Former Caley Thistle Scottish Cup winner Nick Ross has eyes on a major prize with his Californian club Sacramento Republic as they gear up for potentially two crunch finals.
This Saturday, the 31-year-old midfielder will be aiming to help his team defeat Phoenix Rising in the Western Conference final at their home venue, Heart Health Park.
Seven days later, the victors will then take on the Eastern Conference play-off winners, either Louisville City or Charleston Battery, for the right to become the overall Conference champions.
Sacramento won the Western Conference and qualified as top seeds in the USL Championship play-offs, which leads to an overall shoot-out against the winners of the Eastern play-offs.
Ross’ club have shown their class this year, finishing seven points clear of Orange County and San Diego Loyal after 34 regular fixtures.
On Friday, Ross scored the second goal in their 3-1 semi-final victory against last year’s overall champions San Antonio, who finished fourth in this season’s Western Conference. He also set up Damia Viader for the third goal.
Their play-off progress began with a 1-0 win over New Mexico United in the quarter-finals.
One victory apiece in Phoenix fixture
Finishing as regular season league winners was a key factor in why they’re home to Phoenix this weekend and Ross hopes having home advantage pays off.
He said: “In the first game, we beat Phoenix 4-0 and in the second game, they beat us 2-1.
“They have snuck into the play-offs and done well the last few games. They are known as one of the bigger teams in the league.
“I played against Phoenix in the 2020 play-off final (for El Paso Locomotive) and lost to them on penalties, so they’re used to being in finals and in big games.
“But with home advantage, we won’t fear anyone. If we can play like we played especially in our last two games, we’re confident that we can win that one.”
Sacramento fans roaring side on
Ross is at pains to point out, given the distances involved, the edge it gives teams to not have to spend hours in the air cannot be underplayed.
He said: “We’re one of the bigger clubs in the league, so when we’re doing well we get a lot of fans.
“This weekend will definitely be a sell-out (of around 12,000). That makes a big difference to us. The city is really behind us.
“The travel is a big factor. If we were to travel, for example, to San Antonio, it’s a long trip.
“If we made it further and Pittsburgh were still in it, it would basically be a whole day’s travelling cross-country. We did that earlier in the year.
“Playing at home and not having to travel is huge.
“Even just being at home and being in your own bed, you’re in your own surroundings, then playing with the fans right behind you.
“People complain in Scotland about travelling up to Inverness or Ross County where we’re travelling 1000 miles just to play one game.
“It’s such a big country. Even although it’s split between the east and west, you still play teams in the east once a year.
“Even some teams in our league are far away, such as teams in Texas are hard to get to, so it’s good finishing top and they have to travel to us. It’s a big boost.
“You don’t really get any credit for winning the league. No one really cares about winning the regular season – it’s all about these play-offs.
“Everyone is fighting for home advantage in the play-offs. It’s such a big thing. There is a reward at the end of it.”
Ross eager to avoid a final slip-up
The play-offs have produced a couple of surprises already, with Phoenix causing one of them.
Ross insists they must be on guard to ensure they don’t suffer a slip-up against a team which finished five places below them.
He said: “The play-offs are like a separate competition. It doesn’t seem to matter where you’ve finished in the league.
“Pittsburgh lost to Detroit, yet Detroit were one of the lowest-ranked play-off teams in the east, so that was a big upset.
“Phoenix beat Orange County, which was another upset, so these are like one-off cup games.
“At El Paso, similar to what’s happening here, we were top of the league all season then we got beaten by a team that snuck into the play-offs in the last day, so I don’t want to experience that again.
“We have a good mix of Americans, South Americans, Europeans, so we’re all focused on what’s ahead.”
History-making 13-year-old forward
One name capturing headlines far and wide at Sacramento is Da’vian Kimbrough.
The forward became the youngest player in US soccer history to make his professional debut after coming on as a sub recently at the age of just 13.
Ross says the level-headed nature of the teen gives him a chance.
He said: “The club have clearly seen something in Da’vian to give him a professional deal at such a young age.
“He’s trained with us quite a lot and you can tell he’s got something. You forget he’s only 13.
“I can’t recall what I was like at 13, whether I was any good.
“He’s got a bright future with a long contract, so hopefully he has the right guidance to go on and make it big. He has the right platform to do that.
He seems a pretty level-headed guy too, which is great. It hasn’t got to his head, which is important.”
Looking back at the Western Conference Semifinal, through the camera lens. 📸#SACvSA | @ScorePlayHQ
— x – Republic FC (@SacRepublicFC) October 30, 2023
Ross is settled in Sacramento
As for Ross, he’s wanting his own Sacramento experience to continue for a while yet.
Many of the squad have one more year after this one, so the focus is on trying to win two more major matches and aim for the stars again in 2024.
He said: “This has been a really good season and we’ve got a really strong group together.
“A lot of us are in the same boat in that we have an option for next year, so we will wait and see what happens.
“Hopefully if we can keep this group together, we can have another good season next year.
“I am sure there will be a lot of interest in some of our players because of how well we’ve done.
“I like it here. We’re settled here, myself, my wife and wee boy, so we’re good here for now. Hopefully we can keep it going for the next year or so.”
Just after lifting the Scottish Cup with ICT, Ross had two years with Dundee before playing briefly in Romania for Sepsi OSK and back home with Brora Rangers.
Ross then moved to America in 2019 where he joined El Paso Locomotive, who are based in Texas.
He helped El Paso reach back-to-back play-offs, now with Sacramento there’s a real potential for glory.
It follows a steady rise for Ross at Sacramento, who last year were US Open Cup finalists, where they lost 3-0 to Orlando City. They were the first non-MLS side to reach the final since 2008.