If Paul Buckle’s first ever USL league game in charge of Sacramento Republic FC was encouraging, the second was concerning. The Republic failed to rise to the challenge posed by Colorado Springs Switchbacks and were not able to make their way through a tough defense to undo an early goal that made them chase the game from the early stages onward.

The Lineup

The starting XI for Sacramento against Colorado Springs Switchbacks was: Patrick McLain; Emrah Klimenta, Mickey Daly, Nemanja Vukovic, James Kiffe; Ivan Mirkovic, Rodrigo Lopez, Danny Barrera; Max Alvarez, Thomas Stewart, and Joaquin Rivas.

On the bench were: Dominik Jakubek, Derek Foran, Gabe Gissie, Adnan Gabeljic, Cameron Iwasa, Kaleemullah, and Justin Braun.

The only two changes to the Sacramento Republic 18 that dressed against the Switchbacks from the one that faced Seattle Sounders 2 a week ago were Rivas taking over a starting spot and Iwasa getting on the bench. Both moves came as a result of Octavio Guzman’s injury, which he sustained against Sounders 2 a week prior to Saturday’s match.

Rivas was not an unexpected addition to the starting XI, as he seems to be a player whose stock has risen since Buckle became head coach. Another name that was thrown around prior to the match as a possible Guzman replacement was Justin Braun, but the newly healthy forward was destined not to even get off the bench against Colorado Springs.

The Match

The match began in just about the worst way possible for the Republic, conceding a goal in just the third minute. And what a goal it was.

The goal, scored by Colorado Springs midfielder Rony Argueta, was a fantastic long distance effort that flew past a helpless Patrick McLain and into the top corner of the net. “You have to say it was a very good goal,” said Republic head coach Paul Buckle after the match. “It wasn’t a goal where they opened our back four up… one of their boys struck it from all of 25 yards and it’s gone top corner. Sometimes in a game you have to deal with that.”

While Buckle is correct that the strike itself was top notch and was a difficult one for McLain to handel, it should be said that it was not just the brilliance of Argueta that led to the goal (which, again, you can see here). Republic midfielders Rodrigo Lopez and Ivan Mirkovic have some of the blame on their shoulders, seeing as they failed to put any significant pressure on Argueta prior to his shot. Mirkovic in particular did poorly on the play, since of the two he had the better chance to put the Switchbacks man under pressure or even take the ball, as he has so often done for the Republic in the past.

Sacramento had a chance to tie the game up just 10 minutes later during this play, which started off with a beautiful through ball by Rodrigo Lopez. The ball, which may have been intended for either Max Alvarez or Thomas Stewart, found Stewart, who turned and fired a low ball across the face of the goal. Unfortunately for the Republic, there was nobody there to apply the finishing touch and the ball rolled into the possession of the Switchbacks left back. But that did not have to be the case. If Joaquin Rivas had made a different decision with his run and gone to the back post, he would likely have been in a good position to finish the ball.

Despite the potential of that sequence, the best opportunity that Sacramento had to equalize the game was a penalty kick in the 37th minute. Or rather, it would have been had the referee not made a pair of poor no-call decisions on a pair of fouls on Max Alvarez in the penalty area. See them for yourself here. “We had, I believe… a stonewall penalty. At least one” said Paul Buckle after the match. “That was a blatant penalty and we needed that to get back in the game because that was a good spell for us, we looked dangerous.”

The story of the rest of the match was mostly one of the Switchbacks sitting deep in their own half, absorbing pressure, and countering when there was a chance. Although they had the vast majority of the possession, the Republic were not able to create many quality chances with it. They were able to create some chances, as the 11 total shots suggest, but they were not quality ones and only 2 were on target. By sitting back and clogging up the middle of the field, the Switchbacks made it difficult for the Republic to find spaces to thread through balls and forced them out wide to rely on crosses whipped in from fullbacks James Kiffe and Emrah Klimenta.

This was not a particularly effective or popular strategy.

Essentially, Saturday’s game was a blueprint performance on how to beat Sacramento Republic at home. One that we have seen teams use time and time again. It was how Austin Aztex beat the Republic and it was how Real Monarchs held their own at Bonney Field.

In the end, Argueta’s goal was the only one on the night and Sacramento were shut out at home for the third time this season.

Man of the Match

Although singling out a single performance in an overall disappointing is difficult, Nemanja Vukovic played well on the night, despite the result. He was not much at fault on the goal and was effective at stopping counter attacking chances throughout the game.

What’s Next

With the dust settled on most of this week’s USL action, Sacramento Republic find themselves sitting on the playoff bubble just a single point ahead of 7th placed Tulsa Roughnecks and 5 points behind the new top of the table Colorado Springs. With the recent loss, the upcoming games will be even more important for the Republic to distance themselves from Tulsa and solidify their playoff position.

The next opportunity for Sacramento to pick up some points is against a now familiar opponent: Colorado Springs Switchbacks. The Republic will travel to Colorado Springs to take finish the two week home and home series that Saturday’s loss began. The match takes place on Friday, August 14 at 6pm PST.