Ain’t that a kick? Sacramento Republic hopes to take more chances against Oakland

Kick the ball.

It’s not the world’s most complicated strategy, but it’s something Sacramento Republic will work on Wednesday night when they host Oakland Roots, an expansion USL team. While the Sacramento defense has been sturdy this season, the offense continues to struggle with a lack of opportunities. Republic has tallied just 22 shots in four games this year, with just four goals scored. Sacramento players have sometimes hesitated when they see a play developing because they don’t want to take a risk.

Duke Lacroix, a defender whose job includes feeding crossing shots across the middle of the field when Sacramento is on offense, says Republic just needs to pull the trigger when they’re on offense instead of waiting for a perfect opportunity.

“I think we just need to take our chances and take risks,” he said after a 1-0 loss to Phoenix on Saturday. “You know, I don’t know how many shots from distance statistically we had today. But I think, [we need to be] a little bit more aggressive in the final third. In order to create chances you got to you got to take a chance — that’s why it’s called a chance.

“We need to pull the trigger quickly on our shots in the final third to draw them out a little bit, and again be more clinical in the final third with the final pass or the finish.”

And they’ll need to do it while short-handed. Shannon Gomez, who might run more than any other Republic teammate during a game, will help Trinidad and Tobago in World Cup qualifying. Rafael Diaz, backup goalkeeper, will mind the net for the Dominican in qualifiers. And Kharlton Belmar will join Grenada.

Gomez said he was excited to represent his Caribbean team but wanted to stick around Sacramento and help Republic, with two wins and two losses, end its two-game losing skid.

“It is 100% difficult because obviously you want to be involved in the thick of things and play a role in the club, and you want to help them every single game,” he said. “You want to be a part of it, so it is very difficult to leave while the season is going on, but I hope that we are able to pick up from where we started when we got results in the first two games.”

Coach Mark Briggs, who was less than thrilled with his team’s 1-0 loss to Phoenix on Saturday, isn’t looking forward to a busy stretch of games, with another home game Saturday against Orange County.

“It’s a difficult stretch for us, we lose three players tomorrow morning. We lose Rafa, we lose Shannon and we lose Kharlton Belmar to international duty. So we got a couple of little niggly injuries. So we’re on thin ice, but we’ve got to, we gotta stick together and we’ve got to show, show the right attitude and show the right mentality,” he said.

This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 10:28 AM.