Legion FC Eyes Road Result at Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After having the last week and a half to stew on a tough loss its last time out, Birmingham Legion FC jumps back into the USL Championship fray as it gets set to embark on a three-match stretch over the next week. And there is no easing into the gauntlet with the Three Sparks hitting the road to take on first-place Louisville City FC on Saturday.

“We’re going against one of the best, if not the best, teams in the league, but it’s a game we’re excited for,” said Birmingham coach Mark Briggs. “We want to go in there and show what we can do and come out with a result.”

Legion FC is hungry to get back to those positive results after it recently saw its string of consecutive wins come to halt in a 1-0 defeat to Indy Eleven despite holding nearly 60% of the possession and outshooting its opponent 21-6. It was almost a complete antithesis of Birmingham’s match before in which it outlasted FC Tulsa, 2-1, in a USL Jagermeister Cup match despite a 27-8 discrepancy in shots.

“There were a lot of positives to be honest,” Briggs said of his squad’s last outing. “We created a number of chances, but we still have to figure out to convert those chances. If Ronaldo (Damus’) shot goes in off the post, then we probably go on to win, but that’s football and it didn’t go in, so we have to keep plugging away.”

Those shots will surely have to find a way to go in this weekend at Lynn Family Stadium, which has become quite the fortress for LCFC over the years, and 2025 has been no different. In seven homes matches against USL opponents this season, Louisville has posted six wins and a lone draw with a +12 goal differential.

Of all the teams that LCFC has faced throughout the current campaign, only Loudoun United FC has been able to find the back of the net more than once. That 2-1 result on May 31 in the Jagermeister Cup serves as Louisville’s only blemish thus far.

“They are a good team and they’ve made Lynn Family Stadium a difficult place to play,” said Briggs of Legion FC’s next opponent, who currently sit atop the USL-C East table with 28 points. “They’ve got a great coach and a great identity where the players have bought into that identity which has led to them getting results. That’s the culture that they’ve built and we’ve got to respect that, but we have to understand that we also have quality.”

Briggs and Louisville City coach Danny Cruz are no strangers to one another with Cruz playing under Briggs at Real Monarchs in 2017 and then serving on Briggs’ staff the following season. In fact, Cruz is the godfather of Briggs’ son.

“We’ll be friends before the match and after the match,” Briggs laughed. “But in those 90 minutes, we’re going to go after it and I’m sure go after each other a couple times.”

This will be Briggs’ first time meeting opposite Cruz as the Legion FC coach. Birmingham and Louisville though have met once this season already with the two sides playing to a 1-1 at Protective Stadium on March 16.

A goal in first half stoppage time from Ronaldo Damus nullified a Manny Perez 30th minute score. The draw snapped Legion FC’s two-match skid to LCFC, but now Birmingham is in search of its first victory over the side since 2-0 home victory on August 19, 2023.

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