Friday night's USL Championship clash between San Antonio FC and Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC carries weight beyond the usual three points. Kickoff at Weidner Field is set for 9 p.m., with the two Western Conference rivals separated by just two points in the table. San Antonio sits fifth on 36 points, while Colorado Springs occupies sixth with 34.
Both clubs arrive in Colorado on the back of midweek disappointment. San Antonio fell to Louisville City FC in a penalty shootout in the Prinx Tires USL Cup semifinals Tuesday at Toyota Field, while Colorado Springs lost 2-1 to Hartford Athletic in their own semifinal the same night. The shared schedule means neither side can lean on fatigue as an excuse.
This marks the third meeting of the season between the pair. San Antonio holds the edge with one win and one draw, the first encounter at Toyota Field in May finishing 3-3 before SAFC took the return fixture 2-1 in Colorado Springs in June. Friday's match offers a chance to settle the series in the fixture that matters most.
Coach Carlos Llamosa saw enough in the Louisville loss to remain optimistic about his side's trajectory, even with the cup run over. The performance, he said, showed progress from earlier in the campaign.
"The most important thing for me, as a coach, is that we're getting in a good rhythm," Llamosa said. "We're controlling the game, which is a positive thing. It's different than those games that we lost in the past. We gave up possession. We gave up a lot of chances, but right now, the last couple games we played very good teams, good contenders, and I said, it's a matter of one guy putting it in the back of the net to change the destiny of the game."
The numbers back him up. San Antonio launched 22 shots against Louisville but could not find a winner in regulation. The same pattern emerged in league play last Saturday, when SAFC played out a 0-0 draw with FC Tulsa at Toyota Field. San Antonio held two-thirds of possession and outshot Tulsa 20-5, with five efforts on target, but could not convert. The defense, at least, delivered a seventh clean sheet of the season, keeping Tulsa without a single shot on goal.
That draw allowed Tulsa to hold fourth place in the Western Conference on 36 points, level with San Antonio but ahead on tiebreakers. The top four seeds host first-round playoff matches, which makes every point between now and the end of the regular season count. San Antonio has seven games remaining.
Colorado Springs presents a specific threat in the form of forward Khori Bennett, who is tied for the league lead with 13 goals this season. The Switchbacks have shown they can hurt teams in transition, and with both clubs desperate for points, Friday's match has the feel of a derby even if the geography suggests otherwise.
Llamosa made no attempt to downplay the stakes.
"Still a derby, like the table in the West is very tight," Llamosa said. "It's very compact, so as I said, it's a game that we need to not lose. We're going to Colorado to try to get the three points and make sure we put ourselves in the top three on the table, but they're in the same mode as well. They played Friday and (Tuesday) and they're traveling back home, so it's going to be an interesting game, and both teams are chasing points."
Defender Akeem O'Connor-Ward, who featured in the May draw against Colorado Springs, echoed that urgency in the aftermath of the Louisville exit. The short turnaround does not change the objective.
"We really wish we had it tonight (against Louisville), but I think it'll be good for us to get back up on the horse," O'Connor-Ward said. "We'll see what the guys in the group are made of. I know we have a bunch of resilient guys and (Colorado Springs) had the same schedule as us, so there's kind of no excuses. We never really put excuses out there, so no matter what, we're going to get three points."
According to Yahoo Sports.