Juan Agudelo scores brace in second consecutive match
SAN ANTONIO (July 6, 2024) – San Antonio FC opened July with a 2-1 win over Phoenix Rising FC in a meeting of USL Championship’s last two title winners Saturday at Toyota Field.
For the second straight match, Juan Agudelo opened the scoring for SAFC, putting the home side up 1-0 with a connection from Jorge Hernandez in the 39th minute.
Phoenix was able to equalize in the 59th minute, but SAFC prevailed for the win as Agudelo converted a penalty in the 81st minute to complete his second brace in as many matches.
Next Up
San Antonio FC returns home on Saturday for an international friendly against Costa Rican first-division champions Deportivo Saprissa. Kickoff from Toyota Field is set for 8:00 p.m. CT, with tickets still available at SanAntonioFC.com or the SAFC app. This season is presented by Toyota.
Scoring Summary
SA: Juan Agudelo (Assisted by Jorge Hernandez) 39’
PHX: Federico Varela (Assisted by Dariusz Formella) 59’
SA: Juan Agudelo (Penalty) 81’
Postgame Notes:
- SAFC moves to 5-8-5 on the season with 20 points, now in 10th place in the Western Conference standings.
- The win snaps a five-match winless streak for San Antonio dating back to June 5.
- Defender Mitchell Taintor ties San Antonio’s all-time career appearance record with 114.
- Jorge Hernandez ties the SAFC all-time assist record with the 17th of his club career.
- Hernandez’s assist also puts him back in a tie for first in USL Championship this season with seven while also leading the league with 52 chances created.
- Juan Agudelo leads San Antonio with seven goals this season, tied for ninth-most in USL Championship and third-most in the Western Conference.
- Ten of San Antonio’s 22 goals this season have come in the 75th minute or later, with five of those being game-tying or game-winning scores.
- San Antonio is 5-2-3 when scoring first this season and 3-1-3 when scoring two or more goals.
- Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega makes his first start back from an upper body injury, appearing for the first time since May 4.
- Midfielder Kevon Lambert returns to the lineup after missing the last two matches while on international duty with Jamaica.
Attendance: 6,011
SAFC Starting XI: Pablo Sisniega, Kendall Burks, Mitchell Taintor (captain), Bura, Shannon Gomez, Nelson Flores Blanco, Kevon Lambert, Luke Haakenson, Jorge Hernandez, Jake LaCava (Machop Chol 71’), Juan Agudelo (Hugo Mbongue 90’)
Substitutions Not Used: Trova Boni, Izaiah Garza, Kameron Lacey, Kendall McIntosh, Gio Padilla
Disciplinary Summary:
PHX: Laurence Wyke (Yellow Card) 38’
PHX: Emile Cuello (Yellow Card) 90+5’
SA: Hugo Mbongue (Yellow Card) 90+9’
Quotes:
Head Coach Alen Marcina
(On the win…)
“Yeah, all this hardship these players have had to experience and endure with a lack of player availability due to injuries and national team call-ups, the guys stayed mentally strong, and they’re so united. There’s great optimism and belief in that locker room, and they got rewarded tonight. They earned three points, a hard-fought win against one of the most talented teams in the league, so all in all very, very proud of the guys tonight.”
(On the result becoming a turning point…)
“We’re confident as long as we have player availability. Look at the first seven games, I can only bring that back because we had a good portion of the roster available, and once we were depleted, the results unfortunately didn’t go our way … Now we understand we are where we are right now, but as I mentioned on Friday, if there’s a team, a group of players and a coaching staff that can dig out and position yourself to be in playoffs, it’s right here in San Antonio.”
Defender Mitchell Taintor
(On the team’s performance…)
“Yeah, super happy with the win, been a while obviously, but I think the real bright spot were the guys coming on. They were game changers, and that’s what we needed them to be, provided energy, won their duels, helped us get a buffer with the second goal, so it was great by everybody, especially the guys coming in, [Pablo] Sisniega back there in goal. It was good to have him back. You know, it’s a seamless transition with Kendall [McIntosh] and with Pablo, two fantastic goalkeepers and happy to have them both here. It gives us in the backline a lot of confidence. It was a great win for everybody tonight.”
(On having to grind out the victory…)
“I think every game we would like to win 3-0, 4-0 and have it be a breeze, but I think these wins mean more. It’s the fact that we can keep fighting back and not put our heads down. We can build ourselves back into the game and you know play the way that we want to play and dictate the pace. I think that was a huge moment of adversity for us and huge moment for overcoming that.”
Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega
(On the win…)
“I think it’s very important to kind of grind out a win like tonight because after we see them tie, we could’ve had our heads down but instead we kept fighting, and we got the win. It was a tight win against a good team, so it’s very important to just keep going to build on this win and move forward.”
