Sacramento Republic after latest loss: ‘Right now we’re getting punished’

After another disappointing result for Sacramento Republic FC on Wednesday, a 2-0 loss against Real Monarchs in Utah, the postgame response remained the same for the club.

While this game featured a new wrinkle for Sac Republic to handle, with Real Monarchs’ Milan Iloski’s first-half brace powering the home side to victory, perhaps the bigger issue was Mark Briggs’ team failed to put a shot on goal all night.

“We’ve got to keep working at it,” Briggs told reporters postgame. “Yes, we have possession of the ball and we’re moving the ball well. We’re getting into dangerous areas, and then we’re lacking the final quality, the final detail. So we have to focus in, on that final detail. And we have to keep working at it. Simple as that.”

Sacramento are winless in their last five games, taking just one point in that span. While they’ll have about 10 days until their next game and taking a breather after a quick span of games will help, the players are certainly feeling the slump.

“We’re on a bad run of games right now,” defender Duke Lacroix said. “We have to figure out, do some soul searching and kind of figure out how to put the ship right. You know, we didn’t do enough to get the result, with tough weather, but we had to have to get it done and we let ourselves down in the first half and we didn’t quite catch up in the second half.”

The weather Lacroix was referring to was whipping winds in the second half of the goal that Republic FC were playing towards. It certainly played a role in complicating matters for the visitors, but it could have also been a benefit if they could have harnessed it and put Real Monarchs on their heels in the chaos.

The poor results are understandably getting to the team, but have they thrown the towel in yet? No.

“Everyone’s capable,” said Lacroix. “So it’s not about who’s on the roster. You just have to, it’s a mentality. And it’s something you have to bring regardless of who’s on the roster, who’s on the pitch. You know, just got to get the job done. At some point you have to get results.”

Again, the bye weekend may do Sacramento some good, but it’s clear that the team is trying to figure out a way of this current skid.

“There’s a lot of good things that happened tonight. But ultimately if you don’t hit the target, if you don’t play that final ball ... that final detail, you don’t come away with points. When you play against quality players, they can punish you and right now we’re getting punished for every single mistake. But that’s football,” Briggs said.

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