Riverhounds Notebook: Past playoffs nemesis James Chambers returns to Highmark Stadium as Head Coach of Colorado Springs

Photo courtesy Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC / USL Championship

After a crazy three matches in eight days stretch, the Riverhounds are back to a relatively normal week of training and preparation for their next match, this coming Saturday against Colorado Springs Switchbacks, at Highmark Stadium.

With 10 matches remaining, the Hounds are running out of time as they attempt to get over playoff line.

Here’s a look at the latest standings.

One of the biggest hurdles Hounds are dealing with is that they’re dealing with is that while they have 10 matches remaining, all of the teams they’re chasing still have games at hand (either 11 or 12 matches left).  Earlier this week, I joined Daniel Feuerstein for another live appearance on Feuerstein’s Fire episode on Blog Talk Radio to discuss the Riverhounds 2024 campaign, to discuss this and more about the Hounds’ season.

In last week’s Notebook, our projection for the Hounds (with 12 matches to go) to reach the playoffs they’ll have to finish somewhere around the 46-50 point range.   They’ve since picked up two points (0-0-2) and now have some serious work to do.   To meet our projected four points in two home matches vs San Antonio and Colorado Springs, they’ll need to take the full three points this week.

After Saturday, Pittsburgh goes on the road to face two teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference: Indy and Birmingham.

The opportunities will be there — but they’re running out of time.

Hounds’ Pat Hogan and Eric Dick earn Team of Week honors

Doing good work💪

Congratulations to Pat Hogan for landing a spot on the @USLChampionship Team of the Week, and to Eric Dick for earning a spot on the bench!🤩

Read more here: https://t.co/XAemcONUNe
#HOUNDTAHN pic.twitter.com/I7oljJlBzC

— Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (@RiverhoundsSC) August 13, 2024

James Chambers Returns to Highmark Stadium as Head Coach of Colorado Springs Switchbacks

On Saturday, when Colorado Springs Switchbacks SC come to Highmark Stadium, they’ll be led by their new Head Coach — none other than James Chambers, who, when he was a player with Bethlehem Steel FC (and later Philadelphia Union II), who proved to be quite a foil for the Hounds.

Chambers has been through his share of ups and downs this season with Colorado Springs, after a poor start to the season, they’ve been a pretty strong group, though they’re coming off a 4-1 loss to one of the teams the Hounds are chasing, North Carolina FC.  Look for a more detailed preview of the match to come later in the week.

As for Chambers’ history as a nuisance for the Hounds who proved to be a target of Pittsburgh soccer fans ire — just watch the beginning of the highlights from 2018 playoff match vs now defunct (in USLC) Bethlehem Steel FC — and you’ll pick up pretty quickly how much the Irishman enjoyed sticking it to the Hounds and the fans at Highmark Stadium. After scoring his penalty kick shootout opening goal — he deliberately turned to the Paul Child Stand, putting his finger on his lips to silence the fans.

Chambers served as the elder statesmen and captain for a very young squad, proved to a real pain over the course of the teams’ matches from 2016-18, but mainly in the only playoff win in Steel FC’s short-lived existence in USLC. In that match, Chambers hit the equalizer in extra time off a free kick, then taunted the Hounds fans not only after that goal, but after he scored the first goal in the penalty kick shootout.

Despite scoring a first half goal, Steel FC, with Chambers playing in the central midfield, would not budge and eventually found the equalizer in the second half that would send the match into extra time.

Again, the Riverhounds knocked home a go-ahead goal from Hugh Roberts in stoppage time.

Throughout the match, Chambers drew his share of ire from the Pittsburgh fans, namely the Steel Army.  However, as the intensity of the match grew into the extra time periods, the constant taunting only seemed to light a fire in the Irishman’s belly.

Only four minutes after Roberts’ goal, a foul near the top of the box gave Steel FC a free-kick, which Chambers took.

“I was confident of hitting the target, but just wanted to make sure there was enough power to beat the keeper,” said Chambers.

“Thankfully it went in.”

Chambers scored his equalizer in the 109^th minute of the match, making the score 2-2 and eventually securing a penalty-kick shootout. The 32-year-old Irishman knew how important his goal was to the team, stating that “Obviously it’s getting late in extra time, so I knew that was a big moment to get us to penalties.”

It was made even more special by his teammates. Chambers was able to celebrate with his teammates following the goal and helped keep their dreams of a playoff win alive.

“When we tied the game up and then it went to overtime they scored… you always want to believe but at the same time, you’re thinking in the back of your head the game’s over,” Center back Ben Ofeimu said later. “But Chambo comes up big for us. That’s a free kick that I probably won’t forget.”

When asked what it meant to him, Chambers noted that

“It was fantastic! It really was up there as a highlight for me since I’ve been with the Steel. Seeing the players’ and the staff’s reactions was amazing.”

Following a penalty-kick shootout in which Chambers converted his opportunity and the Steel won 8-7.

Today, Bethlehelm Steel FC no longer exist in the same name, though they continue ou as Philadelphia Union II, who compete in MLS Next Pro.

Chambers is part of a strong influence of coaches and soccer management personnel who made their way from the Union to the Switchbacks franchise — helping develop a winning culture.  First, it was Brendan Burke, who took over COSFC in 2019, then Burke was replaced by another former Union coach, Stephen Hogan.  When Hogan was promoted to Sporting Director this off season, it was Chambers, who had served as Assistant since 2021, when the Switchbacks made a run all the way to the USLC Western Conference Final.

“James had a phenomenal career as a player and I was lucky enough to work with him as he captained two playoff teams at Bethlehem Steel,” said Switchbacks FC Head Coach, Brendan Burke said after Chambers was hired by the franchise in 2021.

“I watched him lead, teach, and compete in a very intense way every day in training. The development of so many of our MLS and now European alumn in Philadelphia will surely share my sentiment that his addition will add a great deal of technical and experiential value to the individual progression of all of our players here in Colorado Springs.”

As Chambers has stepped into the role as Head Coach, he’s doing his part to keep the focus on taking this franchise to the top of the USL Championship.

“For us, three years in a row, we’ve been in the playoffs. We’ve been in the Western Conference Final. We were knocked out in the first round in ’21 and in ’23 and so for us, it has to be a championship. That’s what we’re looking to achieve,” Chambers said shortly after his promotion to Head Coach.

This season, Colorado Springs posts a 9w-9L-4D record, which is currently good for 6th place in the Western Conference.

The Hounds will once again be in desperation mode as every match is critical to their chances to return to the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

And once again, they now have to face someone who has been more than happy to ruin a Highmark Stadium party.

Look for a more detailed match preview to come on Friday or early Saturday.  PSN’s Colton Coreschi will also have on-site coverage of the match on Saturday.