Dan Watches NISA: Week Two

Each week, I’ll be writing a recap of the NISA matches, give my thoughts on the matches and give a short power ranking of the clubs at the end. All matches were watched on Mycujoo, because I don’t live within 500 miles of any NISA clubs. Matches will be in random order.

Week 2 in the books. Two draws and a win, there’s going to be weeks like this in any league. Certainly hard to match the intensity and excitement of week 1, especially with Chattanooga and DCFC on bye weeks. But we’ll soldier on! Time to look at the matches of week 2.

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LA Force 1 - Stumptown 1

• A note on officials - Has anyone noticed how many women officials there have been in these matches? Three matches tonight and two of them had head officials that were women and (at least) one had a woman as a side judge. I haven’t heard any specific talk about this from the league and maybe it’s just a coincidence, but this is a great move on the part of the league. Honestly, they should be trumpeting it. And, as my podcast cohost John would say “if you aren’t noticing the officials, they’re doing a good job.” So far so good!

• It’s clear to me that Stumptown is taking the “fire at will” approach early in matches. Long shots, yards outside of the box, are flying in both their matches so far this season. Funny enough their goal this match was more build up play, but they are definitely trying to test the keeper early and often AND from distance.

• Pitch notes - this match had the best looking rug of the evening. Oakland has that patchwork abomination they bought and 1904 FC is playing on a football field. Yikes.

1904 FC 0 - Cal United Strikers FC 0

• There are different kinds of draws. There are the kind where both teams score goals and end up even at the end of the match. There are the kind where the keepers stone their opponents and it ends in a stalemate. Then there are the kind where the viewers are bored out of their minds the entire match…

• Cal United looked flat this match, especially compared to Week 1. Not sure if the hour commute really wore them out, but they looked disinterested and slow, almost as bored as I was watching the match. I kept waiting to see the slick passes and smooth interchange between players of Week 1 and the club looked zombie-like instead. Just not there in the way I expected. They could have won this match and left one on the table. Hope it doesn’t bite them in the ass at the end of the season.

• Oh, but 1904 woke up in extra time. Suddenly all the pressure in the world was coming from San Diego. I guess they were well rested from being so slow and disengaged all match? They looked dangerous and aggressive in the few minutes of extra time, in a way they hadn’t looked the entire match. More of that please, 1904!

Oakland Roots 2 - Michigan Stars 1

• I’ve said it multiple times already, but Stars deserve more points than the goose egg they are sitting on right now. They’ve played long stretches of punishing, patient defense, and each match they’ve conceded and lost the match. You work that hard, you deserve more credit and certainly a point or two.

• Jack McInerney continues to be the most dangerous man in NISA. 8 goals in 8 matches. He could have gotten two more than his lone goal in this match. He had one called back for offsides (debatable) and a second went off the crossbar. I’ll predict it now, barring some crazy matches from another player, JackMac will end the season as the golden boot winner.

• First win for Oakland. Big deal. Glad they didn’t blow it in the final minutes.

• Michigan Stars looked downright threatening in the second half. Scoring chances, good passing, and all without their defense falling apart. I think it might be time to rethink their bunkering strategy and look for something more balanced. They have the attacking talent on the roster, let those horses run.

That’s it for this week. Check out our Protagonist Podcast feed on almost every major podcast outlet, brand new episode of Knights Who Say NISA out Monday night. Every match recapped and broken down by Dan Vaughn and John Howard-Fusco.

- Dan Vaughn

Ranking the NISA Home Openers

For those that missed it, NISA put out a list of the home openers for the Spring 2020 season. With the first match kicking off on the weekend of February 29, we’re sitting 6 weeks out from the kick-off of the expanded season of NISA play with the addition of Chattanooga, Detroit City, and Michigan Stars. The full schedule won’t be released until later this month, so for now, let’s rank the home openers.

- Dan

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★

Stumptown Athletic vs. 1904 FC (2/29/20)

Stumptown Athletic was the runner up in the East to Miami FC, but with Philly Fury forfeiting the season and Atlanta SC’s 2 wins coming in matches that Philly vacated, they have a tremendous amount to prove heading into this season. The addition of heavy hitters in the East will mean that task will be even harder. 1904 only managed two wins in the stronger West and will be desperate to start off their season with a win. This will be a match most will skip out on and, with Stumptown’s attendance issues last season, the stands will reflect that.

