Winners of their first five matches in the 2022 USL Championship season, the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC return home on Saturday evening to host Memphis 901 FC at Weidner Field. Gates will open at 5pm, with the first 500 fans receiving a mini soccer ball giveaway, courtesy of Capelli Sport. Tickets are available HERE.
On April 9th, the Switchbacks defeated the Las Vegas Lights 3-2 in a wild game at Cashman Field in Sin City. Switchbacks Head Coach Brendan Burke was named the USL Championship Coach of the Month on Wednesday following the club’s perfect 5-0 start.
Memphis 901 FC were unable to get in the zone at AutoZone Park on Wednesday night in Bluff City as their clash against FC Tulsa was postponed due to inclement weather.
What the Switchbacks Say:
Switchbacks captain and reigning USL Championship MVP Hadji Barry: “Every time you perform like that [in Las Vegas] on a hot day and you get a result it feels great – and the group feels ready for Memphis. Before we came into the season we all set goals for ourselves – as a team we know what we want to do this year and right now we’re looking good, but we just have to take it one game at a time. Every week we go with the game plan that the coaching staff gives us and we just execute.
“[Memphis] are a good team and they’re doing well so far. When we come into every game we just want to win. We respect Memphis, but we don’t fear any opponent and we’ve just got to give everything we’ve got. We all get excited every time we play in front of our fans and we know they’re excited too. We can’t wait to have them here on Saturday.”
Switchbacks Head Coach and General Manager Brendan Burke: “We’ve been on the road for three weeks so it’s really refreshing for us [to be back]. I expect us to have a lot of pop this weekend – we’ve been away from home for too long and we’re about to go on another [road trip] after this, so we really have to concentrate and make this one [on Saturday] count. It’s fantastic to be back home and hopefully the weather cooperates and we get some good support this weekend. This team deserves a full building at this point! The players have done everything we’ve asked them to do. The staff the same. The front office the same. We want to put on a show but we want to do it in front of a full house.”
Memphis 901 FC Ones to Watch:
“Memphis are very well balanced,” said Head Coach Burke. “They have a lot of guys with MLS experience in [Rece] Buckmaster and [Patrick] Seagrist and a few others. And they’re also well balanced in the sense that they have a couple left-footed players in the right positions. They have dynamic wingers in [Jeremy] Kelly and [Laurent] Kissiedou. And they have a few forwards that are just joining their group that I expect to be high performers at this level. Memphis are well coached. I’ve known Ben [Pirmann] for years and years – back to his time at Michigan State – and I have a lot of respect for him. And I think they’ll be well prepared in the fact they didn’t have to play [on Wednesday night] and they’ll come in [on Saturday] with a lot of energy.”
Vargish’s View:
Memphis undoubtedly possesses quality and experience across the pitch. Throw out their season-opening 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on March 12th, and Memphis’ campaign has shown great promise. With Wednesday’s late postponement, Memphis have not played since April 2nd, which is not ideal when tasked with traveling to altitude for a matchup with the USL’s hottest club.
Back at Weidner Field in the USL Championship for the first time since March 19th, the Switchbacks enter Saturday’s match having scored seven goals over their last three matches. Brendan Burke’s club have taken advantage of a week to recover following the physically taxing win in near triple-digit temperatures last weekend in Las Vegas, and are in prime position to further establish themselves at the top of the USL Championship’s Western Conference.
