Almost feels like a normal season right? Traveled to New Mexico over the weekend and now we are headed to San Antonio, both for the first time since 2019! Now if only we could play more teams than just the same few four times. I miss the home-and-away series against everyone. To the rest of the USL Championship: I miss you! So for now we’re going to San Antonio and here is that run down:
MATCH DETAILS: USL Championship Regular Season Game #13; at San Antonio FC; 6:30 p.m. MT kickoff
VENUE/WEATHER: Toyota Field; San Antonio, Texas; 93F degrees and clear skies.
WATCH PARTY: The Palomino Tavern (205 Cincinnati Avenue)
WATCH: ESPN+
RECORDS/STANDINGS: Locomotive: 7-1-4 (25 points, MTN-1); San Antonio: 4-3-6 (18 points, MTN-6)
PREVIOUS MEETING: Locomotive dismantled a San Antonio FC 11-game undefeated streak in a game that saw two penalty conversions and an own goal. El Paso Locomotive opened the scoring in the 40th minute when Forward Aaron Gomez converted his penalty kick opportunity, though that lead was quickly diminished with a penalty kick going the other way through then-San Antonio Forward and now-Locomotive striker Lucho Solignac. With the game level, El Paso threw everything it could to regain the advantage, eventually forcing SAFC’s Mitchell Taintor into a poor backward clearance that found his own goal to give Los Locos the 2-1 win.
The start of our Locomotive season was fairly quiet with action. Locomotive didn’t start until the third week of the USL Championship, then even after its 1-1 draw with New Mexico United, El Paso took a bye-week in week four. It was only a matter of time before those three early weeks of no games started coming back and that time is now. In a 14-day span, El Paso has five games scheduled, with the first being the scoreless draw against New Mexico United this past weekend. With four games still left to play, Los Locos are off and running on one of the tighter portions of their schedule. Over the last two and half seasons though, Los Locos have shown time and time again that they are a resilient team that can rise to the occasion no matter the adversity. The Locos Blue will be digging deep and full-ready to put that resiliency on display once again as it takes on this stretch of games that will see it travel to San Antonio before hosting Real Monarchs, Austin Bold FC, and San Antonio.
Last year, San Antonio boasted an incredible attack – one of the most dangerous in the league – that helped raise it to an impressive 11-game undefeated streak to start the season. Leading that attack was their team captain, forward Lucho Solignac. Of course, since then, Lucho has come to the better side of Texas, joining El Paso Locomotive FC in the offseason ahead of the 2021 season. Since coming to Locomotive, Lucho has continued his incredible run, leading the team in goals alongside Aaron Gomez and Diego Luna. This will be his first trip back to Toyota Field and against his former team, something that Lucho has mentioned he is looking forward to doing.
We’ve known from the start of the season that El Paso Locomotive has been strong – arguably the strongest side of the 2021 USL Championship season. It kicked off to earn an 18-game undefeated streak and completed building one full calendar year of not losing at Southwest University Park. Through illness and injuries, Locomotive has earned points in all but one match, losing only to Rio Grande Valley FC. Locomotive is a tough team to play, no matter what form of the team you’re playing and that was evident against New Mexico United on Saturday. Lowry fielded a little different of a lineup than we got used to seeing in the first many weeks of the season, however, the club didn’t miss a beat against a United side on a tough playing field. Through long grass, and a rough physical game, El Paso still pulled a point away from Albuquerque. That strength will continue to be on display as the team travels to another tough stadium to play in as it visits Toyota Field for the first time in 2019.
After dominating Group D in 2020, San Antonio was a favorite going into the 2021 USL Championship season. Despite having a few club departures in the off-season, San Antonio looked towards MLS to replenish its ranks, bringing in different players from caliber clubs. A string of injuries however has kept San Antonio from being the team that everyone expected them to be. San Antonio FC kicked off the 2021 season with a series of draws, winning only twice in their first 10 games. The start to the season has left SAFC near the bottom of the Mountain Division. Sitting in sixth place, SAFC has been fighting with Switchbacks FC just below the playoff line while attempting to catch Austin Bold FC and New Mexico United just over that same line. In recent weeks, SAFC has been able to accomplish just that, picking up back-to-back wins over Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC and New Mexico United. They’ll be looking to make it a three-streak against a Locomotive side that has only lost once and is currently four games undefeated.