★★

Cal United Strikers FC vs. Michigan Stars FC (2/29/20)

This isn’t going to come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the NPSL, Michigan Stars was the little brother in a conference dominated by big name clubs, including their fellow NISA expansion, DCFC. Stars have a lot to prove in their league and will have to kick off their season on the road, heading to Orange County to face Cal United Strikers. Strikers finished the last regular season in second position in the standings. They followed that up by beating LA in the playoffs on PKs. Kicking off their season against an unproven NISA expansion side should be a recipe for a quick 3 points.

Chattanooga FC vs. Michigan Stars FC (3/14/20)

CFC is one of two big names to cross over into NISA during the offseason. With their ability to fill Finley, it’s reasonable to expect a crazy crowd for this first professional match for Chatta. The club should make quick work of their fellow ex-Members Cup opponent. Speaking of Members Cup, Michigan finished with only 2 wins and a negative 8 goal differential. Not good, man.

★★★

Michigan Stars FC vs. Los Angeles Force (3/21/20)

So I’ve dunked on Michigan Stars in two previous previews, so let’s give this home opener a 3 star rating. I’d expect the club to be on a losing streak and this will be a chance to bounce back, facing a club that had to travel over 2,000 miles. Is anyone else a little troubled the match is scheduled at a location TBD? Seems a little late in the game for details like that to not be settled. Anyway, back to the match, so good chance for a bounce back for the hosts, EXCEPT their opponent was the regular season champ in the West and lost on PKs in the playoffs. LA Force will have faced DCFC at home for their opener (more on that later) and we don’t know the rest of the schedule yet, but without a doubt this appears on paper to be a big win opportunity for LA.

★★★★

Detroit City FC vs. Oakland Roots (3/21/20)

Detroit City FC heads into NISA with a ton of steam after soundly defeating the rest of the Members Cup participants in the Fall. Detroit really matched their support and swagger with solid play on the field and look to be the favorites of this first season in NISA. Their first NISA opponent at Keyworth will be Oakland Roots, a club that nailed every aspect of their rollout in 2019, except for their on-field play. With a new coach and a renewed roster, Oakland will be looking to match their looks with substance in 2020.

Oakland Roots vs. Chattanooga FC (2/29/20)

Everything I said about Oakland in the previous preview, but now they get to host the other big boy expansion club, Chattanooga FC. It’s a long trip from Chattanooga, so maybe that helps Oakland? Especially considering Oakland draws well, something that CFC rarely has rarely seen outside of Detroit. I think this match is sneaky good and should show us where Oakland is headed into 2020.

★★★★★

Los Angeles Force vs. Detroit City FC (2/29/20)

Yet another match to be played at TBD, but WHAT a match. The 2019 regular season winner from the West hosts the bad boys of Detroit on the first week of the 2020 season. This should bring all the eyes on opening weekend. Circle this match.

Club of the Year Nominee: Oakland Roots SC

As a staff, we sat down and discussed which clubs deserved the title “Club of the Year.” Working together over the last three weeks we came up with a list of five. This week, I’ll introduce each club and make the argument for your vote. Saturday morning, voting begins and will continue till the end of the year. January 1, we’ll announce our Protagonist Soccer 2019 Club of the Year. I hope you enjoy these articles and then vote for your club of choice. - Dan

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There’s a famous Supreme Court decision everyone loves to quote. You may have heard of it, but it happened in 1964, Jacobellis v. Ohio. In that case, Nico Jacobellis ran a movie theater and decided to show a movie the state of Ohio had deemed obscene. When they arrested him and charged him, he challenged the law, lost twice on appeal, and eventually took it all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reversed the decision, on the grounds that the Constitution didn’t allow regulation of pornography (the film wasn’t porn in our modern sense, just a very artsy French film with sex in it), unless it was “hardcore pornography.” Justice Potter Stewart, who ruled to overrule the lower court’s decision, issued a very quotable dissent when the decision was made. “"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."

“Knowing something when you see it” acknowledges that there are times in life when expressing something may be difficult, even though you know that it is correct. It is not a cop out, but rather a recognition that your gut feeling is correct, with or without the logic to back it up. And maybe it’s difficult to nominate a club that has struggled to produce points on the field and has existed for less than two years, but I know a nominee for club of the year when I see it. That club is Oakland Roots SC.

