Prior to kickoff, one may have thought that this fixture seemed lopsided with El Farolito being an amateur team in the 4th division of US Soccer. Though Oakland Roots, the favorites from the USL Championship, were finally able to come away victorious 2-1, the game remained an extremely competitive affair right up until the final whistle in extra time.
It was a rematch from the Second Round of last year’s US Open Cup which the Roots’ won 3-1 at the same venue at CSUEB Pioneer Stadium in Hayward, Calif.
El Farolito shocked everyone by finding the back of the net first via a header by the reigning TheCup.us Player of the Round, Dembor Benson. A mishit volley off of a cross, bounced around in the box and perfectly found itself on the head of Benson who directed the ball into the top left corner, outside of the keeper’s reach putting the San Francisco team 1-0 up in the 12th minute.
Roots refused to take the goal laying down and spent the rest of the half knocking on El Farolito’s door. The siege continued until the 46th minute just before the halftime whistle. An expertly placed cross from the right side by 19 year old, Ilya Alekseev found Guillermo Diaz who had ghosted into space with a late run toward the back post. Diaz headed the ball powerfully into the back of the net to draw the game level before the break.
The remainder of normal time was a very cagey affair with seven yellow cards as well as one red card awarded to El Farolito player Edgard Kreye before the 90 minute whistle. Though many cards were given, there would be no more goals until extra time.
In the first half of extra time the Oakland Roots took their opportunity to stick their nose in front and complete the comeback. In the 97th minute, a curling ball from deep, skipped off of Trayvone Reed and bounced directly into the path of Ali Elmasnaouy who skillfully flicked the ball past the keeper, finding the back of the net.
In the 110th (105+5) minute, El Farolito managed to get one last chance before the end of the first period of extra time with Benson finding space in behind the defense following a mistake from Neveal Hackshaw. The defender misread the header and allowed the ball fly over him and land at the feet of Benson, prompting the keeper to rush off his line which queued Benson to attempt to chip him. The chip beat the keeper but ended up being slightly wide, denying El Farolito their golden chance to claw their way back level.
Less than a minute after the start of the second period of extra time Roots player Trayvone Reed received a second yellow card for a foul on El Farolito’s Jhoann Yabur. Suddenly, Roots find themselves having to defend a lead with another half of extra time left and one less player to defend with.
Through a great display of defensive focus and rigidity, Oakland Roots were able to keep El Farolito at bay despite having only 29% possession in the second period of extra time.
El Farolito continued fighting until the bitter end but ultimately it was the favorites who came out on top in what was only their second occasion playing extra time in club history.
Oakland head coach Noah Delgado elected to play multiple youngsters in this match with five teenagers seeing the field, one of which getting the assist for the equalizer and another scoring the winning goal.
“A special night for those boys, we knew El Farolito is a good team … so we knew it would be a difficult game …” said Delgado. “Playing younger players, developing players, developing local … it’s great to see them getting to contribute and playing in a cup game which is a little more testing than what they are used to.”