So last week we took time out from our vacation in the UK to put together a complete weekend preview only to discover the following day that once again weather had fouled the Legion’s plans. C’est la vie.
The game in Brooklyn has not been rescheduled as of yet but adds to an already crowded end to the season. Between this Saturday and the final day on October 24th, the Three Sparks will play a game every 5.5 days. That’s going to be rough, but it does include all 4 Brooklyn FC and Sporting JAX games and the Loudoun United home game. We’re going to be busy.
First up is a trip to the Centennial State…
The most important part
Saturday’s game (8:00pm, ESPN+) will be the 5th meeting with the Colorado Springs Switchbacks. The series record so far is 1-3-0, the most recent result being a 0-1 loss at Protective Stadium last year. The one Legion win was however in 2024 when the Legion got a 2-1 result in Colorado Springs against the eventual champions.
The Switchbacks have not managed to replicate that 2024 season. Last year they squeaked into the playoffs in 8th place in the West and right now are sitting in 9th after 2 straight shutout losses. They are only a point behind the Las Vegas Lights and with a game in hand though. Notably, the most recent loss was 0-2 to Rhode Island FC, immediately after the Legion beat Rhody 1-0.
They also played in midweek in the quarterfinals of the Prinx Tires USL Cup. They faced the only remaining League One team, Spokane Velocity. Despite dominating statistically, they had to come from behind in a 1-1 draw and only won the penalty shootout 5-4 when Spokane’s Ibrahim Covi missed the final attempt.1
That being said, only 4 players who started against Rhody last weekend started in midweek and another 3 played limited time off the bench. Notably, regular starting goalkeeper Colin Shutler did not play in Spokane (Christian Herrera was between the posts) and regular striker and leading scorer Khori Bennett only played 22 minutes and took the first PK. So they will not be overly tired for this one unfortunately.
Bennett is second in the league in scoring on 11 goals, 1 behind Detroit City’s Darren Smith. He has not scored in the USL Cup (despite the Switchbacks putting up 11 goals in 5 games). Switchbacks games in general are high-scoring affairs. In 18 games they have put up 28 goals and allowed 26. 2 of the goals scored were own goals, so on an earned basis they have a 0 goal difference. Both numbers are way off the xG values of 33.07 and 20.53 respectively, meaning they have scored about 7 fewer than they should have and allowed 5.5 more than they should. The Legion, at 18 and 21 goals, is about 10 under the xG on both counts.
With that, it’s not too surprising that Shutler ranks very low in the league for both saves and clean sheets (just 17 saves and 2 clean sheets). Also not surprising is that they attempt a lot of shots: 270 so far, 3rd best in the league and an even 15 per game. Their conversion rate is also good: 15%, 9th overall. That despite taking a lot of shots from distance. Over the past 6 games they have racked up 90 shots (right at their game average). Of those 48 (53.3%) were from outside the box. Perhaps little surprise that their scoring has tailed off lately.
Here’s the bad news: they play a huge number of crosses. 139 in the last 6 games, 23.2 per game. And that’s with a 25.9% success rate. Defending wide play has been a weakness for the Legion all season and it will not have escaped the Switchbacks’ notice. Look for them to exploit that all night.
Also not in the Three Sparks’ favor is elevation. Weidner Field, like Protective Stadium, has a full-size field but is at 6,035 ft. and is the highest stadium in the entire US pro pyramid. That’s a lot of ground to cover on short breath. A lot of gasping will be done.
Finally, and not to jinx it, but I’ll give you 3 guesses as to the weather forecast in Colorado Springs for tomorrow, and the first 2 don’t count. Yeah, thunderstorms. Just great.
Best of the rest
All Championship games this week are on Saturday and the only idle team is Phoenix Rising. Along with the Switchbacks 4 other Championship teams played in the Cup on Wednesday. Phoenix wasn’t one of them, so there are 5 double-game weeks to bear in mind. Although there are no afternoon games, there is limited overlap between the Legion game and other Eastern Conference matchups so you can make some full-game viewing choices. Here’s what we recommend:
Detroit City FC v. Loudoun United (6:00pm, ESPN+)
With the Legion missing a couple of recent games Loudoun has crept ahead of the good guys by a point but have played one more game. The gain was limited last week by a 0-1 loss to the Charleston Battery. Obviously, we want Detroit to win this one. They are 3rd in the East but neck-and-neck with the aforementioned Battery, being down 2 points on one less game. They will be looking for the very same result.
Hartford Athletic v. The™ Miami FC (6:00pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network)
For the second straight week Hartford plays another team that the Legion is chasing. Last week the result was a 1-1 draw with Indy Eleven. With that Indy stays 1 point up on the Athletic and in the final playoff spot. This week the same result is not necessarily quote as desirable. Miami is even with Indy on points but has played 20 games, 3 more than Indy and the Legion and 2 more than Hartford. Therefore a Miami win could in fact help matters. That being said, they have not won in the last 4 games.
Sporting JAX v. Indy Eleven (6:00pm, ESPN+)
Indy is 5 points up on the Legion and is one of 3 Eastern teams the Three Sparks do not have a gfame in hand against (the others are Rhode Island and Brooklyn). Thus we want them to lose as many points as possible. This is probably not the week for that to happen. JAX are easily the weakest team in the league and have been outscored 0-7 in the last 2 games. They are showing some signs of life though and are coming off a week’s rest. Of note: per our Power Rankings Indy has a slightly tougher remaining schedule than the Legion. That excludes the game against the Legion but includes 6 games against identical opponents.
Orange County SC v. Louisville City (9:00pm, ESPN+)
Right after the Legion game ends, or thereabouts, this one will kick off. It doesn’t really affect what the Legion needs but it has the potential to be a doozy. The OC is top of the West by 4 points even after an 0-3 whipping by the Tampa Bay Rowdies last week. Lou City is clinging to the last home playoff spot in the East and has the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Rhode Island (who play the Rowdies this week) breathng down their necks. A ton at stake here.
Back in the Old Country
Birmingham City successfully navigated the first round of the EFL Cup last week, beating Swansea City 1-0 away thanks to an August Priske goal late in the first half. Swansea dominated possession and shooting but never really challenged. The Blues will now play Brentford FC of the Premier League in the second round at 2:00pm on Tuesday, August 26th.
Before that the EFL Championship campaign kicks off this weekend. The Blues will be on the road again, this time heading to Sheffield to play United (Saturday, 11:00am, Paramount+). United are now the only representatives of their city in the Championship after Wednesday’s disastrous year (they were dead last on 0 points after 18 points were deducted for financial issues). They were 13th last season, 3 spots and 4 points behind Birmingham, so this is likely to be a good initial test.
Right as we published the team announed the signing of Max Bird, a 25-year-old midfielder currently at Bristol City. He was added as an alternate for Taylor Gardner-Hickman, who is injured. Manager Chris Davies has also stated this week that they wanted to add 2 or 3 men before the transfer window closes on September 1st, with the same number potentially moving out if the team cannot guarantee playing time. That was before Bird was brought in so presumably it’s now 1 or 2 more.
