Legion FC Faces “Massive” Home Clash with Hartford Athletic

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After an emotional and physical rollercoaster of a match last weekend in the Phoenix, Arizona heat, Birmingham Legion FC knew that it wouldn’t have much time to rest, even with a week in between matches. With 12 matches left on its USL Championship docket and still a lot to be decided in the standings, the Three Sparks get set to host Hartford Athletic on Saturday with a full grasp on what’s at stake.

“This is a massive game, it’s our season, that’s how big it is,” said Legion FC coach Mark Briggs. “There’s no excuses now, we’ve got to turn up and do our job. This could be a six-point swing.”

While the draw against Phoenix Rising FC last time out saw Legion FC jump up to eighth place in the Eastern Conference table, midweek results from around the USL-C currently has the squad down to 10th place. Pending results on the weekend, Birmingham could find itself as high as sixth place and as low as 12th.

That volatility in the standings is likely to be the case for the foreseeable future with the 10 teams from third to last place separated by 10 points. The East being so crammed together is why there is such a sense of urgency for Legion FC as it takes on a Hartford side that has an identical 19 points, but is ahead on goal differential and has the head-to-head tiebreaker via a 1-0 win in Connecticut back in April.

“We need to start winning,” said Briggs. “I want to win for the club, for Birmingham and for the fans. The players should feel the same, but they also need to have an internal motivation and understand just how important this Hartford game is.”

And that motivation can manifest itself in closing out matches, something that Birmingham was unable to do against Phoenix. Just minutes away from a valuable three points on the road, a 90th minute equalizer from Rising FC spoiled the party. It was the third time in the past four matches that Birmingham had allowed goal in the final 20 minutes.

But on the flipside, the squad showed its mettle in being able to overcome an early 2-0 deficit with three consecutive goals. It now looks to build on that momentum, while eradicating the late goal woes.

“It shows that we are persistent,” explained Sebastian Tregarthen who scored a goal and was heavily involved in the other two against Phoenix. “We were away and the heat was very tough, but we showed that we could fight through it and come back. It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to hold on for the win, but I think we just need to clear our minds and focus on the positives going forward.”

Legion FC’s upcoming opponent certainly has a lot of positives to focus on. Since the beginning of the 2025 campaign, Hartford exclusively spent the first four months of the season at or near the bottom of the table with its early-season win over Birmingham its only USL-C victory through June.

When July came along, the club flipped things on its head with just one defeat in its last six league matches and is currently on a three-match unbeaten following a 1-0 win against Miami FC on Wednesday. Led by reigning USL-C Player of the Week Mamadou Dieng with seven goals, the Athletic are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the league.

“They’ve had a lot of injuries this year, but are just starting to get healthy and you’re now seeing their quality,” Briggs said of Hartford. “They have good experience and know how to get points in big moments, so it’s no surprise that they are doing well in the back half of the season.”

So with a tough task in front of it and well aware of what is at stake, the ball is firmly in Legion FC’s court. The club preps to get back on the Protective Stadium pitch, with just one defeat in its last five league outings, but understands that more wins need to keep coming.

“We just need to start from the beginning,” Tregarthen noted. “We can’t wait to react to other teams scoring goals. We have good players on this team and we know we can succeed.”

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