Richmond Kickers'goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald (1) keeps his eye on the ball as Tormenta FC sends it over the goal during the first half of Wednesday's game at City Stadium on September 7, 2022. EVA RUSSO/TIMES-DISPATCH
From Nil Vinyals’ view, the character of the Richmond Kickers is such that, when tough moments in matches arrive and adversity hits, the best performances unfold.
The Kickers have indeed been ones for the dramatic, particularly in recent weeks. Take two stoppage-time goals for a win at North Carolina FC in late July for example, or a stoppage-time goal for a win at Central Valley Fuego FC in late August.
Or, most recently, a stoppage-time penalty by Vinyals for a win at Union Omaha last Wednesday.
That moment helped Richmond keep an unbeaten streak that now stands at five alive, capped by a 2-2 draw at Chattanooga Red Wolves SC last Saturday. It’s the longest such streak the club has had this season.
The run of form has the Kickers (13-7-6) still riding in first place within USL League One heading into their next-to-last home game of the regular season, on Saturday — a 6:30 p.m. start at City Stadium against Central Valley Fuego FC (9-10-6).
Richmond has a chance to clinch its playoff spot Saturday, about a month away from the start of the postseason.
“I think we’re in a good run of form,” goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald said Thursday. “But, for us, we’re not really worried about what happened in the past. We’re not really worried about what’s going on too far in the future. We’re worried about Fuego right now.”
The Kickers, who currently sit at 45 points, can secure their spot in the six-team playoffs with either a win or draw against Fuego Saturday, in conjunction with a loss by the sixth-place Charlotte Independence (36 points) in their home game against North Carolina FC that night.
Including Saturday, four games remain in the regular season for Richmond. A first regular-season title since 2013 could be in the club’s not-so-distant future.
But the Kickers are taking it one match at a time. They’ve done nothing yet, expressed chief sporting officer and head coach Darren Sawatzky. So they’re simply worried about trying to win a fourth straight home game on Saturday.
“At times we’re still not consistent enough,” Sawatzky said. “We have the ability to do things that we haven’t been able to do, but we’re still not doing it consistently enough. So we’re still in the growth mindset, we’re still trying to get better.”
Consistency in the ability to defend as a group is a gap in particular that the Kickers want to close.
Richmond has conceded two second-half goals apiece in each of its last two games, against Omaha and Chattanooga.
“The small mistakes that creep in every now and then when you’re tired, at this point of the season you have to make sure that you hide those things,” Sawatzky said.
Saturday will mark the Kickers’ first bout with Fuego at home. Richmond took two cross-country trips to play Fuego in Fresno, Calif., over the summer, losing 3-1 in July and drawing 2-2 in August.
Fuego, a first-year club in eighth place, is a team that creates quality chances, Fitzgerald said — they’re good at pushing forward. They’re dynamic, Sawatzky said.
Christian Chaney leads Fuego with seven goals this year, and former Kicker Victor Falck (UVa) has six.
“We know it’s going to be a tough test, which is what we want,” Fitzgerald said. “We want to be able to push ourselves, challenge ourselves to see what we’re about.”
After Saturday, Richmond will travel to South Georgia Tormenta FC (Oct. 1) and travel to Forward Madison FC (Oct. 8) before closing the regular season back at home against Greenville Triumph SC (Oct. 15).
There’s still much room to grow, Fitzgerald said. But the Kickers’ ability to find ways to nab points through imperfect performances has them in a favorable spot in the season’s waning weeks.
“I think we have to keep improving in our brand of soccer,” said Vinyals, a midfielder. “Keep being a team that keeps more of the ball — which means that we create more chances, which means that we have more shots on target.
“And eventually get even better results. That’s our challenge.”
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Richmond Kickers'goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald (1) keeps his eye on the ball as Tormenta FC sends it over the goal during the first half of Wednesday's game at City Stadium on September 7, 2022. EVA RUSSO/TIMES-DISPATCH
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