So let’s consider the case for Oakland Roots for club of the year. Without a doubt, the weakest point on that list is their performance on the field. With a league track record that is only 6 matches long, that isn’t much to go on. And what we do have is weak, points-wise. Roots ended the 2019 NISA campaign with only 3 points, all from draws. Without a win, it should come as no surprise that the club struggled in the goal differential category, ending the season at -3, second worst in the entire competition. But that’s where the negatives end and the narrative turns.

Oakland Roots managed to secure several big friendlies against south of the border competition, including Liga MX first division side, FC Juarez. Against Los Bravos, Roots struggled, yielding the first three goals in 12 minutes. However, for the next 80 minutes, the Oakland side held its own against the better club, finishing the match with a score of 4-2. Their second friendly continued that run, with a great victory over Ascenso MX (Mexican second division) leader CA Zacatepec. Zacatepec won the 2019 Apertura (first half of the league’s year) by a point and probably expected to easily beat Roots. The friendly ended with a scoreline of 2-0, with goals from Jack McInerney and Octavio Guzman. Competing and beating Mexican clubs won’t hurt your standing in the hearts of Californian soccer fans, where Liga MX is the most followed league, especially among Mexican Americans. The club was competing with clubs their local fans watched on tv. The comparisons were authentic and close to their heart.

And that Mexican American demographic is a big one in the city of Oakland. The population is 25% Latino and over 40% of the city speaks a language other than English, but that population is also White, African American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, and Cambodian. It’s a diverse population where soccer can serve as a uniting bond. That diversity was a central focus from the beginning with the club. Diversity is authentic to Oakland and that diversity would play a central role in every decision moving forward.

The club was founded by Benno Nagel and Edreece Arghandiwal; Nagel brought years of soccer experience, while Arghandiwal had worked in marketing, brand management, and tech. After deciding they wanted to form a soccer club, they chose NPSL’s Founders Cup as the destination. With FC’s demise, NISA was where Oakland would extend their roots. During the club’s founding, Nagel and Arghandiwal gathered a board of community advisors from diverse backgrounds within the city. Those advisors offered perspective and advice on the decisions that would shape the soccer club as it formed.

The primary focus was that the club would represent Oakland. They used a phrase to guide them “Oakland first, always” and that phrase would lead them to the creation of the club’s iconic logo and overall branding approach. Partnering with Matt Wolf, who has created multiple iconic brands in American soccer (including fellow Californian club, LAFC), they included the Jack London Oak (a symbol of the city, a 100-year old tree that stands in the center of the city) in the design. The club worked with local clothing brand Oaklandish to design a line of clothing that extended the look of the club into everyday apparel. And the branding was such a hit, it began to show up in hip-hop videos, particularly in California-native G-Eazy’s videos. Soon after NBA stars began wearing their apparel. Authenticity is hot.

That approach to authenticity extended to how the club built their roster, going after Oakland native Devante Dubose. When the announcement was made, it was done with an eye-catching video that was widely shared on social media. It featured shot after shot of Oakland, with Dubose wearing Roots gear, eventually ending with a final shot of the player standing in a parking lot with a car drafting in a circle around him. I’m not from Oakland, but it felt authentic. Roots followed that signing more Oakland-raised talent in Julio Cervantes and Yohannes Harish. From there they added more talent like Benji Joya, Victor Bernardez, and Jack McInerney. It was a club built to represent the people who would support it, the authenticity would flow from the stands to the pitch.

And the people did show up. More than any other club in the NISA showcase in the fall of 2019, Oakland showed up for the club’s home matches. Roots averaged over 5,000 fans a match, putting their attendance over the vast majority of USL Championship clubs. The club worked to build on the fan experience, including a season-ending hip-hop show at the final match.

We often talk about how bad branding is so prevalent in American soccer. We scoff at outsiders buying rights to cities and then fumbling basic decisions on how to brand, staff, and run their club. So maybe in 2019 we should trumpet one that got it right, because Oakland Roots nailed it. By focusing on the city they loved, the founders created a club that fans could love. Oakland Roots represents the authenticity, diversity, and the unique makeup of Oakland, California. You should vote for Roots, because just like Justice Potter said, you’ll know it when you see it, and you can see it in Oakland. Oakland First, Always.

- Dan Vaughn