Opponent: Rhode Island FC in the USL Championship Final
Match Date: November 23
Location: Weidner Field
Head-to-Head in 2024: Switchbacks 3, Rhode Island FC 1 on May 17 th at Weidner Field in downtown Colorado Springs. Switchbacks goals from Ronaldo Damus (27’ and 87’) and an own goal by Karifa Yao (64’). Rhode Island goal scored by Frank Nodarse.
Doors Open: 9am MT.
How to Listen: XTRA Sports 1300am with the Voices of the Switchbacks, Ryan Kaufman and Roland Vargish. Coverage starts at 9:30am MT.
Chambers’ Comments: “[Saturday morning] is a really big test,” said Switchbacks Head Coach James Chambers. “[Rhode Island] are a very physical team with some really good attacking threats [and] they’ve had three really good [playoff] results on the road – we’ll have our work cut out for us. “[Rhode Island] do have that threat [to play direct up to two physically imposing target men]. They’ve obviously got JJ [Williams] who can hold the ball up really well and flick it on and [he] can also move and transition [well]. As [can Noah] Fuson and [Albert] Dikwa up [top]. So there are a lot of threats. It’s not just a style of play – they can play and hurt you in different ways. Like I said, we’ll have our work cut out for us. We know what we’re up against and we’ll make sure that we apply the right game plan to try and get the result. “I think it’s very difficult to perform in finals with regards to [a] full performance, because obviously the occasion and the magnitude of it, so it’s difficult. We’ll do our best to do everything we can to put on a good performance that will give us the chance of a result, but Rhode Island will be trying to do the same thing. Whatever way the game pans out we have to be able to adapt. We’ve spoken [as a team] throughout the course of the season – and as we got a little bit later with playoff positions on the line – that it’s not about the occasion, it’s about the game. If you play the occasion, you forget about the game. So you’ve got to just focus on what happens in between the two white lines and look after your own individual role and responsibility. “[We’re] looking forward to [the sold-out stadium]. [We’re] hearing it’s going to be pretty busy, so hopefully they’re as loud as they have been -and more. We’re excited to see everybody. [The fans have] been absolutely unbelievable throughout the course of the season and we need them for one more time on Saturday.”
Vargish’s View: Rhode Island have been superb in their run through the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship. A 3-0 win at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville was so far-fetched it didn’t even warrant a daydream… and then RIFC walked calmly away having humiliated the East’s top-seed. Arguably, RIFC’s 2-1 win a week later on the road against the Charleston Battery in the Eastern Conference final was even more impressive. Head Coach Khano Smith’s Rhode Island were bright, efficient and fought tirelessly. Saturday’s visitors to downtown Colorado Springs will not be overawed by the occasion or the venue, regardless of their status as USL Championship debutants.
It can’t be overstated how much playing at Weidner Field means to the Switchbacks and the benefit that comes with hosting Saturday’s final. But with the reward of home field advantage comes the pressure that only exists from being the favorite. One of the most envious aspects of the Switchbacks’ postseason run is how outside influences have not impacted the on-field product. The Switchbacks have lost key starting players to international call ups and not skipped a beat. Why? Because they have one of the best young coaches in North American soccer. And because they have an entire staff and group of players who work their backsides off for one another. Not for a Team of the Week nod or a 20-second league-featured social media blurb, but because the belief in this group is absolute. Fans are already beyond proud of this team and will be no matter Saturday’s result. The 2024 USL Championship Final is going to be a battle, and one the Switchbacks can win if they can weather Rhode Island’s physicality and play as what they’ve believed they are all playoffs: the favorites.
