As the calendar flips to the Summer months, San Antonio FC wraps up a two-match road trip against perennial MLS hopefuls Sacramento Republic on Saturday night. Things have not been going well for San Antonio FC in league play. They have no wins, no points, and have been outscored 11-3 away from home in 2019. They followed that up with a thrashing at the hands of Austin in Open Cup play on Wednesday night, losing 4-2. It’s the second time SAFC has lost in Austin to the expansion side this season.
It’s hard to know what the answers are for this team and the truth may be that they simply aren’t as good as we thought they were going to be. The players have shuffled. The formations have changed. But the results have been largely the same, especially away from home where SAFC has been outscored 6-1 in their last two league outings, and 10-3 in their last three road games overall.
Midfielder Ethan Bryant made his season debut on Wednesday night and knows the team must push forward after the tough defeat. "All focus is for Sacramento now. Obviously the result is not what we wanted nor what we prepared for, but there's no time to dwell on it. We have to put all of our strength towards getting three points on Saturday."
Only five teams have scored fewer goals in USL Championship West than San Antonio’s 14. Interestingly, Sacramento is one of those teams. Although, they have also played one less game.
Sacramento comes into the match off a bye week in league play, but that was negated by their Open Cup match on Wednesday night against Fresno. Sacramento won that game 1-0 with a dramatic winner by Stefano Bonomo in the 122' and with it, they advanced to play the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS in Open Cup play on June 12th.
In league play, things have been going about as well for Sacramento as they are for SAFC. They have lost their last two matches by a combined score of 7-2 including a 4-1 thumping by Reno at Papa Murphy’s Park back on May 11th. Sandwiched in-between those two games was an Open Cup victory over Reno 1868.
Nothing like playing the same team in the same place twice in four days, but that’s what they had to do. Fair to say that Sacramento didn’t take the loss very well and to their credit, they came back and bounced them from the Open Cup a few days later. That’s the kind of response SAFC fans have been waiting on seemingly all season long.
Off the field, Sacramento made some news too. They recently released some pretty cool third kits.
Looking at their roster, Sacramento still has some very dynamic players. None moreso than Forward Cameron Iwasa who leads the team with 5 goals and 2 assists. He also leads the team in shots and is second in chances created. In a lot of ways their offense goes where Iwasa takes them. Iwasa ranks as a top ten goal scorer in USL West, so he’s very dangerous. SAFC will do well to know where he is at all times on Saturday night.
Goal Keeper Josh Cohen has four clean sheets on the season, which is one more than Cardone for SAFC. Defender Dekel Keinan leads the way on the back line with 51 clearances.
It has been nearly a full calendar year since these two teams last met and San Antonio FC is desperate for a road result at this stage. And realistically, they need a win, not a draw. After a promising month of April with three wins, San Antonio had none in league play in May and took major steps backwards with three ugly losses.
Sacramento will not be easier than any of the previous road matches, but Sacramento can be beaten. If San Antonio can’t come up with points away from home, they’ll be stuck in the bottom of the Western Table all season long. If they are going to fight and crawl their way back, there is no more time to waste.
The Matchup (W-D-L)
San Antonio FC (3-3-6) at Sacramento Republic (4-2-5)
Papa Murphy’s Park, Saturday June 1st, 2019
Kickoff 10:00pm Central Time
Table Position
Current Form (W-D-L)
San Antonio FC - 2019 Road Record 0-0-5
D-W-D-L-L
Sacramento Republic – 2019 Home Record 2-2-1
W-L-W-L-W
All Time History (W-D-L)
Saturday will mark the 6th all time meeting between the two clubs. Sacramento and SAFC split their two meetings last year including a season opening 2-1 defeat in Sacramento last season. San Antonio has never won in Sacramento in three tries, going 0-2-1 at Papa Murphy’s Park. San Antonio has a slight edge in the all-time series, leading eight points to five with a 2-2-1 record.
Season Series
6/1/19 @ SAC
8/3/19 @ SA
Last Time
SAFC defeated Sacramento Republic 1-0 at Toyota Field on June 16, 2018. Cesar Elizondo scored the game’s only goal, assisted by Ethan Bryant.
Here are the match highlights:
SAFC Wins If :
…if they do something they’ve never done before which is win at Sacramento. SAFC are up against the wall in League play which is not a good spot to be on June 1st. If San Antonio can’t get results in all of their road games this month, the season could be lost before it’s halfway over. Time to find out if this team will rise up or crumble to the ground.
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