Know The Enemy: El Paso Locomotive

Sun Tzu

So here’s the thing about El Paso Locomotive: They’re really good. And they’re even better at home. Locomotive are 13-3-0 in El Paso this season, having scored 36 goals in those matches while surrendering 10. They are a thoroughly pedestrian 5-7-4 on the road, with only 20 goals for and 24 against. Unfortunately, Friday’s match will be in El Paso.

El Paso's seriously dope culture flag

Roots enter the match at 11-8-13, though that record is somewhat deceiving. They are 10-5-5 over the final 20 matches of the season. If they had gotten results at that pace from the beginning, they’d have 56 points, and be hosting Colorado Springs Switchbacks this coming weekend. At the same time, during that 20-match run, Roots are “only” 3-2-3 on the road, with 10 goals for and 11 against. Their only road win in the “non-Las Vegas Lights” category was the 4-3 barnburner against San Diego Loyal.

Locomotive play at a slightly faster tempo than Roots. Their general shape to start the season was a 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond. Over the course of the season that has morphed into a modern 4-3-3, though truth be told I think Locomotive’s attacking patterns have always resembled what you see from teams utilizing a 4-3-3 in European football. You don’t get some of the intricacies or nuance that you see from top-flight European teams; Locomotive are content simply to execute the basics at an incredibly high level. And I do mean “high level’: in the few matches I watched, it seemed like El Paso would do something (a pass, a combination, a run) of real quality every two to three minutes. Locomotive’s style will be familiar to you if you watch top European leagues, even those that don’t use Select soccer balls. If you want a comparator for context, I would offer Liverpool. Their attacking shape tends to look something like this:

For a few positions this also functions as my best guess as to who we are going to see on the pitch on Friday. Left Back Eder Borelli, a Mexican international who spent several seasons in Liga MX, mostly for Juarez, and whose father will have coached against Matias Fissore in the Argentine second division, poses a real threat from the left. With Locomotive in possession he has total freedom to get forward. He tends to hug the touchline, as does the right-sided midfielder. Locomotive appear to prefer Bryam Rebellon in that right-sided midfield role, but he picked up a head injury towards the end of the season and may not be available. Either Jose Aguinaga or Ricardo Zacarias may fill in that role.

Locomotive’s wingers, likely Dylan Mares (pronounced Mare-ez) and Lucho Solignac, love to buzz around the middle of the pitch, popping up in all sorts of unexpected spots. This movement has tons of gravity, and opponents tend to collapse to the middle to deal with the threat posed by these two. That leaves the fellows hugging the touchline wide open, both to serve as an outlet, and with time to pick out a cross into the box. Borelli in particular is very good at this.

I’ve marked two players as defensive mids. Anyone in this role has some freedom to get involved in the attack, but Locomotive typically leave two mids in deeper roles. The first protects the back line, and the second is often providing cover for Borelli as he advances. Locomotive have several players who can fill these roles. It looks like their preferred CDM #1 is Yuma, a 36-year-old Spanish international who began his professional career in Rayo Vallecano’s system, and began the American phase of his career with Rayo OKC, which means he’s played on the now-infamous checkerboard field. Yuma has been out for a while with a leg injury, however, so he’s unlikely to feature. His most likely replacement is Richie Ryan, a 36-year-old Irish international who began his career in Sunderland’s youth setup, where he crossed paths with Claudio Reyna, father of Gio Reyna, Stu Holden, possessor of American soccer’s reddest ass, and very likely English football’s two greatest Jordans, the Jordans Henderson and Pickford. But Ryan also picked up an injury during the season’s closing kick. He got 45 minutes in Locomotive’s final regular season match, but it’s unclear how fit he is. So we’ll see one if not both of Nick Ross and Chapa Herrera, who are very good footballers with less interesting (to me) playing histories. If we see Herrera, it will almost certainly be in the wider role.

Locomotive have five dangermen to choose from up front. I mentioned Mares and Solignac earlier. Solignac is Locomotive’s most prolific offensive player. Likely to feature in the central striker role (though he is also often utilized in a wide role) is Aaron Gomez, who combines speed with incredible body control. Locomotive can also rotate in Diego Luna, an 18-year-old from Sunnyvale who spent time in the Earthquakes’ academy and is probably best characterized as an attacking mid (he likes to create from a slightly deeper position), and Leandro Carrijo, a veteran of the Brazilian, Hong Kongese, and Mexican leagues, who often finishes games in that central role.

Locomotive have rotated their centerbacks a lot. This is partly due to injury, partly due to depth. (El Paso have both in spades.) Think of Locomotive as having 3 center backs. On the left, Borelli operates like a modern fullback (a la Trent Alexander-Arnold or Alphonso Davies). The right back does not; you can treat that position essentially as a third center back. In fact, while I am predicting Matt Bahner in that right back role, he has also featured in central defense, because Locomotive ask similar things of those two positions. Another name we’re likely to see along the backline is Macauley “Macca” King, who somewhat improbably has six goals on the season, a tally that would make him Oakland’s top scorer. Other options are Mechack (pronounced Me-shack) Jerome, who is preferred but is returning from injury, and whose fitness is likely in a bit of doubt, Cole Turner, and Andrew Fox.

As I said earlier, there is nothing particularly complicated about what El Paso do in attack. They tend not to play long out of the back. Typically, they try to funnel attacks through the defensive mids, whose first look is always out wide. In El Paso’s perfect world, you’d then get a little 1-2 between the wingback and either an advanced mid or a winger who has dropped back, followed by a cross into the box, where there will be at least 2 runners. El Paso will generally have two creative playmakers on the field at all times to orchestrate matters from the center of the park.

