After years of being the USL League One’s most western outpost, FC Tucson has some new rivals.
This season, League One added a second and third western teams in Central Valley Fuego FC in Fresno, California, and the Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC, who play in Windsor, Colorado. In 2023 the league is set to add another West team in Spokane, Washington. Lexington, Kentucky, will also join next season.
“I’m super happy to have Colorado in the league, I’m super happy to have Fresno, I’ll be thrilled when Spokane gets their team as well and we want the league to expand, it’s fun to play different teams,” said FC Tucson head coach Jon Pearlman. “Obviously what you don’t want is to play a team four times, I mean it’s easier to get motivated when you play teams once or twice and then they don’t see you all the time.”
USL League One launched in 2019 with FC Tucson as a charter member.
Last season, according to airmilescalculator.com, every one of FC Tucson’s league rivals were over 1,000 miles away except for the Arlington-based North Texas SC. But they moved to MLS NEXT Pro along with the other MLS affiliated teams.
The USL Championship has 10 teams west of Texas and USL League 2 has 20.
“I would love for the league to expand and create a bit more teams in the West,” said FC Tucson defender Luca Mastrantonio. “It would make it easier for us on the traveling side because it’s not something to overlook, it’s really important traveling and being so many hours on the plane and just on the bus, it makes a difference.”
FC Tucson plays Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (4-5-4) for the first time on Saturday at Kino North Stadium. The Men in Black drew 0-0 with Central Valley Fuego FC in their first matchup on June 18 on the road..
The Hailstorm are in 10th place and FC Tucson (3-7-3) is 11th, out of 11 teams.
“We are waiting for one game to turn our season and I think this is gonna be the weekend,” Mastrantonio said.
Saturday’s game won’t be easy. In the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the Hailstorm upset the Colorado Springs Switchbacks from the USL Championship and then Real Salt Lake of the MLS, both on the road. The Colorado Springs upset was in the team’s first competitive match and came when it was a man down for over an hour.
As they wait for their stadium, Northern Colorado has had to play in different sites for their “home” matches, and first played home matches in June.
“They’re getting used to the travel, unfortunately for them they’ve had to move their home venue a lot of times “(Northern Colorado head coach) Éamon’s (Zayed) put together a good squad, they’re desperate for these points as well so there’s going to be a lot of desperate moments in this game.”
Corner kicks
- Pearlman said FC Tucson forward/defender Donny Toia is ready to start. Toia, who played for four MLS sides, has appeared in two matches for FC Tucson since rejoining the team, scoring a goal on Sunday in the draw with Greenville.
- On Thursday, FC Tucson announced a loan deal with the Seattle Sounders to bring defender Eric Kinzner to the Old Pueblo for the rest of the season. Kinzner comes from the Tacoma Defiance, the Sounders’ affiliated in the MLS NEXT Pro. The Seattle native has made 26 starts in 28 appearances for Tacoma and scored a couple goals. The 19-year-old has played for the U.S. National Teams at the U-15, U-16 and U-17 levels. He will be available to play Saturday.
