Week Ahead Preview
Huntsville is flying high; Legion faces the Steel Curtain
Birmingham Legion FC
Image credit: Pittsburgh Riverhounds; Legion must find a way to get the ball past that guy
Birmingham will be at home against Pittsburgh Riverhounds Saturday, August 23 at 7:00. Facing Pittsburgh is never on my list of favorite things, even under ideal conditions - and the conditions are not ideal. Tyler Pasher went down early in Wednesday night's Jager Cup game against Rhode Island with what is almost surely a hamstring injury. How bad is it? What matters in the exercise is that it's extremely unlikely that he'll be able to play tomorrow night. Bad news for sure. But if we're looking for a silver lining, we don't need to look any further than that same Rhode Island game. It would have been easy for Legion to fall apart, as there's certainly no real contingency plan for something like to happen. The flip side is that sometimes a team will respond in situations like these by increasingly their focus and doubling their efforts. That's what we saw for the remaining 80 minutes of the game.
Where does that leave things against Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh is a known quantity, and are unlileky to roll out any major surprises. They're not going to concede easily, and they're going to poke and prod to get a goal or two. Legion needs to settle on a back line, which has been in flux for weeks. For me, the answer starts with Jake Rufe. I'm not sure what has happened that's caused Briggs to stop putting Jake in the starting lineup, but the nonsense needs to end. Start Jake, and go from there. The Rhode Island game saw Enzo, Laszo, and McIllhatton on the field together, and I could see them getting the nod again, with Enzo playing forward. If the intensity and focus carry over, then there's no reason that Legion can't pull of an upset over the Riverhounds.
Huntsville City FC
Image credit: Huntsville City
Huntsville will be on the road to face Chattanooga FC in their third and final regular season meeting. This is becoming the kind of great rivalry that it should be, as the cities are just an hour and 45 minutes apart. CFC had a fast start to the season, but fell on hard times and went without a win from May 24 until last week's 1-0 over Carolina Core. In the time between wins, they largely kept the season afloat with draws, and getting draws (5 during that run), with a couple of bonus points from shootouts. So they're still up at the top end of the table, and making roster moves for an end-of-season push. Notably, since they're an independent, there's no help to be had from a parent team.
Huntsville comes into the game going undefeated over the last six games (5 wins, and 1 draw+). They'll be looking to avenge the two early losses to Chattanooga this season, both by single goals. The recent hot streak has seen them score 17 goals, while conceding just 6 during the six game run. Look for Huntsville to continue their run, riding on their strong defense, to get three big points on the road. The game is Saturday, August 23 at 6:00.
Scoreboard watching
Image credit: Google
The bottom half of the Eastern table continues to be a jumbled mess, and Legion can still crawl up out of the basement to get into the playoffs. Birmingham really needs to take care of their own business, but here's a quick rundown of the other games that impact their chances the most.
Hartford Athletic vs Rhode Island. Their third meeting in the past five weeks. Best result would be a draw (both recent games were also draws)
Indy Eleven vs Miami FC. Best result is a draw.
Detriot City vs Tampa Bay. Best result is a draw.
Las Vegas vs North Carolina FC. Best result is an NCFC loss.