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Whatever happens, Saturday will see a team lift the USL championship title for the first time as the Colorado Springs Switchbacks host expansion club Rhode Island FC at noon on CBS. Two teams that changed their form mid-season were sides that no one expected to make the finals, but their ability to stay around in games and score opportunistic goals made both things possible.
Colorado Springs is in their tenth season under first-time head coach James Chambers, who, while he may be new to the head coaching ranks, is hardly new to the league. Chambers played three seasons for Bethlehem Steel, now Philadelphia Union 2, before moving to coaching at the Union Academy. He started as an assistant at Colorado Springs in 2021 and spent three seasons with the club before taking over as head coach prior to this season.
Their opposition, Rhode Island, is rewriting the book of what it means to be an expansion team, entering the league with an ambitious plan and standing behind it. Head coach and general manager Khano Smith also takes the helm for the first time after stops at Southern New Hampshire University, the Orlando Pride and Birmingham Legion, all as an assistant. Rhode Island, an aggressive team looking to control the pace of play, will look to avenge their previous result by losing to Colorado Springs earlier this season, but these are very different teams than the ones that kicked off the campaign.
Let’s take a look at their playoff journeys so far:
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
Coming into the Western Conference as the second seed, Colorado Springs didn’t have to leave the friendly confines of home, taking advantage of top-seeded New Mexico United being eliminated from the playoffs before the two could clash . The defense has reigned supreme, with Colorado Springs allowing just one goal so far in the playoffs. From dispatching the Oakland Roots 2-0 to start their play-off journey to Zahary Zandi’s extra-time winner against Orange County SC, this battle-tested team has been able to get the results needed to progress. This experience will be important against Rhode Island, but given the seeding, Colorado Springs will also enter this match as the favorite. How they respond to pressure will be crucial, but for head coach Chambers, this is business as usual for his team.
“There’s nothing else to be completely honest with you, I think we’ve been consistent all year in terms of how we prepare for the opponent and how we prepare on a weekly basis,” Chambers said. “With the play-offs over the last few weeks there was obviously a different feeling in the air. It’s not, I would say, manipulated by the staff or the players, it’s just there naturally. So we don’t have to do that .” If you emphasize everything in that sentence, it is still a football match.”
Rhode Island F.C
Unlike Colorado Springs, Rhode Island not only had to go on the road for every playoff game thus far, but they also had to send historically good teams in Louisville City FC and the Charleston Battery. No one expected the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed to still be in contention after the first round, let alone make it to the finals. The attacking tandem of Noah Fuson and JJ Williams has been important to this run, with Williams scoring five goals in the playoffs so far. But not only did Rhode Island beat Lousiville, they defeated them 3-0, followed by a thrilling 3-2 victory over Indy Eleven. Even against Charleston, Rhode Island controlled the pace of play as Smith’s team has grown by leaps and bounds this season. In a game where the defense could decide things, how Rhode Island’s offense plays will be crucial.
“It’s difficult [to face these teams on the road] of course you prefer to be at home. Colorado has been home, they haven’t gone away and they don’t have to deal with travel, but for us we’re using it as a notch in our belt to make ourselves stronger,” Smith said of Rhode Island’s playoff journey so far it accumulated in scars and not in tattoos because they are not permanent but you get scars and it just adds to our armor and however resilient we want to be so at this point we prefer to make it harder. .
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- Date: Saturday November 23 | Time: 12:00 PM ET
- Location: Weidner Field – Colorado Springs, Colorado
- TV: CBS
- Live stream: Biggest+