Prep work for season continues
San Antonio FC will give its fans a first glimpse of the 2024 team Saturday night when the team plays a preseason friendly against Guatemalan side Antigua GFC at Toyota Field. Antigua GFC is a four-time champion of Liga Nacional, the topflight league in Guatemala.
“The challenge is we don't know much about the opponent,” San Antonio coach Alen Marcina said. “In the regular season, we do our scouting and feel good about what we're up against. For the preseason, it is less about what they do and more about building our team identity.”
It is the second friendly of the preseason for San Antonio. Last week, SAFC hosted Houston Dynamo II in a closed door friendly at Toyota Field. San Antonio fell to the Dynamo reserve team 3-2 after having a 1-0 lead in the first half.
Newcomer Juan Agudelo scored the first goal for San Antonio FC in the first half, and SAFC took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
“It's a good feeling obviously,” Agudelo said. “Scoring helps the players get confidence and be positive. Everyone is happy afterward. Personally, I'm very excited to get on the end of the service because there is a lot of quality on this team.”
Agudelo has a history of scoring goals in San Antonio. He was a member of the United States Men's National team in April 2015 and scored one of the two goals in a 2-0 win over Mexico in the Alamodome.
“This club every single year creates a lot of chances, and they are a winning team,” Agudelo
said. “I'm a big fan of Texas, being from Houston. I thought it made a lot of sense coming here. It's a hard-working team and I love this stadium. I've played two games in this stadium and had the pleasure of scoring in the Alamodome.”
Jorge Hernandez, one of the players who returns from last season, assisted on Agudelo's goal. Hernandez set the club record for assists in a season last year with 10.
“Our game model is to get the ball forward,” Hernandez said. “We found open spaces and tried to provide our strikers as
much as possible.”
San Antonio played senior club members in the first half and then subbed on newcomers Kameron Lacey, Kendall Mcintosh and nine academy players in the second half. That was the plan going into the friendly.
“The game was like two mini games. The first half was strictly pro team. The principles were applied and that's what we're looking to see. We dominated with the ball, dominated without the ball,” Marcina said. “The second half was an opportunity for our young academy players to compete against pros. We understand there is a gap
and we're proud of their effort.
Lacey took advantage of his opportunity by scoring San Antonio's second goal, but Houston scored three times in the second half to come away with the win.
The plan for the second friendly is to give the senior players anywhere from 45-60 minutes of playing time, with the academy players taking the remaining time in the game.
San Antonio also has a final friendly March 2 when it hosts Austin FC II in a closed door friendly. The regular season begins March 9 with a home game against Loudoun United.