SACRAMENTO REPUBLIC FC v. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC - 2024 US OPEN CUP QUARTER-FINAL - EXPOSITION BOULEVARD, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC travel down to the city-sized sauna of Sacramento to play the most important match of the season thus far.

What: US Open Cup Quarter-Final tie, Sacramento Republic FC v. Seattle Sounders FC.

Where: Exposition Boulevard, Sacramento, California.

When: 8:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Tuesday 9 July 2024 CE.

At Stake: It’s the first time Sounders FC have reached the Quarter-Final stage of the US Open Cup since Brian Schmetzer was named Manager. It’s the first time in eight years we’ve gotten this far in the tournament. We last won the US Open Cup in 2014, a decade ago. Are we a relevant club in this competition, the second oldest sporting competition in North America, or is current management and ownership content to use it as a youth development lab and allow the possibility of our players getting turned over by a veteran selection?

Where to Watch: Apple TV. Apparently you don’t have to be a MLS Season Pass subscriber.

Where to Listen: 950 KJR AM. If El Rey 1360 AM is covering the match, it wasn’t mentioned, but I’d be shocked if they weren’t covering it, because football is life.

The night sky in Chester, Pennsylvania was filled with expectancy. The day was 16 September 2014. Despite Maurice Edu’s goal on 38’, our Sounders FC equalised through Chad Barrett on 47’. With the match tied at full-time, extra-time was required. Clint Dempsey would see us ahead on 101’, and Obafemi Martins secured victory with his strike on 114’. Our Sounders FC were US Open Cup champions, for the fourth time!

This time, it’s a decade later, 2024. The night sky will be heavy with heat and humidity, but this time in Sacramento. This time it’s not the US Open Cup Final, but a Quarter-Final. Who will be the heroes for us this night?

Support is imperative. Fog Citeh, we’re relying on ye to be the voices for all those that cannot attend. I could read on the Facebook boards that we’re going to have some people there. Good people. Loud people. Football people. Those of us who make the trip to Sacramento, please carry us in your hearts, and let our spirits strengthen you as you will the lads to victory.

Here in The Evergreen, the duty is clear. Gather round the telly at any place you can rally your mates. Pubs and dwellings for stories and tellings. Houses and flats for pints and cats. Boats and ships for pie and chips. You know the drill. We will the lads to victory, because it’s what we do. And we do it well, Green Fam. We do it well.

Forget everything else. It’s all boiled down to this. And I ask one question of ye. “Are ye ready for this, for our moment under the brightest lights?”

Fasten that seat-belt. It’s the first time in the US Open Cup Quarter-Finals in eight years. Brace yourselves, Sacramento. You will hear us. SOUNDERS FOR THE CUP!!!

Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”

I don’t even know what to say anymore. So I’ll show a winner’s medal for the Cup from

a time when there was actual respect for the tournament of the United States FA.

The Good News

We’ve managed to get this far in the Cup though the exuberance of youth, tempered with a bit of experience, whole heaps of talent, and raw adrenaline. Is it possible to gain victory in this manner? We’re certainly going to make a go of it. I can tell you that.

Our younger players, from the senior squad, and also the Sounders FC Reserves, are good. Quite good. Good enough to play in the Sounders first team more than they do, and it’s a bloody good thing, because we’re going to need them Tuesday night.

The Bad News

We have a number of players that have played most of the minutes of the 2:0 victory over New England last Sat, and also Sounders FC senior squad players in the Sounders FC Reserves epic 4:3 comeback against Sporting Kansas City 2 on Sunday. This will limit which players can be responsibly selected for the US Open Cup tie in Sacramento. Failing to conserve players for this tournament is not only a problem, it’s the same problem over, and over, and over again. It’s intolerable.

Sacramento Republic defeated San Jose Earthquakes in the Round of 16 4:3 after extra-time. We struggle with San Jose when we play them. This is a bad sign.

Sacramento Republic have only allowed 13 league goals and are tied for best defence in the USL Championship with Charleston Battery. In all competitions, Sacramento Republic are conceding an average of 0.84 goals/match.

Sacramento don’t often lose at home. Their home record in all competitions is 5-3-3. The Sounders away record in all competitions is 3-2-6.

Our opposition will level their best possible team against us, a team that is in 7th place out of 24 teams in the USL Championship. We will answer with the best we have that aren’t either completely knackered or kept out of the team because stupid. Don’t get me wrong, that’s still a very good team for us that I back with my whole heart. It’s just that it doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be this way.

You leaf through the Sacramento squad and the first thing you notice is that some of these lads have played for, or have been developed by, some good clubs. Nick Ross played 149 times for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and won a Scottish Cup and second-division league championship with them. Jack Gurr played four times for Aberdeen. Luis Felipe was developed by Cruzeiro. Cristian Parano was developed by Boca Juniors, River Plate, and San Martin. In short, there is definitely talent there, and also experience. Even in the best of circumstances and conditions this would not be an easy match.

