BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It was a little bit of good and a little bit of bad last week for Birmingham Legion FC, who snapped a three-match skid on September 11 with a solid 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies, but then followed that up by letting a halftime lead slip away in a 4-2 defeat at Loudoun United FC three days later. With the duality of results, The Three Sparks experienced a rare holding pattern of sorts in a hectic postseason race.
Despite its most recent loss, results elsewhere in the USL Championship meant that Birmingham wasn’t penalized too much in the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings. However, this Sunday’s home matchup pits Legion FC against the only team throughout the entire league that has been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention in Miami FC, so the objective is clear: it’s three points or bust.
“We control our own destiny right now,” said Legion FC coach Tom Soehn. “We need to take care of our business and that’s really all we can focus on.”
MATCH INFO
- Birmingham Legion FC (11W-12L-5D; 38PTS) vs Miami FC (3W-23L-2D; 11PTS)
- USL Championship | Matchday 29
- Sunday, September 22 | 4:00 p.m. CT
- Protective Stadium | Birmingham, AL
- Watch: WABM My68 (Birmingham)
- Stream: ESPN+
Scheduled as the final kick-off for match week 29, the good news for Soehn and company is that there shouldn’t be much of a distraction in the way of scoreboard watching for the club, who currently sit in sixth place on 38 points with six matches in the 2024 regular season remaining.
A potential first round playoff match at Protective Stadium is still very much a possibility with Legion FC four points behind fourth place Detroit City FC. But a host of teams are also breathing down the side’s neck with both Rhode Island FC and Loudoun a mere point behind Birmingham to round out the top eight, while Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is below the cutline in ninth place at 35 points.
So as has often been the case for the past month, what the order of teams in the table looks like right now could be drastically different come Sunday’s final whistle.
“Everything is really close and everyone has a chance,” midfielder Enzo Martinez said. “The focus right now is to win as many games as we can so that we can host in the playoffs. It’s still there within our reach.”
Pushing for the playoffs is nothing new to a veteran like Martinez who has made the USL-C postseason in each of the last four seasons, including the past three with Legion FC. It’s also old hat for Soehn, who has been in battles like these for nearly four decades as both a player and coach.
The biggest thing, in his mind, to achieve success this time of year is making sure the group of players are fighting together as one.
“We’ve been talking a lot about being a better team and being better to each other,” Soehn explained. “I think that showed against Tampa and we came out with a really good energy against Loudoun, but I think we lost our legs towards the end, but everybody is in it together and that’s what we need to be in this stretch.”
It also helps that the Legion FC coach has been able to dress out a full matchday roster as of late, thanks to some key players regaining fitness. There was a stretch throughout July where, due to an extreme rash of injuries, Birmingham was only able to dress out four or five field players on its bench, making things difficult in the latter stages of matches.
That appears to no longer be the case now with the welcomed returns of forwards Tyler Pasher and Diba Nwegbo, who were immediately inserted back into the starting XI last week.
“It’s been a process,” said Nwegbo, who notched his first goal of the season last weekend against Loudoun in his second match back from an injury that cost him nine matches. “Part of you just wants to get back out there and be a part of it, so it was a tough journey back, but I’m just happy to be back out there.
“Me coming back now, hopefully I can add some more goals and assists up until the end of the season to help us get a home playoff spot.”
Nwegbo and the rest of the Legion FC attack should have a plethora of opportunities to find the back of the net this weekend against a Miami FC side that has really let things get away from it this season. Having earned just 11 points this season, the club has allowed 66 goals to the tune of a -41 goal differential – both of which are at the bottom of the USL-C.
Against Miami FC this season, opposing teams have averaged a league-best 6.4 shots on target per match, which has kept whoever has been in goal between Daniel Gagliardi and Khadim Ndiaye busy. The high volume of shots faced has seen both goalkeepers eclipse the 40-save plateau.
However, Birmingham isn’t assuming three points by any means. After all, it took a bit of a lucky break back in April for it to secure a 1-0 victory down on South Beach. With that in mind, Soehn is urging his squad to make sure that it does not overlook Sunday’s matchup because a slip-up could send its playoff aspirations into peril.
“They’re a team that’s out of the playoffs and has nothing to lose now,” he said of Miami FC. “They are all probably fighting for their jobs and sometimes that’s a dangerous animal, so we have to be at our best to make sure that we take care of business.”
Follow Along
For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @bhmlegion on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as the Legion FC Match Center.
