Although Saturday’s match against Arizona United is still incredibly significant to where Sacramento Republic FC finish in the conference, it is not the possible top seed clinching home match that it was prior to the postponed midweek game against Orange County Blues. However, despite it not being the final match of the season, it is still an important one and one that the Republic will want to get all three points out of.

Setting the Table

Sacramento and Arizona come into Saturday’s match on opposite sides of the red line, with Sacramento fighting for the top of the west and Arizona sitting as high as they can go in 9th place.

Not much has changed for Sacramento in terms of their best shot to finish the season at the top of the west; if they win both of their remaining matches, they will finish with 50 points, 1 higher than any other team can get.

However, getting 6 points in their last 2 games is not the Republic’s only route to the top seed. If they win one and tie one (therefore finishing with 48 points), there is still a chance that they could end up with the top seed, but they would need some favorable results from elsewhere in the Western Conference. Specifically, the Republic would need LA Galaxy II to either win or tie Colorado Springs Switchbacks this Saturday, as that would leave the Switchbacks with 47 points.

Records Are Made to be Broken

Last week Sacramento Republic announced that Saturday’s match against Arizona United was a sellout, the team’s 26th consecutive league game sellout. The 11,442 tickets sold for Saturday’s match will put the Repubic at a total regular season attendance of 158,516, breaking their own USL record for single-season attendance that they set in 2014 with a total attendance of 158,107.

The new record has everything to do with this season’s expansion of Bonney Field, since they original 8000 seat capacity would not have been enough to even approach 2014’s record. Sacramento fans are surely hoping that every one of the 11,442 seats will be filled to celebrate yet another record breaking season.

Things to Watch For

Although it must be said that there are no such things as easy matches at the professional level, Sacramento certainly seems to match up well against AZ United on paper.

United’s defense has not been that great over the course of the season, something that Sacramento’s resurgent attack will be looking to take advantage of. Arizona have conceded a total of 55 goals in their 27 games this season, the most of any team in the entirety of USL, both East and West. Although the Republic are not top of the league in goals scored, they certainly have more than enough offensive firepower to take advantage of a weak Arizona defense, especially when considering how well Sacramento tends to do at Bonney Field. The Republic have scored 43 goals in their 26 matches, for an average of 1.65 goals per game. That number, combined with the 2.04 goals against average of Arizona, seems to bode well for the home team.

Despite that positive matchup for Sacramento, Arizona are still in a position to play spoiler. Anything other than 3 points for Sacramento will make it more difficult for the Republic to get the Western Conference’s top seed, and Arizona have been known to upset teams this season. One team in particular that have been on the receiving end of Arizona upsets is LA Galaxy II. Although the Galaxy are a playoff caliber team, they were unable to get even a single point off of United this season, despite hosting 2 of the 3 matches between the teams.

Players to Watch

One specific player who might benefit from Arizona’s tendency to leak goals is Republic forward Justin Braun, who has been in terrific form recently, with 4 goals in the past 2 games. Republic coach Paul Buckle recently told the Sacramento Bee that Braun’s recent success has been due in part to an effort to get him closer to the goal and to the penalty area, where he is at his most dangerous. That decision to get Braun closer to goal might end up being one of the best changes Buckle has made to the team since taking over from Preki earlier in the season.

While Arizona United’s offensive numbers are not particularly impressive — the team is second to last in the Western Conference in goals scored with 31 — there is one player in particular who has proven to be a dangerous scorer: Long Tan. Tan’s tally of 14 goals, the 5th most of any player in USL, represents 45% of Arizona United’s total goals scored. While Arizona’s overall attack may be lacking, Tan still has the capability of being a danger to the Republic on Saturday.

How to Watch

Sacramento Republic FC kick off against Arizona United on Saturday at 7:30pm PDT. It can be viewed, as every USL match can, live on YouTube, as well as on CW31 in Sacramento.

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