The perfect ending: Sacramento Republic’s shocking win was a surreal sports moment
Sometimes moments in sports feel too serendipitous to believe.
Like if they were plots in television shows the producers would send the scripts back to writers and implore them to get more creative. Because we’ve all seen those stories where the heroic athlete makes the big play to win the game at the perfect moment. As consumers of stories, that formula can lose its luster. It’s too clean. It’s too easy to see coming.
But when it’s real and it happens right in front of you, without a script, that’s when we all remember why we love sports.
That’s the type of story that continued to get written Wednesday night for Sacramento Republic.
“I wanted to finish it off. I wanted to make history. But most importantly, I didn’t want to let my team down,” said Rodrigo Lopez, the team’s captain, as his eyes welled and he struggled to speak. “They fought for 120 minutes. Everyone’s tired. And look at what happened.”
What happened was Lopez putting away Sporting Kansas City with a game-winning penalty kick in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup, sending Sacramento on an improbable trip to the finals in September. Republic will take on Orlando City SC, who defeated the New York Red Bulls earlier Wednesday night.
It was the third straight victory over an MLS team for the second-tier USL squad, making Republic one of the two remaining teams still alive in a knockout tournament that started with 103 American clubs when the first draws came out in February. They’re the first USL team to reach the tournament final since 2008. It’s the club’s first trip in its history. Beating Orlando would be the biggest win in team history and give the team a berth in the Champions League tournament.
Wednesday’s match was a serendipitous result because Lopez was Republic FC’s first signing as an expansion team for its inaugural season in 2014. He helped the club win the USL Championship a year later while winning the MVP honor for the title game. He bounced around the USL and had a second stint with the club in 2020, then returned this season to help turn things around after a disappointing campaign in 2021.
“I owe this city so much,” said Lopez, who cemented himself as the franchise’s most important player in its 10-year history. “... It’s something special. It’s something I can’t express.”
The game was scoreless for 120 minutes of regulation. Players on both sides were exhausted and the game had to be stopped multiple times because they hit the turf with cramps. So it went to penalty kicks after half an hour of extra time, with each side scoring on their first four attempts until the fifth and final frame.
Sacramento goalkeeper Danny Vitiello was nearly flawless all night. Lopez called him “the best player on the field.” He appeared to make a crucial save on the third round of penalty kicks when he guessed right and prevented William Agada from finding the lower right side of the net.
But the referee ruled Vitiello had taken a step forward too far off the goal line, leading to a re-kick, which Agada capitalized on. For Sacramento, Maalique Foster lobbed a shot beyond the diving goal keeper and celebrated with a tumbling flip and a “night night” celebration made famous by Warriors guard Stephen Curry during the recent NBA playoffs.
Then Sporting KC’s Graham Zusi stepped in to take his penalty kick. Zusi is a former member of the U.S. National Team that played in the 2014 World Cup. Vitiello stopped his shot with a dive to his left, setting up Lopez’s chance to win the game on the final penalty kick.
“I don’t think it’s settled in yet,” Vitiello told the Bee, out of breath from dancing with his teammates in front of the north grandstands, where the Tower Bridge Battalion was out in full force with its drums and full-throated singing. “He’s money in the bank. It’s always money. We practice it and he just bangs them in all the time.”
Lopez calmly knocked his shot beyond Sporting KC goal keeper John Pulskamp and sprinted to the corner of the field, where his teammates met him in a frenzy. The sold-out crowd at Heart Health Park, easily the most intense and energized all season, erupted and stayed long after the game ended to continue the celebration.
The team with a payroll hovering around $1 million upset a team that’s paying $13.6 million for its players this season — which came after defeating L.A. Galaxy in the previous round, a club with a $21.1 million payroll, on the road.
“I was so proud of our team for playing the way they did for 120 minutes in difficult circumstances against their third MLS team in a row,” Republic FC general manager Todd Dunivant told the Bee. “It’s just a credit to them, a credit to our coaching staff to put themselves in that position.
“Danny Vitiello was a monster for us all night in goal, so you couldn’t help but feel confident with him at the helm.”
Vitiello finished with eight saves in regulation, including a number of attempts Sporting KC will regret not finishing, and the stop of Zusi that made Lopez’s moment possible.
The atmosphere had the feeling a momentous game, though Heart Health Park’s capacity is listed at just under 12,000. It might be small relative to what the Kansas City players are used to, but the grandstands were packed full. The crowd was engaged in every moment, reacting to every tackle, every call it didn’t like from the officials, and every extra bit of effort given by the home team.
Adding to it were the colorful carnival rides of the state fair at Cal Expo next door. There was a flyover of four U.S. Navy jets from nearby Mather Airport during the national anthem. The Tower Bridge Battalion even got to their section roughly half hour before they would for a normal game to help set the atmosphere on a warm, breezy evening.
“There were moments when we were struggling and they pushed us on,” manager Mark Briggs said of the fans. “And that’s what this club is all about. It’s one big family. And tonight, the family pulled together and now we’re in the Open Cup final because of that.”
Briggs was just as jubilant as his players during the postgame celebration in front of the north grandstands. At one point he flexed his arms and screamed words unfit for this space.
“This is the epitome. This is the biggest night of my coaching career,” Briggs said. “To be going to Orlando to play in a final with a champions league spot at stake, I had to ask if this was really happening. But for us, fortunately it’s reality. … It’s a massive accolade and a massive night. But we aren’t done.”
Republic FC, of course, has been in the conversation of joining the MLS. The club nearly did before a deal fell through in 2021. Now, it’s beaten three straight MLS teams with a fraction of the payroll and a chance at beating a fourth in Orlando in September.
And it culminated off the right foot of Lopez, the team’s first ever acquisition — a franchise pillar. It’s not too good to be true.
This story was originally published July 28, 2022 at 4:35 AM.
