The Legion are off this weekend, giving the team additional time to recover from the long trip west and to ruminate on their embarrassing failures on said trip. There is some good news though, as Legion WFC is performing extremely well (see below). Good and bad news as well in that Ramiz Hamouda’s transfer to SV Werder Bremen has been finalized now that he has passed his 18th birthday and at the same time he has been called up to the US U19 training camp ahead of the Concacaf U-20 Championship this summer. Obviously, that’s all incredibly good for him. It’s good for the Legion in that (unspecified) money is incoming, but bad in that we will not see him in black and gold again.
Werder needs the talent. They finished 15th of 18 in the Bundesliga this season, barely escaping the relegation playoffs. That was also a significant drop from 8th the season before. The plan is for Raz to start in their U23 team but I suspect that will be a relatively short-term stint.
The Legion will back in action this coming Wednesday (7:00pm), a home fixture against Louisville City.
Best of the rest
One game has already been played this week, a wild 4-4 draw between Sporting JAX and San Antonio FC. With the Three Sparks resting, the field is wide open as to viewing choices. Here are what we will be keeping a close eye on:
Forward Madison v. Corpus Christi FC (Friday, 6:00pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network)
OK, not what we would normally start off with, but after this week it’s back to USL Cup play. The Legion in fact get another weekend off, as they do not play Corpus Christi until Tuesday, June 9th. Which means we get two chances to check that squad out before then. Tonight they play in Wisconsin and Wednesday against Portland Hearts of Pine, when we will of course be otherwise occupied. Corpus Christi beat the Chattanooga Red Wolves 1-0 in the first round. That is their only win this season. Madison are 11th, Portland 9th.
Louisville City v. Tampa Bay Rowdies (Saturday, 6:00pm, CBS Sports Network)
Lou City has lost 3 straight (to Detroit City, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and The™ Miami FC), the first time they have done that since 2023. They have never in their history lost 4 straight. The Rowdies are the lone unbeaten team in the Championship and are coming off a convincing 3-0 win over Phoenix Rising. A ton on the line here; hopefully Lou City will get thoroughly exhausted before Wednesday too.
Indy Eleven v. Rhode Island FC (Saturday, 6:00pm, ESPN+)
Both these teams are performing rather better than might have been expected, Indy especially. The Eleven are 5th in the East; Rhody are barely below the playoff line. Granted, neither team is generally known for high scoring or even high possession. This could be a very gentlemanly affair with both teams wishing to cede the ball.
Sporting JAX v. Brooklyn FC (Sunday, 1:00pm, ESPN+)
JAX can’t buy a win. On Wednesday they managed to get a 3-0 first-half lead but gave up 3 in the first 9 minutes of the second half. They went down a goal in the 76th minute but rescued a point in the 89th. That was against the West leaders and the performance should give them some confidence going up against Brooklyn, who are one spot above them in the standings. The last winless record in the Championship could end this week.
Legion in the Lower Leagues
Legion WFC are flying high. They are now 4-0-0 after beating Asheville City 1-0 at the Valley Wednesday. The scorer this time was Taylor Lieb. They have allowed just 2 goals and have 3 clean sheets for a +5 goal difference. No one else in the South Central Division has played more than 2 games. All of them have played the Legion and the 2 other games played were both draws, so the Three Sparks have an 11-point lead. Even West Seattle Rhodies, who are the only team with a better record at 5-0-0, are just 9 points up on their nearest rival. Before the Asheville win, the Legion had jumped into the Power Rankings at #4. Legion WFC is now off until June 6th, when they play at Swarm FC again.
Legion 2 isn’t doing so well. They played Dothan United Wednesday and got thumped 0-4 in a not entirely surprising result, keeping them at just 1 point from 2 games and bottom of the division. They play at Montgomery United Wednesday, who are above the Legion only on goal difference, and then Saturday in a double-header with Swarm FC.
