Come Sunday it will have been 32 days since the Legion last played at home. In that month-plus the Three Sparks have played just 2 games. That’s how weird the USL Championship season is these days. And why the game is on Sunday and not Saturday is anyone’s guess; there is nothing going on at Protective Stadium otherwise this weekend. Next week’s home game will also be on Sunday as the Stallions are playing at home Saturday. It will be interesting to see how well the stadium crew manage that.
The most important part
The visitors this week (Sunday, 4:00pm, ESPN+) will be the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, a team with which the Legion has a less than amicable history for a variety of reasons. This year they come to the Magic City as defending champions for the first time in their history, having never won a title in any league since starting play back in 1999.
It will also be the first time the Legion has played Pittsburgh without its long-time head coach Bob Lilley, who was “placed on administrative leave” for still-mysterious reasons and replaced on an interim basis, and ultimately permanently, by Rob Vincent. Vincent was a long-time player at the club and his entire coaching career in various positions has also been with Pittsburgh.
With all that you would think the Riverhounds are coming to town on a high. Not so much. They currently sit in 7th in the East with a 2-2-1 record. The first win was 3-2 over Loudoun United, courtesy in part to a penalty. Take that as you will. The other was 3-2 over the cellar-dwelling Sporting JAX, again thanks to a penalty. They drew 1-1 with Indy last week, but the equalizer deep into second-half stoppage time probably should have been disallowed due to a foul on Indy keeper Eric Dick. The losses were 1-2 to the Charleston Battery (in which they only scored on an own goal) and a 0-3 spanking by the Tampa Bay Rowdies, both teams the Legion performed very well against.
And with the Legion possibly having been denied 5 points, the two teams would be tied in the standings and the Legion record looking rather the better. In fact, that argument is arguably valid even as it is.
Pittsburgh should, of course, not be discounted as a threat. I asked Jay Heaps what he sees as the primary weapons the Riverhounds have. “They’ve got some key players in midfield…they’ve got [Danny] Griffin in the middle and they’ve got [Charles] Ahl in several places. He’s a number 10 but he plays as like kind of a second striker, kind of two tracking 10s and he’s one of the 10s and the kid Sam Bassett, who’s been around MLS. Those three are really dangerous because you’ve got to mark them and then they’ve got the goal scorer in [Albert] Dikwa.”
Interesting that Dikwa was included almost as an afterthought. He leads the team with 3 goals, but 2 of those were penalties. Sam Bassett has 2 open play goals. They also have Robbie Mertz, a club icon in his 7th season with the Hounds, but he is being used mostly as a bench piece.
On his own side of the field I asked Heaps what he sees as the Legion’s weak points: “For me it’s very critical that we start finishing our chances. We’ve had, you know, in the last three games chances to go ahead by more than just a goal or two goals, really put the game not away but really in our favor.”
I had expected him to talk about the defense, given that he has not been able to play a consistent back line yet. That is likely to be the case again this weekend. In training yesterday Bryce Washington incurred what looked like a nasty ankle injury. Keegan Hughes was as of yesterday back in New England. It turns out his loan is somewhat conditional, more of a player-sharing arrangement; the Revs are playing Rhode Island Tuesday in the Open Cup and he may well not be available for the Three Sparks Sunday. A.J. Paterson, who had expected to have recovered from his back injury at least a week ago is now expected to be out another 3-4 weeks.
Another potential absentee is Sam Shashoua, who has a minor knee injury. He hopes to be available Sunday but right now is a question mark.
Lastly I spoke with Jay about the frustrations the team must be feeling over the poor refereeing decisions that have plagued the season so far. “The last two games were the most frustrating because it was, like, good performances. But at the same time…it’s also good that we’re being tested early and I’m a big believer that karma starts to switch and will go our way eventually…We’ve got to make sure we focus on what we’re doing. Let me deal with the league and the officials.”
On that final point I did ask him how come he hasn’t had a red card yet; he didn’t really answer.
