The San Jose Earthquakes host NorCal rivals Sacramento Republic FC in the Fourth Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday night. Quakes fans might not be overly familiar with the USL Championship side, so here’s a quick refresher:
Sacramento is currently in seventh place in the USL’s Western Conference with a 6-5-2 record, level on points with Reno 1868 FC. Sacramento is 3-2-0 in their last five matches and have won back-to-back contests heading into Tuesday.
Republic FC is led offensively by forward Cameron Iwasa, who briefly trialed with the Quakes in 2015. The native of Sacramento has recently blossomed and is among the league leaders with seven goals in 11 appearances so far this year. His team-best 17 goals in 2018 led to an All-League Second Team selection.
Josh Cohen, born in Mountain View and raised in Sunnyvale, is one of the USL’s top goalkeepers. He has started 12 matches this season, already keeping five clean sheets. Cohen finished as runner-up for the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year award last season after recording 12 shutouts.
There are several other Bay Area ties on Sacramento’s roster, including Stanford graduates Sam Werner and Drew Skundrich, and Hillsborough native and Cal grad Stefano Bonomo.
San Jose and Sacramento have had a lengthy history, with the two clubs serving as MLS-USL affiliates from 2014-16. During that time, the Quakes sent numerous players on loan to the state capital, including Tommy Thompson, Adam Jahn, JJ Koval, Mark Sherrod, Kip Colvey and more.
Tuesday’s match is the third time that the two NorCal sides will meet in U.S. Open Cup play. In both the 2014 and 2015 renditions, Sacramento jumped out to a first-half lead, only to see the Earthquakes claw back and win.
The match kicks off at 7:15 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with no local blackouts.
