BACK IN ACTION
United resumes play today in Colorado Springs
It’s been a while. March 7, to be exact, was the last time New Mexico United took the pitch and March 14 was the last time a team sporting event (state high school basketball championships) took place in New Mexico, and even that one was without fans in attendance.
But Saturday night in Colorado
Springs, New Mexico United — the state’s secondyear USL Championship professional soccer club — returns to action in a 2020 season reboot against the Switchbacks to start an abbreviated 15-game push toward a postseason.
That means the team, according to coach Troy Lesesne, has to be as focused as ever.
“When you look at it, it’s going to be a sprint,” Lesesne said. “You don’t have 34 games to prepare for. There’s 15 games now if it’s a 16- game season and we’ve already played one (United’s March 7 loss at Austin), there’s 15 games in front of us in a condensed window of time. So before five matches in and you don’t have a great record, it could go the other way quickly.”
While the USL is restarting with a format of eight small, geographically arranged groups instead of two large conferences, there remains uncertainty off the pitch for United.
New Mexico’s public health order during the pandemic appears certain now to prevent the ability to play home matches in the state this season, after the team appeared
headed toward a deal to play matches at UNM. There is still no signed contract for that to happen despite it being announced last week.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s executive order putting in a 14-day mandatory quarantine for anyone entering the state means opposing USL teams can’t play in New Mexico anyway. For United, it means relocation out of state for training and “home” games is expected, though the team has not responded specifically to requests for comment on that.
“United is currently in a quarantine bubble,” team majority owner Peter Trevisani said when asked if the team will relocate, or even possibly stay on the road with its next two matches July 15 and 24 in El Paso. “We are following league protocols and state protocols. We expect to have more details soon.”
Thursday, Lujan Grisham’s Office said United matches in the state would be “unlikely” this season and also told the Journal earlier this week that United will be required to quarantine like everyone else — a process that would prohibit practicing between matches.
As for possibly relocating or having to play matches in another state?
“I suppose we’ll all cross that bridge when we come to it,” said Nora Meyers Sackett, the governor’s Press Secretary. “That’s been part of the state’s ongoing conversations with United.”
For now, for Saturday, there’s a game to be played and at a time everyone could use the welcome distraction of sports.
“We feel a tremendous responsibility as a club always, through our results, to make sure that we provide hope and instill hope in the community,” Lesesne said. “… As a club, we want to be an agent of positive change. We say that all the time. So both on the field and off the field, and I think we can still serve that purpose as a club. And certainly one of those ways is through positive results on the field.”
AIR IT OUT: United plays again Saturday. And in case you hadn’t heard that, 101.7 FM ESPN Radio will try to remind you of that on Saturday.
The local radio station, which is contracted to broadcast all United matches and will do so for now remotely with Adam Diehl and Andy Hageman calling the game off the ESPN-plus video stream, has scheduled for Saturday seven hours — SEVEN HOURS — of United content.