Legion vs Rowdies
Three big points
Much like Detroit and Pittsburgh have Birmingham's number, so does Legion have Tampa Bay’s number. Legion and the Rowdies faced off for the third time this season and Bham comes away with a sweep of the regular season series. That makes six games against each other over the past two seasons, and Birmingham has won five of them. The stats do not tell the story as Tampa Bay dominated shots 20 to 9, and corners 11 to 0. Possession was actually very even, and despite the lopsided look to some of the stats, the game didn't “feel” like Birmingham was under constant attack.
Legion had more players available than they've had in a long time. The only player that wasn't on the roster was team captain Kavita. He was there, and doesn't appear to be nursing an injury, and I believe just had some time on leave to be a dad with brand new twins. The starting lineup featured Diba Nwego, who has been injured for a couple of months, and Tyler Pasher, who has been out for about a month. Players returning from injury do not typically start under coach Soehn, but Legion needed to generate offense, and these players were key. Legion got the first goal of the night from a great run of play that saw Stefano Pinho get on the end of a great cross and bang it into the top of the goal. It was a rare first half goal from Legion, and the first goal after three games having none. Notably, Zouhir didn't start the game, for the first time since he arrived with the team, and midfield play was noticeably smoother. Legion took a 1-0 lead into the half. The second half began with Tampa Bay pressing forward harder than they had in the first half, and then they made an unusual four-man substitution around the 60 minute mark. It was a complete makeover of the lineup and the field that was designed to make a very hard push. Players like forwards Cal Jennings and Leo Fernandes came in fresh after being on the bench. Legion continued to move the ball well, creating chances of their own, and handling the Rowdies attack. Then in the 86th minute, Legion midfielder Kobe Hernandez-Foster wasn't marked just outside the box (the Rowdies looked like they expected him to pass the ball), and Kobe unleashed a low missile that squeaked inside the post for Birmingham's second goal. Legion rode that insurance goal to a 2-0 win.
MVO made some great saves on the night, in front of a really good mid-week crowd that was a little over 5000 strong. The win pops Legion back up to fifth place in the table.