Lower Alabama Report: April 16
Legion will be going for a second win in a row; a Derby in the Adjacency
Birmingham Legion FC
Legion fired coach Tom Soehn on Wednesday morning last week and named assistant Eric Avila as the interim. Included in the announcement was a pretty standard statement about a national coaching search beginning, and I heard Jay Heaps (radio interview) say that they should have a permanent coach in position by Summer at the latest. On Sunday I bumped into a prospective new coach at the game against El Paso, which was more than a little bit surprising. Is that quick work, or was a move already in the works at the time Soehn was released? Either way, they're obviously looking to move quickly.
Legion put together a strong showing on Sunday to beat El Paso Locomotive 3-1. The match saw Legion with a very full bench for the first time this season, with several players back from injuries. Coach Avila (assisted by club CEO Jay Heaps) had the squad ready to be more aggressive up and down the field. They made some innovative(?) substitutions thoughout the game to good effect, and were able to hold off an El Paso team that came in scoring a lot of goals. Both teams had chances that didn't get across the line, and the score could have been much higher. It was a good showing overall, that was in front of a very disappointing in-person crowd, and was the CBS game on national television.
On Saturday April 19 the Legion will kick off at 3:00 against Hartford Athletic in Connecticut. Last weekend's Hartford game had to be postponed due to icy field conditions, which ends up helping Birmingham. Two Hartford players were due to serve red card suspensions last weekend, but will now be unavailable against the Legion. Hartford was been woeful so far this season, scoring only one goal in league play. The way this USLC season is going, coach Brendan Burke is probably on the hotseat. No doubt that Hartford is missing keeper Renan Ribeiro, who they strangely dismissed during preseason. But, Legion will still have their hands full with Mamadou Dieng, one of the best young strikers in the league. Birmingham will be expected to make it two wins in a row.
Huntsville City FC
Huntsville City's match on the road against Crown Legacy FC ended in a 1-1 draw, with HCFC picking up an extra point in the shootout. Huntsville scored in the first half from a PK by Christian Koffi after a handball in the box. The Legacy goal came from a chaotic sequence in the box after a corner kick, during the second half.
HCFC will welcome in Chicago Fire 2 for their next game Sunday April 20 at 6:00. The two teams sit next to each other in the NextPro table, 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. Most telling is that Huntsville beat Chicago 4-1 in the first match this season. Expect them to double up at home.
FC Birmingham
FCB lost 0-2 on the road last weekend to FC Columbus Elite. It was Birmingham's second tough result in a row, after a late goal conceded the previous week saw them get a draw from a position to win. This week Albion SC Atlanta come to town for a 5:00 game on Saturday April 19. Both teams have had similar results so far this season, with Albion showing a stout defense. The form for both teams feels like a draw is coming here.
FCB2 are off again this week, and will return to play on April 26 against Columbus Knight Eagles.
UMA FC
UMA FC is coming in off a 1-1 draw vs Filial Pachuca last week, which has them in top half of the table, just above this week's opponent: Potros FC. This will be a home game for UMA Sunday April 20 at 3:00. On paper, they're pretty evenly matched, but I would give Potros a very slight edge due to quality of wins.
UMA2 traveled to AFC Lightning, and were caught out being overconfident. One of AFC's win was 2-1 against a Limeno 3 side that has really struggled, and should have been a larger margin of victory. AFC put everything together, leaving UMA2 on the wrong end of a 2-6 result. UMA2 will be off this week.
The Adjacency
Image credit: Fountain City FC
Fountain City FC and FC Columbus Elite will square off this week on Saturday April 19 at 6:00. This is considered a home game for Fountain, even though the two teams share the same stadium. Elite got their first win of the season last week against Birmingham, while Fountain came from behind and got a draw for the second week in a row. This is the first time the two have faced each other since Elite ended Fountain City's playoff run last Spring, after Fountain had gone undefeated in the regular season. Expect a very entertaining match.
Columbus Knight Eagles remain in first place in the table after beating Atlanta FC 1-0 last weekend. They don't have a game this weekend.