The weather is going to be truly miserable. This match will be gruelling for our over-30 players to play in, should they have played 70+ minutes on Saturday or Sunday. Even fully rested, it would be irresponsible to ask 90-120 minutes from them.

The Side I Would Select

I would have selected the first-choice team, as it’s a Quarter-Final cup-tie, but that ship has sailed. Eight players from Saturday’s victory against New England, Nouhou, Cristian, Ragen, Gomez Andrade, Morris, Vargas, Rusnak, and Joao Paulo will require rest this match and I wouldn’t expect to see them except as substitutes. In addition, these Sounders FC Reserves’ players that were in the victory over SKC2 on Sunday, Sousa, Kossa-Rienzi, Kitahara, Hawkins, De Rosario, and Brunell will also likely be unavailable. Leyva played 67 minutes and probably shouldn’t play except as a late substitute. Teves could maybe come in as a sub as he played 59 minutes. Nathan and Baker are likely good for one half of football. Anyway, there you go. Here’s my team given what is left to select from.

Rationale: Take a moment to peruse the minutes played statistics for SEA 2:0 NE and Sounders FC Reserves 4:3 SKC2, and it should become clear how difficult it’s going to be piece a team together. The standard for intense physical activity, such as 90 minutes of professional football, is three days for muscle and chemical recovery for elite athletes. You can give supplements to fix the chemical issues, sure, but the jury may still be out on whether cryo-therapy is effective at helping recovery.

GK     Thomas

LB     Baker

LCH    Bell (if he’s available)

RCH    Nathan

RB     Alex

LDM   Atencio

RDM   Baker-Whiting

LF     Leo Chu

CAM   de la Vega

RF     Musovski

CF     Ruidiaz

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

I expect the Gaffer to disregard muscle and chemical fatigue with younger players and select a team that he thinks is just enough resources to commit for victory whilst risking as few of his first-choice players as possible. He has “managed” this by exhausting the bulk of the squad last weekend. If there are reinforcements, such as Minoungo, Antino Lopez, or Bettache coming up on short-term loans, I haven’t heard about it. The implied scarcity in the team selection for US Open Cup ties will magically disappear when Leagues Cup comes ‘round. Mark my words. This is probably an over-optimistic prediction for the team sheet, but here it is.

GK     Thomas

LB     Baker

LCH    Bell

RCH    Hawkins

RB     Alex

LDM    Atencio

RDM    Vargas

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Leyva

RF     Teves

CF     Musovski

Intangibles

The information on who will referee is currently unavailable to me.

The heat and humidity.

It’s one of the most important, if not the most important away match we will play this season. So…you know, no presh.

General notes on personnel

Sacramento transfers IN:

Amann (Hailstorm FC) free

Ricketts (Rio Grande Valley FC Toros) free

Mazzola (Greenville Triumph) free

Portillo (FC Tulsa) undisclosed fee

Parano (San Antonio FC) undisclosed fee

Phillips (Huddersfield Town) loan

Contreras - academy

Garcia - academy

Willey - academy

Ukaegbu - academy

Kimbrough - academy

Sacramento transfers OUT:

Archimede (Monterey Bay) free

Fenwick (Hailstorm FC) free

Ferrety Sousa (Forward Madison) free

Saldana (Detroit City) free

Gontan - released

LaGrassa - retired

Lewis - released

Penagos - released

Kelly - academy

Padilla - academy

Yohannes - academy

Comparison against common opponents

SAC 4:3 SJ a.e.t. USOC

SJ 3:2 SEA         MLS

(against SJ: SAC 1-0-0 +1, SEA 0-0-1 -1) edge SAC

Know Thine Enemy

Sacramento as they lined up in their 0:1 defeat versus Las Vegas at Exposition Boulevard on 3 July.

GOALKEEPER

Daniel Vitiello, 28

United States

Notable Clubs: Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (36/0), Sacramento Republic FC (73/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €250,000

Notes: Developed by Westchester Flames, Jersey Express SC, and Long Island Rough Riders. Played his university football at SUNY Albany (60/0). Holds the Sacramento Republic FC club record for clean sheets.

DEFENCE

Aldair Sanchez, 22

United States

Notable Clubs: Sacramento Republic (44/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €125,000

Notes: Developed by Portland Timbers and PDX FC. Played his university football at North Carolina (30/0).

Shane Weidt, 28

United States

Notable Clubs: Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (64/3), Sacramento Republic FC (46/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €250,000

Notes: Developed by Erie Commodores, Virginia Beach City, and DC United. Played his university football at Akron (32/1) and Pittsburgh (17/0).

Conor Donovan, 28

United States

Notable Clubs: Orlando City SC (2/0), Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (1/0), North Carolina FC (14/1), OKC Energy (32/2), Sacramento Republic FC  (81/3)

Estimated Transfer Value: €300,000

Notes: Developed by USA Residency Programme and Capital Area RailHawks. Played his university football at North Carolina State (15/1). Won a US Open Cup with Houston Dynamo.

