Memphis 901 FC began it’s stretch of three home games in eight days with a draw against the Colorado Springs Switchbacks. The Switchbacks came to AutoZone Park as the hottest team in the USL Championship, having won five straight games. They duly took the lead off a corner kick early on. But the Beale Street Boys came back and not only equalized, but put a ton of pressure on the Colorado Springs goal and forced a number of smart saves out of their goalkeeper. It finished 1-1, a fair result on the night. Now 901 FC gets set to host an expansion side, Rhode Island FC.
One of the themes of the offseason for Memphis 901 FC was acquiring high-quality players. The purpose of bringing in that type of player was to make sure the team was full of guys that wanted to be here and who would keep fighting for each other through the thick and thin. Saturday against Colorado Springs was perhaps one of the clearest examples of that so far this year. Despite going down a goal early, the Beale Street Boys kept battling and were able to equalize through Luiz Fernando. Following that equalizer, they were mostly dominant for the remainder of the first half. They also had the lion’s share of the chances in the second half and probably would have taken the lead but for a man mountain in the Colorado Springs goal.
Rhode Island is one of the two new teams in the USL Championship this season, the other being North Carolina FC (who had been in the league in years past). They might be down towards the bottom of the table in the Eastern Conference, but they haven’t been terrible either. They may have just one win on the season, but they also only have four losses. What they do have a lot of is draws, eight of them to be exact. They have managed to get those draws in a variety of ways. Four of them have been 0-0 games. One of them was a game where they equalized in stoppage time (against New Mexico United) and one of them was a game where they conceded in stoppage time (against Sacramento Republic).
When, Where
Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Venue: AutoZone Park
City: Memphis, Tennessee
Time: 7pm CT
TV: WMC 5.3, ESPN+
Tickets: Memphis 901 FC vs. Rhode Island FC tickets
All-Time Series
First Meeting
Conference Standing
Memphis 901 FC: 8th in West (17pts)
Rhode Island FC: 11th in East (11pts)
Next Game
Date: Saturday, June 15, 2024
Competition: USL Regular Season
Match-Up: Memphis 901 FC vs. New Mexico United
Venue: AutoZone Park
City: Memphis, Tennessee
Time: 7:30pm CT
TV: WMC 5.3, ESPN+