San Antonio FC continued it’s historic season in West Texas on Saturday night. The Alamo City Boys came into El Paso riding a six match unbeaten streak in USL Championship regular season play, outscoring opponents 14-3 during that span.
SAFC sit on top of not only the Western Conference standings, they also have the most wins and most points. In the Copa Tejas tournament, a win over El Paso would give SAFC their first ever trophy in the current three Texas team format.
El Paso, defending Copa Tejas Champions, was looking to get revenge on SAFC after losing 1-0 at Toyota Field back in April and extend the Copa Tejas battle for at least one more match. Meanwhile, SAFC was looking to extend their unbeaten streak and get the double on the Locomotive.
San Antonio FC’s first real chance came in the 18th minute, when Justin Dhillon made an accurate low pass across the penalty box to find Samuel Adeniran unmarked by the penalty spot, Adeniran took a quick touch to control the ball and took a left foot shot at goal, El Paso goalkeeper Evan Newton was able to get his gloves on the shot and deflect it off the crossbar to his left.
Mohammed Abu took a crack just before the half from about 35 yards out but sailed just wide to the right past the diving El Paso goalkeeper.
San Antonio FC broke the deadlock in the 48th minute, Santiago Patino scored his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Justin Dhillon. Patino nutmegged the El Paso Goalkeeper and SAFC took control of the match.
It was all San Antonio FC needed as they held off a late attack by El Paso Locomotive. With the win, San Antonio FC became the 2022 Copa Tejas Champions and bring home their first ever trophy.
Quotes:
Head Coach Alen Marcina
(On the win…)
“Incredibly proud of the team, to win the clubs first trophy. That … will be an experience that our guys will remember. This is a special trophy because its created by the fans. It’s why we play the game, we play it for the fans. It’s exciting to earn the three points, and also to get to bring the cup home with us.”
Forward Santiago Patino
(On his hot scoring streak…)
“I’m feeling good, I’m always preparing, always having the mentality to score and help the team, working hard and not … complacency. I want more and more, hungry for more.”
Forward Justin Dhillon
(On where he fits into the team…)
“That’s a championship performance tonight. There was a trophy on the line, it’s not easy to come here, the had a long unbeaten streak at home. For us to come out and play the way we did, with so much grit, so much energy, so much fight, and to come out with three points I think shows that this group is something special. We talk about the mentality all the time and it showed once again tonight.”
BY THE NUMBERS:
Jordan Farr continues a magical season, recording his eight shutout and is in a four way tie with Louisville’s Kyle Morton, The Miami FC’s Connor Sparrow, Birmingham’s Matt Van Oekel and El Paso’s Evan Newton
San Antonio FC leads second place San Diego Loyal by six points and have two matches in hand over their SoCal rival.
PC and Justin Dhillion are tied for the lead in team assists with five.
Bill of Health. SAFC only listed two on the injury list, Khmiri out due to illness and David Loera out with a lower body injury.
San Antonio is on pace to get 80 points on the season, it would far surpassed team record and would surpass the 2019 Phoenix Rising, who finished with 77 points.
The anomalies continue stat wise. SAFC was dismal in the possession and pass accuracy department, but that matters little. The Alamo City Boys make most of the little time they spend with the ball. El Paso out possessed SAFC by a margin of 67% to 31% and SAFC passing accuracy was just 53%.
More weird stats. El Paso leads the league with 11,452 passes and 84% passing accuracy. Meanwhile SAFC is dead last in both passing and passing accuracy with just 5,292 passes (almost 1,800 passes less than 26th ranked Red Bulls II) and just a 68% passing accuracy.
Next match takes the Alamo City Boys to Sin City for show down with the Las Vegas Lights on Wednesday night. SAFC will be betting all in on this road trip and return home with six points before they face Liam Doyle and the Los Angeles Galaxy II next Saturday July 30th at Toyota Field.
Soy San Antonio Fútbol 