Winners of three in a row, the Switchbacks return to downtown Colorado Springs on Saturday night as they welcome the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros to Weidner Field. Tickets remain available HERE, with the Switchbacks’ limited edition game worn Mental Health Awareness jerseys available for auction following the match.
The Switchbacks enter Saturday’s match after defeating Detroit City FC 3-0 in a waterlogged Motor City on Wednesday night. Rio Grande Valley FC beat Indy Eleven 1-0 last Sunday in the Hoosier State behind an early Frank López goal.
What the Switchbacks Say:
Head Coach Stephen Hogan: “I thought we played quite well [on Wednesday in Detroit]. There were one or two moments where the ball got caught in the weather on the sideline near us, but other than that it was [us] moving the ball comfortably. There were pockets of space for Tyreek [Magee] and Jay [Chapman] to go [and] play in. There were isolation moments especially with Maalique [Foster] – he exerted a lot of energy during the night [and] he did a lot of good work for us. When [Detroit] went down to 10 men we had to defend because they threw four up- top. We were very professional, and you saw at the end of the game with the defenders and Christian [Herrera] – it was like they scored all the goals – they were all over each other and that was fantastic to see.”
Rio Grande Valley Roundup:
Saturday’s opponents faced each other on June 21 st , with the Toros triumphing 1-0 at H-E-B Park in Edinburg, Texas behind a 64 th minute goal from Frank López. Despite winning their last two matches, the Toros stand outside the USL Championship Playoff picture at the time of writing. Columbian striker Wilmer Cabrera leads the Toros in goals with seven, two ahead of former Cal Golden Bear Taylor Davila. “We will exploit spaces that [RGV] have to leave because they have to come after us, so if we take care of those duels and transitional pace from them we’ll have chances the other way,” said Head Coach Hogan. “That’s naturally going to happen and the way they centralized their defenders – especially in the mid block – should create some overloads for us, and we’ve been talking about that [at practice] and we just need to show the energy [on Saturday]. Again the bench is going to be so important for us because of the minutes [the team has] played [this week]. The idea of exploiting the space in [RGV’s] transitional moments is going to be massive.” “[Wilmer Cabrera] will be going overseas after the season – he’s a very creative player and then you look at Frank López and [Christian] Pinzón on top, and the idea of how they play so central at times is that you’ll see their movement and runs beyond. We’ve been talking again with [James] Musa and Matt [Mahoney] and Drew [Skundrich] and Duke [Lacroix] and the [entire] back four or back five – it’s very important we know where they are at all times, especially when we lose duals centrally, because their timing is right and they’re creative enough and technical enough to put the ball in the net, so you have to be careful of that.”
Vargish’s View:
The Switchbacks are flying and moving from strength to strength as just four matches remain in the regular season. The win on Wednesday night in Detroit showed just how dangerous the Switchbacks can be – even in sodden conditions that should have slowed the game to a crawl. Having just two days to regenerate and prepare for RGV is an advantage for Saturday’s visitors, but one that can be negated by the tremendous home field advantage the Switchbacks gain by playing at Weidner Field. RGV will be desperate for a third straight win, which will leave the Toros susceptible to the Switchbacks’ breathtaking counter attacking pace.
View the full interview with Matt Mahoney here: https://youtu.be/fHR_ONITi2c
