Only two home games left in the 2021 USL Championship regular season! Feels like only yesterday we were all cheering as Leandro Carrijo put away a stoppage-time goal to grab a draw against New Mexico United to kick off the season. Now we have the Copa Tejas and we’re taking on the former titleholders. Should be a great game considering both teams have a lot to play for. So let’s break it down.
MATCH DETAILS: USL Championship Regular Season Game #30; vs Austin Bold FC; Kickoff 7:00 p.m. MT, Gates Open at 6:00 p.m. MT
VENUE/WEATHER: Southwest University Park; El Paso, Texas; 76F degrees and partly cloudy
TICKETS: Click Here!
WATCH: ESPN+
RECORDS/STANDINGS: Locomotive: 16-3-10 (58 points, MTN-1); Bold: 10-9-10 (40 points, MTN-5)
PREVIOUS MEETING: The two clubs played to a 2-2 draw in Bold Stadium at the end of September. Austin Bold FC grabbed the opening lead just past the 30-minute mark heading a cross in past Logan Ketterer. This sparked a Locomotive comeback with two goals to claim a lead. Midfielder Diego Luna rockets a shot in the 70th minute, and moments later Forward Aaron Gomez lifted a ball over the Bold FC Goalkeeper in the 83rd minute. Locomotive seemed destined to claim the three points, but Sonny Guadarrama spoiled the victory with a stoppage-time goal for the draw.
Locomotive has already clinched its playoff spot and has claimed the top seed of the Mountain Division. Theoretically, Locomotive can just let off the gas and coast into the playoffs. That’s not the Locomotive way. If there is still a chance to be the best in the Western Conference, Locomotive is going to fight for that opportunity. It’s a seven-point difference between Locomotive and Rising for the top of the Western Conference. El Paso has three games remaining for nine points total, while Phoenix has two games remaining for six points total. The battle for the top comes down to Locomotive gaining points while Rising FC would need to drop a few in their last two games. While El Paso obviously can’t control what happens in Phoenix Rising games, they can certainly control their own games. Head Coach Mark Lowry will be heading out onto the pitch to get the job done and take home three points when he can.
El Paso can sit comfortably knowing there are more games on the way after the regular season concludes on October 30. Austin Bold FC, however, doesn’t have that luxury. Bold FC is in a three-way battle for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Mountain Division. Bold has a two-point lead over Rio Grande Valley FC but is tied with New Mexico United at 40. The drawback for Austin is that New Mexico United edges them out on tiebreakers. With all three teams having just three games left in the 2021 USL Championship season, all three teams are viewing these final games as must-wins in order to secure the fourth playoff spot from the Mountain Division. This will make for a tougher game for El Paso Locomotive, as Austin will be playing with a “life-or-death” intensity, as a loss at Southwest University Park may spell the end for the Austin 2021 season.
El Paso Locomotive definitely does not want to let its foot off the gas, as I mentioned before. Coach Lowry has said time and time again that this is a club that wants to win everything – whether it’s a regular-season game, the Copa Tejas, playoff games, the Western Conference Final, or the USL Final. Los Locos don’t want to settle for anything less than a notch in the win column. That being said though, the health of the squad is incredibly important. While El Paso Locomotive slowly has players coming back from injury, the coaching staff doesn’t want to risk anything drastic ahead of the post-season Championship Title run. While we can likely expect some of our missing veterans to make appearances over not only this match against Austin Bold but also the remaining two matches afterward, I would expect them to make slow integrations into the full lineup to not risk aggravating anything more.