2025 Stats Recap #4: 7/19-8/23

After the El Paso match, there are only 10 games left in the regular season! And with the Republic meeting that interval, we have another stats recap. This last stretch saw the Republic come back down to Earth as their attack cooled off a bit in production. It also saw their undefeated streak come to an end in the last game against El Paso. Again, the goal of this is to show who is excelling in each of the statistical categories. Below are the previous stats recaps, along with the match recaps from the last five games. Enjoy!

If you want match recaps for the past five matches:

• 7/19/25: 0-0 vs. Lexington
• 8/2/25: 3-1 at San Antonio
• 8/9/25: 1-0 vs. Monterey
• 8/16/25: 3-3 vs. Oakland

Previous stats recaps:

• Stats Recap #1: 3/8/25-4/12/25
• Stats Recap #2: 4/19/25-6/7/25
• Stats Recap #3: 6/14/25-7/12/25

This analysis only considers games from the USL Championship. These stats reflect the season in its entirety. Therefore, the statistics below are not exclusive to the fourth set of matches but rather represent a running total for the season up to this point.

Minutes:

1. Danny Vitiello - 1,800 minutes played
2. Michel Benitez - 1,697 minutes played
3. Freddy Kleeman - 1,599 minutes played

The three players remain unchanged in terms of who leads the team in minutes played. A solid July saw Danny Vitiello take home the USL Championship's Player of the Month. And Michel Benitez and Freddy Kleeman continue to be standouts amongst a solid Republic backline.

Goals:

1. Russell Cicerone and Cristian Parano - 5 goals scored each
2. Sebastian Herrera - 4 goals scored
3. Rodrigo Lopez - 3 goals scored

Shots:

1. Russell Cicerone - 31 shots taken (13 on target, 8 off target, 10 blocked)
2. Cristian Parano - 30 shots taken (12 on target, 12 off target, 6 blocked)
3. Sebastian Herrera - 24 shots taken (8 on target, 14 off target, 2 blocked)

Total xG (Expected Goals):

1. Russell Cicerone - 4.86
2. Sebastian Herrera - 3.06
3. Cristian Parano - 2.46

Assists:

1. Rodrigo Lopez - 4 assists
2. Blake Willey, Sebastian Herrera, Russell Cicerone - 3 assists each
3. Jack Gurr, Jared Timmer, Michel Benitez - 2 assists each

Ok, Russell Cicerone's name pops up a lot in terms of the Republic's attack through this stretch of games. It helps that he played the most minutes out of the Republic's forwards. With Neill Collins working on incorporating new signing Khori Bennett and Lewis Jamieson, who is returning from injury, Russell Cicerone, and then subsequently Cristian Parano, are the players he can turn to be consistent producers in the attack. Just want to point out that Cicerone has doubled the amount of shots taken this season when compared to what he had up to this point. At the last update, Cicerone had taken 15 shots; now he has taken 31 shots. That is thanks to his performances against Monterey and Lexington, where he had five and seven shots, respectively. Also, just want to shout out against Blake Willey notching another assist and keeping his name in the race for the assist lead. Will be curious to see if Khori Bennett and Lewis Jamieson can make an appearance on these leaderboards by the time of the next update. One more note is that Rodrigo Lopez became the sixth player to reach 50 regular season assists in the USL Championship. He reached it then in the Oakland match when he assisted Cicerone's goal.

Touches on the Ball:

1. Michel Benitez - 1,098 touches
2. Jared Timmer - 1,014 touches
3. Jack Gurr - 949 touches

Passes Completed:

1. Jared Timmer - 804 passes completed (680 short passes, 124 long passes)
2. Freddy Kleeman - 731 passes completed (628 short passes, 103 long passes)
3. Lee Desmond - 681 passes completed (575 short passes, 106 long passes)

Average Passing Accuracy (minimum 50 passes):

1. Cristian Parano - 86.6% average passing accuracy on 426 passes completed
2. Jared Timmer - 85.1% average passing accuracy on 804 passes completed
3. AJ Edwards - 83.9% average passing accuracy on 102 passes completed

The passing stats continue to be dominated by the Republic backline. Jared Timmer is averaging around 200 passes per interval I do these updated. This is despite him missing the last two games in the league against Oakland and El Paso. The only non-defender in these lists is Cristian Parano who doesn't get a lot of passes off but when he does it gets to where it needs to be. Michel Benitez has just dropped off the passes completed list, but he trails Lee Desmond by two passes at 679.

Chances Created:

1. Russell Cicerone - 29 chances created
2. Jack Gurr - 25 chances created
3. Rodrigo Lopez - 24 chances created

In the last update, I said that Russell Cicerone needed three to tie his season mark from 2024. Well, he's done that and continued on with creating chances for the Republic. But I want to look at Jack Gurr and Rodrigo Lopez, who have taken a significant leap from the last update. They were each on 16 chances and have now increased their production to get to their totals now. These three have broken away from the rest of the squad in terms of generating chances, as the next player after is Dominik Wanner on 13 chances created.

Tackles:

1. Michel Benitez - 33 tackles committed
2. Jack Gurr - 30 tackles committed
3. Luis Felipe - 29 tackles committed

Fouls Won:

1. Sebastian Herrera - 42 fouls won
2. Jack Gurr - 35 fouls won
3. Cristian Parano - 33 fouls won

Duels Won:

1. Freddy Kleeman - 106 duels won on a 64% win rate
2. Michel Benitez - 104 duels won on a 56% win rate
3. Sebastian Herrera - 91 duels won on a 46% win rate

Michel Benitez continues to make his impact felt in terms of his physicality, but weirdly, he only made one tackle over this last stretch of games. Maybe the opposition is trying to avoid his side of the field? Freddy Kleeman also continues to be an impact player in the middle of the Republic backline as he is still winning duels against the opposition.

Yellow Cards:

1. Michel Benitez - 7 yellow cards
2. Freddy Kleeman - 5 yellow cards
3. Jack Gurr, Nick Ross, Sebastian Herrera, Cristian Parano - 4 yellow cards each

The first threshold to a suspension is 8 yellow cards. But it is worth noting that Benitez has had one good behavior bonus applied so one of his cards was erased. 

What do you think of these stats? Who performed to your expectations? Who exceeded them? Let me know in the comments below!

Check out the full spreadsheet here!

(Photo Credit to Sacramento Republic FC)