Squad’s depth challenged again in draw
Neither San Antonio nor Oakland could get a shot off in the first half.
They hardly could even get a shot off.
But the final 30 minutes was a chaotic battle with four goals scored combined. The end result was a 2-2 tie as neither San Antonio FC nor Oakland could to hold its lead in the late stages of the second half Saturday at Toyota Field.
“All in all, it was positive,” San Antonio coach Alen Marcina said. “We controlled the game from start to finish. It was a great response from last week.”
Despite missing key contributors Mitchell Taintor and Luke Haakenson, San Antonio (3-2-4, 13 points) got a slightly better result a week after losing at Miami. But its depth was challenged again early Saturday
night as Lucas Silva was subbed off with an injury in the 26th minute.
“We are dealing with some adversity with the amount of important players that are out of the lineup,” Marcina said. “We don’t make excuses and we will continue to build and move forward.”
Kameron Lacey came on for Silva and had an immediate impact, accounting for both of San Antonio’s shots on target in the first half.
“We are a little disappointed we didn’t get the three points,” San Antonio defender Kevon Lambert said. “I’m proud of how the guys fought tonight.”
Oakland (2-5-2, 8 points) broke through in the 65th minute. Miche-naider Chery scored by heading the ball into the goal off a cross from Trayvonne Reid. Reid himself had come close to getting Oakland its first goal in the late stages of the first half.
The Roots lead lasted only eight minutes. Juan Agudelo equalized for San Antonio FC in the 73rd minute when Juan Agudelo directed a cross from Bura into the bottom right corner of the goal.
“I thought the group did well to respond from last week’s performance,” San Antonio midfielder Mohammed Omar said. “It was an up-and-down game, but I thought we imposed our will most of the game.”
San Antonio went in front six minutes later when Kevon Lambert headed the ball into goal from a Jorge Hernandez cross off a corner kick in the 79th minute.
“We all know the quality that Jorge has,” Lambert said. “When he’s on the ball we can expect that something good happens. I got in the box and hoped I could get on the end of one of his passes. I was happy to get on the end of one tonight.”
Five minutes after putting San Antonio in front, Lambert was called for a handball in the box and Oakland was given a penalty. Johnny Rodriguez stepped up and scored the penalty kick in the 84th minute to tie the score 2-2.
San Antonio had 61 percent of possession in the game and outshot Oakland 9-7 overall and 5-4 on target.
“We want to play with urgency at all times,” Omar said. “Sometimes the way the game goes, you might have to weather the storm a little bit and then you get your momentum going.”
Machop Chol nearly put San Antonio in front in the ninth minute when he slipped the ball into goal from the left side on a pass from Juan Agudelo. The goal did not count as Chol was in an offside position when he shot.
San Antonio begins U.S. Open Cup play Wednesday night in the round of 32 at Indy Eleven. SAFC returns to league play next Saturday night when it hosts Las Vegas at Toyota Field.