Stymied again: Sacramento hands struggling United a 2-0 defeat

The slump continues for New Mexico United.

A less-than-successful month of August came to an end Saturday night with United on the short end of a 2-0 decision to Sacramento Republic FC. A raucous crowd of 9,752 fans was unable to spur the home team out of a winless skid that’s reached seven straight USL Championship matches dating back to June 21.

More frustrating still, United was shut out for a second straight week and rarely threatened to put a ball in the net Saturday, finishing with just one shot on goal and an expected-goals total of just 0.2.

“Disappointed,” NMU coach Dennis Sanchez said afterward. “We have a higher purpose playing in front of our supporters and I didn’t think we lived up to that standard — everyone, starting with myself. Respect to Sacramento, but we need to play with more aggressiveness and we need to play with more urgency.”

Coming off a 0-0 draw versus high-powered Louisville, United again kept things conservative early against Sacramento, pressing only occasionally and keeping defenders behind the ball.

The strategy paid off to an extent. Republic FC had just four shots in the first half and could not get a ball past NMU goalkeeper Kris Shakes. On the other hand, New Mexico put little pressure on Sacramento goalie Danny Vitiello, managing just one shot (not on target) in a scoreless first half.

“I thought last week at Louisville we did a really good job defensively,” United defender Kipp Keller said. “We were organized and everyone was communicating. Tonight, I thought we were a little flat, to be honest. We were pretty ineffective in both boxes.”

But Republic began finding holes in United’s defense in the second half. Bennett and Rodrigo Lopez worked the ball up the center of the field in the 52nd minute, and Bennett fired a low shot from the top of the box into the lower left corner of NMU’s goal for a 1-0 lead.

That margin remained until the 70th minute, when United turned the ball over deep in its own end. Michael Benitez intercepted a Zico Bailey pass and centered the ball to Bennett, who ripped a shot between Shakes and Keller to make it 2-0.

While New Mexico’s defense was effective for most of the evening, its attack was not. NMU did not put a shot on target until late in the second half and went into stoppage time with fewer total shots (5) than Sacramento had shots on goal (6).

The closest NMU came to scoring was in the waning moments of stoppage time, when Dayonn Harris rolled through the Sacramento box forcing Vitiello to make a diving grab just outside his goal line.

Sanchez, who went with roughly the same lineup NMU used at Louisville, said there may be more changes in store for New Mexico’s game next Saturday at San Antonio FC.

“I wanted to give the group from last week a chance to show they could continue that level or improve on it,” he said. “But there were some disappointing performances. We have to go back to the table and figure out which group is going to work harder. No spots are guaranteed.”

New Mexico slipped into the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot with Saturday’s loss. It was good news, bad news, as far as Sanchez was concerned.

“Not a lot positive from this one,” he said. “The best news for us is that we still have control of our destiny. We’re still in a position to make the playoffs and we still have time to find our chemistry and turn things around. At the same time, players have to step up and make plays.”

Sacramento finished with a 9-6 edge in total shots, but six of then were on target to NMU’s one. New Mexico finished with 61% of possession but was largely unable to capitalize.

NM United vs Sacramento Republic: Photos