A mid-week tilt takes Sacramento south to Irvine Wednesday, where they face in-state foe Orange County SC. It’s the first of four road matches in five games from now to mid-June for the Quails, who remain atop the league table with 21 points coming off a big 3-1 win.
Little has taken Sacramento’s focus away of late, even amidst a congested stretch of four matches in 12 days. Mark Briggs’ Men have been in top form on the mental side and fought hard regardless of what the scoreboard saws. To credit for it – a relentless effort to remain fundamentally sound and execute no matter the challenge.
“We’ve got to the position we’re in based on our identity, based on [the] basics of working hard and doing the basics,” said Head Coach Mark Briggs. “Working harder than the opponents and winning individual battles.”
The club’s cohesion has shined in recent weeks. Even with few key contributors out with injuries, the results have kept coming. And as those players return, the benefits are expected to shine through even further as each player pushes and helps coach their teammates to be better. The club’s seeing it already in training and in film day in and day out.
“Everybody knows his role,” said Damia Viader, who returned from injury on Saturday and saw his first action since April 15. “We can interchange positions; players can play different roles on the field. So that helps us we’re very strong on the ball [and] off the ball. So whatever tactics the opponent gives us, we got to be ready for it.”
“It’s good that we’ve had success at the beginning of the season,” said Luis Felipe. “We’ve had a lot of home games, and it’s important to keep winning those games and then do what we can to get points away. So it’s great that we’ve started fast, especially at home, and the guys are focusing on it.”
Orange County SC enters on a tough run of form but has played a lot of tight games this season. The club has only been kept out of net on two occasions and took points in four of its first six. 2022’s Golden Boot winner – Milan Iloski – remains atop their formation, and they still possess some of the pieces that took them to the league title less than two seasons ago.
“It’s always a difficult place to go, and play,” said Head Coach Mark Briggs of traveling to take on the SoCal club. “So no matter what form they’re in, it’s a difficult place, [and a] difficult team. Obviously, they’ve got their interim coach, [and] he’ll be wanting to impress, and the players will be wanting to impress him and show against a difficult opponent.”
“[It’s] definitely a team that we have to be careful with, they have a great group of players,” Luis Felipe continued. “We have to come out focused and strong.”
