Schedule Now Includes Five Matches Across Three States Against USL Championship and MLS Next Pro Opponents
With the 2022 USL Championship regular season starting in mid-March, FC Tulsa has its 2022 preseason schedule set. The club will journey across three states including a week in Arizona, a week in Texas, and then it will host its final preseason match back home in Tulsa. Five matches have been finalized, including three USL Championship opponents that made the playoffs in 2021 and two MLS Next Pro clubs ahead of the newly established league’s inaugural season. FC Tulsa’s full preseason schedule can be found below.
Thursday, February 17 – Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC vs. FC Tulsa, 5 p.m. CT – Tucson, Ariz.
Sunday, February 20 – Oakland Roots vs FC Tulsa, 11:30 a.m. CT – Tucson, Ariz.
Saturday, February 26 – San Antonio FC vs FC Tulsa, 1 p.m. CT – San Antonio, Texas
Monday, February 28 – Houston Dynamo 2 vs FC Tulsa, 11 a.m. CT – Houston, Texas
Saturday, March 5 – FC Tulsa vs Sporting KC II, 2 p.m. CT – Tulsa, Okla.
“This preseason will be slightly shorter than ones we’ve had in the past,” said FC Tulsa head coach Michael Nsien. “However, the quality of our opponents will force us to analyze our squad comprehensively. We go into preseason with the feeling we have improved our squad and it will be time for us to challenge the players as well as give them an opportunity to build chemistry. We will build a good base of fitness and give clarity to our playing philosophy.”
FC Tulsa will kick off preseason play with two matches in Tucson, Arizona. Its first match of 2022 will be against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC from the Western Conference, a club that finished third in the Mountain Division a season ago and made the playoffs. Boasting one of the league’s top offenses last season, Switchbacks FC finished top-five in goals scored, led by the 2021 Golden Boot winner Hadji Barry. The matchup will mark the first of two meetings between FC Tulsa and Switchbacks FC, the second of which will be played at ONEOK Field on April 23 in regular season competition.
FC Tulsa will turn around three days later and play Oakland Roots SC in the 2022 Desert Showcase presented by Visit Tucson. Oakland is coming off its inaugural season that saw the Western Conference expansion franchise make the Playoffs, and it will be the first time FC Tulsa matches up with Oakland in its history.
After its two matches in Arizona, a trek to Texas is in store for FC Tulsa as it heads to the Alamo City to take on San Antonio FC. San Antonio FC is another playoff club from last season that FC Tulsa last matched up against in October of 2021. The match was a nail biter, finishing 1-1 with Tulsa’s goal coming from the boot of Rodrigo da Costa in the 27’ minute. This matchup is open to the public, so fans of the clubs can make the trip out to Toyota Field and soak in some soccer under the Texas sun. After an afternoon in San Antonio, FC Tulsa will travel 197 miles west on I-10 to take on Houston Dynamo 2 ahead of Dynamo 2’s inaugural MLS Pro Next season, a new third-division league on the American soccer pyramid
The preseason will draw to a close in early March as FC Tulsa hosts Sporting KC II at Titan Sports Complex in Tulsa in what has become an annual preseason bout between two clubs that know each other well. The two have battled five times in USL Championship regular season play over the past two seasons, but this match will mark the first time they have played as interleague opponents as Sporting KC II moved from the USL Championship and joined MLS Pro Next in the offseason this past offseason. It will mark the first time FC Tulsa’s new midfield addition, Petar Čuić, matches up against his former Kansas City club where he spent the previous two seasons.
