Cristian Parano and Jorge Hernandez combine for two goals
SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 12, 2026) – San Antonio FC punched its ticket into the Prinx Tires USL Cup semifinal round with a 2-1 triumph over Miami FC at Toyota Field on Wednesday night.
San Antonio struck first right before halftime, as Jorge Hernandez delivered a through ball to set up Cristian Parano for a clinical near-post finish, the latter extending his scoring streak to four straight matches.
The Argentine made it back-to-back home games with a brace as he found his second score off a long ball from Hernandez to go up 2-0 in the 64th minute. Miami pulled back within reach with a goal of its own 15 minutes later, but SAFC was able to close out the final 10 to advance to the semifinals for the first time in club history.
San Antonio will find out its next match-up in the next round in the Prinx Tires USL Cup draw, airing on the USL YouTube channel on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 12:00 p.m. CT.
Scoring Summary
SA: Cristian Parano (Assisted by Jorge Hernandez) 44’
SA: Cristian Parano (Assisted by Jorge Hernandez) 64’
MIA: Arney Rocha (Assisted by Diego Mello) 79’
Next Up
San Antonio FC hosts El Paso Locomotive FC on Saturday, Aug. 15 in a match to decide the 2026 Copa Tejas trophy. Kickoff from Toyota Field is set for 8:00 p.m. CT, and the match will be broadcast on ESPN+. The 2026 season is presented by Toyota.
Postgame Notes:
- San Antonio advances to the semifinals for the first time in club history, and its all-time USL Cup record improves to 7-1-2.
- SAFC is unbeaten in seven of its last eight matches across all competitions.
- San Antonio posted its first win over Miami FC since 2022.
- Forward Cristian Parano scored for the fourth consecutive match, now leading the team with seven across all competitions.
- Midfielder Jorge Hernandez is the first player to record multiple assists in a USL Cup match.
- With his 21st SAFC goal, Parano now moves into a tie with Hernandez for the third-most goals in club history.
- The Parano-Hernandez duo has now combined on all three of San Antonio’s goals the past three matches.
- Parano becomes the sixth different scorer for SAFC in cup competition this season.
- SAFC extended its scoring streak to five straight matches.
- Goalkeeper Joey Batrouni made three saves in the match, helping to hold Miami scoreless for 79 minutes.
Attendance: 6,092
SAFC Starting XI: Joey Batrouni, Akeem O’Connor-Ward, Alex Crognale, Mitchell Taintor (Captain), Tiago Suarez, Emil Cuello (Nelson Flores Blanco 80’), Mikey Maldonado, Lucio Berron, Jorge Hernandez, Cristian Parano (Nicky Hernandez 80’), Diogo Pacheco (Danny Barbir 70’)
Substitutions Not Used: Rece Buckmaster, Curt Calov, Santiago Patino, Richard Sanchez, Leo Urrutia, Landry Walker
Disciplinary Summary:
SA: Red Card (Tiago Suarez) 33’
MIA: Yellow Card (Riyon Tori) 41’
MIA: Yellow Card (Angel Calfo) 55’
MIA: Yellow Card (Joel Sonora) 71’
MIA: Red Card (Gerald Diaz) 74’
SA: Yellow Card (Emil Cuello) 77’
MIA: Yellow Card (Daltyn Knutson) 84’
Quotes:
Head Coach Carlos Llamosa
(On the win…)
“I feel very proud of the group. Playing with a man down wasn’t easy. Defensively, the guys put in the work. We worked as a team. We worked as a group. I like the way we started the second half with a man down, but we were creating chances and building from the back. We tried to use Joey [Batrouni] as much as we can with the ball to make it even, and I think he did tremendous. Everybody on the field did a tremendous job. The second goal from [Cristian] Parano was unbelievable, great pass from Jorge [Hernandez] and great finish by him, so very proud of the group right now. They knew it was a win-or-die in this cup, and they pulled it off. We were even numbers with the red card for Miami, and from there, we tried to just manage the game.”
