Sacramento Republic: New talent shows flashes of talent in 3-1 win over El Paso

Sacramento Republic spent the better part of Saturday night looking overmatched or narrowly missing connections against the El Paso Locomotive.

Then, in the span of about 10 minutes, the Quails showed flashes of what they could become as they thumped El Paso 3-1 in the USL season opener at Heart Health Park.

With the game tied at 1 in the 85th minute, Sacramento’s Ferrety Sousa sent a high, looping pass over the El Paso defense. Forward Douglas Martinez Jr. sprinted past all the defenders and found himself alone in front of the goalie. Boom. Republic had their first first lead of the night. Not bad for a couple of new guys.

“Sosa knows me already and he knows he knows that I like those balls behind the defense and yeah, I just closed my eyes and shoot and the rest is history,” Martinez said.

The Sousa-to-Martinez connection was a welcome sight for Republic brass, which turned over the vast majority of the lineup in the offseason. Martinez showed signs of brilliant playmaking early in the game but struggled to connect with his new teammates.

There was no problem in the 90th minute, as Martinez reversed the field and bombed a long crossing pass to Keko Gontan, another new arrival. Gontan also found himself with an open field in front and he worked around the goalie and slotted an easy shot in to seal the 3-1 win.

In the final 10 minutes, Sacramento Republic also watched a ball trickle a foot or so across the El Paso goal line for an apparent own goal, but the official didn’t see it that way.

It didn’t matter. But it could have. The Quails struggled early, getting outshot 9-2 in the first half as El Paso took an early 1-0 lead.

And for all the new faces, it was a familiar one that reinvigorated the Republic. Trailing 1-0 just before halftime, Rodrigo Lopez, a 34-year-old midfielder in his third stint with Sacramento, found himself with the ball at the far side of the penalty box. Lopez got trucked by El Paso goalkeeper Evan Newton and earned a penalty kick. Lopez hammered the kick home to tie the game at halftime.

With a grin and a little salt showing up in his peppery beard, Lopez said the foul wasn’t exactly an accident.

“I saw him coming with all his force and I kind of stopped and he ran me over,” he said. “I mean, at that point, I have to fall to try to get the kick, right.”

Wily play is welcome, coach Mark Briggs said. It was the exact jolt the team needed and the moment showed why Lopez is a team captain.

“RoRo scores a goal right on halftime and completely changes the momentum of the game,” Briggs said. “And I thought after that you saw the game shift and I’ve got to give Rodrigo a compliment because he put in a captain’s performance tonight. Even when the group was struggling in the first half. You saw somebody rally the troops, you saw somebody still continue to try and get on the ball. And then right before halftime, he scores a goal.

“That’s what leaders do. And that’s why we’re fortunate to have him back.”

Sacramento was also fortunate to have Carlos Saldaña’s knees on the team.

The goalkeeper stopped an El Paso penalty kick in the eighth minute of the game. Diving to his right, Saldaña managed to get a leg on the ball after the shot came behind him. In the 30th minute, he did it again, this time after an El Paso player took an open shot 5 feet from the goal line.

They were not the kind of moments Briggs and the Republic would like to see repeated.

“You know, we’ve got a lot to work on,” Briggs said. “And we’re playing against a very, very good team.They won their conference last year and they’ve still got top players.

“So they were overloading in central (midfield) and we struggled to figure it out in the first half. But we hung in there, got to halftime, and we sat down and just said, ‘Relax, guys take a deep breath.’ ”

This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 8:53 AM.