This Saturday, Republic FC kicks off its 2024 road campaign with a trip to East – the first of back-to-back interconference matchups on the road. The club’s first-ever trip to South Florida will pit them against Eastern Conference side Miami FC, who emerged victorious over Switchbacks FC in a Week 1 Home Opener.
Despite missing five regular starters, Sacramento showed well against last year’s Western Conference Regular Season runner up. It took a desperation attempt in the final moments of the match – a feat that has only happened three times in league history, just to pull even and split the points with a 2-2 draw.
With last week behind the club, the focus is squarely on building on the successes of opening night and perfecting the game plan for game two of the season.
“We analyzed the game Saturday, and the performance was good other than 10 minutes at the end,” said Head Coach Mark Briggs. “So it gives us a positive step to move forward.”
“There’s a lot of positives to take from the game, and a lot of things that we need to improve on,” Jared Timmer noted. “It’s early, so we can learn from that and keep working towards getting ready to go for Miami.”
Last year’s top goal scorer is set to make his 2024 debut, and pair with the Player of the Week Trevor Amann for the first time in league play. Cicerone and the squad are looking at week two with a wide lens. “This week’s a little different because we’re traveling across the country, and it always makes things a little bit interesting,” said Cicerone. “But as far as mindset is concerned, every week is the same for us that we’re going into the weekend as one unit, and we’re looking to get three points.” Cicerone’s 2024 debut is an opportunity to build on his career numbers against Miami FC – eight goals in six matches all-time – and start the season on the right foot.
Behind a new manager and a bevy of new young players, the South Florida team Sacramento will face is hungry and confident coming off a victory in its first match of 2024.
“They have a new coach who had a fantastic playing career and is implementing a new style,” said Briggs of the South Florida side. “We’re fortunate that we’ve got one game to look at and see their tendency, shape, different players, different things they’re trying to do. That gives us good information going into Saturday.”
