History awaits: United gets its first shot at Oakland Coliseum

Saturday, 8 p.m., Radio: 101.7 FM; TV: KASY (English), Estrella (Spanish); Streaming: KRQE.com, ESPN+

There could be a few famous ghosts in attendance when New Mexico United kicks off Saturday night in Oakland, California.

United will make its first appearance at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, taking on Oakland Roots SC in its first year as the historic venue's primary tenant.

Oakland Coliseum is much better known as the longtime home of Major League Baseball's Oakland A's and the NFL's Oakland Raiders. Both of those clubs departed in pursuit of newer, ritzier stadiums in Las Vegas, Nevada, creating an opening for Oakland's USL Championship entry to take up residence.

Roots SC has made the most of its move, playing up ties to Oakland's sports history. For example, the USLC Club retired the jersey number (24) of baseball Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who spent most of his stellar playing career in Oakland.

But if the ghosts of Henderson and/or late Raiders Hall of Famers like John Madden or Kenny Stabler do show up at their old home stadium Saturday, United players are not likely to pay them much mind. For New Mexico, 6-3-0 and holding a narrow lead atop the USLC Western Conference standings, it's business as usual on the road against a conference opponent.

"I don't know much about the venue, to be honest," NMU midfielder Gedion Zelalem said. "I've just heard the field is very nice and that suits our style of play, so let's go."

For the time being at least, Oakland fans have adopted the Coliseum's new home club. Roots SC currently leads the USLC in home attendance at 11,015 fans per home game — an average built largely on a record crowd of 26,575 that turned out for Oakland's season opener against San Antonio.

But Roots SC (3-6-1) has struggled at home (1-3-1) this season, and United coach Dennis Sanchez spent more time this week thinking about Oakland's personnel than about its stadium.

"Oakland has some dynamic attacking players," Sanchez said, "and they can hurt you in transition moments or on set pieces especially. In the offseason, they brought in some more experienced players who are helping them now. We're expecting a very difficult match."

It will be the second straight West Coast match for New Mexico, which played in Irvine, California last week. United climbed into first place with a 3-0 win over Orange County SC and will look to build on its momentum against Oakland. Prior to last week's win, NMU had dropped consecutive games to rivals El Paso and Phoenix.

"The message against Orange County was to get back to our foundation," Sanchez said. "That was probably our most physically demanding game of the year, but if you look at how we pressed them, how we handled transition moments, it was really a good collective performance overall."

It was something of a breakthrough outing for NMU, which in previous matches had struggled to score more than a single goal. Two of New Mexico's three goals against OC came on Talen Maples penalty kicks, but Sanchez felt good about his team's ability to apply consistent pressure.

"I think both of the PKs were warranted," he said, "and in both cases, we were in really good position to create goals if the penalty wasn't called."

The road win moved United to the front of a tightly bunched pack of Western Conference contenders. New Mexico has 18 points — two more than Tulsa, San Antonio, El Paso and Monterey Bay.

"It's a nice feeling to look at the table and see we're at the top," Zelalem said. "But we take it game by game and the next one's always the most important. I think I speak for the group when I say we love it when teams bring their best against us. We love the challenge. We'll be at our best, too."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

New Mexico (6-3-0): United's roster will be closer to normal this week as goalkeeper Alex Tambakis and forward Marlon Vargas return from red-card suspensions. NMU's depth was evident in last week's 3-0 win at Orange County with several key players out with injuries. It was a particularly impressive night for defender Talen Maples, who became the 30th player in USLC history to convert two penalties in a game. Maples has been an iron man for NMU this season, playing every minute of the club's nine league games. He ranks second in the USLC with 738 passes. United also has gotten strong contributions from defenders Kalen Ryden and Will Seymore. Ryden leads the club with 43 clearances, 18 aerial duels won and is 10th in the league with 550 passes. Seymore has won a team-best 33 duels to go with a goal and an assist.

Oakland (3-6-1): Roots SC has been an efficient attacking club with 13 goals and one of the USLC's best conversion rates (21%). Wolfgang Prentice (4 goals on just 6 shot attempts) has set an impressive standard for accuracy, while Peter Wilson (3 goals, 3 assists, 11 shots and 8 chances created) has excelled at both playmaking and finishing. The only problem for Oakland's offense is that shots have been too few and far between. The Roots rank 20th with just 78 attempts (New Mexico has 94 in one fewer game). Defense also has been an issue. Oakland has conceded a league-worst 19 goals, including four in a 4-2 loss last week at North Carolina. Primary goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh has been busy with 28 saves, tied for third most in the USLC. Former United defender Abdi Mohamed is on Oakland's roster but he did not play last week.

GOAL KICKS: Saturday's matchup certainly could be a physical battle as Oakland leads the USLC with 174 fouls conceded. New Mexico has been whistled for 140 fouls but is tied for first with 30 yellow cards. Oakland has drawn 29. ... NMU defender Jace Sais made his first professional appearance in last week's win at Orange County. Sais, 19, who played prep soccer at La Cueva, came on as a second-half substitute. ... Orange County's Koa Santos became the first USLC player to concede two penalties in a game since 2022 in last week's contest.