San Antonio FC punches playoff ticket with 2-1 win over Orange County

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio FC entered Saturday with control of its postseason fate. Goals from Emil Cuello and Cristian Parano ensured the club finished the night with a playoff berth.

SAFC defeated Orange County 2-1 at Toyota Field in its regular-season finale, clinching a second consecutive playoff appearance and the sixth in club history.

Needing a win or draw to advance, San Antonio built a two-goal lead before conceding in the 86th minute. The late goal left SAFC with an anxious finish, but it held on to secure a place in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

“The last 10 minutes of the game were chaotic, so the most important thing was that we got the result,” head coach Carlos Llamosa said.

Cuello gave San Antonio an early advantage, scoring from a tight angle inside the penalty area in the 15th minute. The opener put SAFC ahead before Orange County began finding more possession later in the half.

Llamosa credited his team’s start but said its intensity faded around the half-hour mark.

“For most part, the team played well. We had a good start,” he said. “Thirty minutes in, we dropped our intensity, and we allowed Orange County to control the ball a little bit, but defensively, the behavior of the team was good.”

San Antonio found another breakthrough after halftime. Parano tapped in a rebound in the 59th minute for his sixth goal of the season, doubling the lead and giving SAFC a cushion that ultimately proved decisive.

The closing stages offered considerably less comfort.

As substitutions changed the match, both teams found space to attack. Orange County cut the deficit to one in the 86th minute, putting pressure on San Antonio to protect its remaining advantage.

“At the end, we made some changes, and the game became back-and-forth, a lot of counter attacks,” Llamosa said. “There was a lot of open space to counterattack. We created some. They created some.”

SAFC survived that stretch. Now, its attention turns to a road playoff match against El Paso and the demands of a single-elimination postseason.

Defender Akeem O’Connor-Ward said the team understands the challenge of playing in front of an opposing crowd.

“That team’s going to give their all. We’re going to give our all,” O’Connor-Ward said. “You know they’ll have the crowd on their backs, but we’re definitely going there to spoil the party.”

For San Antonio, advancing will require the defensive discipline that helped preserve Saturday’s result, along with efficiency when scoring opportunities arrive.

“I think it’s a different mentality shift of even being more defensively sound as a group and taking our chances more offensively,” O’Connor-Ward said, “and I think that’s what we’ll try to do.”

San Antonio FC will travel to El Paso to face the Locomotive at 8:00 PM on Friday.