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HAMTRAMCK, Mich. – Last week at Protective Stadium saw Birmingham Legion FC present an impassioned home crowd with quite the gift in a 3-0 win over San Antonio FC for the club’s most complete performance of the 2024 season. As a follow up act, The Three Sparks now looks to do something it has not done at all throughout this USL Championship campaign – win two matches in a row with a road trip to face Detroit City FC on the horizon.
“From start to finish it felt like a complete performance and we deserved the win,” said defender AJ Paterson of Birmingham’s last outing. “I think we’re going to use that confidence from that big win at home to go into a hostile environment, but we’re going to be up for the fight.”
MATCH INFO
- Birmingham Legion FC (6W-5L-3D) at Detroit City FC (7W-3L-2D)
- USL Championship | Matchday 15
- Wednesday, June 26 – 6:00 p.m. CT
- Keyworth Stadium – Hamtramck, Mich.
- Watch: CBS Sports Network
As Legion FC begins its summer in earnest by heading north to The Motor City, conventional wisdom would say that the chances of notching a second consecutive victory aren’t in its favor, but the trends say quite the opposite. In fact, the road has been where Birmingham has done its most damage to opponents this season with four of its six wins and two of its three draws coming outside of Alabama this season.
That includes a current three-match unbeaten streak away from home, which was extended back on June 1 with a 3-1 victory over El Paso Locomotive FC, prior to a scoreless draw at Sacramento FC and a 1-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
“I think what you find out is that teams (at home) come to play,” Legion FC coach Tom Soehn said. “When teams play us here, they sit in a lot more and it’s hard to break down, but when they try to play at home, it benefits us because we try to play no matter where we go so that’s always a positive and why we find our results on the road.”
But this midweek matchup could be the classic case of an unstoppable force colliding with an immovable object, because Keyworth Stadium has proven to be the ultimate fortress for Detroit City, who has posted an impressive 5W-0L-1D record at home across all competitions in 2024. The club most recently carried the USLC flag proudly in a 1-0 home victory in a friendly on Sunday against Liga MX side Pumas UNAM.
Sitting two points ahead of Legion FC in the Eastern Conference standings with two games in hand, DCFC presents a unique puzzle for Birmingham to solve. Despite ranking near the bottom in average shots per game, Detroit makes the most of the few chances it does create with an 18-percent conversion rate, which only trails Louisville City FC’s 21-percent for best in the league.
That signature blue collar mentality that is synonymous with the local area carries over to the defensive end as well with Detroit City having conceded just 15 total goals with four clean sheets through its 12 matches.
“If you don’t roll up your sleeves and know it’s going to be a war,” Soehn said, “then you’re not going to come out on the right end of things.”
However, there may be no better time for Birmingham to face such a stout defense considering its current overall form.
Following last week’s victory, Legion FC – once desperate for an offensive spark – has bagged six goals in three matches. Even better, those goals have been spread out across five different players, with four players also accounting for the assists on five of the six goals.
“We’ve been working very hard to find our identity” said forward Prosper Kasim, who has contributed a goal and an assist in that span. “It all starts on the training ground and we’re all beginning to understand each other with how we move on and off the ball. The chemistry is working right now and we’re happy about that.”
And with goals finally coming, the defense doesn’t appear to be letting up in the slightest with just two goals allowed in the run of play over the last five matches. So the recipe for success is clear and it is now up to the club to continue to execute and continue its climb up the table.
“Our challenge this year has always been to make sure we keep our defensive quality high and then push the offensive quality without losing track of the other one,” Soehn explained. “We’re going up a team that is very hardworking, so if we lose sight of that and forget that you have to work hard, then neither of those qualities matter, so this will be a really good challenge for us.”
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