El Paso Locomotive FC make the trip north to Colorado Springs on Saturday, June 6, to face the Switchbacks FC in a USL Championship contest that KOAA News 5 will carry live — giving the Sun City faithful a front-row seat to one of the more compelling regional rivalries in the Western Conference.
Road matches against Colorado Springs have never been casual affairs for Locomotive FC. The Switchbacks play with a physical intensity at Weidner Field that demands composure and tactical discipline from visiting sides, and El Paso's ability to weather that environment has historically served as a reliable barometer of how serious their season truly is.
For the El Paso soccer community, Saturday represents more than a box score. Locomotive FC has built something genuinely rare over the past several years — a club with a coherent identity, a passionate supporter base in the Chihuahuan Desert, and a front office that has consistently treated USL not as a waystation but as a destination. Every away match on a regional broadcast is an opportunity to extend that story to a wider audience.
The live broadcast on KOAA also signals something worth recognizing: El Paso's games draw enough regional interest that Colorado-based television wants to carry them. That is not an accident. Locomotive FC has earned that attention through sustained competitiveness, and the players on the pitch Saturday carry the weight of a fanbase that shows up — literally and emotionally — in numbers that most second-division clubs would envy.
Colorado Springs, for their part, enter Saturday as a legitimate challenge. The Switchbacks have the personnel and home advantage to make life difficult, and Locomotive will need to be sharp in transition and disciplined in their defensive shape to come away with anything from altitude.
Kickoff is Saturday, June 6. El Paso fans without access to KOAA News 5 should check the club's official channels for streaming options — because missing this one would be a shame.