Week Ahead Preview

Sat April 19 thru Fri April 25

Image credit: Birmingham Legion

Birmingham Legion FC

Birmingham Legion will be at Hartford Athletic Sat April 19 at 3:00

Legion finally got their first win of the season last week against El Paso, and will be looking to make it two in a row against Hartford. As bad as Legion's start has been, HA have been worse. They've only managed one goal in league play so far this season, losing the four matches that they've played. Last week's scheduled match had to be postponed due to ice on the field, which will have an impact on this week's game. Two Hartford players would have been serving red card suspensions, but will now be unavailable to face Legion.

By contrast, Birmingham saw several players return to duty last week after recovering from injuries. Notably, center back Phanuel Kavita was still out with a calf injury. He's been in practice this week, but I'm not sure they'll risk him this week. Interim coach Eric Avila should have the benefit of being able to choose who to leave behind and put a strong team on the field. This is a game that Birmingham should definitely be expected to win. The wild card is always going to be Hartford's Mamadou Dieng, and Birmingham will have to give him the extra attention that he deserves. Legion should get three more points here.

Huntsville City FC

HCFC vs Chicago Fire 2 Sunday April 20 at 6:00.

The two are in the middle of the table for the NextPro eastern conference, but have gotten there very different ways. The Fire have two wins, and no draws, while Huntsville's one win and two draws, plus extra points from PK's have them one point ahead of Chicago. The difference here is that Huntsville's win was head-to-head against Chicago (4-1) in the first match this season. I expect Huntsville to come through again at home and get the win.

FC Birmingham

Albion SC Atlanta comes to town for a 5:00 game on Saturday April 19. Both teams have had similar results so far this season against common opponents, with Albion being a little tighter on defense. FCB will be looking for their second win of the season, but this feels like anything other than a draw will be a surprise.

FCB2 is off again this week.

UMA FC

UMA FC is in the top half of the table after a 1-1 draw vs Filial Pachuca last week, putting them just ahead of this week's opponent: Potros FC. This will be a home game for UMA Sunday April 20 at 3:00. Most of the stats show that they're pretty evenly matched, but I would give Potros a very advantage due to quality of wins.

UMA2 will be off this week.

The Adjacency

Image credit: Fountain City FC

Odis Spencer Stadium will host the showdown between Fountain City FC and FC Columbus Elite on Saturday April 19 at 6:00 (Central time). Although this is listed as a home game for Fountain City, both teams share this stadium as their home venue. Elite will be looking to build momentum after last week's win over Birmingham, while Fountain came from behind and got a draw for the second week in a row. This is the third ever meeting between the teams, with the series tied at one win each. The most recent match-up saw Elite winning 4-3 in last year's playoffs, which was also Fountain's first-ever loss. Expect a very entertaining match.

Columbus Knight Eagles are in first place in the Div 1 Georgia South table, and have this week off.