The Switchbacks begin their journey in the 2022 USL Championship Playoffs on Saturday evening at Weidner Field in downtown Colorado Springs against the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros. The Phil Long family of dealerships will be sponsoring a rally towel giveaway for the first X fans through the gates at 5:30pm, with tickets remaining available HERE.
A record of 17-13-4 saw the Switchbacks finish in third place of the Western Conference. Rio Grande Valley FC finished six points behind the Switchbacks in sixth place. Saturday’s opponents split the regular season series. On May 5th, the Switchbacks won 3-2 at Weidner Field behind goals from Elvis Amoh, Zach Zandi and a Toros own-goal. RGV collected all three points on September 17th in the Lone Star State courtesy of a 1-0 win behind a goal from leading scorer Jonas Fjeldberg.
RGV Review:
The Toros arrive in Southern Colorado as the hottest team in the entire league, having finished the regular season with seven wins in their final 10 matches. RGV’s top three scorers in Norwegian hitman Jonas Fjeldberg, former Cal State Fullerton Titan Christian Pinzón, and Cuban Frank López are as dynamic and dangerous as any in the league, and have combined for 21 goals this season. Diminutive midfielder Emilio Ycaza has compiled a sneaky-good season for the Toros that’s seen the erstwhile South Florida Bulls star score five times and assist on four goals for RGV. Akeem Ward was named to the USL Championship Team of the Week after his goal in a 4-1 victory over Monterey Bay last Saturday at H-E-B Park in Edinburg, Texas as RGV secured their place in the playoffs.
What the Switchbacks Say:
Switchbacks center back Matt Mahoney: “We’re over the moon [to be home on Saturday]. The couple times that they’ve come to us we’ve matched up well against them, obviously with the altitude and the style of play that they have versus what we have. We’re just excited to get home again and play in front of our fan base – I think that gives us a huge advantage and hopefully we’ll get a win. It starts with being sharp on the ball and making sure we’re moving it how we want to [and] in the right places and things like that. And we also know that [RGV] will try to get us on the counter [attack] so we have to make sure we’re sound defensively and in good spots to kill their counters and then our ability and our ball-movement going forward should take over. We went from training with 10 or 11 people to now having 15 or 20 again, which is nice to actually work on the things that we need to. So again, it’s just next-man-up if we need and we’re kind of now hitting the healthy spot at the right time, which is good for us.”
Switchbacks General Manager and Head Coach Brendan Burke: “We want to dominate the game so that does leave [RGV] some space, so killing [their] transitions become everything for us. They want nothing to do with trying to dictate the game. We have a lot of respect for our opponent – they beat us the last time we saw them. They’re a very good individual technical team, who have good ideas tactically, so they present a real challenge for us even at home. It’s fantastic [to be home for Saturday]. This is a major step forward for the city and for the franchise and for these players and for the staff. Everyone’s buzzing. [And] this has been the healthiest we’ve been all year.”
Vargish’s View: Rio Grande Valley FC are the team that everyone in the West wanted to avoid in the first round. The Toros are perfectly set up for success in the playoffs – they absorb pressure, don’t expend any energy trying to control possession, and counter with devastating pace and efficiency. On Saturday the Switchbacks will have the bulk of the ball, but they must use it wisely and not fall into the traps that RGV will set. RGV will want the Switchbacks to have the ball, and will be desperate to lull the hosts into a mode of all-out attack that will leave space out wide for the Toros to exploit once winning back possession.
The ball control and resulting tempo of the match that’s dictated by players like Cam Lindley and Zach Zandi in the heart of the Switchbacks’ midfield will be the key to Brendan Burke’s team notching their 11th win at Weidner Field in 2022. If the Switchbacks cheaply give the ball away when they’re pushing forward, they will be punished. The possession statistics at the end of Saturday’s match won’t matter one iota – this weekend is all about where RGV are able to win the ball back. The Switchbacks need to control possession and wear the Toros down and into defensive breakdowns.
