Youth academy plugs into Sacramento’s blue-collar roots, refuels Republic FC lineup
Since 2020, the best youth soccer teams in the country have gone to Texas to compete in the MLS Next Cup. The single-elimination tournament is meant to showcase the best young players; organizations use it as a barometer to measure their development success.
Sacramento Republic has staked a claim as one of the top youth academies in the country in successive tournaments, as the Under-15 team made a run to the semifinals of the June tournament. In the quarterfinals, Sacramento faced the New York Red Bulls, owned and operated by the Austrian energy drink giant that has produced the likes of U.S. Men’s National Team captain Tyler Adams and a network of European champions. Sacramento Republic’s team is a group of local kids with decidedly less resources and a parent club whose admission into the major leagues is still up in the air.
The result? 3-0 Republic win. What’s even crazier? Eder Quintanilla, Sacramento Republic’s U-15 coach, said they should have won by more.
“Our teams have something different that they don’t have,” said Quintanilla, a native of the Basque region of Spain. “We compete as a family. In tough situations, those MLS players might be thinking more selfishly, while we are together.”
Quintanilla, who was hired by Sacramento in 2020, can speak on this because he’s seen what it looks like on the other side. Before joining Republic, he spent four years with Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes as a youth coach.
He said there is a difference in the type of player that emerges from Sacramento versus one that comes from San Jose.
“The Bay Area is more city- and tech-based, whereas Sacramento is more rural,” Quintanilla said. “Sacramento reminds me of my home in Spain, where the mentality was to play for the local club that represents your region. It means more to you because you’re playing for local pride.”
Local kids with dreams
Debin Cowell of Ceres sees it the same way. His eldest son, Cade, is a star for the Earthquakes and has represented the U.S. Men’s National Team, while his younger son Chance opted for Sacramento and has played for Mexico’s youth team.
“I feel like some of the kids that go into those big MLS academies at such a young age can kind of get chewed up and spit out,” Cowell said. “Everyone has their own journey, but our family is hardworking and blue-collar, so Sacramento really does align with our personal beliefs.”
Chance said he felt that dynamic showed on the field in Texas, where the U-15s lost in a semifinal to Real Salt Lake, another behemoth academy.
“I feel like we really do work harder than (the MLS) teams in tough situations,” the younger Cowell said.
The 13-year-old’s hope is to debut for Sacramento’s first team, the USL side, and score within the next two years.
He doesn’t have to look far for inspiration. Last month, 17-year-old academy graduate Rafael “Rafa” Juaregui scored his first professional goal in USL.
The Sacramento native of Mexican immigrant parents has been a regular in Mark Briggs’ first team this year. After being passed over by Republic at the age of 12, he went on to score a hat trick against their U-13 team a year later and was recruited to join the organization.
He trained with the first team at the age of 14, a lot earlier than he ever imagined.
“It takes a lot of hard work and you need to have a strong mind,” Juaregui said. “You’re going to face a lot of hard obstacles that you need to overcome, but it’s those things that got me to where I am today.”
“Try to surround yourself with supportive people. I bet there are a lot of kids that are my level that weren’t able to do it because they didn’t have the support they needed.”
Family matters
Back when his first son was breaking through with the Earthquakes, Cowell struggled to fit a professional soccer schedule into his life. The family lived nearly two hours away from San Jose, and by the time he drove his son back from practice or games in the Bay Area, it would be nearly midnight, three hours before his shift as a truck driver started.
These days, Cowell has a better formula that works for him and his family. Cade, now 18, lives with a host family during the season and Debin is able to take turns with another parent in the academy driving Chance to Sacramento.
He said that he hopes to pass his working mentality down to his sons.
“We try not to tell the kids how great they are,” Cowell said. “I don’t want them to be satisfied. When Chance isn’t training, he should be lifting weights. We also got him a private trainer on the weekends.”
The Jaureguis have navigated the youth academy slightly differently.
“There are times where we worry that he’s pushing too hard and missing out on important childhood experiences,” his mother Maria Rodriguez said. “But he’s taught us that the more he strives, the better.”
The family attends all of Rafa’s home games. After his first professional goal, he ran to their section to celebrate his with them.
His father, Rafael Sr., was an accomplished Sunday league player growing up. He said raising a professional athlete has not been easy.
“You need to have a lot of patience,” he said. “There will be many long, hard days where you are tired. But at the end of the day, all they have is you. So you need to be their biggest supporter.”
His wife added that emotional support is only one component of many.
“Also, be prepared to have healthier food in the house,” she said. “Teenagers want to eat everything.”