Iwasa powers second-half rally as Sacramento Republic wins duel of potential MLS teams
Sacramento Republic striker Cam Iwasa spent the first half of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Las Vegas feeling frustrated. He probably wasn’t alone in that. The Quails tallied 13 shots to the Lights’ 1 in the first half, but sloppy ballhandling led to an own-goal and a 1-0 halftime deficit.
But Sacramento charged on, with Iwasa netting a pair of second-half goals to earn the win. After his second goal, Iwasa cut loose.
First, he coolly chipped the ball into the corner of the net around a charging Las Vegas goalkeeper. Then Iwasa sprinted to the sideline and slid in front of Republic’s bench players, who went out to give him a hug. Iwasa stood up and pulled up the Republic FC crest on his jersey, pointing at it and kissing it.
Yes, that first half was frustrating. But the second half was pure release.
“Yeah definitely, that was the talk that we had at halftime was like hey, we need urgency,but we don’t need to panic,” he said. “I mean, we felt like a better team in the first half. It was a very unlucky goal that we gave up, but it happens sometimes. And so we’re gonna dig deep and continue to grind, show some heart and, fortunately we came out on top and we feel like it was deserved for sure.”
It was also a deserved result for Iwasa during a trying season. The forward, a Jesuit High grad, is the all-time team leader with 54 goals. But he has just four this year, as a nagging hamstring injury forced him to miss the first month of the season. And he had trouble cracking into the regular rotation up front, with Tucker Bone and Darek Formella earning the lion’s share of minutes.
But Bone is out for the rest of the season with an injury and Republic will be leaning on Iwasa. Coach Mark Briggs is fine with that.
“He’s had a difficult time, and everybody knows that,” Briggs said. “Tonight he came out and he worked his socks off, he made unselfish runs for the team, and he scored two fantastic goals that got us three points. I’m over the moon for Cameron, I’m really pleased with his performance and what he brought to the table, and I’m really pleased that he’s just kept plugging away.”
Iwasa’s comeback tour is something the team as a whole could use, and not just in the USL standings, where Sacramento sits three points away from a playoff spot.
News broke last week that Las Vegas might get an MLS nod over Sacramento for the 30th slot in the league. A report last week from Sportico, a sports business news site, said Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens is involved with an ownership group trying to lure an MLS franchise to Las Vegas. There are at least two groups trying to get a franchise in Las Vegas, with Detroit, Phoenix and San Diego also making noise about landing a franchise.
Sacramento isn’t supposed to be scrambling for an MLS spot. The Quails have a spot. In the fall of 2019, MLS and Republic FC announced Sacramento would get a franchise. Their team crest went on the league website.
The arrival was slated for 2022, then bumped back to 2023. Then billionaire Ron Burkle backed out of a deal to buy a slot in MLS in February and it’s starting to feel like a bad breakup.
Sacramento Republic’s team crest is nowhere to be found on the MLS website. But the hope lives on. It hasn’t been officially announced that Sacramento isn’t joining MLS in 2023. Mayor Darrell Steinberg indicated in May he was optimistic about finding another “whale” owner to buy a slot in MLS.
Asked in May whether Sacramento will play in 2023, current Republic owner Kevin Nagle sounded optimistic.
“You heard the mayor say something, that he hopes there’s going to be maybe the most important statement made later on this year, and I think both of us believe there’s no question that’s going to happen,” Nagle said.
It might happen even if Las Vegas gets the 30th slot. The league will likely look to expand to 32 teams, and Sacramento, the 20th-largest media market in the country, still has just one major pro sports franchise.
Ask any of the players or the coach about going to MLS and you’ll get the exact same answer. That’s out of their control. They’re just focused on the next game. That next game is a doozy. Sacramento will face league-leading Phoenix on Saturday, which has lost just two games this year. Sacramento hasn’t lost in its last six games, with three wins and three ties.
“We feel like we still have the quality, that we have what it takes,” Iwasa said. “We’re gonna pull the best team in the league next week, but we still feel confident we can go there and get something out of that game. I don’t think we ever walk on a pitch and look at the other side of the field scared.”
Tucker Bone out
Perhaps cursed by a Sacramento Bee feature article, Tucker Bone was injured in practice in late July. He had surgery last week to repair a torn quadriceps tendon. Bone, the team leader in goals scored with five, will miss the rest of the season.
This story was originally published August 15, 2021 at 7:02 AM.