BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Birmingham Legion FC has every reason to feel good about its trip to Pittsburgh last weekend where it earned a valuable point on the road against a Riverhounds squad that had essentially been unbeatable when taking a lead into halftime. But while The Three Sparks were fighting for a hard-nosed draw, seemingly every other team in the USL Championship Eastern Conference walked away with a victory and three points.
So now, with four matches remaining in the 2024 regular season, Legion FC finds itself grasping onto a playoff spot as it sits in seventh place and five points clear of the elimination zone. However, the next three teams looking up at Birmingham in the table all have a game in hand. That includes Sunday’s opponent, North Carolina FC, giving Legion FC all of the incentive in the world to secure a victory in its second to last home match of the season.
“The biggest thing is that we control our own fate,” said midfielder and defender Jake Rufe. “It’s out responsibility which is just the way we want it, so we have to just keep our heads down, get our results and not worry about what everybody else is doing.”
MATCH INFO
- Birmingham Legion FC (12W-12L-6D; 42PTS) vs North Carolina FC (9W-11L-9D; 36PTS)
- USL Championship | Matchday 31
- Sunday, October 6 | 5:00 p.m. CT
- Protective Stadium | Birmingham, AL
- Watch: WABM My68 (Birmingham)
- Stream: ESPN+
Following a really tough August that was dubiously capped off with three consecutive shut out losses, Birmingham refused to roll over, to its credit, and responded with a successful September that saw the side notch seven points and post a 1.5 goals per game across four matches – its highest scoring average compared to any month this season.
The addition of forward Darwin Matheus has certainly played a role in that uptick by being involved in Legion FC’s last two goals, first with his goal against Miami FC and then following that up with a deft touch to assist Stefano Pinho’s team-best eighth goal of the season in Pittsburgh. And while the new blood on the pitch helps, so too does a more purposeful approach, which the squad has taken to heart lately.
“We’re just more confident on the ball and taking more risks,” midfielder Kobe Hernandez-Foster explained. “Earlier on we were kind of just dumping the ball and letting the other teams have the possession, so I think us having more possession now has given us more chances to score goals.”
With the offense coming around at an opportune time of the campaign, it’s the other end of the pitch that has posed issues for Birmingham. In its last nine matches, Legion FC has allowed a total of 14 goals in that span and has given up at least two goals four times and a minimum of three goals twice.
Injuries on the backline have certainly not helped with usual starting XI mainstays A.J. Paterson and captain Phanuel Kavita both missing multiple games in September, taking away a necessary calmness on the ball that those two often bring when fit. Goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel is now set to miss some time as well.
Even so, things do seem to be stabilizing a little bit with the centerback pairing of Alex Crognale and Jake Rufe doing enough to help Legion FC allow just one goal in its last two outings. For Rufe, who has been deployed as a jack-of-all-trades player this season, working on the last line defense is the latest of many roles he has assumed for the club.
“It’s not bad when you’re surrounded by good players,” Rufe said of playing many different positions. “I’m always happy to come in and help wherever I can. I like playing in the midfield, I like playing defense, so it’s been fun.”
Rufe is expected to feature in the XI again this Sunday when Legion FC welcome a very peculiar North Carolina FC squad, whose results don’t necessarily match with its current 10th place standing in the East.
Of Birmingham’s final four regular season opponents, NCFC is the lowest ranked team in the table, however it has the best goal differential of the bunch by far at +7, compared to Las Vegas Lights FC’s +2, Indy Eleven’s 0 and Oakland Roots SC’s -15. The upcoming visitors have been incredibly feast-or-famine with its results as of late, most recently dropping a 1-0 match to El Paso Locomotive FC which doused a cold bucket of water on the 2-0 win over Indy a few days before.
So the question that Legion FC is waiting to be answered is which North Carolina FC will show up? At its best, the club has shown a ruthless trait when it gets in the attacking third with a 15% conversion rate to the tune of 42 goals this season, including a team-best nine from forward Evan Conway. In turn though, opposing teams have had similar success against NCFC with 36 goals on just 101 shots.
Regardless, Legion FC are fully aware of what’s at stake over this last month and know that dropping points at home is simply not an option if it wants to play in the postseason for a sixth straight season.
“We’ve watched a lot of video on them,” said Hernandez-Foster. “We just need to take our chances and play our game, especially at home, and get the win. Every game is important and we know that if we manage to win every game, we should be good for the playoffs.”
Follow Along
For Starting XI and in-game updates, follow @bhmlegion on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as the Legion FC Match Center.
