MATCH INFO:
Live Stats (USL Championship)
Livestream (ESPN+)
Local Broadcast (COZI-TV)
CARY, N.C. (Sept. 5, 2024) — North Carolina FC is back at home for Week 27 of the USL Championship regular season, hosting Oakland Roots SC on Saturday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The match will stream live on ESPN+ and be available locally on COZI-TV.
Get ready to suit up and assemble The Avengers for the match as NCFC celebrates Marvel Night against the Roots. Tickets are available here.
North Carolina FC enters the match in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with 30 points and a 7-9-9 record, while Oakland sits third in the Western Conference with 40 points and a 12-10-4 record.
Week 26 saw NCFC fall to league-leading Louisville City 4-6 in one of the oddest games in USL Championship history. The match featured a USL Championship record three own goals but had some bright spots for North Carolina FC. Ezra Armstrong’s two-assist performance and Oalex Anderson’s brace earned the duo places in the USL Championship Team of the Week, while Mikey Maldonado had a solid all-around game in midfield.
Anderson’s double brought him level with Evan Conway as NCFC’s leading scorer for the season with eight goals in 2024 and took his NCFC career total to 32, putting him just three goals away from Brian Shriver’s NCFC record in all competitions.
Rodrigo Da Costa also picked up some mid-week recognition from the league, with the Brazilian’s free kick being nominated for Goal of the Week.
The Roots are unbeaten in their last five matches, picking up wins over Miami FC, Loudoun United FC and Western Conference leaders New Mexico United during that stretch. Despite the winning record, Oakland has a -6 goal differential on the season and has been on the losing side of some lopsided fixtures including back-to-back 5-2 and 5-0 losses to Sacramento Republic FC and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC.
After Oakland parted ways with Head Coach Noah Delgado in April, former Carolina RailHawks forward Gavin Glinton was named the team interim head coach. The Turks and Caicos international spent the 2009 season with the RailHawks. Glinton played 15 games in that season, scoring two goals and adding one assist as the RailHawks finished second in the USL First Division.
Johnny Rodriguez is the main threat up front for the Roots, with the forward’s 10 goals ranking eighth in the Golden Boot race. As a team, Oakland has scored 33 goals this season, ranking 12th in the league for scoring and just two goals back of NCFC’s 35-goal haul, while just four teams have conceded more goals than the Roots’ 39.
Defender Memo Diaz has also played a crucial role in the Oakland attack with a team-leading 42 chances created and seven assists. He joined Anderson and Armstrong in the USL Championship Team of the Week.
