Lineups:

Sac Republic’s lineup is as follows: GK - Rafael Diaz; Shannon Gomez, Hayden Sargis, Dan Casey, Duke Lacroix; Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu, Fatai Alashe; Dariusz Formella, Pete Pennanen, Cameron Iwasa; Kharlton Belmar

Phoenix make some changes to their XI:

Sacramento Republic FC will hope there are no unforeseen circumstances on Saturday, but as long as there are not, they will host Phoenix Rising FC for the teams’ second meeting of the season at Heart Health Park.

Sac Republic have had almost two weeks off after their game at Oakland Roots was postponed last week. Will the time away from game action do them good? They haven’t won in their last five games and need to start picking up wins if they want to get into the playoff reckoning in a tough Pacific Division.

They are, of course, taking on the prohibitive division favorites in this one, but Phoenix are coming off a loss, 2-1 against San Diego Loyal last weekend. I still think this team sometimes wins because teams psych themselves out before they even start playing, so if Sac Republic can play smart and not play scared, maybe they can make it a losing run for Phoenix.

So it won’t be an easy game, but Republic FC still has a team that’s capable of playing better than they have been and a result here would be a big boost for the team. This could be a defining game, if Sac Republic play their cards right, and we’ll see what happens.

Odds:

Our partners at DraftKings Sportsbook as of Friday evening have Sacramento at (+200), Phoenix at (+100) and a draw at (+260). In other words, Republic FC are slight underdogs but the teams are at pretty level footing coming in to the game.

How to Watch:

Saturday’s match between Sac Republic and Phoenix Rising will be televised locally on KQCA My58 and EstrellaTV, and streamed on ESPN+ in the rest of the United States. The broadcast is scheduled to start at 8 pm PT at Heart Health Park with kickoff to follow.

Come chat about the game with us in the comment section below!