It’s going to be a busy holiday weekend for the boys in black and gold, er, white and gold, er, red, white and blue, er, camo, er, gray? Great. How much of my hard-earned money do they want?
Joking aside, that’s a pretty cool kit, although I’m not generally a fan of collared soccer shirts. It will be on display on the field this evening as the Legion takes on Detroit City (7:00pm, ESPN+) for the first time this season; they will make the trip up north in October. Fair enough, I guess, considering the ridiculous heat the Michiganders will have to endure here (on which note: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!).
As regards the busy weekend, there are games every day between now and Monday, mostly on Saturday. Even with all that activity, there is only one team with a double-game weekend. It would also have to be one of the two teams playing tonight, and of course it’s not Detroit. Worse, the second Legion game is on the road, down in the far cooler and less humid climes of Miami.
Detroit is having a relatively strong season in 2026. In 2026 they squeaked into the playoffs, finishing 8th in the East. Right now they are 3rd, tied on points with Louisville City, but with a game in hand. Their 21 points put them 8 points ahead of the Legion. They likewise have a game in hand on the Charleston Battery, who are 2nd with a 5-point lead.
Which is to say, they are not much beyond the Legion’s reach, especially with 2 games to play, but also the Battery are not much beyond their reach either. In other words, they have plenty to play for just as the Three Sparks do. This is not an easy matchup, then, but a key one for a team that is winless in its last 6 league games.
Detroit has won 2 of its last 5 league games, but not impressively. Most recently they beat Sporting JAX 6-2, and even trailed briefly early in that game. That was back on June 13th, and their previous win was May 20th, 2-1 over The™ Miami FC. Between those 2 wins they drew 0-0 with Loudoun United and 1-1 with El Paso Locomotive and lost a key game 0-2 to the Battery. They also beat Forward Madison 1-0 in the USL Cup. The win over JAX, by the way, was the last game they played, 19 days ago. The Legion have played 2 games during that time. Rusty legs versus tired legs? We shall see.
Le Rouge have been favoring a 4-2-3-1, but have also played 4-1-4-1 and 4-4-2, but earned only 1 point from 2 games in those latter formations. They prefer not to play opposing formations like-for-like, so it is difficult to anticipate how they will line up.
What is a near certainty is that Darren Smith will be at forward, whether alone or in partnership. He has scored 11 goals this season, 9 more than any other Detroit player and 2 more than anyone else in the league. However, 5 of those goals were scored against JAX, so the stats are, well, inflated. The 6th and final goal in that game, as it happens, was scored by Kobe Hernàndez-Foster. Still, even absent that game, Smith is scoring at a pretty rapid rate. Consider him extremely dangerous. The only other player on the roster who has scored more than 1 goal is Nigerian Chisom Egbuchulam with 2; he has not played in 9 games since May 2nd. Not a threat, then. All eyes on Smith, basically.
At the back, Devon Amoo-Mensah and Callum Montgomery are one of the Championship’s quality centerback pairings and will not be easy to get past. Carlos Herrera in goal, who has given up 12 goals in 12 games but also racked up 5 clean sheets.
Sitting, or stomping, on the sideline will be Danny Dichio, now in his 3rd season leading the team. Dichio, an Englishman, was an assistant to Mark Briggs at Sacramento Republic before taking over Trevor James at Detroit.
Not on the field this evening will be yours truly, who is headed west to Orange County to be with family for the holiday. The Western Conference leaders, of course, are playing clear across the continent at Rhode Island FC, so I don’t get an away day out of the trip. C’est la vie.
Anyway, enjoy tonight’s game safely, and all the rest of this special weekend’s festivities!
