In case you missed all three of our goals in the first half.
— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) April 5, 2023
12′ – Johnny Rodriguez
19′, 24′ – Wolfgang Prentice#KnowYourRoots pic.twitter.com/j41Q6WbVII
El Farolito Dominates the Second Half, But No Goals
As the match went on, tempers flared. In the 65th minute, there was a scuffle between Hackshaw and Jude Higuera and then a yellow card to El Farolito’s Jonatan Mosquera one minute later.
El Farolito kept the ball in Oakland’s end of the field for much of the second half, but clear chances were rare. In the 70th minute, Higuera’s one-timer required Bailey to make a diving save to deflect the ball over the endline for a corner.
Disaster struck for El Farolito in the 83rd minute after Jehimy Arias received his second yellow card for kicking the ball away in frustration.
But El Farolito had one more chance to pull back a goal, when a long ball from Daniel Buitrago found Jhon “Saya” Quinones, who headed the ball off the crossbar. Hackshaw was able to clear the rebound off the goal line.
And Oakland’s Prentice had one final chance for the hat trick in the third minute of stoppage time, but his shot was deflected wide by Lizarralde.
After the game, Coach Delgado was asked whether his team had suffered a second half letdown.
“I think a big part of that is fitness,” he said. “We did as much as we can to give fitness in the preseason games. But during the season, it’s hard to replicate game minutes. So I think some guys got a bit tired but we were able to push them through.
“And El Farolito, they have a lot of veteran players that are savvy. These guys played in Europe, these guys played on national teams, these guys are former pros. So you’ve gotta respect El Farolito for what they bring.”
Delgado was asked his squad had been motivated by any bitterness last about last year’s Open Cup draw, when the Roots had to travel 2,600 miles to Greenville, South Carolina to play a road match in the second round.
“Yeah, a little bit,” he said. “I think everyone has that at the back of their mind. We didn’t bring that up, but you know I can think about traveling across the country where we could have played a local game or had a home game. There are a lot of teams there but is what it is, this team will deal with adversity.”
He said the team was excited to be moving on in the tournament.
“I think it’s something that’s super special that you’re able to play games against opponents you don’t necessarily play in higher and lower divisions,” he said. So, you know, one step at a time, of course, but having one off kind of playoff games can really bring out an intensity that’s not there In the regular season.”
