Sacramento Republic FC suffered their first loss of the 2020 USL Championship season, as they fell 1-0 to LA Galaxy II in their first road match of the campaign.
The game, separated by a second-half goal by Los Dos, was very even in the run of play over the course of 90 minutes, but a flurry of Republic FC chances that weren’t converted before halftime ultimately came back to haunt them on the night.
Mark Briggs opted for the same lineup he used in the last game, with the likes of Cameron Iwasa starting on the bench again for Sacramento.
Perhaps the key stretch in the game came in the minutes before halftime for SRFC.
In the 42nd minute, it looked like Hayden Sargis would score his first pro goal for Sac Republic, but Los Dos goalkeeper Abraham Romero made a spectacular save to keep the game scoreless heading into the break.
A couple minutes later, Dariusz Formella nearly scored on a breakaway, but his shot trickled just wide, even though it beat Romero. Shortly before the halftime whistle, Formella forced another stop by Romero, and the teams entered the break scoreless.
After another even start to the second half, Iwasa and Kharlton Belmar entered the game right before the hour mark, looking to transform the fortunes for Republic FC.
Goalkeeper Adam Grinwis had to make a last-gasp stop in the 68th minute, and collided with the Galaxy II attacker in the process, and came away worse for the wear. But after getting some magic spray and a bit of attention, he continued in the match.
A few minutes later, a pesky Los Dos side opened the scoring, with Augustine Williams the man on the spot as he pounced on Tomas Hilliard-Arce’s ineffective clearance off an LA free kick to make it 1-0 to the home side in the 72nd minute.
15-year-old Rafael Jauregui replaced Rodrigo Lopez and Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu entered for Jaime Villarreal in the 79th minute with Republic FC chasing the game.
But credit to LA, who may be very young (their average age in the starting XI was just over 21 years old) but who combined an ability to pass well with grit to grind out play and keep Sacramento stymied throughout. And don’t discount the new venue for Republic FC — it’s not an excuse, but a road trip and new field to play on may have put them off just enough that they walked away from the game empty-handed.
Sac Republic return home for their next scheduled game, Wednesday against another non-group opponent, Orange County SC. These teams have had some great games over the years, and OCSC are unbeaten to start the season, so this should be another mouthwatering matchup.
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
Comments
I'll gladly point out a very nice game by Grinwis.
and it seems like the defense may be coming together a bit. So, some good things. And there was the flurry of good chances, as mentioned, before halftime. Converting any one of those changes everything. That is not to even mention the questionable (it totally was not) offside call.
And, on the other hand,…is it just me, or is the team seriously lacking cohesiveness, urgency, fitness, focus? And, am I not even only referring to the players? Formella is a really good talent. He hasn’t put away several good chances in back to back games. I can’t make out what the entire midfield is doing. And then, down a goal, ALL of the guys who should be creating something (!) – Lopez, Villarreal, Bijev, Werner – come out of the game in the interest of creating more offense (?). Iwasa and Belmar come on, but to my eye never see the ball. I literally don’t know if they had a meaningful touch. The offense was turned over, completely, down a goal on the road, to a fifteen year old. The fifteen year old did nothing noteworthy, but should he have been given that level of responsibility, basically alone, in that situation? Have we sniffed out that this year is being forfeited as a developmental campaign?
It looks likes only one person runs at a time. It looks like the midfielders and forwards are complete strangers who have no idea what each other might be thinking. And heaven forbid someone in red should win a footrace to the ball. And STILL, bury two out of five or six pretty good chances and come home with three points.
Stat that makes me grouchy: SRFC – 21 shots, 5 on target. LAFC2 – 8 shots, 4 on target (1 btw, a messy little goal).
By left hand on 07.26.20 2:57pm
Literally nothing says to me Republic FC are "forfeiting this as a developmental campaign"
Think you can be frustrated over the loss, but they’ve played all of four games in four and a half months.
By Alicia Rodriguez on 07.27.20 3:05pm
Fair.
I wrote in frustration at the lack of finishing, at least shots on target, and at the lack of positive possession. But the biggest thing that drove that over the top remark was taking out every front footed midfielder and replacing them with Jauregui. Don’t misunderstand – I want to see him get meaningful minutes. But I can’t understand giving him the keys in that situation. He replaced Roro, who may have run out of gas, down a goal on the road against a good and active team with minutes to equalize. I don’t think the ball ever got to a forward’s foot again, and two forwards came on, presumably to chase that goal. Dos could just pressure the kid, because there wasn’t another creative, dangerous midfielder in the game.
Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. I can only react and remark on what I see. I welcome being educated.
By left hand on 07.27.20 5:57pm
To me, I was a bit puzzled by Jauregui coming in for Lopez with Sacramento chasing the game, too, but I do think Lopez was done, he was mad to come off but he looked like he was worn out.
I think a bigger factor is at play, which is that all coaches have to rotate their lineups more these days to prevent injury. And coaches are usually creatures of habit, so very few are thinking about, say, doing something radical like starting Jauregui and bringing Lopez in 30-40 minutes into the game, so he can finish it.
At the same time, I think Sargis has been a complete success so far since signing his pro deal, so if Briggs thought Jauregui might be ready for the moment, you never know. Didn’t work out in the end, but you don’t know until you try. Obviously if the outcome of sports was pre-determined, we wouldn’t be tearing our hair out at losses, but we wouldn’t be thrilled at the good times, either.
By Alicia Rodriguez on 07.27.20 6:21pm