Tonight’s game at Dunnavant Valley (7:30pm, ESPN+) will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two teams. The Legion holds a 2-0-1 lead in the series. The most recent meeting two years ago in Albuquerque was a 1-1 draw. That was also the first goal United had ever scored on the Legion, with the two losses being 0-2 and 0-1.
Only 3 players from that draw are still on the Legion roster: Phanuel Kavita, Dawson McCartney and A.J. Paterson. A.J. was the goal scorer in fact. It’s also notable that of the trio only Phanny played Saturday evening, and that in a substitute role. Thus this will be a Three Sparks team that New Mexico has never encountered before.
That’s hardly surprising after 2 years and the same is true of this New Mexico squad. Last week against Indy Eleven, of the squad that faced the three Sparks in 2024 only Kris Shakes, Chris Gloster, Dayonn Harris and Greg Hurst remain. Shakes didn’t play the Legion back then; he was the second keeper behind Alex Tambakis. Scotsman Hurst has been with New Mexico since 2023 and is currently the team’s leading scorer with 8.
Which makes him a major threat, obviously. The trouble is, New Mexico has a bunch of other scoring threats. Niall Reid-Stephen has 5; Kipp Keller and Dayonn Harris both have 4. In total, they have 33 goals in 22 Championship games, 1.5 per game. They scored 8 more in 4 USL Cup games. They have been shut out 5 times in the league and once in the USL Cup.
Their xG for the league season is 32.15, making them right on target. Defensively, though…
They have given up 23 goals, barely 1 per game, and have 7 clean sheets. Their xGA is a massive 41.00. Being 18 goals under xG is almost unheard of. Little surprise, then, that Kris Shakes is 3rd overall in saves with 78. Only Sacramento Republic, FC Tulsa and Detroit City have conceded fewer times. This will be a hard team to score on.
There is good news, however. First, the 2 goalkeepers ahead of Shakes are Anthony Siaha of Hartford Athletic and our very own Jassem Koleilat, both on 83 saves. All three keepers will be playing tonight, in fact. Siaha faces Sporting JAX, so there is a good chance he will drop down that ranking a bit.
Second, of those 23 goals given up, 2 were last Friday against Indy Eleven. New Mexico racked up an early 2-goal advantage (Hurst and Luther Archimède scoring) b ut blew it entirely in the second half to finish with a 2-2 draw, the same result that the Legion got with Indy just 11 days ago and also way back in April. Indy played their typical low-possession game (just 28.9%) but managed to accumulate 18 shots total and 7 on target, both more than New Mexico managed with over double the possession.
Third, despite still being 2nd in the West, New Mexico has been slightly off form of late. In our Power Rankings they have slipped to 9th and have a 2-1-2 record over the last 5 games. The wins were both 2-1, over Lexington SC and the Las Vegas Lights. The loss was the same score reversed, against San Antonio. The other draw was 0-0 with Loudoun United. So, although they have an extra day of rest, they did have to travel and are not doing so great against Eastern teams. For the season their interconference record is 1-1-3. They were shut out in 3 of those games and have scored just 3 goals. And all of those were at home.
Finally, last Saturday’s initial Dunnavant Valley game, despite being a very low attendance, was not only a great atmosphere but also a goodish result. The 2-2 draw was obviously less than what was needed, but it came in good part from a bone-headed error at the back. The Legion was able to get back in the game after going down a goal as well. Moreover, neither goal was from a set piece or wide play. The Charleston Battery sent in 20 crosses overall. Only 2 open-play crosses were successful and 3 from corners (of which one was short). 4 corners were bad, as were 11 open-play crosses. Has that particular bug been exterminated? Maybe so. We can hope at least.
Bear in mind too that the Battery occupy the same position in the East as New Mexico does in the West, namely, 2nd. Admittedly, they have 1 less point from 2 more games and have only a very slim chance of catching the Tampa Bay Rowdies, whereas New Mexico is very much in the hunt for the Western title.
Both teams are on the road at the weekend after short rest. The Legion faces the Rowdies in a very difficult assignment. New Mexico goes to altitude in Colorado Springs, who have played 2 additional games and are 4 points behind in 3rd. They will be looking for a 6-pointer for sure.
This is therefore a big deal for both clubs. And I have no idea who is going to come out on top.
