Roots fans will have to wait a little bit longer to see their team on the field. (Douglas Zimmerman)
Because of air quality concerns in the Bay Area, the Oakland Roots postponed their ‘Justice Match’ friendly scheduled for Aug 29.
“The health and safety of our staff, players, guest players, and partners is paramount,” said Oakland Roots Chair Steven Aldrich. “We remain committed to using our platform to advance the cause of racial and gender equity and intend to play the Justice Match at a later date when conditions are safe.”
The ‘Justice Match’ will feature a split-squad of Roots players teaming up with local women soccer players and retired professionals.
Some of the notable names include ex-US Women’s National Soccer team player Aly Wagner, Miranda Nild who started for Thailand’s World Cup team in 2019, and former Afghanistan captain Hailai Arghandiwal.
Oakland will return to the field on Sept. 6 for an abbreviated fall campaign in NISA. Their first game will be against LA Force.
Quakes face Timbers without Erikkson
San Jose Quakes Magnus Eriksson is returning to Sweden. (Courtesy San Jose Earthquakes)
After a deep run in the MLS is Back Tournament in Florida, the San Jose Earthquakes return to the field at Earthquakes Stadium on Wednesday night against the Portland Timbers, who won the tournament.
The match will be one of six games the Quakes will play in their ‘first phase’ return to the regular season. They will also have a home game on Sept. 5 against the Colorado Rapids and Sept. 13 against the LA Galaxy. They have road games on Aug. 29 against LA Galaxy, Sept. 2 against LAFC, and Sept. 10 against the Seattle Sounders.
All San Jose home games will not be played in front of fans.
The Quakes will be back on the field minus midfielder Magnus Eriksson, who after two and a half years was transfered back to Sweden to first division side Djurgardens IF.
“Magnus [Eriksson] had an offer from his former club in Sweden,” explained Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda. “Both him and his family were happy to be in their home country. At the end, I will get together with the board and we will decide who is going to get their contracts renewed and who is going to leave. I think that thinking this way will create a different type of demand. He, who wants to be here needs to show that he wants to be here.”
As for the upcoming schedule, the Quakes players are looking forward to the challenge.
“We have a style of play that we are excited about and we are going to be focusing on us,” said Quakes defender Tommy Thompson. “I think we do have some great opponents, but the focus is always on our group and the role that each of us need to play to get as many points as possible.”
NSL Pacific up to 11 teams
Dahlak FC, based in South San Francisco, will play in the NSL Pacific. (Twitter / Dahlak FC)
The NSL Pacific continues to add more local teams to its roster as it prepares to have a season later this year.
Dahlak Hadenet FC, a team that also plays in the Eritrean Sports Federation in North America will join the league and be based out of South San Francisco.
The league now has 11 teams. Including Dahlak, the league consists of Real San Jose, Oakland Stompers, Contra Costa FC, AFC San Francisco Hearts, San Leandro United, Pajaro Valley United, Stockton TLJ FC, San Pablo FC, Richmond Sol FC, and NorCal Rush.
NSL is fourth division soccer league on par with two other larger fourth division leagues, the NPSL and UPSL, in the American soccer pyramid.
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Douglas Zimmerman curates the Beautiful Blog, which covers the ‘beautiful game’ of soccer in the Bay Area and around the world. He recently released a photo book documenting the fans of the World Cup that he started in 2002.
Follow on Twitter: @zimpix
