Orange Dawn Rising
The summer road trip has finished. It has been 77 days since Orange County SC played in Championship Soccer Stadium. In that time span they played 7 consecutive league games on the road, two USL Cup games on the road and for one night only played a home game at a different venue. This was a road trip that spanned across 9 different cities, 3 different time zones and one where Orange County only lost a single regular season game. The story of the summer was going to be the World Cup in the United States with the host nation using Irvine as its practice facility. But Orange County just about made the best of the situation, but it may have come at a cost.
Stephen Kelly
Orange County SC are a team that is running on fumes. Of the 22 senior team players on the active roster, 9 are on the injured list with no timetable for return. Some we know are for the entire season while some have lingered for some time now. It has always been club policy to not give details on injuries officially. I might not agree with it but this is a club who have made the postseason the past 3 consecutive seasons so who am I to complain. However one thing that was very much made clear in both the Rhode Island and Hartford games is that Orange County needs time to recover. Fortunately they are going to kind of get that and then some. Orange County SC are playing in their final group stage game of the USL League Cup on top of getting a scheduled bye week next week. Orange County SC are already eliminated from the tournament so they have nothing to gain from this match.
Any other season this would be kind of a throw away game by a spectators standpoint but this could also be a relaxing game to watch and it will be very nice to watch OCSC again. They are also playing a team that they have had success against this season.
THE OPPONENT - COLORADO SPRINGS SWITCHBACKS FC
If Orange County SC have nothing to play for the Switchbacks are kind of in a similar spot albeit different side of it. Colorado Springs have already won Group 2 thanks to their wins against New Mexico and El Paso with the first tiebreaker being points earned in head to head matchups. Colorado Springs have gone a perfect 3 for 3 already with the aforementioned wins against the others who each can only earn a maximum of 9 points. Colorado Springs are one of two remaining teams that can finish with an absolute maximum of 12 points, the other being Tampa Bay.
I will be the biggest proponent that this tournament needs some reworking with the group stages in order for me to take it seriously. If you are only going to reward the group winners with advancing then you cannot have extremely unbalanced groups. Group 4 has 7 teams total with 3 of them having the chance to finish with 9 or more points but only one has a chance of advancing realistically. Meanwhile Tampa Bay gets potted into Group 7 with a total of five teams and in that five you have a winless Sporting Jacksonville and two League One teams who are 11th and 13th in their league respectively. Do not look up where the USL headquarters are located. I understand the groups are geographically based but multiple wildcards fixes that.
Colorado Springs actually deserve to advance, this is a team who in the competition have 8 goals scored and only one allowed; Colin Shutler might be the reason for that. Which is unique since Colorado Springs have not been amazing in the slightest defensively in the regular season. The Switchbacks were one of the teams that Orange County played against during their summer road trip in a match that ended 2-2 after a last minute Colorado Springs equalizer. This will be Colorado Springs’ first time advancing to the knockout phase of the League Cup.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Without knowing the mindset of either team going into matches that have no real implications it can be quite challenging putting the spotlight on players. Khori Bennett is the best player for Colorado Springs with his 9 goals tying him for third in the league. But we are looking at the other striker for Colorado Springs in the Panamanian Juan Tejada. A Switchbacks player through and through, Tejada has been with the Rocky Mountain club since 2023 and was a goalscorer in their important game against El Paso that won them the group. While not a forward who will light up many stat sheets, Tejada can play and has played in almost every position on the pitch. Think of him like a more offensive minded Nico Benalcazar. Again whether or not we will see guys like Tejada or Bennett on Saturday is not known but that is how they got to his point.
On the orange side of things and from this point on in the preview we are going to look at what kind of team Orange County fields. It was the academy players that had probably the biggest positive impact on the match against Hartford. But then comes the part where even they might not be available for Saturday’s game. Nicola Ciotta had to be helped off with injury and Efren Solis played a full 90 minutes out of his natural position. Apolo Marinch quietly looked like a veteran with his link up play and passing ability. But even though he left early on Wednesday, I am still expecting Nicola Ciotta to be a big factor on Saturday. It is kind of crazy to think that Ciotta has already made 23 appearances for Orange County and it was Ciotta that got both assists on Wednesday as well. The right back got his start with the academy team and made his break after injuries made an opening in the lineup last season. Similar events happened this year but Ciotta looks like another win for the OC academy.
PREDICTED STARTING XI
Now this is where we are looking at a coin flip type prediction. On the one hand we can just say that the Academy team will take the field and all make either their first professional appearance. Or Orange County can use this matchup as a perfect tuneup game for some players looking to return from injury similar to a rehab assignment in baseball. The one caveat with that is we do not know the injury situations for anyone really. However, watching the players after Wednesday’s Hartford game pick themselves up leads me to think we are going to see some youngsters.
Massive grain of salt to be taken with this one. It was not a very big surprise that Orange County conveniently brought on four players before the Rhode Island game in Josh Martinez, who would make his OC debut against Hartford, and a trio of academy players. Tetsuya Kadono has started every USL League match so far so no change there. Unless one of the academy signings is a center back then they will slot in for Tyson Espy who is questionable with injury. Matthew Miranda, an Academy product, comes to mind. Nicola Ciotta might be playing this game with a headache. At the left back position will be our first academy Finn O’Brien who was announced on Monday. The midfield will be Efren Solis possibly but who knows. But I will not be surprised if Josh Martinez starts alongside him. Up the field at left winger is not Ethan Zubak but his younger brother Liam who also had his contract signed. The elder Zubak gets the nod up top because I think it would be cool and that is the only reason. We will likely see professional debuts and hopefully some first career goals.
THE MATCHUP
This is the second time that Orange County plays a team for a third time in 2026 but Orange County have gotten the better of Colorado Springs so far. Both games this year have had some late goal drama with Tyson Espy scoring the winning goal the last time these two teams played in Southern California. Orange County have already set the mark for scoring in consecutive games with anything now just added on. This is not a game that Orange County has much to gain or lose but that does not mean we as fans should not be proud of them especially considering they are still first in the West but are only three points behind Tampa Bay for the best mark in the entire league. After the break, it will be interesting to see how Orange County fares in the second half of the season.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - vs Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC (USL Prinx Tires Cup)
When - July 11th, 7:00 PM PST
Where - Championship Soccer Stadium (Irvine, CA)
OCSC Form - DDWWD
COS Form - WLWLW
All-Time Series - 12-3-9 (24 Games)
TV - ESPN+, KCAL+