SAN ANTONIO – With a playoff atmosphere at Toyota Field and the home crowd riled up, San Antonio FC came out flat last Saturday against Sacramento FC. A trio of first-half set pieces led to a 3-nil deficit at halftime, and though San Antonio rallied, they were unable to complete the comeback in a 3-2 loss. As a result, Sacramento moved up into the playoff picture, currently sitting seventh overall with 30 points.
SAFC stood pat at 12th with 27 points.
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That missed opportunity has stayed with the Alamo City club this week, and the team is eager for a chance at redemption.
"It was a blip. It happens in football," said defender Johnny Fenwick. "Obviously it was a disappointing result over the weekend. We felt like it was a game of two halves. We didn't really get started in the first half and the second half was much better. We're just trying to replicate that second half and we feel like we can win the game this week, and we're fully confident that the guys can get the job done this weekend."
"You can tell there's a little bit of an urgency to try and win points this weekend," said head coach Darren Powell. "The guys want to respond. The response is obviously important after a loss, and the guys are certainly showing that on the practice field this week. Saturday night is going to be a test. We're looking forward to it."
This week, SAFC hits the road to Nevada to face Reno 1868. The last time these two teams met, San Antonio teenagers Ethan Bryant and Jose Gallegos led a furious second-half rally with a pair of goals to win 3-2 at Toyota Field.
Powell knows earning points on the road in Reno will be a challenge. "Reno in the past couple of years have been one of the stronger teams. They got off to a very fast start against us at home a couple months ago, but we were able to recover in the second half and delivered a great performance, similar to this past Saturday. We want to try and maintain that level for 90 minutes and generate consistency throughout the whole game."
San Antonio FC will face Reno 1868 at Greater Nevada Field on Saturday night at 9:30 CDT.