You might be reluctant to bet on a club that’s never won an Open Cup game before this year.
Then again maybe not, given how dramatic a turn-around we’re seeing from previous years’ failures. In this 110th edition of the Open Cup, El Paso Locomotive have won three matches (three more than they ever have before), installed a former Open Cup Champion to lead the way from the technical area and are set to face off against fellow Texans, Austin FC of Major League Soccer, on Wednesday (LIVE on Paramount+).
Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera, the former Colombia national team player brought in last year mid-season, has reshaped the Locomotive roster and reformulated the attacking approach to deliver goals and, more importantly, wins. The results are showing up on the USL Championship table and in the U.S. Open Cup win column too.
“We’re improving and growing as a team,” said Cabrera, who lined up in the 1998 World Cup with Colombia and was a long-time Youth National Team coach with U.S. Soccer, when asked about how he felt about his squad this season. “We brought in 15 new players and it takes time to click together. We’re trying to figure out the best formation and lineup still.”
He continued this thought by pointing out that when he arrived at the club, the locker room was full of individuals that weren’t playing as a team and that problem was his primary focus. While the roster may still be a work in progress, the Locos are now in fifth place in the USL Championship Western Conference standings – quite an improvement from the dead-last finish they managed last year.
John Morrisey, a prominent USL analyst, highlighted Cabrera’s roster changes as a prime reason for the better play this season. “Last season, the Locomotive absolutely couldn’t find a balance between letting their wide players push forward in attack while still maintaining a defensive structure,” he said. “But adding players as good as Gabi Torres and Memo Diaz has changed that.
“It hasn’t been perfect, but they’re very responsible in transitional moments and have generally done well to protect players like Palmero Ortiz and Wahab Ackwei at the outside spots of the central defensive group,” Morrisey went on.
Cabrera went much further in his praise of his new-look roster. “Torres and Memo are important, but I wouldn’t leave it with them.” Then the coach rattled off a list of players, when they joined the team during the rebuild and how they are now making a difference. “I think we’ve been fortunate to add players with quality and mentality.”
The importance of Cabrera’s work on the roster is especially obvious when playing mid-week Open Cup matches and an already-busy USL Championship schedule.
“It is critical to manage your roster,” said the experienced coach, now 57. “You try to do your best, because you want to go far in the U.S. Open Cup. It’s so important to have a balanced roster, you know that the players won’t drop the level and continue to get results.”
This week will be especially challenging for the Locomotive. New Mexico United pay a visit to Southwest University Park in their biggest rivalry match of the season, The Derby del Camino Real, on the weekend (a rematch of the U.S. Open Cup Third Round game played last month and won by the Locos). The next weekend, El Paso go on the road to face FC Tulsa. Finding the right roster to beat an MLS (Division I) side on Wednesday in Cup play might be a big ask, but Cabrera brings a wealth of experience, including hoisting the Open Cup trophy in 2018 while coaching Houston Dynamo.
Cabrera knows how to win the Open Cup, but the question remains if his Locomotive has a deep enough roster to get it done. Austin FC will be ready for the USL Championship (Division II) visitors, but Cabrera is confident that his players will be fired up.
“It’s going to be more challenging, more difficult, but it will also be a great motivation. We get to prove what level we are against an MLS team.” The outstanding wide man Memo Diaz, formerly of Oakland Roots, mirrored his coach’s sentiments when asked about the challenge. “We all dream to play at the highest level and for some this is the closest we’ll get.”
Regardless of the result against a stacked MLS side like Austin FC, El Paso Locomotive are just in the first, tentative steps of a massive rebuild. Cabrera has orchestrated a huge reshuffling of the roster and added a pile of new cards to his deck. Now he’s in the process of finding the right order to play them.
That might not mean a U.S. Open Cup trophy is the next stop, but the Locomotive are on the right track and chugging right along.
Dan Vaughn is a veteran soccer journalist and the founder and editor of Protagonist Soccer. Follow him at@TheDanVaughn on X/Twitter.