Sacramento at Lexington: Tactical Analysis - A Strong Point Away
03/14: Sacramento’s line up, the good, the bad, and what stood out
The Lineup:
Well, a football match was played. A 0-0 draw with both teams combining for 3 shots on target, 4 corners, and a single yellow card each is hardly the most exciting match we’ve seen before. If you want an idea on how little happened in this match, USL’s own YouTube highlights for this match jump from the 16th minute, to the 38th minute, to the… 80th minute. There just wasn’t a whole lot to see.
Now, that doesn’t mean it was a bad result. Lexington is easily the most anticipated team in the league this season—a flurry of offseason signings saw Lexington bring in almost an all-star team of talent, punctuated by USL-C’s first 6-figure intraleague transfer when Lexington acquired midfielder Aaron Molloy from Charleston. So getting a point on the road in just the second week of the season, especially with a clean sheet, is a strong point. And Republic played better as the game went on—their strongest moments were at the end of the game, when they would have taken the lead but for 2 strong saves from Lexington’s keeper.
Collins came into Week 2 and utilized the exact same starting XI he had used in the home opener. If you missed last week’s Tactical Analysis, we spent some time explaining how this new-to-Republic system works:
And this week, it operated in the same way with 2 slight departures. First, Spaulding played much higher on the right side. Last week we talked about how pinned back he sat against Tulsa, and speculated that this was likely due to Gurr’s late scratch in that game. Sure enough, with a full week of Spaulding knowing he was starting, he played significantly more vertical. Look at his average position here, #3:
He’s averaged on the other side of the half line instead of inline with the center backs. That is much more of what we expected to see from the right back out of this formation.
Now one of the reasons he and Benítez (#22) are able to push up so far is because of something we only saw a bit of last week: Crisostomo (#27) is actually dropping back from the midfield to fit into the center of the backline:
This enables Republic to send both the left back and right back forward, while still maintaining 3 defensive players—it essentially enables them to switch into a 3 or 5 at the back while maintaining a base of a 4-4-2. Look how far he drops when Republic has a goal kick:
Meanwhile, Mark-Anthony Kaye (MAK), in the middle of this image, pulls centrally to balance the midfield. All of this works together to make Republic’s 4-4-2 (I’ve also seen it listed as a 4-2-3-1) extremely flexible and they can adjust on the fly into different looks. This requires players who can wear multiple hats throughout the game. Republic has the pieces to do it.
The Good:
The Defense, Part II
Two games, 2 clean sheets. One of the league’s most stingy defenses has come into 2026 firing on all cylinders, with the center back combo of Kleemann and Desmond averaging a 7.6 player rating. It will be interesting to see how personnel shifts as Timmer works his way back from surgery, but it really just gives Collins yet another stellar option. On top of the clean sheet, Republic only allowed 2 corners all night, and they both came before the 16th minute.
A fun thing to watch was Spaulding getting booed every time he touched the ball after a foul in the first half—fair play, Lexington fans. Though they did appear to miss when Chibi subbed in for Spaulding, as they continued to then boo Chibi every time he touched the ball instead.
A Tale of Two Midfields
Really, this match was a battle in the trenches of the midfield. Both teams split possession evenly, and we already talked about the lack of shots and corners. The ball stayed mostly within the center third of the pitch, and Republic’s midfield had to battle the entire game. MAK scored himself a player rating of 7.1, mostly due to his passing and winning duels.
Post-match, Wanner brought up an interesting point:
“I think the first half was intense. It was a lot of running. I think it’s one of the biggest pitches in the league, or even in the US. So yeah, we had to run a lot, a lot of spaces, and I think we had to get used to the field a little bit.”
Republic really did grow into the game, especially later in the second half, as the midfield started to take a bit more control.
Midfielders Generating Chances
Even better for the midfield was that they also drove most of Republic’s offense. We talked above about Crisostomo dropping into the backline. Well, he also worked his way up to the other side of the pitch, where he gets stuck in, wins it, and then nearly wins the game:
That he is playing so much of the field and being effective on both sides of the ball is incredible. And look at this sequence that newcomer Pep Casas put on display. He’s the player that has the ball at the start of the clip:
He pulls 3 defenders in, passes, finds the open space again, then lays off a one-touch pass perfectly into space for Wanner, who only doesn’t score because of a great save. This is the first time we’ve really seen Casas, who played only a minute in the home opener, but he has a confidence on the ball that Republic can really utilize late in games.
Crisostomo commented on those second half chances:
“First half, we didn't implement everything of what we wanted to do. I think second half we came off really strong, created more chances, won the ball high up the field, and I think the last 15-20 minutes, it could have gone our way, and it didn't.”
It did not, but it was close. A draw is probably fair, but both sides also probably deserved a goal. C'est la vie.
Sidenote: Away Announcers
As a side note, on the non-tactical side of things, the commentary for this match was next level. This match was originally scheduled to be on the Golazo! Network; however, due to technical issues, it was moved to a free YouTube stream. Jamie Watson and Josh Appel both call national broadcasts for multiple leagues, including USL, MLS, and NWSL, and absolutely knocked it out of the park with an unbiased commentary.
The Bad:
Shooting Boots Go Cold
It’s hard to fault much else except the goal scoring chances, honestly. Ajago and Malango in particular haven’t excelled through 2 games in Old Glory Red, averaging a player rating of just 6.4 between the 2 of them. However, especially with an entirely new-look midfield and offense, it’s going to take time for things to click. Add in a game bogged down in the midfield and you have a situation where none of the attacking players really got good service. The best service of the night was Casas’ pass to Wanner we highlighted above—and that came after both Ajago and Malango had already been subbed off. A few games against weaker opposition coming up should give both of them chances to build confidence.
What Stood Out:
Overall, it’s a match that I don’t think anyone can be upset about. Lexington is a good team, who have spent a lot of offseason money, and Republic taking a point on the road with a clean sheet is a good point. Collins commented on starting the season against two heavy-weights in Tulsa and Lexington:
“We've had two really tough tests out of the gate, which should set us up well for this home stretch that's coming. Different challenges than we faced tonight. I think starting on Wednesday, we just want to carry on where we left off against Tulsa: be aggressive, get our fans on their feet, and make it difficult for every opponent that comes into Heart Health Park.”
Making it through the 2 toughest games in the early season with no goals allowed is excellent. Republic will play Lexington again in August, this time in Sacramento, and it will be interesting to see where things are in the table at that time. For now, Republic has El Farolito in the Open Cup tonight before hosting a Monterey team on Saturday that has allowed 4 goals and scored none in their opening two games. This should be two easy wins.
