Both sides scored early, and the Locomotive found its game winner in the 58th
BIRMINGHAM, AL (May, 20, 2023) – Birmingham Legion FC lost at home to El Paso Locomotive FC of the USLC Western Conference 2-1 on Saturday night. Legion’s Juan Agudelo gave the Black & Gold an early lead, but El Paso scored two unanswered to take all three points.
Legion scored first in the 17th minute. Prosper Kasim drove into the box and cut the ball back to find Agudelo at the far post. The veteran hammered the ball into the back of the net with his first touch. Kasim now is tied for the USL Championship lead in assists with four.
Only two minutes later El Paso would find an equalizer after capitalizing on a Legion FC turnover. After a failure to clear the ball out of danger, Luis Solignac’s strike took a deflection and got past VanOekel between the posts.
“The way we started the game I thought was pretty good,” said Legion Head Coach Tommy Soehn. “We got the first goal, but how we responded after that we just had a couple giveaways that really cost us. But overall, I wasn’t pleased with our performance. We lacked in the final third.”
Scores remained level at half time, with the Locomotive leading in possession (60.8%) and shots (8). The Western Conference side would take the lead in the 58th minute. After a giveaway on the top of the box, El Paso midfielder Liam Rose shot the ball into the top corner of Legion’s goal.
The score would not change from then on, with chances about even on both sides. Each team got five shots away in the second half. After tonight’s loss, Birmingham falls to fifth in the Eastern Conference, and it marks four league losses in a row for the Black & Gold. Vulcan’s Henchmen will hope to turn its form around on Wednesday against Charlotte FC of Major League Soccer.
“We have to put this one to bed and move on to the next one,” said Soehn. “Everybody does it in different ways, but we have to make sure we’re cleaner. Today I said we weren’t as good on the ball as we needed to be, and against Charlotte we’ll have to really be.”
Midfielder Anderson Asiedu when asked about Wednesday’s game against Charlotte FC:
“The most important game is the next game,” said Asiedu. “I feel like everybody knows what the next game means and everybody is going to put this behind and we’re going to go to war next game because it’s one game at a time. Some games will be good, some games will be bad. So the next one is the most important. That’s what we’re looking up to.”
Box Score:
| 1st Half | 2nd Half | |
| Birmingham | 1 | 0 |
| El Paso | 1 | 1 |
Goals:
BHM – 17’ – #9 Juan Agudelo (assisted by #10 Prosper Kasim)
ELP – 19′ – #9 Luis Solignac
ELP – 58’ – #22 Liam Rose
Starting XI:
BHM – 4-4-3 – #1 Matt VanOekel; #3 Phanuel Kavita, #16 Gabriel Alves, #21 Alex Crognale, #13 Jake Rufe; #6 Anderson Asiedu, #5 Mikey Lopez, #10 Prosper Kasim; #15 Tyler Pasher, #19 Enzo Martinez, #9 Juan Agudelo
Come cheer on Legion FC as they take on a Major League Soccer team in a competitive match for the first time in club history! Legion FC’s next match is a historic US Open Cup Round of 16 contest at Protective Stadium versus Major League Soccer’s Charlotte FC on Wednesday, May 24th at 7:00pm. Season ticket holders can claim their tickets for the match in the Legion FC Account Manager, and single game tickets can be purchased HERE.
For all club news and updates fans are encouraged to follow @bhmlegion on social media and keep an eye on bhmlegion.com and the Legion FC app. Download the Legion FC app today on Apple or Android, and sync our 2023 schedule to your calendar HERE.
