The Legion seems to have spent the vast majority of this season on a mission to prove the validity of Jimmy Greaves’ infamous “game of two halves” quote. Last night’s contest with North Carolina FC was in some ways the latest stopping point on that quest.
The 1-1 final scoreline was, it has to be said, a little generous to the visitors. Their only goal—by JahLane Forbes in the 32nd minute—was the result of an unfortunate decision by Fernando Delgado to palm a ball away from goal. The ball was almost certainly going out of play but it fell to Forbes’ feet and he did not waste the gift.
Other than that North Carolina had just one shot on target, a weak long-range attempt by Rodrigo da Costa just a couple of minutes later. After that though…
…North Carolina did not have another shot at all until almost 8 minutes into second-half stoppage time, a long-distance desperation attempt by Pedro Dolabella trying to catch Delgado out of his goal. It was way wide and high.
So 5 of North Carolina’s 6 shots came in the first 35 minutes. Only three were from inside the 18.
That, obviously, sounds like a very good defensive performance, even against a team that is notoriously low on shots, as we noted in our preview. Take that one goalkeeping error out and the Legion wins the game.
That is true, but taking the first half in isolation the Legion did not deserve much out of this game. In attack, the Three Sparks were even poorer than North Carolina. They had just 3 shots, and none after 26 minutes. Only one was from inside the 18—a blocked shot by A.J. Paterson of all players. The 2 from outside were both on target, only Enzo Martinez’ wickedly curving attempt being a real threat.
The problem was that the Legion did not manage to solve the North Carolina 3-4 defensive shape. They got badly pinned down in their own half and spent a lot of time passing the ball horizontally and not finding any real way to get vertical. The heatmap shows this pretty clearly (Legion playing left to right):
Putting this to Mark Briggs he responded, “Yeah, I thought there’s a couple of moments where we could have played forward and we didn’t. Phanny had a few where Amir makes good runs in behind, into space, and we don’t play the ball. Stephen could have played Enzo and Pasher a couple of times into dangerous areas.”
He also recognized that this has been a season-long issue. “That’s what happens, right? When you’re in a run of form like we are, or when you’re having a season like we are. It takes courage to play there. It’s easier to play sideways or backwards, right?”
North Carolina’s first-half heatmap was pretty much the same. If anything, it was worse:
Additionally, they had just 3 touches inside the Legion 18 as compared with 5 at the other end. Not much attacking output by either side.
Put another way, that first half was a complete stalemate.
At halftime I described the showing as “uninspiring” on X and asked for the team to step it up in the second half. That description was intended to apply to the Legion but in all fairness it applied equally to North Carolina.
The second half was a whole other ballgame. Well, no, not literally. And not from North Carolina’s point of view. As noted, their attack was completely impotent after the break. In addition to only one shot they had zero touches in the Legion 18 and only 11 in the attacking third.
The Legion, in contrast, piled it on. Coming out of the break it was immediately clear that they were energized in a way they had not been in the first half. As a result they were encamped in the North Carolina end for most of the second half: 16 touches in the 18, 10 shots overall, 5 inside the 18. Only 1 shot was on target, but they made it count. Here’s the Legion heatmap for the second half (still playing left to right):
The North Carolina heatmap for the half was so backed up into their own end you would think they were playing a man down. The Three Sparks also got wide and deep all half, another big improvement over the first. Here’s the first-half crossing chart for both teams: (Legion crosses on the right):
Just 5 attempts between the two teams and only one (in green) getting to an attacker (Damus, who was called for a foul on the play). But in the second half:
A single attempt by North Carolina—not surprising given their complete lack of attack in the half—but the Three Sparks poured it on continually. Granted, a majority were unsuccessful, but that is the nature of crosses. But only one did not make it into the box. One barely made it in, and two went through it, but even so they were dangerous. Moreover, a good percentage made it into Semmle’s 6-yard box. And, as you can see from our header image, the Legion may have been screwed out of a penalty kick on one of them. That’s another season-long story, but not the issue here.
Anyway, that volume of crossing puts the defense under serious and unrelenting pressure. To their credit, they survived 50 minutes of the eventual 55 without conceding, but getting worn down that long will ultimately catch up to you and a mistake will happen. Indeed, Stephen Turnbull was credited with the goal but it is somewhat arguable that Ahmad Al-Qaq scored an own goal as his presumed blocking attempt merely deflected the ball into the net.
One more indication of how the two attacks contrasted: the Legion were credited with creating 11 scoring chances; North Carolina managed just 5.
Mark Briggs’ substitution plan got totally derailed when Sebastian Tregarthen had to be taken off after barely 5½ minutes of play. He was walking around the stadium with his arm in a sling after the game; his status is unknown but he’s a big loss if he can’t finish out the season. An intended attacking option was off the board and there were no other attacking players on the bench. Briggs rolled the dice. He brought Jake Rufe on for Seba and at the same time took Dawson McCartney out and put Erik Centeno in. Starting right back Amir Daley had already been replaced by midfielder Edwin Laszo and Stephen Turnbull, who started at centerback, moved over to his normal right back slot. But that changed after Seba’s injury. Erik Centeno took over at right back (Briggs described the position as a wingback rather than a fullback) and Turnbull went to left wingback. Out of position again.
But it turned out to be a brilliant move. Turnbull has in fact played centerback the past two games. Asked about that shift he said: “It’s alright, you know. Obviously, it’s different, you know, more time on the ball, bigger responsibilities defensively…but it’s good for me. I feel like it’s a position that, you know, I have no problem playing. And I think Mark trusts me to play there, which is big, because, you know, being one of the three centerbacks is an important role on this team.”
Erik Centeno was also very effective and key to the final result. After signing with the team in late May he immediately became the starter but his playing time has plummeted since. Just 11 appearances all season, just 8 minutes since the last game against North Carolina (also, by the way, the last win for the Legion) and only 2 minutes since July. He made the most of the 19 minutes he played Wednesday: perfect on 7 passes, 5 crosses delivered (2 finding a target), 2 chance creations and…the assist.
So, we went from uninspiring to wildly entertaining. That, or vice versa, has been the storyline for much of this season. It’s not done yet, although the playoff hopes are now on an even thinner line than before. There is one more game remaining in the regular season, The™ Miami FC on October 19th. More than likely it will be meaningless for both teams, so this game stands as an indication of what could have been in 2025.
