Win and advance: Sacramento Republic shows familiar form, moves to USL semifinals
There’s a typical formula when a soccer team loses a game: Their shots ping off the goalposts. Sloppy turnovers give the opposition easy opportunities to score.
Sacramento Republic did both Saturday night and still pulled out a 2-0 win over New Mexico to advance to the semifinals of the Western Conference playoffs. The Quails will play either top-seeded San Antonio or second-seeded San Diego in the next round.
With a big crowd loudly supporting them in Heart Health Park, Sacramento fans urged their team into the semis. It was a scene ripped from this summer, when the Republic made a Cinderella run through the U.S. Open Cup tournament. With the roster more or less the same from that sprint, Sacramento might be the most dangerous team in the playoffs.
“Yeah, it obviously helps us,” coach Mark Briggs said. “We played seven games in the Open Cup and we won six of them in knockout football. So I think that helps us and gives us a little bit of confidence. But the playoffs are also a little bit different. If you win and you’re free, you lose and the season’s over. So we’ve just got to continue doing what we know we can and continue to stick together and hopefully we can bring the championship back to this city.”
Akin to their Cup run, the Quails had key help from Rodrigo Lopez on Saturday against New Mexico – and a little good fortune along the way. But first they had to survive a number of first-half miscues. Sacramento made a handful of bad passes in the first half that handed New Mexico the ball outside the Republic penalty box. The Republic scrambled around and prevented any goals, but it wasn’t without some harrowing moments.
“First half, I thought we were a little bit anxious, a little bit on edge,” Briggs said. “And we got them in at halftime and calmed them down a little bit.”
Whatever was said, it worked.
In the 47th minute, Lopez fed Maalique Foster a beautiful long pass that left him one-on-one with a New Mexico defender. Foster outraced the defender and ripped a shot into the back of the net.
In the 74th minute, Keko took an otherwise-hopeless shot from 30 yards out. The ball traveled about 10 yards and caromed off teammate Luther Arichmede, whose right shoulder and neck redirected the shot past the New Mexico goalkeeper for a 2-0 Sacramento lead.
With the win secured, all that’s left is to regroup and get ready for the next game, wherever that is. Sunday’s tilt between San Diego and Oakland will decide the opponent. An Oakland upset would put fourth-seeded Sacramento against top-seeded San Antonio. If No. 2 San Diego wins, the Quails will head down the coast for an intrastate showdown.
Not that it particularly matters which team they play. During the Open Cup run, Sacramento took down teams from MLS and two tiers of USL play. Just win, baby.
“We’ve learned a lot from this season,” Foster said. “This season was all about keeping your calm and keeping your head, so we have to stick to our game no matter what. If we just stick to our game, we will come out victorious.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2022 at 5:41 AM.