Tonight (7:00pm, ESPN+) the Three Sparks will face off against Mark Briggs’ old team, Sacramento Republic, to start a double-game week, with the Oakland Roots coming to Proretive Saturday. Which will be 3 games in 8 days. Right after that the Legion gets a full week off before another stretch of 3 games in 8 days, this time two of them away. Tough schedule.
SacRep finds itself in a very similar situation to the Legion. Both teams sit in 10th in their conferences and both are working under new head coaches, although Sacramento have had Neill Collins at the helm since the start of the season. The Californians do have a rather better record in league play at 3-3-5. Both are perfect in the Jägermeister Cup.
Neither team is scoring too well. SacRep has bagged 15 goals in 11 games as compared with the Legion’s 14 in 12. 5 of Sacramento’s goals came in a shutout humiliation of the Las Vegas Lights (which came immediately before a 4-0 result over the same team in the Cup) though, so they have generally been finding it tough to hit the net. Their top scorers in league play are Russell Cicerone and Juan Sebastian Herrera, who have just 3 goals each. Both have been with the club since 2023 so they are not new considerations for Briggs.
Neill Collins is similarly not an unknown quantity. The Scotsman finished his playing career with 3 seasons at the Tampa Bay Rowdies. After retiring he almost immediately became head coach at the Rowdies and stayed until mid-2023 when he returned to the UK to manage Barnsley. Last year he was briefly head coach at Scottish side Raith Rovers before taking the Sacramento job last December. That alsomeans he is fairly familiar with the Legion although the team has changed a lot since he last encountered the Three Sparks.
Sacramento usually plays in a 3-4-2-1, which is much as when Briggs was running the team. Up top normally is Herrera with a rotating group of wingers supporting him, including Cicerone, Cristian Parano and a couple of others. In the most recent game, a 0-0 draw with San Antonio, that was changed slightly to a 3-4-1-2. Sacramento held just 38% possession in that game although play was stuck deep in San Antonio’s half. They got off just 7 shots with 3 on target.
Perhaps the true danger man on the Sacramento roster is wingback Jack Gurr. The Englishman should be familiar to Legion fans; he is a Georgia Gwinnett grad and played two years for Atlanta United 2. He has been a stalwart at Sacramento since 2022. This season he has two goals and 3 assists in all competitions and should not be ignored.
The back line is also very solid and likewise includes a recognizable face: the centerbacks are anchored by Freddy Kleemann who was on loan here at the Legion for two years although his activity was curtailed by an ACL injury in 2022. That back line sits in front of goalkeeper Danny Vitiello, who is one of the best in the USL Championship. He has 3 clean sheets in 11 games this year. However, he has only made 28 saves so far in league play, 12th overall, which means that back line does not allow too much penetration.
Mark Briggs had this to say about his opponent tonight: “Neill’s a good coach and there’s top players on that team, so I’m sure at some point it’ll click and come together, just hopefully not tomorrow night.” As regards playinhg with a 3-man back line again he was a bit cagey, saying, “We’ve gotta look at things and see of a three is right for us tomorrow. If a three isn’t right for us tomorrow or Saturday [against Oakland] or whenever. A lot of that is dictated by okayers you have available.”
On that point I asked if Dawson McCartney or Moses Mensah would be available, as either player would help out at the wingback spot. He completely agreed with that but apparently Dawson is a no-go tonight. Moses is match-fit and may be seen tonight or Saturday.
He also noted that Fernando Delgado was always planned to be the starter at Louisville despite what was released. Obviously it was a rough night for the youngster. He did get a Save of the Week nomination out of it though. He is leading the poll with 51% of the total vote right now, and rightly so; it was a great stop. If you haven’t voted yet, go and do so now. He could use the confidence boost after allowing 4 last weekend. He even went to Mark to apologize for his performance, who was having none of it. “He came into my office yesterday and we had a really good conversation. But, you know, Matt’s helping him, I’m helping him. We’ve all gotta help him develop and we’ve all got to get him to where we think he can get to, which is eventually being the number one keeper for Birmingham Legion.” Fernando is the youngest goalkeeper in the league (he’ll be 19 July 25th); the next youngest is Miami’s Felipe Rodriguez, who is a little over 2 years older. That’s quite an endorsement from his coach.
Briggs was in fact not too upset about the Louisville game. He did note that if two good early chances had been converted, especially Enzo’s shot, it would have been an entirely different game. That being said, the kind of mental lapses that result in 2 goals in 63 seconds cannot continue.
I also spoke with AJ Paterson about his return to the field. “It was amazing. We’ve been working so hard, had some setbacks…It’s been a long, long recovery, but just to get back on the field and put the jersey on, hear my name get called, it was an amazing feeling.” As for Phanuel Kavita having his regular partner back he said, “He got back right into yelling at me just like normal, so I think he felt great.”
As for moving to a 3-man line he said, “I love a 3. I played a 3 my first few years in Charleston; I felt comfortable playing in the middle or on the left side. I think it suits our personnel and I think we can really build off it and do some damage in the league.”
Prediction: Coming off a big loss can be hard. But coming off a big loss with almost no time to think about it is not quite as hard. Playing a team that your head coach knows intimately is even less hard. Overall, the squad seems to be focussed on moving forward and, most directly, getting 6 points at home this week. 3 of those should be a lot easier on Saturday; this first game will be another test. Sacramento needs the points just as badly but they are coming off a game against another tough opponent and have to travel to get here. I think this one ends in a close but important home victory.
