Sacramento Republic FC, the Rapids’ next opponents along their preseason trail, are a young club that has made swift progress since entering the United Soccer League just two years ago.
The club was founded as recently as 2012, and played their first competitive match on March 29, 2014, under the guidance of former US, Everton and Kansas City Wizards midfielder Preki.
Their first home match, against Harrisburg City Islanders on April 26, resulted in a 2-1 loss but played out in front of a USL PRO regular season attendance record 20,231 spectators. Playing in that game for the Islanders was Yann Ekra, who opened the scoring for the Rapids last week in the 4-2 win over Korean club side Seongnam FC.