SAFC tallied its seventh clean sheet across all competitions
SAN ANTONIO (April 25, 2026) – San Antonio FC picked up two points with a scoreless draw and 3-1 penalty shootout result in its opening Prinx Tires USL Cup against Birmingham Legion FC Saturday at Toyota Field
The teams went to a penalty shootout after a deadlocked 90 minutes, with Mitchell Taintor, Emil Cuello and Jorge Hernandez each stepping up to put away their penalty kicks. Goalkeeper Richard Sanchez made a decisive save on Birmingham’s final attempt to secure the victory.
San Antonio sits at second place in Group 3 after the first round of action and will head to reigning USL League One champions One Knox SC Saturday, May 16 for the next round.
Next Up
San Antonio FC returns to league play next weekend, hosting Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT, and the match will be broadcast on ESPN+. The 2026 season is presented by Toyota.
Postgame Notes:
- SAFC sits at 0-0-1 in the Prinx Tires USL Cup, currently in second place in the Group 3 standings with one point for the regulation draw and another for winning the shootout.
- San Antonio leads the all-time series against the Legion at 3-1-2.
- SAFC outshot Birmingham 23-6, with six shots on target.
- Goalkeeper Richard Sanchez has chalked up three clean sheets across his three starts across all competitions.
Attendance: 5,850
SAFC Starting XI: Richard Sanchez, Nelson Flores Blanco (Emil Cuello 67’), Mitchell Taintor (Captain), Tiago Saurez, Alex Crognale, Akeem O’Connor-Ward, Curt Calov (Mikey Maldonado 66’), Dmitrii Erofeev (Diogo Pacheco 76’), Jorge Hernandez, Cristian Parano, EJ Johnson (Christian Sorto 46’)
Substitutions Not Used: Danny Barbir, Joey Batrouni, Santiago Patiño
Disciplinary Summary:
BHM: Yellow Card (Kadeem Cole) 22’
SA: Yellow Card (Cristian Parano) 51’
SA: Yellow Card (Akeem O’Connor-Ward) 76’
Quotes:
Head Coach Carlos Llamosa
(On the result…)
“As long as we keep our team defending well and try to not to give up goals, we were happy with that. Up front, you have to give credit to the goalkeeper, their defenders blocking shots, but I stay with the with the positive thing that we create chances. That’s the most important thing for us. That’s something last year that we lacked a little bit in that part, with chance creation. This year we look better, as a team and individually. [Cristian Parano] and Jorge [Hernandez], they were really good when they decide to go on the backs, one vs. one, they were good, so sooner or later, I believe and have the confidence that we’re going to score more goals in games.”
(On the team’s mentality in a cup match…)
“Well, we take the cup games same as league game. For us, every official match is really important, and as I told my guys, anybody who had the opportunity to step on the field has to be on the field with a winning mentality. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cup game, league game, if you have the opportunity to play, you have to show up and play fully for the win.”
Goalkeeper Richard Sanchez
(On the stepping into the shootout after a scoreless 90 minutes…)
“It makes it makes a goalkeeper’s life easy when you don’t have to really face much during the match, but definitely have to maintain the focus throughout, because, again, you never know when you’re going to be called upon. Especially as a goalkeeper, you might not have you might not have any shots in the game, but you know, sometimes you go to a penalty shootout and you have to show up for the team, so yeah, just continue to build on that.”
Midfielder Jorge Hernandez
(On the result…)
“We went into penalty kicks, but I felt like we should definitely finished it off in the run of play. We just got unlucky. We didn’t finish the chances we had. Their goalkeeper made some great saves, so it was a little bit of that that wanting to get the three points, but two points is good for the locker room.”
(On the team’s offense…)
“I think we just got to be patient. Like you said, the other team sits back, and they were playing counters, so I just think it’s about moving the team side-to-side, finding those open spaces. Our center backs – everyone, honestly, from our goalkeeper to our strikers – is good on the ball, so we’re more patient with the ball. We find those spots, and that’s when the two number 10s, myself and [Cristian Parano], that’s when we create and, I felt like we created enough, but we were just kind of lucky. Their goalkeeper made some great saves, but that’s part of the game.”
