Hartford Athletic hosts Colorado Springs Switchbacks at Trinity Health Stadium on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the USL Cup.
The Latics, who won the competition in 2025, are looking to take one more step towards defending that crown as they take on manager Brendan Burke’s former club. The winner of this fixture will take on either San Antonio FC or Louisville City, who will contest the other semifinal at Toyota Field, also on Tuesday night.
In Colorado Springs, Hartford have to take on one of the most dangerous attacks in the USL Championship, as Switchbacks have scored the fourth-most goals in the competition, led by a typically excellent season from Khori Bennett. Apart from an unsuccessful sojourn with Al-Nasr in Kuwait in the first six months of 2025, the Jamaican forward has been in excellent form since moving up to the Championship ahead of the 2024 season. That year, he tallied 14 goals for Las Vegas, and upon returning from Kuwait in 2025, he joined Sacramento, scoring 5 times in just 13 games. In 2026, he already has 13 goals in the Championship, including a brace in his most recent appearance against Loudoun.
It’s not all Bennett, though, as Jonas Fjeldberg, who Switchbacks just inked to an extension, has 9 goals in all competitions, and Adrien Pérez has chipped in six, to go along with four assists, so there will be plenty for Hartford’s defenders to be concerned about on Tuesday night. One particular area for awareness is from set pieces, where Switchbacks have been particularly effective, scoring nearly 40% of their goals across league and cup from those situations, the most of any team.
However they score them, there’s no doubt that there can be goals in this Colorado Springs side, although it can also be a little feast-or-famine, as they’ve scored three or more goals eight times so far this season in all competitions but also been shut out six times, and registered a single goal in six further games.
As for what that means for Hartford’s approach to this game, consider last Wednesday: it decided to go toe-to-toe with another great attack, as it took on Charleston Battery. For 25 minutes – through the first-half hydration break – it produced something of an end-to-end game, as the Latics were able to generate chances going forward, but were sliced open at the other end of the pitch. Things turned somewhat sourer following the resumption of play, as the hosts had the better of play from then until Nathan Messer was sent off at the hour mark.
It might suggest that even at something approaching full strength, Hartford are not quite on the same level as the top teams in the league... at least not yet. But the other side of Switchback’s game might lead Brendan Burke into the same approach again.
While they have a first-rate attack, they also sport a porous defense. Of the 16 teams currently in the playoff places across the Championship, only Louisville City have conceded more goals, and Switchbacks come into this game on the back of one of their worst defensive performances of the season, having conceded four goals to Loudoun United on Friday night.
Of particular note is the fact that Switchbacks are simply poor during the regular run of play, where only newcomers Sporting Jacksonville have conceded more goals. And things have been particularly calamitous in the center of their defense, where regulars Matt Mahoney and Talen Maples grade out as two of the worst center backs in the league, with Garven Metusala hardly much better. It’s a sharp contrast to Hartford, where Arturo Diz Pe continually grades out as one of the best center backs in the league and the Latics stout defense, backstopped by the exploits of Antony Siaha, may very well be the difference in this one.
And there could be drama too, as both teams have been finding late goals. Against Loudoun, Switchbacks scored twice in second-half stoppage time in a game that featured four goals after the 80th minute. They also recently scored twice in stoppage time to overcome Birmingham Legion as well in a game that also featured three goals after the 80th minute. And each of their last five league games has been decided by a goal scored later than the 70th minute, with their Cup quarterfinal against Spokane Velocity going to penalties as well.
Hartford’s late-game exploits are already familiar to fans: all five of the Latics’ most recent league games have been decided after the 70th minute, and three of the five have featured at least one goal in second-half stoppage time. With both teams currently specializing in late goals, all eyes will be on the last 20 minutes of this one, as no lead will feel safe until the final whistle blows.
With Hartford on a six-game unbeaten run in all competitions, and finally finding some goals for the first time this season – they have scored in each of those games, for a total of 13 goals – there’s reason to believe that they can go toe-to-toe with Switchbacks’ attack. A little more time to truly come together would have been beneficial for Hartford, but the game is here now, and it is in the best form it has been in for all of 2026. The Latics are unlikely to be at their fluid best from a season ago, but they’ve gutted out the results over the last six games, and another similar performance on Tuesday will take them one step closer to another Cup title.
