Sunday Spotlight: Get to know midfielder Sam Werner

It’s time once again for another installment of Sunday Spotlight, where we feature the players and people behind Sacramento Republic FC in a short 3-4 question format.

This week, we caught up with midfielder Sam Werner, who has arguably been the best player for the Republic through their first three matches. Werner scored his first goal of the season (and as a member of the Republic) last week against OKC Energy FC and added an assist as a second half substitute on opening night to help the Quails salvage a point.

This much is clear. When Werner is on the pitch, the Quails are dynamic and dangerous.

Welcome to Sacramento. How do you feel you’re fitting in...are you getting a little more comfortable as each day passes?

Yeah...a lot of that just comes from how nice the guys are. How organized the staff is. It’s [been] a super quick transition to feel like one of the guys, so that’s been awesome. I feel like I’m great friends with all the guys now, so it just makes the whole process on the field that much easier.

Walk me through your [first] goal.

[Laughs]...I need to see the video...hopefully they gave it me. [Me: they did]....ok great, perfect...that’s what I like to hear. It just bounced out and I figured I’d have a crack, and I connected with it alright, but it took a pretty big deflection, which is really difficult on the keeper, but hey...a stat is a stat. I’ll take it. Shooters shoot.

How do you like Sacramento?

I love it. I still haven’t done as much exploring as I want to, but I’m working on it. Trying to venture downtown to see the sights. All recommendations are welcomed. Let me hear them if you have them. [But no], I’m enjoying it...it’s been great.

When you’re not playing soccer, what do you do to unwind and get away?

The usual Fortnite with the guys. When I don’t want to melt my brain, I like to read...I play guitar, I do art a lot...I do a lot of design stuff and just try and stay busy.

It’s a strange life being a soccer player because you have so much downtime, so you can fill that with constructive things or you can be a sloth. So I try to balance that as much as I can with a little of both. But it’s been a great time in Sacramento so far.