Atop the USL Championship Western Conference, the Colorado Springs Switchbacks head to the Bay Area for a Saturday night showdown with Oakland Roots SC at Laney College Football Stadium. The match will kick off at 8pm MT, with live coverage by the voice of the Switchbacks, Ryan Kaufman, beginning at 7:30pm on XTRA Sports1300 AM.
The Switchbacks continued their perfect away record last Saturday evening with a dominant 2-0 win over FC Tulsa at ONEOK Field. On Tuesday, four Switchbacks were named to the USL Championship Team of the Week after the win in Oklahoma. Malik Johnson and Michee Ngalina were named starters, while Jeff Caldwell and Zach Zandi were listed on the bench.
Oakland ground out a 1-1 tie in Far West Texas against El Paso Locomotive on Saturday evening after taking the lead in the 13th minute through Polish striker Dariusz Formella. Oakland are 1-3-4 this season, recording their lone win on April 16th in a 4-1 victory over Loudoun United at Laney College Football Stadium.
What the Switchbacks Say:
Switchbacks Head Coach and General Manager Brendan Burke: “Against Tulsa we unbalanced the field on Malik’s side, and we can’t do that every week. It certainly overloaded Tulsa and put them in a situation where they had to deal with him and Michee on a consistent basis, which is really hard to do. You win 2-0 on the road at a tough place to play, against a good team – one that’s been a playoff team – [so] I thought that [four players on the USL Championship Team of the Week] was deserved. I thought it was great and I was surprised that Isaiah [Foster] wasn’t in it. We’re just looking forward to keeping it rolling now. It’s hard to maintain the level we’re playing at, and this is the first time the club has been asked to maintain this kind of level, so we’re embracing the challenge and hope that we can do just that.”
Switchbacks defender Isaiah Foster, who scored his first professional goal in the win over FC Tulsa, and was named the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado Man of the Match on XTRA Sports1300 AM: “[The key to the win against FC Tulsa] was just playing together, gelling up top, and making sure that we finish all of our chances. And honestly, we just started off really strong and just kept going after that. [Saturday] is about keeping the energy high in training as much as possible, and keep doing what we’re doing. We don’t really have to change much, because like you saw in the first half [against FC Tulsa], when we play at our best we’re really hard to beat. [The confidence level] is very high right now and we’re looking forward to Oakland.”
Oakland Roots SC Ones to Watch: “I think [Óttar Magnús] Karlsson is a really good finisher,” said Head Coach Brendan Burke. “I think [Dariusz] Formella, if you sleep on him, does a really good job of finding the pocket underneath Karlsson, and off the left. And [Charlie] Dennis has been key to what they’ve done so far on the attacking side of things. Dennis is very clean: he’s deceptively fast and he delivers a great ball and he can also hit a heavy ball. I think Dennis is a concern for us, and the more that we make those guys defend, the better shape we’re going to be in.”
Vargish’s View: 2022 has so far been an on-field struggle for Saturday’s hosts. However, there are endeavors in life that outweigh measuring success by wins and losses. Oakland Roots SC’s place in the Bay Area community and their continual championing of social justice causes is widely recognized and worthy of far greater focus and praise than can be written about in a match preview.
The Switchbacks are 4-0 away from Weidner Field this season, and Brendan Burke’s team comported themselves with admirable aplomb in Saturday’s win in Tulsa. Historically there have been issues with the playing surface in Oakland, but those seem to be in the past. The Switchbacks have played on grass, turf, and baseball diamonds this season…and they’ve won on all three.
Oakland Roots have the requisite quality to score goals – they’ve found the net seven times over their last three games. But slowing the Switchbacks is a wholly different proposition and Brendan Burke’s team are primed to continue their scorching start to 2022.