Opponent: El Paso Locomotive
Match Date: May 4
Location: Weidner Field.
Doors Open: 6:00pm MT. Tickets are available HERE! for Galactic Night with the first fans receiving a light sword courtesy of CommonSpirit!!
Last Meeting: Switchbacks 2, El Paso Locomotive 3. May 5th, 2023, Weidner Field.
How to Listen: XTRA Sports 1300am with the Voices of the Switchbacks, Ryan Kaufman and Roland Vargish – coverage starts at 6:30pm.
Coach Chamber’s Comments: “I think we were eager to kind of build momentum from the Indy game, and I think we put [on] arguably our best performance [in Oakland]. I don’t think [there] was much difference in [our performance] between the Miami game, but obviously we kept a clean sheet and got two goals, so we got [the] three points. We are obviously happy with the result and to get ourselves a win, but we’re not content with that – nowhere near it. “I think everybody outside here seems to be having a little bit of a dig at us, and I see a lot of people talking a lot and wanting to have a go at us – which is fine. There’s no issue about that! We just take care of everybody that’s in this building [and] look after ourselves, and make sure
that we put in a performance on Saturday night. It doesn’t matter what everybody says outside of here. It doesn’t affect us.”
Opposition Outlook: “[El Paso Locomotive] have stuttered a little bit – similar to ourselves – to start the season, so they’ll be eager to come in here and right the wrongs that they probably have seen up to this point,” continued reigning USL Championship Coach of the Week James Chambers. “I think they’ll want to take care of the ball – they’re a possession-based team. [There’s] a bit of fluidity there [for El Paso] with some really good attacking pieces and some defensive pieces [too]. But for us it’s a case of last weekend was good, yes, [but] we’re not content with that. We want to keep building momentum.”
Player’ s Points: “It’s like a big relief of course and [I’m] happy for it,” said Juan Tejada when asked about scoring his first goal in the Switchbacks’ 2-0 win over the Oakland Roots last Saturday night in the Bay Area. “I’m happy to help the team – that’s what I want to do here, and that’s why I’m here as well. I think [Saturday vs. El Paso] is all about us [and] about keeping the momentum going. We’ve been very unlucky the first games of the season – of course none of us are happy, so we’re working as much as we can to turn this around, and I think that last weekend’s win was a big change in the momentum. We just have to go [out] there [on Saturday] and keep doing what we’re doing – pressing high, being offensive, be entertaining –
so that’s what we’re going do here at home and hopefully we get three points again. When you play here in Weidner Field you can feel the support of the fans. I know teams don’t like coming here, and we have to make this environment something [where] they really feel that it’s really hard to play here.
Vargish’s Views: A scoreless game on Saturday night at a packed Weidner Field seems an impossibility. El Paso have not kept a clean sheet all season, and while the Locomotive will be desperate for their first win, they must know the Switchbacks’ penchant for capitalizing on counter-attacking chances remains as deadly as ever. The Locomotive have offensive players who can be as dangerous as any in the league. Amando Moreno, Justin Dhillon, and Joaquín Rivas – just to name three – are players that could feature for any team in the USL Championship. There is an energy and a drive around the Switchbacks after their win in Oakland which will be turbocharged by this weekend’s packed Weidner Field, and they must rely on that support to secure another win before a tortuous trip to the East Coast that contains two matches in just four days. El Paso have found it difficult in 2024 to contain opponents who attack with pace, which gives the Switchbacks a decided edge on Saturday.
