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Two preseason games, two wins in recent days for Sacramento Republic FC, as they squared off against opposition above and below them in the professional pyramid.
On Friday, Sacramento pulled off a 3-1 preseason win over the San Jose Earthquakes at a closed-door Earthquakes Stadium. Cameron Iwasa opened the scoring in the 7th minute, and Drew Skundrich doubled the visitors’ lead four minutes later, before Andy Rios scored for San Jose. Skundrich added a second goal just before the half-hour mark.
Per SRFC, here’s the lineup for the game:
GK - Adam Grinwis; Jordan McCrary, Matt Mahoney, Hayden Sargis, Ashkanov Apollon (Juan Barahona 82); Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu, Drew Skundrich, Villyan Bijev, Sam Werner (Kharlton Belmar 71), Darek Formella (Mario Penagos 85), Cameron Iwasa
Then on Saturday in Sacramento, Republic FC played a rotated side as they defeated future U.S. Open Cup opponent Oakland Roots 2-1. Trialist Adam Mickelson scored in the 27th minute, while Kharlton Belmar tallied a penalty before halftime after Oakland tied up the game.
The Sacramento lineup for this game was far more youthful than the group that played against San Jose:
Today’s starting XI vs Oakland
— Republic FC (@SacRepublicFC) February 22, 2020
1- Diego Ramos
2- Aris Yang
3- Juan Barahona
4- Dekel Keinen
5- Ciaran Jones
6- Esteban Garcia
7- Kharlton Belmar
8- Mario Penagos
9- Gerald Ben
10- Julian Chavez
11- Adam Mickelson
Sacramento’s next preseason tune-up is Saturday at home in a ticketed match against Real Monarchs. Then, the season is right around the corner!
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