Sac Republic Mailbag: Is scoring a concern? What’s Sargis’ future in Sacramento?
For the first time, The Sacramento Bee has launched a Sacramento Republic FC mailbag. Readers sent questions via Twitter and email on a variety of topics. Will Hayden Sargis stick around Sacramento? Why can’t they score more goals? We’ll have all this and more.
To your questions!
@fritsj_318 asks: How does Hayden Sargis fit into the team’s plans for entering the MLS? Do they think they can keep him around that long?
Hayden Sargis is highly valued by Sac Republic.
Sargis has been with Sac Republic’s academy program since its inception in 2015 and is one of three players in the club’s history to sign a first-team professional contract from the academy.
He is one of two players (with captain Drew Skundrich) to start and play the full 90 minutes in each of the team’s first five games. At practice and during games, he is extremely vocal and has arguably been the club’s most valuable defender this season.
“He’s an incredible person, an incredible player and a great professional,” Republic midfielder Drew Skundrich said of Sargis. “He shows maturity beyond his years. He’s only 18 years old, but he is a commanding leader. He puts in hard tackles and his distribution out of the back is fantastic. I’m sure he will be a stud going forward in the future.
As for his future with the club — Sargis just turned 18 — and his best years are still ahead of him. I think because he is a homegrown academy player, Sac Republic has an upper hand in keeping him around. Although 2023 is a long time away, don’t be surprised if Sargis is in the starting 11 for Sac Republic’s MLS team one day.
SRFC Podcast asks: What does the best starting lineup look like? There’s been a lot of tinkering to the starting XI this season, which might suggest Coach Briggs is uncomfortable with finding the right balance in the team.
Mark Briggs has used a variety of lineups to start the season.
Like I mentioned above, the only two players in the Sac Republic starting XI to start and play the full 90 minutes in the team’s first five games of the season are Hayden Sargis and Drew Skundrich.
Starting goalkeeper Adam Grinwis missed the last game against San Diego with a knee injury, but he started the previous four games. It’s possible he could be back in the lineup either this Saturday against Portland Timbers 2 or sometime next week.
The other players to appear in the lineup all five games are Ashkanov Apollon, Villyan Bijev, Cameron Iwasa, Sam Werner and Andrew Wheeler Omiunu.
Briggs said Wednesday at practice he hopes to establish a consistent starting Xl.
“We are still learning and figuring out one another because we are only a few games in,” Republic coach Mark Briggs said. “With the pandemic and injuries, it kind of set us back. I would like to get a familiar starting Xl and work with that group. I have a squad of 23 players that I trust when they go on the field. Everyone at training is trying to get into the starting Xl. I do think we need to come to terms with a starting Xl and not change the lineup too much.”
There’s a lot of options for Sac Republic and the team has a lot of depth. I wouldn’t be surprised if 15-year-old midfielder Rafael Jauregui got more minutes. He’s also an academy product who has appeared in two games this season.
Look, it’s early in the season. The team has only trained together for a little over a month. I think over the next few games, Briggs will find a lineup he likes and will stick with it. What that lineup is remains to be seen.
@macncheez76 asks: Will starting Roro allow for more build up from the back through the middle passing lanes or is the strategy to continue to shoot it up the wings and cross all the time?
RoRo (aka Rodrigo López) is one of the team’s best playmakers.
In the season reboot against Tacoma Defiance, Lopez made his first start with the club since 2015. He spent the last few years in Mexico’s top leagues. Lopez didn’t play last Saturday against San Diego and Sac Republic only made one substitution the entire game.
Briggs addressed why he only made one substitution against San Diego.
“As the game went on, our players got stronger,” Briggs said. “Our players looked fitter and more aggressive. As a coach, I have five subs and someone will always say, ‘You could’ve done this, you could’ve done that,’ but at that moment in time, I didn’t want our team to lose that momentum.”
Sac Republic has had success with Lopez in the starting lineup. He will likely be in the starting Xl because of his ability to help on crosses and his ability to create opportunities for others.
“Having (RoRo) is great,” Skundrich said of Lopez. “His range of passing is incredible. He can pick his head up and see a pass 20, 30 or 40 yards away and hit it on a dime — That’s his biggest strength and that’s something we love about him. RoRo has a calming presence that is needed at times. A lot of us younger guys are always thinking go, go, go but he’s always there to calm us down and to help keep the ball moving.”
USL Pony asks (via email): How does SRFC improve their finishing ability? Last year they were bottom third in the league, and this year they are near bottom five. It has been a problem that has plagued the team for years regardless of coach, roster or tactics, so what ways does Briggs look to fix it in 2020, as so far nothing has changed and points continue to be lost in games where even a mild improvement would see all 3 points earned instead of a draw?
Let’s compare this season’s stats to last year’s.
In 2019, Sac Republic ranked 17th in the United Soccer League in goals with 55 and seventh in total shots with 515. This season, the rankings are somewhat similar. The team was tied for 19th in scoring headed into Wednesday’s games, with five goals. But the team is second in the league with 88 total shots.
I posed the question to Briggs at Wednesday’s training about if he’s concerned the team isn’t scoring goals.
“It would be a bigger concern to me if we weren’t creating opportunities,” he said.
Sac Republic is taking a lot of shots but can’t seem to finish. Which is, after all, the important part. You could argue in Sac Republic’s game against La Galaxy ll, they dominated the first half and should’ve scored twice. Against San Diego, they had late opportunities but couldn’t convert.
The bright spot for Sac Republic is this: They still control their own destiny. In the two Group A games they’ve played, they tied Tacoma 3-3 in a game which they should’ve won and beat Reno 1868 1-0.
There’s a long way to go in the USL season. If Sac Republic keeps creating opportunities and playing tough defense like they have been the last three games, they will be in a good spot to win the group.
“I trust the players we have and trust we will be able to connect with opportunities,” Briggs said. “It’s something we need to grind through right now. We will get a goal (eventually) off someone’s back, or someone’s shoulder. The rub of the green will change and every (goal) after that will start flying in. That’s what I truly believe.”