Week 23 Preview: all you need to know

The longest road trip of the season so far (Oakland will beat that later on) and a late kickoff to boot. How will this affect the Legion?

The most important part

Saturday (9:00pm, ESPN+) the Legion will face Monterey Bay for just the second time, having won 2-0 at home last year. Right now the Union is looking a bit stronger than that team, which finished 11th in the Western Conference. Currently they are 8th behind Orange County, but only on tiebreakers. They are being chased hard, though: Phoenix Rising is two points back and has a game in hand. FC Tulsa is also two points back but has three games in hand. Needless to say, both Monterey Bay and OC are feeling the heat.

The team is also in some flux. After losing 4-1 in Louisville late last month (a not unforeseeable result) head coach Frank Yallop was fired. He was replaced on an interim basis by Simon Dawkins, a former player who had been coaching the club’s pre-professional team. He led the Union to a 2-2 draw with the Tampa Bay Rowdies last weekend. Earlier this week the club announced the hiring of Jordan Stewart as full-time head coach. Stewart is from Birmingham, England, as it turns out. He is a former Premier League player, appearing for several clubs and also played for the San Jose Earthquakes in MLS. His coaching career has also been with the Quakes, starting just two years ago with their academy team and more recently as an assistant at their MLS Next Pro team (The Town FC). This will be his first head coaching job.

The Union is not exactly long on big stars. Indeed, they are thought to have one of the lowest-cost rosters in the Championship, which, given their proximity to super-expensive San Jose an San Francisco, is pretty telling. If anything, their best player is possibly goalkeeper Antony Siaha. He has a decent 5 clean sheets on the season. In terms of attack, the team has just 21 goals in 22 games. Fully a third of those were scored by Tristan Trager, who joined them this season from the Charleston Battery. He is obviously their main threat. Hugh Dixon (he goes by Alex mostly) and Mobi Fehr have 3 each; no one else has scored more than one. Trager and Dixon scored the goals last week against Tampa Bay.

As to how the team will look this weekend, it’s virtually impossible to tell given that they are playing for a brand-new coach. In Yallop’s last game and under Dawkins last week they came out in a 4-2-3-1. Unless Stewart really wants to upset the apple cart, he’ll likely stick with that formation until he has a chance to institute his own philosophy properly.

On the Legion side, yesterday’s signing of Rida Zouhir changes things up a bit, assuming he will be available. My guess is Jake Rufe will start and Rida will come on for him at some point. We shall see.

Prediction: Giving up 2 goals and 2 points late last week was less than optimal and the Three Sparks need to turn it around fast. Luckily, they are away against a Western team; they have not yet lost on the road out West and have allowed just 2 goals in 4 games. The Union are a team in transition; this one should be a Legion victory.

Best of the rest

There are games Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week and several of them have big implications for the Legion:

Rhode Island v. Hartford Athletic (Saturday, 6:30pm, ESPN+)

This might be hard to watch after what happened at home against both teams recently but the northeastern derby is significant. Rhode Island had a chance to catch the Legion on points Wednesday, but ended up losing 0-1 to Indy Eleven. They remain 3 points back of the Legion having played one additional game. Hartford is 11th but still well in contention for the playoffs and will desperately want to take points here. The Three Sparks need them to follow through.

El Paso Locomotive v. The™ Miami FC (Saturday, 8:00pm, ESPN+)

A little light relief. ‘Nuff said.

Louisville City v. Sacramento Republic (Saturday, 8:00pm, ESPN2)

Fresh off beating Western leaders New Mexico United 1-0 away, the Kentuckians now face the #2 team in the West. Lou City are of course burning through the entire league, but SacRep are 3 points behind New Mexico on one more game and will not want to drop points. This should be a good one.

Las Vegas Lights v. Detroit City (Saturday, 9:30pm, ESPN+)

Obviously this one will overlap the Legion game heavily, but you will need to keep an eye on it. LIke Rhode Island, Detroit blew a chance to catch the Legion Wednesday, drawing 0-0 in Pittsburgh. They are now 2 points behind the Three Sparks and are down to just one game in hand. However, they are on a 7-game winless streak. Las Vegas, in contrast, are on a 10-game unbeaten streak.

Indy Eleven v. New Mexico United (Sunday, 4:00pm, ESPN+)

Sunday’s only game and it’s a big one for the Legion. Wednesday’s win over Rhode Island kept the Eleven 3 points ahead of the Legion but used up their game in hand. A loss would therefore give the good guys a chance to catch up, but Indy will know that result from Saturday evening. New Mexico has lost two straight games and is looking vulnerable, but will want to keep some distance between themselves and the chasing SacRep.

Back in the Old Country

It finally gets real for the Blues as the EFL League One season is set to kick off this weekend. There have been no new incoming transfers this week; in the opposite direction the club has accepted a bid for Jordan James from French club Rennes although no details have been released. There are rumors that City is looking to buy Japanese forward Ayumu Yokoyama but again nothing is certain.

The Blues’ first game will be at home against Reading (Saturday, 11:30am, Paramount+). Reading are projected to finish mid-table and City is expected to be a top-two team, so the oddsmakers have this one heavily in Birmingham’s favor.

Additionally, CBS has released its EFL coverage schedule for the first two months of the season, and it’s good news. In addition to this week’s game, the Blues’ game at Exeter (Saturday, September 7, 9:00am, Paramount+ and CBSSN) and, predictably, the home game v. Wrexham (Monday, September 16, 2:00pm, Paramount+ and CBSSN) will also be aired. For those who want to know, all ten of Wrexham ‘s games will be available. CBSSN is included with most cable/streaming packages and if you don’t have a Paramount+ subscription (you should for USL coverage) it’s $5.99 a month and includes CBS Sports Golazo Network.