The Legion has had 10 days to prepare for this weekend after two home games over just 4½ days. The team is looking far more dynamic than the last few seasons. They now go on the road for the first time in 2026, and it’s yet another big early test.
The most important part
The Charleston Battery are a perennial contender for the Eastern Conference crown. They got off to a good start in Week 1, beating the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 2-1 at home in a fairly dominant performance. They were off last weekend but played in the US Open Cup on Wednesday. Again at home, they were up against the Florida Badgers from Boynton Beach, who joined the UPSL just last year.
They did not have the game entirely their way. Ultimately winning 2-1, the Battery needed a goal a whopping 12 minutes into second-half stoppage time to advance. Add 2 minutes of first-half stoppage time and the game lasted a total of 114 minutes. The Battery started only 5 players from the lineup that beat Pittsburgh, though, and 2 more were used as subs. 3 of those starters were on the back line, which could be of great benefit. It’s also worth noting that the Pittsburgh score was an own goal by left back Nathan Messer.
In the Cup they played a 4-4-1-1; in the league a 4-2-3-1. Obviously not a big dataset from which to draw any conclusions, but it should be noted that the team stuck pretty doggedly to the formation in the Pittsburgh game. The team remains under the management of Ben Pirmann, who has done far more with the team than he was ever able to with Memphis 901. Under his leadership, they have never finished lower than 3rd.
As for the Legion, they will be hungry for the first win of the year. The first goal, for that matter. Despite not scoring in two tries, the Three Sparks have been very aggressive and are also playing a very attractive style of soccer. Overlaps on the wings abound, as do fast breaks. Like the Battery, the lineup was pretty heavily rotated in the two games to date. 4 starters from the Rowdies did not start against Hartford and only 1 of them played against Hartford in a sub role. 17 different players have been used already.
Some of those changes were forced by circumstance, of course. Phanuel Kavita was suspended (his red card was earned against the Battery at the end of 2025 as it happens)for the Rowides game and AJ Paterson picked a slight back injury and had to skip the Hartford game (he expects to be for tomorrow). Leo Duru will be unavailable tomorrow because of that ridiculous red card. The status of Ronaldo Damus is still up in the air. Hopefully he will be back and offer even more options up top.
Finally, the team will be hosting a watch party for the game. That will be held at Valley Post. If you don’t know what or where that is, that’s hardly a surprise; it has only been open since very late in 2025. The facility is a multi-restaurant development, currently hosting Rodney Scott’s BBQ, Hero Diner (usually closed evenings), Luca and Lucy (Italian) and Little Donkey. True Legion fans should find it with no problems: it’s right across the street from the Legion training facility on Dunnavant Road at US280. Legion minority owner and USMNT star Chris Richards will be on site in the VIP area for season ticket holders.
Best of the rest
All games this weekend are on Saturday, so a good number of them will coincide with the Legion game. Nonetheless, there are good choices for secondary viewing among the 10 other games on the schedule. Our selections:
Louisville City v. Rhode Island FC (3:00pm, ESPN+)
Lou City is off to a roaring start, blowing away two straight opponents. Rhody was less than stellar in the 1-1 draw with Sporting JAX. So why pick this one? Well, Louisville finds itself in an early season state of flux. Head coach Danny Cruz left in midweek to become an assistant coach at Minnesota United of MLS, joined by former Legion head coach Tom Soehn. Will that impact the team?
Tampa Bay Rowdies v. Pittsburgh Riverhounds (6:30pm, ESPN+)
A good chance this is the game of the week, although it overlaps heavily with the Legion game. The Rowdies were off last week after edging the Three Sparks 1-0 and defending champion Pittsburgh shook off the opening day loss to the Battery to beat Loudoun United 3-2. How much have the Rowdiers really improved? We may find out.
FC Tulsa v. Las Vegas Lights (7:00pm, ESPN+)
The bottom 7 teams in the West are all winless so far. That includes both these teams. They’ve also been outscored 19-9 in 13 games. The Lights are actually the highest-scoring team among them with 3. Tulsa has yet to score. Sounds like a laugher? Maybe not. Tulsa needs to justify defending its conference title and Las Vegas will want to make some progress.
Phoenix Rising v. Oakland Roots (9:00pm, ESPN+)
Oakland finds itself in the unusual position of being at the top of the West with 2 wins under its belt (for the first time ever). Phoenix has a loss and a draw but is probably a far better team than that. Count this as the best game in the Western Cinference this weekend.
Back in the Old Country
Despite being up a man after just 23 minutes and Marvin Ducksch scoring just 2 minutes after that, Birmingham City had to settle for a 1-1 draw with lowly Sheffield United. The Blues unsurprisingly dominated the stat sheet but even with 8 of 10 shots on target could find the go-ahead goal. This was a game in which the team absolutely could not afford to drop points. This makes reaching the playoffs an even steeper hill to climb. With 8 games left City sits in 10th and 7 points adrift of the playoffs.
Tomorrow’s game is an archetypal 6-pointer. The Blues head to Derby County (7:30am, Paramount+). County are 8th and 4 points up. A win obviously would not get the Blues above the Rams but would tighten the gap considerably. Wedged in between the two teams is Watford, who play relegation-threatened Leicester City. Wrexham in 9th plays last week’s opponent Sheffield United and Southampton, occupying the last playoff spot, plays Oxford United, who are just barely better than Leicester. Overall, not a good scenario for the Blues. It’s looking more and more like a second season in the Championship is inevitable.