For Oakland to have any chance in this one, the centerbacks will need to deal with the seemingly constant crosses El Paso sends in, and the defensive mids will need to ensure that they don’t allow the Locomotive wingers to pull them out of position. Roots have run out 2 true defensive mids in Joseph Nane and Matias Fissore in the last 3 matches. Having watched a few Locomotive matches now, I wonder if that wasn’t at least in part preparation for this match. If those two can prevent service to the middle of the pitch, and help pin Locomotive’s attack to the touchline, Locomotive’s crosses become much less threatening. (Though don't get me wrong, El Paso’s service into the box from the wings is of the highest quality. There’s a goal in one of these crosses even if Oakland plays a perfect match.)

Locomotive prefer working down their left, through Eder Borelli, who will take up very advanced positions with regularity. This means that there is space to exploit on that side of the pitch. This may be Oakland’s most promising opening. I would venture to guess that a majority of Oakland’s most progressive actions have run down their right, through Memo Diaz, Jose Hernandez, and Chuy Enriquez/Johnny Rodriguez/Quincy Amarikwa. I doubt very much that El Paso is going to go away from what they do in order to shut this off. I think they will rely on their mids and left-sided central defenders to cut down Oakland’s movement in these areas. But these guys can be put on islands, and if Oakland’s passing is crisp enough they can get opportunities in front of goal.

In this buildup, for instance, which began on Switchbacks' right, Colorado Springs has managed to occupy both Eder Borelli and Chapa Herrera (who is furthest player wide in blue here), opening up space both in the middle of the pitch and for a runner in behind. This sequence would eventually result in a goal.

And here, Colorado Springs have managed to get essentially a 2-on-1 against the left sided centerback. None of the midfielders are in position to prevent the pass into the space between the centerback and the leftback, again stressing the defense. 

So Oakland will have space to operate. The tradeoff for Oakland, of course, is very similar: if they maraud forward down their right, they leave themselves exposed on the very side of the pitch that El Paso likes to attack. I think this is a chance you have to take, though, if you’re Roots. You’re not winning this game 1-0. Roots are probably going to need to bag at least 2 goals, so you’ve got to go for it.

Locomotive’s attack also can leave plenty of space in the middle of the pitch. Particularly when Borelli is high, the centerbacks tend to spread out. You’ve got to hit those channels quickly, but they will be there. Here's a blurry example from their recent match against OKC Energy. (My apologies for the quality, but I couldn't snag a clearer frame.) Borelli is actually not in the screen here (he's too far forward on the left), and you can see that if OKC (in green) were to corral the ball, they have good numbers at the back and space to work in.

Off the ball, El Paso will likely employ either a midfield diamond, or a 4-3-3. El Paso tends to keep their midfield very compact, shutting off the type of short, quick passes that Oakland frequently use to break midfield presses. El Paso forces you to use the wide areas to get the ball upfield.

Locomotive spend most of their time in possession, but off the ball are willing to sit back and absorb some pressure. They do not always press an opponent’s back line, often preferring instead to clog the midfield. Thus, they are occasionally vulnerable to accurate long balls from central defenders. We saw an inch-perfect 60-yarder from Kai Greene recently. More of that would be great. Even if we’re not talking 40- or 50-yard passes, 10- and 20-yard passes combined with good hold-up play are going to be critical here if Oakland wants to build anything up. Quincy has had that #9 role in the last few games, and he would seem to be the right guy for the job again here, as well, at least for the first 60.

Another option is simply to send it long and prepare to counter-press. That is, don’t worry if you lose the first or even second ball, but simply advance the ball 40 yards, and immediately close down on Locomotive possession in the midfield. As I said, Locomotive are not keen to play it over the top. So if you can successfully counter-press, you’ve got a decent shot at throttling the Locomotive attack. This is a high risk strategy, though, since Locomotive are so quick to string together really incisive 3- to 4-pass sequences. But it's also high-reward: From my perspective El Paso have, at times, been vulnerable to a little old fashioned gegenpressing. Whether Oakland elect to do this probably depends on fitness and game state.

The last thing to note about Locomotive is that they are a genuine threat on set pieces. This is where Macca King is making the bulk of his offensive contributions. Dylan Mares and Nick Ross both take free kicks and they are both really good at it. On the other hand, El Paso are not great at defending set pieces, though this is not necessarily a weakness Roots are positioned to exploit. I can think of 3 set piece goals this season that weren’t Wal Fall golazos--Max Ornstil’s banger against Galaxy II, Kai Greene’s goal off a corner against Tacoma, and Emrah Klimenta’s header against Sacramento. This is not exactly a track record of success, but a win might well require a set piece goal.

I think the key to this game for Oakland is defensive discipline. Perhaps the most shocking result of the season was LA Galaxy II’s 5-0 win over El Paso. Locomotive rotated heavily for that game, but still had a number of their big guns on the pitch. Los Dos were nevertheless able to find space in the midfield. Los Dos kept their shape defensively, slowing the game down and drawing Locomotive on to them without allowing El Paso to open seams in their defense. Quick transitions to offense opened up lots of opportunities for Galaxy II. Los Dos can counter at a speed Oakland can’t match, but the basic lessons still apply: Don’t let yourself get pulled out of position, limit the space El Paso can exploit, and there will be space in which to operate in attack.