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After Clinching Playoff Berth, SAFC Sets Sights for More

By Luis Leyva, 09/22/17, 3:30PM CDT

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Club Stays Focused as End of Regular Season Nears

Playoff berth clinched.

Usually, those words would be enough for any team to take a step back, breathe and relax a little. For San Antonio FC, however, clinching the club’s first-ever playoff berth with a month left to play in the USL regular season meant that their work was just beginning.

Clinching a playoff spot early in the season was one of the coaching staff and team’s main goals at the beginning of the campaign, and now that it’s accomplished, their focus lies on finishing the regular season on a high note.

“The purpose of our goal of clinching a playoff spot in a timely fashion was that we could then reset our targets,” SAFC Head Coach Darren Powell said. “For us, it doesn’t matter if it’s a preseason game or a playoff final, our ambition and our process is the same.”

The team’s new target is simple: finish the season with the same intensity that led them to a playoff clinch. And after nearly a month of consecutive road matches, the team has the opportunity do just that in front of their home crowd. SAFC now has five matches left this season, four of which will occur at home, and three of which will take place in the span of eight days.

“Recently, we played one game at home out of our last seven,” Powell said. “Having the familiarity of playing at home and players sleeping in their own beds, and then coming out and playing in front of the best fans in the league is certainly inspiring to them. I know the players and the coaching staff will want to come out and deliver a positive performance for our supporters this weekend.”

For Coach Powell, consistent preparation for every single match is a crucial component of the San Antonio FC process, and the team’s focus is always to prepare thoroughly for their next match. Making sure that players give their best effort every day is the key to achieving their targets, as well as listening and processing the information they’re given to improve every day.

From a player perspective, remaining level-headed and focused is important as the team concludes the regular season. While cementing their position in the playoffs is something to be proud of, it serves them as motivation to push harder and accomplish more.

Last season, the team’s playoff hopes were ended in the final match of their inaugural season against a strong RGV FC side. Now, a year older and wiser, the team is aware that this is the time to put their best foot forward.

“It’s nice to know that we’re already in the playoffs, but we also know that we have to be careful,” SAFC defender Greg Cochrane said. “We don’t want to get complacent. A lot of times you see teams who were in do-or-die situations make deep playoff runs and push for titles, and that’s because they’re already in the mentality of playing for everything.”

For Cochrane, realizing that there’s still much to play for will be a key factor as the team concludes its sophomore season and enters its first USL playoff run.

“We have to make sure that we don’t fall into a false sense of security,” Cochrane said. “It’s nice knowing that we’re in, but on the other end we have to be careful and keep pushing forward like we usually do.”