WEEKEND RESULTS

Through Sunday August 4

I'm in the pic (as usual), if you know where to look. Image credit: Birmingham Legion Twitter

Birmingham Legion

When a soccer game ends in a draw, both teams get one point in the standings. That draw can maintain an unbeaten streak, but let's get real. In most cases, a draw is going to be a loss for one team, and a win for the other. In that context, I'll say that Legion lost Saturday to Hartford 2-2. If you looked at the stats for the game - shots, possession, fouls, etc - without knowing the score, you could easily come to the conclusion that this game ended in a draw. But the stats don't tell the story. Legion scored two goals in the first half, and hit the crossbar on another shot. They looked to be in total control of the match. The second half started out with Hartford pushing forward more, and Bham hitting back on counterattacks, while trying not to be to extend themselves too far. But Birmingham gradually pulled back into a truly defensive posture. Some of that was driven by a key substitution from Hartford. In the 57th minute, they brought in striker Mamadou Dieng.

I've watched a lot of Hartford games this year because former Legion (and my family) favorite Anderson Asiedu signed with them. Dieng is a raw talent that Hartford brought in from an academy in Senegal. He's 6'2”, and has a ton of speed. He's only played about 600 minutes this sesson (his first professional season), with about half of those coming in the four latest games. In those games, he also picked up his first two goals. His impact against Legion was immediate. Bham had been playing a high back line, and Dieng is an aggressive player that is often offsides. But he made a few cutting runs with his speed that were a genuine threat. As a consequence, Legion's shape began to fall apart in the back. In the 72nd minute, Dieng scored on a header from a corner kick, and Bham was left trying to hold on for the win.

As the onslaught continued, a Bham player tried for a clearance in the box, but brought his foot into a dangerous position and made contact to the face of a Hartford player. A PK was given, and Hartford converted to even things at 2-2. The ten remaining minutes were a mad scramble. Legion thought it had the game-winner on a missile from Miggy Perez, but the Hartford goalie made a great save. In the past five games, Hartford has 1 win and 3 draws. The win was over Detroit City, and the draws were against Bham, Charleston, and Phoenix. They started the year as a bad team that's trying to rebuild. Twenty year old Dieng may be the key that's unlocking their potential.

Huntsville City

Huntsville was on the road to face Crown Legacy on Sunday. The stats for the game tell a very strange story. The possession was very even throughout the game, but Crown had far more chances to score than Huntsville did. Huntsville had only one shot on target in the game, but made it count. That one shot found the back of the net, giving them a 1-0 lead in the 72nd minute. By contrast, Crown nine shots on target for the day, and twelve corners, compared to zero corners for Huntsville. Legacy finally managed to get their lone goal eight minutes into stoppage time, ending regulation in a 1-1 draw. In NextPro they use all three points. Which means that a game ending in a draw goes to the shootout, with the winner of the shootout taking another point. Crown Legacy won the shootout 4-3, and took two points for the day. Huntsville left town with one point, on a day where all three points were within their grasp.

Other news and tidbits

The US men lost in the Olympic quarterfinals to Morocco, 0-4.

The US women will face Germany in the Olympic semifinals on Tues. It's a rematch of a group stage game that the US won 4-1.