Sacramento Republic FC manager Mark Briggs pleased with team’s strong start to new season

Sacramento Republic FC began its 2023 season with a road win in El Paso, considered one of the tougher road venues in the USL, and then in its first home match came back from a 1-0 deficit to earn a 1-1 tie despite being a man down after a controversial red card.

Suffice to say, manager Mark Briggs is optimistic about where his club sits two games in after entering the year bullish on his team’s chances at making the leap to contention for a USL championship.

Republic FC will host first-place San Diego Loyal SC at 7 p.m. Saturday at Heart Health Park at Cal Expo. San Diego is the only team in the Western Conference to win its first two games of the season. Sacramento is fourth among 12 squads in the table with four points after two games (1-0-1).

“We’re really pleased with the two performances,” Briggs said after a damp and windy practice at Cosumnes River College on Wednesday. “The mentality and the attitude that the group showed in the game on Saturday kinda continued from the first game. We faced a little bit of adversity in the referee making the decisions that he did, but (our players) handled it in a good way and stuck together and grinded out a point, and we should have won it at the end there.”

The adversity Briggs referenced was a second yellow card given to midfielder Louis Felipe in the 33rd minute of Thursday’s match, his second of the game that resulted in a red card and his ejection, forcing Republic FC to play some 60 minutes of game time down to 10 men.

That red card was rescinded on Wednesday following the club’s appeal, making Felipe available for Saturday’s game at Heart Health Park.

Republic FC is hoping talent added in the offseason paired with the mentality of returning players can lead to success. So far, Briggs is convinced that showed up during the first two games, and could give Sacramento an edge when one of the league’s best teams comes to its home field this weekend.

“We talk about three H’s,” Briggs said. “And the first H is being hungry. The second H is being a horrible team to play against. And the third H is for humility. And I think the guys have shown that — when we cross the white line and we face the opponent, we want teams to not enjoy playing against us. I think you saw that Saturday night, even down a man. Our attitude and our intensity and our desire to get something from the game shown through.”

Newcomer Russell Cicerone scored the team’s only goal in the 1-0 victory in the opener and had a would-be assist on Saturday if not for his pass to Jack Gurr, which led to a goal, deflecting off a defender before Gurr put it in the back of the net.

Cicerone was one of Sacramento’s prized offseason additions and appears to be in top form despite being new to the team, which could make Republic FC dangerous.

“Obviously, his performances have spoken for themselves,” Briggs said. “He’s a winner. He has a winning mentality. He has a desire to succeed, a desire to score goals, to get assists, and is willing to work (hard) for the team, for the collective, which is extremely important.”