After a hard-earned first road win of the season in Miami the Legion now moves on to Tulsa. Not only is that where Edwin Laszo came from just two weeks ago but Tulsa, like Miami, has the audacity to call itself the Magic City. Does this count as a three-team derby? Maybe, maybe not. We already have the best statue. Tulsa’s Golden Driller isn’t a god and wears pants. Weenie. Miami used to have a giant guitar statue at the Hard Rock but that was a Stratocaster. I hate Strats (Strat fan Eric Clapton is god though of course). The Seminole Casino hotel just up the road is shaped like a giant Les Paul though. An upgrade for sure and Les was even more a guitar god than Eric is.
What the hell am I blabbering about? Let’s get on to the week’s preview. We are back to the Jägermeister Cup and fun should abound.
The most important part
Going into Saturday’s game (7:30pm, ESPN+), the Legion has a lifetime record of 3-4-2 against FC Tulsa, although the losses date back a way. The most recent three games favor the Legion 2-0-1, with the one game last year at Protective Stadium ending 2-2. The two teams will play again later this season in the Championship: September 6th, again in Tulsa.
This year’s incarnation of the Flycatchers is a much-improved squad. They are currently 3rd in the Western Conference but missed a chance to move up to 2nd on Wednesday when they drew 1-1 in San Antonio in a very hard-fought game. They have never previously finished better than 7th in the West and 13th overall.
The promotion of Luke Spencer to head coach in the off-season probably has a fair amount to do with that. Spencer is a former Louisville City player who also spent time back in 2018 as part of City’s famed triumvirate of player-coaches (along with George Davis IV and Paolo DelPiccolo).
Spencer took to the roster with a chainsaw, retaining currently just 10 players from the 2024 squad (after the trade of Edwin Laszo to the Legion). Among those he kept just one forward, Stefan Stojanovic, and he has played in 9 of 17 games overall, averaging 63 minutes in those games with no goals or assists.
The current primary threat is 23-year-old Taylor Calheira, a US citizen of Brazilian descent. He spent last year with NYCFC II in MLS Next Pro, logging 16 goals and 6 assists in 29 games. Right now he has scored 9 goals and made 1 assist in 13 games. His 6 goals in league play put him tied for 5th. Clearly, he is extremely dangerous. Tulsa has scored 20 goals in all; no one else has more than 2.
The team plays mostly a 3-4-3 although they opted for a 4-2-3-1 against San Antonio. Calheira mostly plays as point man but also at right wing.
ONEOK Field is also a big home field advantage. It’s a baseball park (ugh). Google claims its soccer dimensions are 133′ x 105′ which is ridiculous Looking at tape it’s barely 59′ wide. That explains the 3-man back line, which will be hard to penetrate.
Mark Briggs noted that Tulsa is a “really difficult team. Very, very well set up. Very disciplined in their shape and they have a lot of good attacking pieces. Again, a difficult opposition in regards they’re going to be very direct. They’re going to get the ball forward. They have big bodies, so we’ve got to be prepared for second balls. We’ve got to be repared to fight in battle and then we’ve got to recognize moments to take the sting out of the game, keep the ball.”
So that sounds at least in part like a counter-attacking strategy. He also pointed out that Tulsa does generally rotate its starting XI much, so tiredness could be a factor after Wednesday.
Prediction: This is a difficult one. I think the Legion is on a high right now and is headed absolutely in the right direction. Tulsa is a difficult place to play but the team is familiar with it. The Three Sparks need to do what they have not been able to do yet in 2025 – keep a clean sheet. A tall order but if they can hold the Tulsa attack at bay they will come home with the W.
Best of the rest
Obviously there’s quite a long list of games to choose from this week. One Jäger Cup game has already been played (Monterey Bay beat Spokane Velocity 1-0 in a very close game) and there were three Championship games played Wednesday. In addition to the Tulsa game, San Antonio and Hartford Athletic gave up on defense in a 4-4 draw and Phoenix Rising beat the Las Vegas Lights 1-0 in another tight matchup.
It should also be noted that 5 teams (Monterey, Spokane, AV Alta, Indy Eleven and One Knoxville) have all played 2 games already and the Colorado Springs Switchbacks will be playing their first game this weekend. Of those 6 teams Indy and One Knox are not playing this weekend. That’s good because both teams are in Group 3 with the Legion and Indy has won both games outright so far with a hefty goal difference of +5. The Three Sparks can keep pace. It’s also bad because the Legion plays Indy this coming Wednesday.
There are a total of 6 all-Championship games this week, not including the Legion game. Those have no impact on league standings, of course, but there are some attractive matchups among them. Here are our recommendations (all games are Saturday and are on ESPN+):
Loudoun United v. Louisville City (5:00pm)
An easy call: #2 and #3 in the Eastern Conference, separated by just 1 point. These are two heavyweights this year and the matchup should be a good one.
The™ Miami FC v. FC Naples (6:30pm)
We know as much about Miami as we need to; they are clearly a good team. Naples impressed early in the season, stumbled a bit, but now look to be back on track, sitting in 2nd in League One. Bonfiglio (5th in USLC scoring) v. Henderlong (3rd in USL1 scoring).
Tampa Bay Rowdies v. South Georgia Tormenta (6:30pm)
The Rowdies couldn’t gin up a win last week against Lexington SC and are in dire shape. They blew a 3-0 lead over Miami in the Cup last time around and need points here. Tormenta, who have historically been a thorn in the Legion’s side, are also struggling in League One although they did beat Greenville Triumph 2-1 in the Cup.
AV Alta FC v. Oakland Roots (9:30pm)
The Roots are not doing well in either competition. They lost 1-2 to Spokane last time out. AV Alta is based in Lancaster, CA, near LA, so this is a long trip for them. They have already played 2 Championship teams in the Cup, losing both, so this could be a chance to get some points. They are a decent 7th in League One.
