The Colorado Springs Switchbacks have had a nightmarish start to the USL Championship season, with only 1 point in their first 6 league matches. But that all changed on Saturday.
After 70 scoreless minutes, the Switchbacks scored a pair of nearly identical goals to earn a 2-0 win over the Oakland Roots in Hayward, California on Saturday night.
The visitors finally broke the deadlock in the 71st minute, when Maalique Foster grabbed the ball in the box, took a couple of steps, and fired in a cross that found Juan Tejada parked in front of goal for the tap-in.
Less than a minute later, a Memo Diaz cross gave Oakland the chance to equalize. Johnny Rodriguez’s leaping header was on target, but goalkeeper Christian Herrera fully extended his 6’6″ frame and stretched out his left arm to prevent the ball from going in. Rodriguez and Herrera were teammates with the Roots during the 2020 season.
The visitors put the match away in the 84th minute. Foster made another incisive run down the sideline, turned, and laid the ball off for Aidan Rocha for the finish.
After the match, Roots Head Coach Noah Delgado was asked what caused the two similar-looking goals.
“Poor tracking in the box,” he said. “Just plays where we have an advantage but we’re not tracking the runners. And it was two similar ones. We had to make some changes after we went down 1-0. We went for it a little bit and took some risks to try to get a goal. We put on attacking players, changed the formation a bit and got caught on a midfield recovery, and the second one was back post marking.”
Delgado said the club missed the three players who are currently suspended and several players hobbled by injuries, but still had a chance to win the game.
“We were in the game. We had a shutout at halftime,” he said. “You know, the second half started a bit slow defensively. We were just kind of sitting in there defensively, we were giving away balls too easily. So we were able to get out and they weren’t able to keep the ball for long possessions. Once we did it, we created a couple of chances but that was that was kind of it.”
Roots Had Most of the Chances in the First Half
The first half began with Colorado Springs’ forwards Ronaldo Damus and Foster maintaining a blistering pace, enabling the visitors to earn their first scoring opportunity 30 seconds into the match. Zach Zand’s shot from beyond the penalty area took Oakland goalkeeper Paul Blanchette by surprise. Blanchette punched the shot away, but Foster grabbed the rebound, dribbled to the end line, and sent in a cross that Damus redirected just over the crossbar.
But Oakland had most of the chances in the remainder of the first half.
It began in the third minute, when the Roots appeared to have equalized in the aftermath of a Trayvone Reid free kick in the third minute, but the referee said that Bryan Tamacas was offside.
They had another chance in the 8th minute, when Rodriguez received a pass in the box and laid it off for Jeciel Cedeño, whose shot toward the near post went wide.
Oakland also came close on the counterattack in the 20th minute. Rodriguez chased Memo Diaz’s cross into the box. Rodriguez’s one timer trickled through the penalty area, but ultimately went wide of the target.
In the 32nd minute, Oakland defender Justin Rasmussen’s shot from just outside the penalty area forced a diving save from Herrera, who was able to redirect it over the endline for a corner.
Blanchette made his best save in the match in the 45th minute, dropping to the turf to pounce on Yosuke Hanya’s one-timer and grabbing it tightly to prevent a rebound.
But the second half (or at least the final 20 minutes) belonged to the Switchbacks. And that was all they needed.
