Roots fans it’s game day! Roots host defending champions Colorado Springs Switchbacks at the iconic Oakland Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. on August 9, 2025. Switchbacks are celebrating their championship by taking the 2025 season off, and sit only one point ahead of the Roots and below the playoff line. Roots have had nearly a month off from league play and will hope to capitalize on that break while continuing on the good run of form under Benny Feilhaber.
Around the Western Conference
Phoenix drew with Birmingham, who are terrible. El Paso pounded Vegas 6-0. Sacramento won in San Antonio. Tulsa got a weekend 3-2 win over Loudoun and a mid-week 3-2 win over Monterey Bay, to start pulling away at the top of the Conference. Orange County and New Mexico joined Oakland on the bye this past week.
Switchbacks’ Form
Switchbacks are 3-1-3 in their last seven, with 8 goals for and 8 goals against, which is a big improvement on the early part of their season and contains a concerning 1-0 win over the Roots. In particular, in their last four, they have split their season series with Lexington, the home team winning each, lost at home to Louisville and won on the road in Birmingham. Here are the highlights from their most recent match, their victory over Lexington.
Switchbacks’ captain and defender Matt Mahoney scored twice in the victory, a good header from a corner routine and a very silly possible-own goal from a free kick routine. The highlights are a pro watch for the second goal alone.
Switchbacks’ goals, other than Mahoney’s four (!), come primarily from Italian midfielder Marco Micaletto, who has five. Justin Dhillon also has five, but has not appeared for Switchbacks since early June.
Roots’ Form
I mean, it was good the last time they played a league game.
Match Predictions
Bloom
Colorado Springs are pretty inconsistent and generally don’t seem as good as they were last season. This is a real opportunity for Oakland to get three points over a rival in the table. I think they can do it but I’ll be surprised if it’s clean. 2-1 Roots, but Akeem O’Connor-Ward gets an assist on Switchbacks’ goal.
Jon
We are back for the final stretch to start August, what could go wrong? With two weeks of rest, we’ll see what Feilhaber’s system looks like. I think we’ll see some preferred choices, like Julian Bravo and LWB and Ali Elmasnaouy in the middle. I’m curious to see how/where Faysal Bettache fits into the puzzle and if he’s a starter.
Roots, 2-nil.
Aaron
We don’t consider Colorado Springs a rival, and I guess they’re not, but also, should we, as fans, at least express more distaste for this franchise than we currently do? The issue is that we just never fucking beat these guys. Roots have lost 5 in a row against Colorado Springs. Their only win ever in this series was a 1-0 win in which Napo Matsoso assisted Johnny Rodriguez for the winning goal. The only other result the Roots have gotten is a 1-1 draw in which the Roots goal was an Ottar penalty. 4 points out of 24 on offer in this series. Like, what the hell?
Developing a random, almost certainly unreciprocated, disliking of a particular team just because your team can never seem to beat them is, to me, a load-bearing aspect of being a sports fan. The sweet, sweet joy of summiting that mountain is pretty much the best thing apart from winning a title. I don’t think Colorado Springs currently holds that place in Roots fandom, but I feel like they’re making a strong case.
Anyway, history suggests Colorado Springs will win, but it would be cool if they didn’t. 6-2 Roots.