El Paso Locomotive FC is quickly nearing the final stretch of its 2022 USL Championship season. With 21 games played, the Locos are now primed to make its first trip to Laney College Football Stadium in Oakland, California to take on Oakland Roots SC. The match is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. MT and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
In its last three matches, Locomotive has found its at a disadvantage. Against RGV, the Locos went down to 10-men for the remaining seven minutes plus stoppage time after seeing a red card in the 83rd minute. An unfortunate injury after the use of every available sub and a red card against Atlanta United just days later, left Locomotive with only nine men on the field by the time the referee blew for the full-time whistle. Most recently, Locomotive found itself down to 10-men at the end of the match with a late-game red card that was coupled with an early injury to Defender Yuma.
Despite the disadvantages and the injuries plaguing El Paso Locomotive FC, the Locos still find themselves on a league-best 10-game undefeated streak having dug deep in each instance to earn a result. Against RGV and Atlanta United, it was a difficult fought set of draws to end 0-0 and 2-2, respectively. For Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, Locos pulled out a massive 1-0 win to claim three points on a gritty result.
“It’s good they can win ugly,” said Head Coach John Hutchinson following training on Tuesday. “It’s good they can roll their sleeves up where it’s not really happening for us in or out of possession. They worked really hard. They kept trying to control our principles and control our football. In the past, we have probably lost games like that.
You look back at the Vegas game where we were down to 1-men for a whole half, and we won that one. You look at RGV, we were down to nine men and nearly robbed the game at the end by winning that, but they deserved their point. They rolled their sleeves up and they dug deep. The boys did well. I was happy with the effort as always. I never question their effort or the work rate.”
With all the injuries and suspensions Locomotive has been suffering as of late, it has been a full team effort to continue the stretch of 10 games undefeated. Oakland Roots provides another challenge to that streak.
Roots SC has not had the most ideal 2022 regular season. After 21 games, the Oakland side finds itself outside a playoff position looking in with teams around it having played less games. Oakland has been known to still come away with points in hand after difficult games, matching their five wins with 10 draws. The Roots side has a dangers key player in the mix with Ottar Karlsson – an Icelandic international who is currently on loan to Oakland from Italy’s Venezia FC. Karlsson has been devastating in the attack, leading the league in the Golden Boot race with 13 goals in 20 appearances.
After training on Tuesday, Defender Andrew Fox commented that Oakland has always been tricky side to play against. Earlier in the season, the two met at Southwest University Park in a match that ended in a 1-1 draw. Prior to that, a stunner of a game-winner from Oakland Roots forced Locomotive bow out of the 2021 USL Championship Playoffs.
“I think their position in the table doesn’t reflect their quality, actually,” said Fox. “They try to play a really decent brand of football. It will be [a] good [match]. It will be our first trip over there which will be nice. It will be a little bit cooler which will be refreshing, and we will be going in to win.”
A win will be crucial for El Paso Locomotive as it inches closer to the final stretch of games in the regular season. The Locos currently sits in 4th in the Western Conference having played more games than anyone else around them. While the Locos sit in a favorable position now, as teams catch up in games played, it could see the Locos slip a little lower on the table.
While that is a concern for the squad, the club is not focusing on the table. At the end of the day, the results from other teams is something that Hutchinson and his team cannot control.
“We don’t look because I don’t want to know,” commented Hutchinson on the standings. “We’re 21 games in and we have so many important games coming up. I just believe we have to keep moving forward for ourselves. If we sit there and stare where we [on the table] and try to work out equations and who can do what, it’s just going to be messy. My belief is we just keep moving and keep playing games.”
Locomotive will continue to do what it has been doing all season long as it starts to turn its attention towards the USL Championship playoffs. The squad will focus on themselves and what they can do. The entire team, whether they have been here from the beginning or just arrived this week, will buy in to the Locos brand of football and dig deep to continue the current run of form.