Sacramento Republic FC’s game vs. Orange County SC postponed due to coronavirus tests elsewhere

SACRAMENTO, California — With lineups already handed out, roughly 30 minutes before kickoff of Wednesday’s match between Sacramento Republic FC and Orange County SC, the game was postponed due to another game in California scheduled for Wednesday also being postponed, due to the coronavirus.

The LA Galaxy II game against San Diego Loyal, to be played at Dignity Health Sports Park, was postponed about two hours before kickoff Wednesday, after multiple individuals involved tested positive for coronavirus. The statements released didn’t reveal how many people exactly, which team they belonged to (or both), and whether the people who tested positive were players or other people associated with the team.

Sacramento Republic issued the following statement:

Courtesy of Sacramento Republic

Sac Republic played Los Dos on Saturday in Carson. Neither Sacramento nor Orange County have played San Diego yet this season, so at least one of the positive coronavirus tests appear to have come from Los Dos. On the bright side, this is apparently being done out of caution and there are no positive tests at this point.

“We received news a very short time ago that a previous opponent we had played had tested positive [for coronavirus],” Republic FC president Ben Gumpert told reporters at the stadium after the news broke. “So even though we’ve undergone all the correct protocols and continued to and did not receive any positive tests on our team, as well as OC, again, in the abundance of caution. That’s something we’re going to continue to uphold. We decided to postpone the game. We were in consultation over the last hour with UC Davis health, with league health experts, of course with Orange County as well as other members of the league, and made this call together. Everyone, together, felt this was the right decision, the safest decision, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re excited to welcome Orange County back when it is safer for everyone to play. We will continue to follow all the protocols that are necessary, because health continues to be the No. 1 priority. We knew that this was a possibility, and that’s why we have these protocols in place. We put those protocols in action, and that’s why we made this call.

“So we’re sorry for our fans that don’t get to watch a match tonight. I know from all the emails, texts and notes I’ve been getting, there’s a lot of excitement around it. But this is the world we live in, and we need to be humble. We will continue to keep the right things in mind.”

Meanwhile, Sacramento is scheduled to face San Diego on Saturday. Will that happen? Depends on the testing outcomes on both teams. We’ll see what happens, but believe it or not, it is not Sac Republic matchnight after all. We’ll keep you posted on any developments as we learn them.

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