Jared Timmer, 27

United States

Notable Clubs: Indy Eleven (61/0), Sacramento Republic FC (52/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €250,000

Notes: Developed by Grand Rapids Crew Juniors. Played his university football at Butler (67/6).

Jack Gurr, 28

England

Notable Clubs: Atlanta United (1/0), Aberdeen (4/0), Sacramento Republic FC (91/6)

Estimated Transfer Value: €300,000

Notes: Developed by Gateshead. Played his university football at Georgia Gwinnett College (NAIA) (71/14).

MIDFIELD

Nick Ross, 32

Scotland

Notable Clubs: Inverness Caledonian Thistle (149/11), Dundee (56/1), Sepsi OSK (5/0), El Paso Locomotive (69/6), Sacramento Republic FC (67/3)

Estimated Transfer Value: €125,000

Notes: Developed by Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Won a Scottish Cup and a Scottish Championship league title with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Luis Felipe, 28

United States

Notable Clubs: Fort Lauderdale Strikers (37/0), San Jose Earthquakes (21/0), Sacramento Republic FC (105/14)

Estimated Transfer Value: €300,000

Notes: Full name: Luis Felipe Fernandes Rodrigues. Developed by Cruzeiro.

Justin Portillo, 31

United States

Notable Clubs: Charleston Battery (104/18), Real Salt Lake (11/0), New Mexico United (65/13), FC Tulsa (10/1), Sacramento Republic FC (5/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €200,000

Notes: Developed by Lafreniere SC. Played his university football with Coastal Carolina (89/10).

Cristian Parano, 24

Argentina

Notable Clubs: San Martin (1/0), San Antonio FC (67/14), Chania FC (16/1), Sacramento Republic FC (23/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €175,000

Notes: Developed by Boca Juniors, River Plate, and San Martin. Won a USL Championship league and Cup double. Named USL Championship Young Player of the Year 2019.

FORWARD

Trevor Amann, 26

United States

Notable Clubs: Detroit City (8/5), Sacramento Republic FC (17/8)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Developed by Shattuck - St. Mary’s. Played his university football at Colorado School of Mines (NCAA II) (39/21), Midwestern State (NCAA II) (51/28).

Familiar Faces

None.

Squads

(There is zero media support for research from MLS, USL, and the United States FA, so there is no way to verify the accuracy of these lists. Are Sounders making short-term loan signings from the Sounders FC Reserves or Academy? No idea. I’m assuming Jon Bell is back in the fold and available for selection)

Sacramento from:

Vitiello, Mazzola, Gurr, Viader, Desmond, Timmer, Wiedt, Ricketts, Donovan, Sanchez, Gomez Garcia, Ukaegbu, Parano, Jauregui, Ross, Willey, Portillo, Luis Felipe, Amann, Herrera, Cicerone, Kimbrough, Phillips, Contreras.

Sounders FC from:

Frei, Thomas, Castro, Baker, Bell, Gomez Andrade, Hawkins, Nathan, Nouhou, Ragen, Alex, Atencio, Baker-Whiting, de la Vega, Joao Paulo, Kitahara, Leyva, Rusnak, Vargas, Morris, Cristian, Leo Chu, Musovski, Rothrock, Ruidiaz, Teves.

Injury List

(Your guess is as good as mine, Sacramento injury list per Transfermarkt, transcribing Sounders FC’s last known injury list from Saturday’s match)

Sacramento -

OUT: Rodrigo Lopez (ligament tear).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Sounders FC -

OUT: Rodrigues (hamstring).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Discipline

(determined by researching previous USOC match records)

Sacramento: Rodrigo Lopez is suspended and serves a one-match ban for two bookings. Luis Felipe, Weidt, and Amann are out next match if booked.

Sounders FC: No players suspended.

Fun Facts

Josh Atencio has been named as an alternate to the United States Olympic Football Team. The Olympic Games Football Tournament is the de facto FIFA U-23 World Cup and allows three overage players to be selected to each squad, with the rest of the players needing to be under the age of 23 before the qualifying tournament began. Well done, Josh!

Sounders FC Reserves defeated Sporting Kansas City II 4:3 at Starfire on 7 July in an epic comeback for the ages. Our lads were down 1:3 and hit three unanswered goals to nail down the victory. De Rosario scored a brace, with Teves and Bettache each adding a goal. In the team for the Sounders FC Reserves: Wilson, Baker, Hawkins, Nathan, Kossa-Rienzi, Brunell, Kitahara, Sousa, Leyva, Teves, De Rosario. Substitutes used: Tsukanome, Antino Lopez, Aquino, Daroma, Bettache. The sensational match was also the reserve-team debut for 17-year old goalkeeper Trevor Wilson, who will play for San Diego State, presumably this Fall. Well done, Trevor!

Well done, lads! That’s three on the trot!

Sounders FC Reserves will play their next fixture against Vancouver Whitecaps FC2 at Swangard Stadium, on 14 July. Kick-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. PDT.

Sounders FC Reserves are currently in 10th place in the MLS Next Pro league table on 26 points, 10 points adrift of leaders St. Louis City2.