
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Back on the Protective Stadium pitch on Saturday, Birmingham Legion FC is in search of a needed paradigm shift. Going against the conventional wisdom that is embedded throughout all of sports, The Three Sparks ready for a tenth home game in the 2024 USL Championship campaign with three wins and one draw of the previous nine, amounting to just 10 of a possible 27 points.
Now firmly in the second half of the season and currently in a jumbled race for Eastern Conference playoff positioning, Legion FC looks to finally turn its home of horrors into a homefield advantage this weekend against Orange County SC.
“Our record at home is not acceptable right now,” said midfielder Dawson McCartney who has provided a goal and an assist in the last three matches since returning from injury.
“We need to make sure that (opposing teams) come in and are scared to play us at our home field. It’s three points or nothing.”
MATCH INFO
- Birmingham Legion FC (8W-8L-4D) vs Orange County SC (8W-9L-3D)
- USL Championship | Matchday 21
- Saturday, July 27 – 6:30 p.m. CT
- Protective Stadium – Birmingham, AL
- Watch: WABM My68 (Birmingham)
- Stream: ESPN+
With two straight matches in The Magic City on the docket, it poses a great opportunity for Legion FC, following a big draw at New Mexico United to push its away match points total to 18. That last time out, head coach Tom Soehn instituted a drastically different gameplan than has been seen from his squad this season with a more defensive-minded approach, featuring defender Ramiz Hamouda in the midfield and a gameplan that ceded the bulk of possession.
Despite that, Birmingham looked the more dangerous of the two sides with 11 more total shots than its opponents and four more on target.
“It was a 90-minute performance where we knew what to expect and knew what we were going to get out of our guys,” Soehn said of his squad’s most recent match. “It was a constant effort and consistency of play where our shape was good. More performances like that is what we look to build on for the last part of the season.”
Thus far, Legion FC actually is finding more success in front of goal at Protective Stadium than it is away from it with a +0.4 differential in average goals and +2.3 in average total shots. The difference comes on the defensive side with Birmingham allowing 1.8 goals per game at home, compared to just 1.1 away – and that would be even lower if now for the anomaly of the five goals allowed at Louisville City FC early in the season.
“We have the talent and quality to do it game in and game out, but it’s all about just staying more consistent,” defender and captain Phanuel Kavita said of translating its road success over. “It’s tough that we don’t have our best performances at home. We need showcase our fortitude and make sure that anytime we step out on our field, we should be striving for nothing short of victory.
“We haven’t given our fans enough these past few games at home, so we need to come out and find ways to win.”
Through nine home matches, only once has Legion FC posted a clean sheet with its 3-0 victory over San Antonio FC back on June 19. That comes in stark contrast to the four shutouts over 11 matches away from home. In fact, since that 5-0 defeat at Louisville, Birmingham has since had just one road match where it has given up multiple goals.
Soehn isn’t so sure that has as much to do with tactics as it does just with things becoming much more insular for the squad when it hits the road.
“Players just naturally seem more cohesive on the road because they are spending so much time together, whether it’s in on the plane, in the hotel or on the bus,” explained Soehn. “We have to try to figure out how to create that same mentality here. We have to lock in to giving that same 90-minute performance and if we do that, we’ll be fine.”
Like Birmingham, Orange County SC enters the weekend looking to change its fortunes. The club recently went through a coaching change with Morten Karlsen departing for Danish SuperLiga club Lyngby Boldklub on June 25 and assistant coach Paul Hardyman taking over in the interim. In its two matches away Irvine since the staff shakeup, Orange County has suffered a pair of 2-0 defeats to the Tampa Bay Rowdies and New Mexico United.
Goalkeeper Colin Shutler has been a man under fire this season. He currently ranks third among all USLC netminders with 59 saves, however Orange County SC is one of only five teams this season that has allowed opposing teams to log more than 100 shots this season, which could bode well for Legion FC on Saturday.
“You look at their away performances, they are going to sit in a little bit more, so we’re going to have to break that down,” the Birmingham coach said of the team’s upcoming opponents. “If you turn it over they’ll punish you, so we’re going to have to be good with the ball if we expect to come away with points.”
Follow Along
For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @bhmlegion on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as the Legion FC Match Center. A youth clinic will be held prior to the match, presented by Alabama Power. 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.