
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A lot has changed since the last time Birmingham Legion FC and Louisville City FC met on a soccer pitch. Even so, that 5-0 defeat Lynn Family Stadium back in March is still fresh in the minds of The Three Sparks and the club has aspirations of flipping the script this weekend on its home turf against the current USL Championship leaders.
“They took care of us really early in the season when we were a different team (then),” said Birmingham coach Tom Soehn. “We need to just let that go and focus on what’s at hand doing the things that we’ve been doing that have gotten us to this point.”
MATCH INFO
- Birmingham Legion FC (7W-5L-3D) vs Louisville City FC (11W-3L-2D)
- USL Championship | Matchday 16
- Saturday, June 29 – 6:30 p.m. CT
- Protective Stadium – Birmingham, Ala.
- Watch: WABM My68 (Birmingham)
- Stream: ESPN+
This point that Soehn is referring to is the current stretch that his club is on, having gone unbeaten in four of its previous five matches, and a victory over Louisville at Protective Stadium this weekend would mark the first three-match winning streak of the 2024 season.
It’s safe to say that the goal woes are officially in the rearview mirror for Legion FC, having outscored its opponents 8-3 in this recent run of form with the goals coming from all over the pitch and on different scenarios throughout the match. Lately, the calling card has been set piece goals, which was the driving force in Wednesday’s 2-1 comeback win over Detroit City FC with Phanuel Kavita and Derek Dodson both getting on the end of Tyler Pasher corner kicks.
Dodson still had yet to complete his loan move to Birmingham the last time Legion FC faced LouCity and he, in particular, is looking forward to the challenge on Saturday.
“It’s a confident group right now,” the defender said. “Going to Detroit and getting three points is not an easy task so I think that has set us up right for the weekend. Louisville historically is a great team and they’re flying right now in terms of goals scored and all that, so it’s going to be tough, but we’re looking to get three points at home.”
In addition to personnel tweaks, Birmingham will also be showing a different lineup shape, a more sound defense and, most importantly, a different mentality compared to that first meeting.
“We’ve really focused on shoring things up,” Soehn explained. “That’s really shown over the last few games because we’re not leaking a ton of chances. They have a lot of weapons that we’ll have to take care of, but they have their vulnerabilities and if continue to shore things up, we should be able to capitalize on some of those.”
Dating back to that five-goal outburst early in the season, Louisville City has only grown from that performance to establish itself as the most ruthless offensive team in the USLC. Led by 10 goals from Wilson Harris along with five from Ray Serrano, the club tops the league with 42 total goals through 16 matches – an impressive 14 ahead of the Tampa Bay Rowdies in second place with 28.
“The biggest thing is that we all play together,” said forward Enzo Martinez on combatting the Louisville attack. “We need to hold our shape like we have been doing lately and make it very difficult for them to break us down.”
That stranglehold on the league lead is easy to understand considering it is also first in total shots (266) and conversion rate (22%). Throw in that the defense has posted seven clean sheets for a plus-22 goal differential and it makes for the perfect recipe for a dominant season.
However, of Louisville City’s three losses in 2024, two of them have occurred within the last weeks – 1-0 to Tampa Bay on June 15 and most recently a shocking 5-2 home loss to Rhode Island FC on June 22. Legion FC will look to add on to that downward trend on Saturday.
“We have to keep our emotions in check,” said captain Phanuel Kavita. “You look at great teams across all different sports and they all have in common that they never get too high or never get too low regardless of recent results or how the season is going. We know how good Louisville is and we’ll be ready to take on that challenge.”
Follow Along
For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @bhmlegion on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. A special youth clinic will be held prior to the match. Registration will be from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. CT with the hour-long clinic to take place immediately afterwards. Open to ages 5-16, the clinic is free with the purchase of a ticket to Saturday’s match. Buy tickets HERE.