The Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC return to the Golden State this Friday evening as they take on Fresno FC at Chukchansi Park in their penultimate match of the 2018 USL regular season.
On June 23rd, the Switchbacks defeated the Fresno Foxes 1-0 behind a stunning 86th minute free kick from Guam international winger Shane Malcolm. Fresno FC and the Switchbacks have been eliminated from contention for the 2018 USL Cup Playoffs, although both Los Zorros and Steve Trittschuh’s men will be fighting until their final match to secure as lofty a league position as possible.
“Our goal is to finish the season on a high – we’ll do all we can to finish in the 9th or 10th spot,” said Switchbacks Head Coach Trittschuh. “Fresno are just like us – they’re out of the playoffs but they’re still playing hard and they’ll fight on Friday.”
Last Saturday saw the Switchbacks defeat the Real Monarchs of Salt Lake City 2-0 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah behind goals from AJ Ajeakwa and second half substitute Marty Maybin. “I went on late and we were trying to close the game and get the points,” said Maybin. “Shane [Malcolm] did a brilliant job to get the ball in – all I had to do was put it in. But of course it felt good to score, especially in that game. Both us and Fresno are out of the playoffs of course, but there’s a lot of pride at stake for both clubs. We’re all professionals and we’ll give it a real go to win both of these next games. We beat Fresno here and they’re a good side – but we have no doubt that we can win on Friday.”
“It’s was good from Marty,” said Trittschuh. “The subs who came in did well and that’s what we need from them. It was really good for Marty to get a goal – we know how hard he’s been working. Of course it’s always good to see the guys who came in get a quick goal and we might need that again. AJ played well too. We saw SLC wanted to play high and when we saw their center backs we wanted to take advantage of that with AJ’s speed. At times we still made some mistakes and we have to clean up our decision making and quality on the ball before we get to Fresno.”
“It feels good to be back to winning on the road,” said Jordan Burt when asked about the victory in Utah. “We’ve got a lot to play for in the last two games, and we expect a good game in Fresno so we’ll have to do well like we did on Saturday.”
Saturday’s win for the Switchbacks came against a Real Monarchs side who sit in fourth place in the USL’s Western Conference at the time of writing. A superb performance from starting goalkeeper Moise Pouaty saw the young Cameroonian ‘keeper named to the USL Team of the Week after his shutout performance. “That’s what we expected – Moise is capable of playing like that in every game,” said Trittschuh. “It was good for him and good to see, but like our season it’s just a little bit too late.”
Argentine forward Juan Pablo Caffa leads Fresno FC in goals during the 2018 USL regular season, just ahead of teammates Jemal Johnson and Christian Chaney. Former Switchbacks captain Rony Argueta has three goals and an assist in ’18 for the Foxes. Costa Mesa, California native Argueta started in central midfield in Los Zorros’ narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of Rio Grande Valley FC on Saturday evening at H-E-B Park in Texas, although Argueta was removed at halftime as part of a double-switch by Head Coach Adam Smith.
“Fresno won’t stop playing,” said Trittschuh. [Juan Pablo] Caffa and [Jemal] Johnson are good players. And Fresno were able to bring in [Myer] Bevan on-loan and that’s a big pickup for them: he’s a hard-working player. We’ve just got to be ready now.”
New Zealand international Myer Bevan joined Fresno FC on-loan from the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer. Bevan started for the Foxes against RGV FC as part of a forward three that included the aforementioned duo of Juan Pablo Caffa and Jemal Johnson.
“Friday will be about whoever shows up to play and who wants the game more,” said Trittschuh on Tuesday morning. “In SLC we wanted to win. We knew we had to bear-down and we did and won the game. The guys did really well. I’d be concerned if we weren’t creating the chances but we did and I’m glad they finally went in. It was good to see that the guys were playing and fighting in Salt Lake. Going into the trip we didn’t know how they’d respond to an eleven-hour bus ride. The last time we took a bus it didn’t work out so well. Individually we had some good performances and we really went after the game – we’ll need the same intensity on Friday in Fresno.”
Following Friday’s match the Switchbacks will return to Colorado Springs before they make their way to the great Pacific Northwest for their final match of 2018 next Wednesday against the Seattle Sounders FC 2 at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington.
The Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC return to the Golden State this Friday evening as they take on Fresno FC at Chukchansi Park in their penultimate match of the 2018 USL regular season.
On June 23rd, the Switchbacks defeated the Fresno Foxes 1-0 behind a stunning 86th minute free kick from Guam international winger Shane Malcolm. Fresno FC and the Switchbacks have been eliminated from contention for the 2018 USL Cup Playoffs, although both Los Zorros and Steve Trittschuh’s men will be fighting until their final match to secure as lofty a league position as possible.
“Our goal is to finish the season on a high – we’ll do all we can to finish in the 9th or 10th spot,” said Switchbacks Head Coach Trittschuh. “Fresno are just like us – they’re out of the playoffs but they’re still playing hard and they’ll fight on Friday.”
Last Saturday saw the Switchbacks defeat the Real Monarchs of Salt Lake City 2-0 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah behind goals from AJ Ajeakwa and second half substitute Marty Maybin. “I went on late and we were trying to close the game and get the points,” said Maybin. “Shane [Malcolm] did a brilliant job to get the ball in – all I had to do was put it in. But of course it felt good to score, especially in that game. Both us and Fresno are out of the playoffs of course, but there’s a lot of pride at stake for both clubs. We’re all professionals and we’ll give it a real go to win both of these next games. We beat Fresno here and they’re a good side – but we have no doubt that we can win on Friday.”
“It’s was good from Marty,” said Trittschuh. “The subs who came in did well and that’s what we need from them. It was really good for Marty to get a goal – we know how hard he’s been working. Of course it’s always good to see the guys who came in get a quick goal and we might need that again. AJ played well too. We saw SLC wanted to play high and when we saw their center backs we wanted to take advantage of that with AJ’s speed. At times we still made some mistakes and we have to clean up our decision making and quality on the ball before we get to Fresno.”
“It feels good to be back to winning on the road,” said Jordan Burt when asked about the victory in Utah. “We’ve got a lot to play for in the last two games, and we expect a good game in Fresno so we’ll have to do well like we did on Saturday.”
Saturday’s win for the Switchbacks came against a Real Monarchs side who sit in fourth place in the USL’s Western Conference at the time of writing. A superb performance from starting goalkeeper Moise Pouaty saw the young Cameroonian ‘keeper named to the USL Team of the Week after his shutout performance. “That’s what we expected – Moise is capable of playing like that in every game,” said Trittschuh. “It was good for him and good to see, but like our season it’s just a little bit too late.”
Argentine forward Juan Pablo Caffa leads Fresno FC in goals during the 2018 USL regular season, just ahead of teammates Jemal Johnson and Christian Chaney. Former Switchbacks captain Rony Argueta has three goals and an assist in ’18 for the Foxes. Costa Mesa, California native Argueta started in central midfield in Los Zorros’ narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of Rio Grande Valley FC on Saturday evening at H-E-B Park in Texas, although Argueta was removed at halftime as part of a double-switch by Head Coach Adam Smith.
“Fresno won’t stop playing,” said Trittschuh. [Juan Pablo] Caffa and [Jemal] Johnson are good players. And Fresno were able to bring in [Myer] Bevan on-loan and that’s a big pickup for them: he’s a hard-working player. We’ve just got to be ready now.”
New Zealand international Myer Bevan joined Fresno FC on-loan from the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer. Bevan started for the Foxes against RGV FC as part of a forward three that included the aforementioned duo of Juan Pablo Caffa and Jemal Johnson.
“Friday will be about whoever shows up to play and who wants the game more,” said Trittschuh on Tuesday morning. “In SLC we wanted to win. We knew we had to bear-down and we did and won the game. The guys did really well. I’d be concerned if we weren’t creating the chances but we did and I’m glad they finally went in. It was good to see that the guys were playing and fighting in Salt Lake. Going into the trip we didn’t know how they’d respond to an eleven-hour bus ride. The last time we took a bus it didn’t work out so well. Individually we had some good performances and we really went after the game – we’ll need the same intensity on Friday in Fresno.”
Following Friday’s match the Switchbacks will return to Colorado Springs before they make their way to the great Pacific Northwest for their final match of 2018 next Wednesday against the Seattle Sounders FC 2 at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington.
