Sacramento Republic looks to the future as youth teams roll at national tournament
The future of Sacramento soccer is playing out in Dallas this week.
The future looks good.
Three Sacramento Republic’s youth academy teams made the trek to the national MLS Next tournament, the top national competition of the summer. Sacramento has shown enough grit and skill to move two teams into Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Republic is one of two clubs with two teams in the quarterfinals.
It hasn’t always been pretty, but the excitement is there.
In a win over Bethesda on Sunday in the U-17 tournament, Sacramento needed to rally on penalty kicks. Bethesda led 4-3 with one player left to kick. Goalkeeper Adan Corona dove to his left to knock the ball out of the air and give Sacramento a chance to tie the shootout, much to the delight of his teammates on the sideline. Moments later, Sacramento led 5-4 on penalty kicks and Republic players banded together on the sidelines, voices rising in a loud “oooooooh” as the Bethesda player approached the ball, planted his lead foot and launched a shot well over the crossbar, handing Sacramento the win.
Dozens of Sacramento Republic players charged onto the field, surrounding Corona to celebrate the victory. Sacramento will play the Colorado Rapids’ U-17 team in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
“Our identity is coming alive as we speak,” Sacramento academy director Dennis Sanchez said. “We’re a high-pressing team. We’re outworking teams. Really blue-collar approach but we allow our talent to take over. You can see our confidence growing in the group.”
With 110 kids in the academy, the combination of confidence and skill could land many young Central Valley players a professional soccer contract.
Republic trains kids from as far away as Fresno. They can live with a host family in the area if they need help. Some players pay to train with Republic but Sanchez says the team represents a broad cross-section of socioeconomic situations, with more than 60% of players coming from low-income or middle-class backgrounds.
But Republic isn’t doing this for charity. The youth teams are about developing talented soccer players. A handful have signed pro deals. None have a future more bright than Nabi Kibunguchy, who played for the academy in 2015. The defender went on to play for four seasons at UC Davis and was selected 18th in the MLS draft by Minnesota United in January of this year. Republic acquired him on a loan at the end of May.
If Kibunguchy can make it, there’s hope for guys like Fidel Barajas, who had a hat trick in the U-15 team’s opening game in Dallas last week. Sanchez is quick to name Jose Ponce, Fernando “Pepe” Venegas and Luis Flores Perez who have bright prospects. U-19 players Ulises Esquivel and Danny Centeno are already on academy USL contracts, meaning they can play minutes with the big club without losing NCAA eligibility.
“I think that’s the beauty of development,” Sanchez said. “We want to support all players’ paths. There are gonna be some players who jump directly into professional soccer, or someone like Nabi, who spends four years at Davis and now he gets drafted by Minnesota. … That development is nonlinear, it happens at different times.”
From a team standpoint, the time is now for Republic’s quarterfinalists. The U-19 game against Cedar Stars Academy will be streamed off the MLS website at 9 a.m. PDT. The U-17 game against Colorado is at 7 a.m. PDT.
“You can see there’s heart, commitment and desire from the group, the culture we’re trying to create in the group,” Sanchez said. “You wanna compete and you wanna win. We’re three steps away from a national championship.”