The El Paso Locomotive accomplished quite a bit in the just-completed USL Championship regular season.
They won the Mountain Division, racked up the third best record in the 31-team league, built confidence, earned a first-round home playoff game against the Oakland Roots Friday night.
El Paso is among the favorites to win the USL Championship title.
The way of American soccer, however, is that 32 games of excellence won’t matter if El Paso has a bad 90 minutes Friday. The playoffs are a second season, the one that matters, and it’s here.
“It's been a great season but none of it matters any more,” Locomotive coach Mark Lowry said.