Recap: Republic FC and Rio Grande Valley FC Toros See Out Scoreless Draw

Republic FC entered the match looking to repeat the 3-2 win they enjoyed over RGVFC in June, but were unable to get past an inspired performance from the Toros goalkeeper and the match ended as a scoreless draw.

It’s tough to say how the majority of the first half played out—fans who didn’t make the trip to H-E-B Park in Edinburg, Texas, were unable to watch most of the opening 45 minutes of the game due an absent live stream.

Thanks to an RGVFC tweet, we know that in the 22nd minute, Evan Newton (starting again over Domenik Jakubek) made a good save at his near post after some nice give-and-go play in Republic’s box from the Toros offense.

USL finally got a live stream of the match up around the 38th minute, just in time to show Republic’s Jeremy Hall, reprising his role as a holding midfielder, send a long pass to Cameron Iwasa, who controlled the ball outside the box, dribbled between three RGVFC defenders and got a shot off. However, Toros keeper Callum Irving made himself big to deny the Sacramento native and keep the score line at double zeros.

Thirty seconds later, RGVFC’s Jose “Memo” Rodriguez made a drive down the right wing before firing off a shot across goal that Newton was able to parry and Foran cleared.

Republic had another chance in the 43rd minute with a free kick on the left wing. Danny Barrera’s cross found Chris Christian unmarked at the far post, but the center back was unable to direct his shot toward goal.

The second half kicked off at a high tempo, but without any clear-cut chances for either side until the 61st minute.

Quick ball movement in midfield between Barrera and JJ Koval found Octavio Guzman open, who fired a long-range effort that went just wide of the home side’s goal.

It’s possible there were more chances created between then and the teams’ water break in the 76th minute, but it was impossible to tell from what had become a very dreadful stream by this point. Indeed, discerning the subjects of a Picasso painting would be easier than making out the game’s plays in between constant interjections of “video was interrupted - the streamer stopped streaming” messages that would make Captain Obvious proud.

The live feed briefly resumed in the 80th minute to show Barrera send a dangerous long ball into the box from a free kick, but Mike da Fonte headed wide.

Republic stepped up the intensity in the final minutes of the match, but was repeatedly denied the winning goal by the Toros shot-stopper, who was undoubtedly the game’s MVP.

In the 88th minute, Irving denied Iwasa again in another one-on-one situation. A minute later, he was the hero once more when he saved a Harry Williams header from a Joaquin Rivas cross on the right wing.

Barrera had one final chance to win the game in the dying moments of stoppage time, but his low-driven shot at the corner of the Toros goal was also denied by a fantastic Irving save.

The draw keeps Republic FC fifth place in the Western Conference with 30 points, one above Rio Grande Valley FC. The Indomitable Club have one more away game, against fourth-place OKC Energy FC, on Tuesday, August 2nd, before they return to Bonney Field on August 6th to face San Antonio FC.

Were you able to discern anything else from the game’s stream? Let us know in the comments below.