I got a chance to speak with newcomer Gevork Diarbian. Brit though I may be, I in fact came to the Magic City from Rhode Island (well before Diarbian was born!) so have a good idea of the cultural adjustments he needs to make. Different seafood is not one of them as he doesn’t like it anyway. “The people here have welcomed me so much. And, you know, Birmingham has been amazing and I’ve been enjoying it a lot so far.” Well, naturally.
On the USL Championship versus MLS Next Pro: “I think here’s a lot more physical, you’re playing against a lot of older guys now, so it’s a little bit more challenging…I’m not the biggest guy [he’s 5’7″], but for me it’s all about competing and it’s about how much you want it. And I think when I step on the field I want to show everybody that I want to win.”
Best of the rest
The Legion game is the only one Sunday. There is a game tonight (Loudoun United v. Louisville City, 6:30pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network) and 10 games Saturday, so you have a completely open field to choose from. This week’s idle team is the Colorado Springs Switchbacks. The slate includes quite a few interesting matchups, but here are our recommendations for viewing (all are on Saturday):
Hartford Athletic v. El Paso Locomotive (6:00pm, ESPN+)
4th in the East playing 3rd in the West. Both teams have looked very good so far; indeed, El Paso may be the best team in the entire Championship. They are also both undefeated and the Locomotive is on a 3-game win streak, second-best behind the Tampa Bay Rowdies. There’s a lot to play for in this one and it has the potential to be very entertaining.
Indy Eleven v. Monterey Bay FC (7:00pm, ESPN+)
Indy have been OK this season after a surprise Week 1 loss to Brooklyn FC. They beat Detroit City 2-1 and then drew both Hartford (2-2) and Pittsburgh (1-1). Hmm. They are the Legion’s next opponent so this is an obvious scouting opportunity. MOnterey Bay? Well, to put it simply, they suck, even with Sebastian Lletget on the roster.
Tampa Bay Rowdies v. Oakland Roots (7:30pm, ESPN+)
With El Paso challenging for that win streak crown, the Rowdies have pride of place to play for in two ways, the other being 1st place in the East of course. Oakland have been pretty good to date, their only loss being 0-2 to current West leaders Orange County. Which is to say, these are two strong teams. They’ve also combined for 13 goals. Could be fun to watch.
San Antonio FC v. The™ Miami FC (8:300pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network)
Why this one? Well, after the Indy home game the Legion have to travel to Texas on a slightly short week to play the first game in the Prinx Tires USL Cup. San Antonio have not been up to their normal standards, however. They were comprehensively beaten 0-2 this past Wednesday by Orange County and drew 0-0 with Monterey Bay last week. Even so, they are 2nd in the West. Miami? Well, they are 5th in the East and looking not at all like their usual selves.
Back in the Old Country
Things are going really badly for Birmingham City in the latter stages of the English season. The Blues had two games over the long Easter weekend (the Brits have Friday and Monday as public holidays) and lost them both, 0-1 to Blackburn Rovers Friday and 1-2 to Ipswich Town Monday. The loss to Ipswich—who moved up into the second automatic promotion spot with the win—was a little hard to take though as an own goal by Ipswich center back Dara O’Shea was disallowed after the ball was incorrectly judged out of bounds. The lost point is somewhat academic though as the team is now 16th and 13 points out of the playoffs. One additional point would put them 14th and 12 points out with 5 games to play.
That being said, this week’s game is a big one. The Blues play Wrexham at home (Sunday, 6:00am, Paramount+). Wrexham are still in the playoff chase, sitting in 7th and 2 points behind Southampton, who also have a game in hand. Birmingham City now finds itself in the role of spoiler: if Wrexham achieves another promotion it will be their fourth straight, which no one has ever done before.
The future of manager Chris Davies beyond the end of this season is looking ever bleaker. The club is thought to be searching for a replacement and the name being bandied about right now is Lee Carsley. The Birmingham native played 3 seasons at Birmingham City and was a caretaker manager back in 2017 for three games. He is currently is the England U21 coach and was also briefly coach of the full national team. He is known for an attacking style and is reportedly interested in full-time club management. However, he is also closely tied to Director of Football Craig Gardner, who is apparently as much under scrutiny as Davies.
