Three points was the result of Republic FC’s trip to Albuquerque on Wednesday night, extending the club’s win streak to three and unbeaten run to four. Just like their last match in the Carolinas Mark Briggs’ Men went down first, but reminded everyone that games are 90 minutes long with two scores in four minutes move to a second-best 17 points claimed in league this season in come-from behind results.
Bounce Back
Throughout the season, the Quails have risen to the challenge when they’ve fallen behind. Including Wednesday’s match the club has claimed five wins and two draws in those contests, a mark better than all in USL but Tampa Bay Rowdies. Just like last Saturday against Charleston Sacramento came back from a deficit, finding net to equalize only three minutes after New Mexico’s lone score and taking the lead four minutes later.
“We obviously made the mistake and the whole team knew but you looked around the team when that happened… when they scored their goal, and you saw you saw that desire,” said Mark Briggs after the match. “You saw that hunger. You saw that indomitable spirit and the boys stepped it up.”
A New Club Leader
Each of Republic FC’s scores on the night were assisted by Rodrigo Lopez – pushing the veteran midfielder ahead of Cameron Iwasa for the #1 spot on the club’s all-time assist leaderboard. The first came off a well-placed cross from the right that found Keko in the box, and the second came after an unselfish touch gave Douglas Martinez a great look on the left.
The pair of plays also inched Lopez closer to two other milestones – 5th in league history and just five away from 50 for his professional career across all competitions. With 13 league matches, the Open Cup final, and possibly the postseason still remaining, there’s a good chance he reaches at least the latter milestone.
Movin’ On Up
Republic FC’s third straight match without a loss in league play moved them into sole possession of fifth in the table. Breaking away from El Paso Locomotive, and moving to just two back of New Mexico in fourth gives them a shot at the top three in the West – and maybe even more – before August is up. Another busy stretch from August 13-20 will pit Sacramento against two teams in the playoff race and a local rival eager to play spoiler.
Further, the win gives Sacramento a crucial tiebreaker in the standings over New Mexico – something that could easily come into play when playoff time is here. With a game in hand over all but two other teams in the West and matches remaining against every club in the top three, the club is in a good position to make some noise and dethrone a few of the league’s top-performing squads throughout the remainder of the season.
