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The Match
Date: Saturday, April 23
Time: 7:00 p.m. Sporting Time.
Location: Taft Stadium, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
How to Watch: YouTube
Swope Park Rangers (2-0-1)
The Rangers sit third in the Western Conference after their week off this past week. Most recently they went to San Antonio FC and, after an early goal, were on their back foot as they worked their way to a 1-1 draw.
While the attack did sputter on the road, it has been fruitful so far in 2016. The Rangers are led by Sporting Kansas City loanee Daniel Salloi, who has two goals and an assist on the young season. Kevin Oliveira has been a conductor of the attack and has one assist so far.
At the back, another Sporting KC man on loan, Jon Kempin, guards the goal for Swope Park. He has a 1.00 goals against average statistic this season as the Rangers have allowed one goal in each of their three games this season.
The Rangers will need to control the tempo more than they did against San Antonio FC if they want to pull out a road victory. However they may be content to sit back if they score another early goal.
Oklahoma City Energy FC (0-1-1)
Jimmy Nielsen's side is off to a bit of a poor start as they sit last in the Western Conference, but with only two matches played, there hasn't been a whole lot to dissect and that may be a reason for their low standing. They were supposed to play away to Vancouver Whitecaps II last weekend but a massive snowstorm over Colorado left OKC Energy unable to fly to Vancouver.
However, Energy FC return a team that finished second in the Western Conference in 2015 and went all the way to the Western Conference before bowing out to Los Angeles Galaxy II. They still have Danni König, who lit up USL last season with 21 goals, and defender Gareth Evans, who has been a rock in Energy FC's back line since the team's inaugural season 2014.
Swope Park has shown a weakness so far with the defense being caught too far up, which is what allowed Danny Garcia to equalize for San Antonio FC a couple of weeks ago. König is a forward that can really make the Rangers pay if the defense is caught too far up, so look for the offense to run through him in this match.