The Switchbacks found the best of both worlds.

Following a 2-1 home loss to San Antonio FC on June 24, Colorado Springs took advantage of its extended layover between that match and Saturday’s contest. The Switchbacks found time to detach by traveling to Seattle last week for Egypt vs. Iran in the World Cup and returned to business this week, identifying a troubling trend that, if corrected, could lead to the club finding a consistent form in its Fourth of July return.

“We’ve been able to work internally and find out a big, big trend of 11 goals we’ve conceded, but with nine of them a very specific trend that we can fix right now,” Colorado Springs coach Alan McCann said. “The difference of what nine goals will do, specifically for us it would be five extra wins.”

Even two or three wins could make a world of difference for Colorado Springs (4-5-4), which sits in ninth place in the Western Conference behind third-place Oakland Roots SC by just five points. Sandwiched in the middle of the conference logjam is the Switchbacks’ opponent for the Fourth, Phoenix Rising FC (4-5-5), in sixth place with 17 points. 

The Independence Day match kicks off at 7 p.m.

For McCann, a change in the Switchbacks’ actions in the box when they’re defending could make all the difference on Saturday and beyond. 

McCann didn’t delve into specifics so as to keep a competitive advantage. 

“It’s not an individual error thing,” he said. “It’s in specific moments when we’re in our defensive third how we should look, whether we’re going ball-oriented or man-oriented or zone. Someone has to obviously address ball, that’s priority one. Let’s say it’s a crossing action — gotta deny the cross, very simple — but then, if you do not deny the cross, what’s happening underneath? You look at San Antonio’s first goal. There’s no chance a man should be in our six-yard-box unmarked for six seconds.”

Making the players aware of their decisions during critical defensive moments has been a point of emphasis for the team this week.

The motivation of a loss at home right before the break helps. 

“Sometimes losses are the worst thing ever and you feel so defeated but they also can be the best thing,“ midfielder Devon “Speedy” Williams said. “To get that loss at that time right before the break, it didn’t feel good, but I think it gave us this extra hunger and this extra drive going into this next half of the season.”

McCann draws from past to put present in context

As the USL Championship noted in its power rankings this week, the Switchbacks might be the most frustrating club to watch this season. Colorado Springs has played brilliantly at times, especially in tournament play, but has fallen well short of the mark, as evidenced by home losses to both San Antonio and Sacramento Republic FC. 

For McCann, who has been in downtown Colorado Springs since the Switchbacks first opened the new Weidner Field in 2021, looking back provides context and some comfort. His predecessors in Brendan Burke, Stephen Hogan and James Chambers all had peaks and valleys in their first years as well. 

While he sees similarities between this year’s team and the club’s 2021 roster, which featured former forward Hadji Barry in an MVP season, he’s trying to get this club to where it was in the back half of 2024 when the Switchbacks captured a championship. This year’s roster has some aspects of that group but needs to find the right combination of players who can execute consistently as the club did in 2024.

“I do feel there’s a very clear identity (this season),” McCann said. “There’s definitely a fight in the group. It’s now about us finding the repeatable process and the correct personnel in there to execute that over and over.”

Scoring Leaders 

USL Championship regular-season stats only 

Goals 

COS: Khori Bennet (9)

PHX: Ihsan Sacko (9)

Assists  

COS: Sadam Masereka, Yosuke Hanya, Sam Williams (2) 

PHX: Ihsan Sacko (3)