(On the connection between Cristian Parano and Jorge Hernandez…)
“I always say Parano, Jorge, all those guys up front, Diogo [Pacheco] is back with us, but Parano is playing tremendous. You know, six goals in four games, I believe. That’s why we want those guys to play close to the opposition goal. They play. They connect with each other. They can create at any given moment of the field when those games are really close. When we have teams who sit back and defend with numbers, those guys can create a lot of things for us, and that’s what Parano and Jorge are doing lately.”
Midfielder Lucio Berron
(On Cristian Parano’s offensive production…)
“It’s actually amazing. I was talking with the guys and seeing what Jorge and Parano have been doing offensively. It keeps you motivated. As a defender or as a defensive mid, you want to put the extra work in because you know that they’re gonna do something offensively, that they’re gonna give you that extra pass, that extra goal, that extra run that you need to keep the motivation defensively, and Cristian, he’s been amazing. He’s been scoring every game now, and we’re very happy for him, and as I said, we’re very happy defensively doing all the stuff that we need to do for him to go and feel free to score and make runs and work offensively.”
(On advancing out of the quarterfinals for the first time…)
“Before the game started, the reality was, you’re three games away from a championship, for a trophy. That’s the mentality. We fell short last year, but this year, the motivation is different. The field, the team feels different. We feel together, we feel happy, and the goal is there, and Mitch [Taintor] said it before the game started, and I think that was a key moment to keep us motivated going into this game, that reality. You’re three games away from a trophy, and now we’re two games away, and you know we’re gonna keep fighting for this.”
(On playing three games in a week…)
“I mean, the coaching staff have been doing really well in doing a simulation of this kind of impact in the body, so even though we haven’t been having schedules in which we have three games in a week, we’ve been training like we had three games in a week, like Wednesday practice will be like a higher load, and Saturday then you have a game, and then again Wednesday practice you have a big load, so trying to simulate a little control simulation of a game, and I think we’re good. We’re ready for this. We’ve been training for this mentally and physically … We really wanted this to win this game. I think it was the main goal, but now we gotta keep going. The USL Championship right now is super tight, and if you lose a game, and you might be you know out of the top eight, so yeah, we need to just keep working, but we’re ready for it.”
Defender Akeem O’Connor-Ward
(On advancing to the semifinals…)
“We’re moving on. I’m excited. The reason I came here is to win hardware, and this club’s known for doing that, and so, on to the semifinals. I’m excited to see what we draw and go from there. I think it was a good performance. Obviously, the red card, you obviously don’t want that to happen, but it’s just a part of it, and I think we managed it well. We weathered the storm for the rest of the first half, and the second half, I think we played better with a man down, and then obviously, you have two guys that are special that that took care of business for us.”
(On if the team is peaking at the right time…)
“For sure, and I think I was actually really excited to play in this this USL Cup and like even in midweek with the schedule because it kind of gave us a taste of what it’s going to be like in playoffs, how to you know deal with adversity, tighter games. They’re not going to be open, right? It’s win or go home in this competition as well. There’s no extra time. It goes straight to penalties, and so I think we’re starting to to find that stride and to peak. I think there’s 11 games left or so, so ultimately, obviously, we want to win all of them as much as we can. There may be a hiccup here or there, but every time there’s been a hiccup left with us, we’ve reacted really well and come out.”
(On what the team’s run of form proves…)
“We can win. We can win trophies. Honestly, this team was built to win trophies, and, like you said before, we were underperforming in regards to the Vegas game, right? We want to obviously keep clean sheets, so that’s a back five that’s definitely kind of sad to see that we’re not able to do that at the moment, but I still think that’ll come, and our jobs as the guys in the back is to be able to keep games close and tight, so that we can allow our special players to do what they do, and as of late, those guys have been doing their jobs, and we’ve been doing the best in the back to do the same. I think even though we gave up one tonight, we still had a solid defensive performance, and Joey came up big again.”
