There are now just two games left in the season for the Legion before the long cold winter until the 2026 season. The final home game is upon us this weekend and it pits the two bottom teams in the East.
The most important part
The Legion and The™ Miami FC are split by 3 points, the difference being the Legion’s 2-1 win at Pitbull Stadium back in May. The Legion can still finish as high as 9th; Miami can only make it to 11th. Obviously, there is some pride still to be had for both teams in closing out the season in good form.
As to that, Miami and the Legion are both coming off 2 good games. Miami lost 0-1 in Louisville last week, but it was an extremely close affair and they held Lou City off until very late and nearly equalized in second-half stoppage time. Before that they looked very good beating the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 3-1. The Legion’s last 2 games you should already know about. Sundays’ game (4:00pm, ESPN+) could well be an entertaining contest.
The win over Pittsburgh was Miami’s first since mid-June, a run of 16 games in all competitions. That’s even worse than the 10-game run (11 in league play) the Three Sparks just broke. They also scored just 10 goals in that run and their 25 goals in the Championship are barely better than Las Vegas’ paltry 21. And yet, they have a player in the running for the Golden Boot. Francisco Bonfiglio is just 3 goals off current leader Cal Jennings’ 16. However, he has turned stone cold of late and hasn’t scored since August, a run of 6 games without finding the net. The team as a whole has only scored in that win over Pittsburgh in that same stretch as well. None of that is good, obviously.
The team is managed by Argentinian Gaston Maddoni. He has, to say the least, modeled the team after his own style. To that end he has 11 Argentinians on the roster; there are just 11 Americans in the squad. I did ask Mark Briggs if he was planning to have as many Spanish speakers on the field as possible; he just laughed.
Beyond that, Miami is a difficult team to pin down stylistically. Against the Three Sparks back in May they played a 4-4-2. They also used that in last week’s game with Louisville, but leading up to that they used a 3-4-2-1, a 4-2-3-1 twice and a 5-3-2. 4 different formations in the past 5 games. I aksed Mark Briggs how that affects the Legion’s preparation: “We do like individual line meetings. So we’ve tried to [tell the] guys ‘You may see this, you may see this, you may see this.’ We tried to, you know, as best describe them as we possibly can, so the payers are comfortable with whatever they face. But there’s a lot of rotations, there’s a lot of movements, there’s a lot of different systems. We’ve just got to prepare the guys for what they might see but also focus on who we want to be Sunday.”
As far as who the guys will actually be there are a few players with injuries. Tyler Pasher’s hamstring has apparently been acting up again, Sebastian Tregarthen in fact broke his arm badly against North Carolina and Sam Shashoua is dealing with a heel issue still. Sebastian Saucedo could be back (he looked fine in training Friday). Kameron Lacey will likely be out, as will Moses Mensah. Nothing really new on that front.
Prediction: If nothing else, this should be an entertaining game for the season home finale. Briggs noted that this week and next week are a chance to move forward and go into next year. Last year the team finished with its biggest result of the entire season, 5-0 over the Oakland Roots. I don’t expect a blowout like that but I do think the Three Sparks will show up for their fans and get the dub.
Best of the rest
3 more teams – all in the West – joined the ranks of those taking an early vacation this past week, leaving only 3 teams with a hope of making the postseason. Significantly, with Orange County beating San Antonio 1-0 in midweek the Colorado Springs Switchbacks dropped out of the playoff spots. The reigning champions have failed to make the playoffs the following year twice since the Championship gained Division II status: the Real Monarchs in 2020 and Orange County in 2022. Louisville City has locked in the Players’ Shield. Also in the East the Charleston Battery cannot move up or down from 2nd. FC Tulsa has won the West. There’s still a lot to fight over yet.
There are games all 3 days this weekend; here are our picks (note: we originally selected Friday evening’s Lexington v. Sacramento game but were not able to publish this yesterday. It turns out that was a great pick, so if you missed it at least check out the highlights!):
Charleston Battery v. Detroit City (Saturday, 5:00pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network). Speaking of the Battery, with no chance of moving out of 2nd in the East, the only thing they have left to play for is home field advantage in a potential championship game. They need 2 points (or Tulsa to drop points) to do that. If so, they could rest players next weekend. Detroit, for their part, have slid down to 8th and need to bolster their 3-point edge over Indy Eleven.
North Carolina FC v. Rhode Island FC (Saturday, 6:00pm, ESPN+). A win will solidify the Eastern Conference champions return to the playoffs in their second year. They have scored 8 unanswered goals in the past 2 games and are on a roll. North Carolina for their part have given up 4 unanswered goals in the past 2 games and need to right the ship. Anything could happen in this one.
El Paso Locomotive v. FC Tulsa (Saturday, 8:00pm, ESPN+). The Locomotive are always fun for a big score and will be looking to keep their hands on the last home playoff spot in the West. Tulsa, as noted above, will probably want to stay ahead of the Battery and are for sure a difficult out.
Phoenix Rising v. San Antonio FC (Saturday, 9:00pm, ESPN+). This one features #6 and #5 respectively in the West. For that reason alone it should be a good matchup. There is only 1 point separating them and San Antonio is tied with Lexington for the league’s worst losing streak. The Rising will definitely be looking to switch places with the Texans.
