With Sacramento Republic FC’s 2015 season over at the hands of Los Dos, we are sadly left with no more first team matches to attend and no reason to head back to Bonney Field. What we are left with are plenty of questions, one of the biggest being which players will be returning for the Republic and donning the Old Glory Red once again. While we at ICS currently have no inside information on that front and our crystal ball is on the fritz, we can provide our opinion on what the team’s priorities should be when it comes to re-signing players.

The good news is that quite a few Republic players were under multi-year contracts this season and are contracted for next season. These players are: Max Alvarez, Derek Foran, Dominik Jakubek, Emrah Klimenta, Ivan Mirković, Thomas Stewart, Nemanja Vuković, Justin Braun, and Alfonso Motagalvan. Fortunately for the Republic and it’s fans, there are quite a few important players on that list, including 3 of the top 5 players in minutes played in 2015 (the ones in bold).

Unfortunately for the Republic and it’s fans, there are also some important players on these next 2 lists. Matthias Bonvehi, Adnan Gabeljic, Gilberto, Octavio Guzman, Patrick McLain, and Joaquin Rivas were all signed with Sacramento through 2015 but have a club option to bring them back for 2016. Danny Barrera, Agustin Cazarez, Mickey Daly, Gabe Gissie, Cameron Iwasa, Kaleemullah, James Kiffe, and Rodrigo Lopez did not have a club option for 2016 and will need to be signed to new contracts if they are to return.

So which players should be top priority for the Republic when it comes to re-signing players out of contract or exercising the options on those players who have them?

The easy answer for top priority is Rodrigo Lopez, the Republic’s most impactful and creative player since the team got up and running. He’s been essential to how the team plays and how the team creates and scores goals, contributing 26 goals and 19 assists during his time with Sacramento. However, since he is entertaining offers from teams in higher level leagues and may very well be moving on from Sacramento, we will exclude him from this discussion.

With Lopez out of the discussion, let’s move on to the list itself.

Priority 1: Mickey Daly

Daly has been the most consistent presence with the Republic from the day the club started. He holds the club records for most USL matches played (54), most USL matches started (53), and minutes played in both USL play and across all competitions. He has appeared in 65 of Sacramento’s 66 matches across all competitions, most frequently beside Nemanja Vuković.

The Republic’s defense was a real point of strength in the past season, letting in only 31 goals in league play and making them the strongest defense in the west through the regular season. The Republic have a goals against average of only 1.05 over the past 2 years and although that defensive stoutness is not due to just one player, Daly played an important part in anchoring the back line.

With the massive impact of a potential Rodrigo Lopez departure, the Republic would do well to do whatever they can to bring back the most consistent presence on the team to shore up the defense for next season.

Priority 2: Danny Barrera

Although he joined Sacramento Republic in the middle of the season, he established himself as an important player for the team fairly quickly. He appeared in each one of the 17 league and playoff matches after he signed with Sacramento, starting 12. During that time he scored 2 goals and contributed 3 assists.

Barrera played both on the wings and in central midfield, although he has said that between the two spots he prefers to play centrally. While he was impressive and contributed well at both spots, he seemed to do better in his preferred central midfield position.

Re-signing Barrera is especially important because his offensive capability would help to partially fill the void left by Lopez’s potential departure.

Priority 3: James Kiffe

The fourth piece to the Sacramento Republic backline puzzle, James Kiffe is our priority number 3. For much of this season, Kiffe was the Republic’s go-to left back, playing in 24 matches, starting 21, and finishing the season with the 7th highest amount of minutes played. In fact, the only times that Kiffe was not lining up on the left side of the Republic’s backline were when he was benched by Preki in favor of Agustin Cazarez for reasons that were never fully clarified.

In addition to his defensive chops, Kiffe brings to the table something which the Republic will be wanting more of going into next season: quality service from wide areas. Kiffe can serve in a hell of a cross. Although he did not exactly rack up the assists this season, picking up only 1, he can still be dangerous from those wide areas, something that it seems Coach Buckle will be looking for in 2016. Although it seems as though Kiffe does not make as many forward runs as we saw late in 2014, it is still something that he pulls out of the bag on occasion.

In addition to being the only real answer to left back that Sacramento Republic have had since Vuković made his move to center back in 2014, Kiffe is strong defensively, dangerous going forward, and the final cog in the team’s strong back four.

Priority 4: Octavio Guzman

Guzman’s contract has a club option for 2016 and the Republic would be wise to use it. Guzman has been with the club since first kick and, although he has been prone to inconsistency, he has been a solid contributor to the team. He has appeared in 58 matches for the Republic across all competitions and has contributed 5 assists, third highest behind Max Alvarez (12) and Rodrigo Lopez (19).

But the numbers are not what make Guzman such a good tool for the Republic to have, seeing as it is not his main responsibility to create chances or score goals. What does make Guzman useful is his fairly well rounded game and his skill as a box to box type midfielder. Not purely attacking and not purely defensive, Guzman gets back on defense or interrupts a counterattack at midfield when needed, helps to circulate the ball and retain possession, and sometimes directly crafts chances for his teammates.

Guzman also provides a some versatility, as he showed this past season. A forward in college, Guzman was converted to a central midfielder by Preki in 2014 and occasionally moonlighted as a wide midfielder or fullback this season when needed. Although he is primarily a central midfielder and suited to the box to box role, Guzman’s versatility is the kind of thing that proves useful over the depth-testing course of an entire season.

Priority 5: Gabe Gissie

The inclusion of Gabe Gissie in this list has more to do with the Republic investing in the future rather than bringing back someone who fulfilled an important role in 2015. While it might be a risk to prioritize Gissie over a player like Gilberto or Patrick McLain, the potential reward is worth it.

Just 18 years old, Gissie already has 2 seasons of pro soccer under his belt. Although he is not ready to be a starter yet, he has shown great improvement since he first came to Sacramento fresh out of the New England Revolution development academy. With only 525 minutes across all competitions in 2015, Republic fans have seen fairly little of Gissie on the field, but what they have seen they generally like. There were multiple times this season that Gissie came off the bench to make an impact on the game, often wrecking havoc for Sacramento on the right wing and using his speed to make trouble for tired defenders.

Ivan Mirković summed up the argument for making Gissie a priority well in this quote from Bill Patterson’s fantastic profile of Gissie for the Sacramento Bee: “If Republic ever moves on to MLS, he should be the first to sign with the club because he’s the future of Sacramento Republic.” Gissie is the future of the Republic. And with how much he has improved over the past 2 seasons, next year could be a breakout year for him.

Let us know what you think of our top 5 re-signing priorities in the comments below.

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