A question of motivation, Damus' statement, Turnbull's return and offensive chants
My Birmingham Legion FC talking points following their 1-0 lost to Indy Eleven in Wednesday's USL Championship game
After consecutive wins for the first time in nearly a year, Birmingham Legion did what they’ve done best this season.
They failed to harness momentum.
Another disappointing home display, the second without a goal in the last three, saw the Three Sparks fall 1-0 to a similarly struggling Indy Eleven side.
Where there seemed to be positivity growing, it not feels as if questions about the team are the primary talking points once again.
Motivation and mentality
Birmingham Legion are not a bad team. The USL Championship standings might dispute that, but it’s true.
The team has a top coach and some of the best players in the league in several positions. Both Danny Trejo and Ronaldo Damus were key components to title-winning teams in recent seasons, while several more have shown a proven ability to compete at the highest levels of the USL.
So why are Legion struggling? The answer might have more to do with mentality and motivation than it does with skill.
Look at it this way:
Hartford Athletic have only one league win this season. It was against Birmingham.
Indy Eleven have only two league wins this season. One of them came against Birmingham.
Tampa Bay Rowdies have one win and two draws from 10 league games. One of those draws was against Birmingham.
Rhode Island and Pittsburgh Riverhounds have both won just three out of 10 league games. Both of them defeated Birmingham.
Only one USL Championship team lost in the first round of the US Open Cup. It was Birmingham, against a USL League Two opponent.
But in contrast:
El Paso Locomotive have lost just two league games this season. One of them was against Birmingham.
Louisville City have yet to lose in the league, with six wins and four draws. Birmingham was one of the draws.
Detroit City has one of the best home records in the country, across any division. Birmingham twice came from behind for a point at Keyworth Stadium.
Miami FC was on a four-game unbeaten streak (3 wins, 1 draw) prior to their loss to Birmingham.
Birmingham are one of just seven teams with a 100% record through two games in the USL Jägermeister Cup.
What this tells you is that Birmingham flatter to deceive in games many would perceive as “easy” but somehow get results in “tougher” fixtures. So, yes, they clearly have the skill to get results.
They are just inconsistent about putting in the effort.
After Wednesday’s game, Mark Briggs perfectly summed it up in his post-game press conference when discussing Indy’s goal.
“Last week, I see four, five, six players throwing their bodies on the line in front of shots,” Briggs said. “This week, I didn’t see one person putting their body on the line to block the shot.”
Kaylor Hodges (Hammering Down Podcast/The USL Show) followed up by asking if that was a motivation problem. The Jägermeister Cup, given its limited games, feels more do-or-die. In contrast, a loss in the league is less impactful given the scale of the season.
Briggs did not hold back with his response.
“That’s the problem, right there,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing in the Jägermeister Cup, whether you’re playing in the USL, whether you’re playing in the Open Cup, whether you’re playing a preseason friendly. Every time you put this jersey on, there are standards. And if those standards aren’t met, then we have to make changes.”
The head coach is right. Slow starts have become the calling card of Birmingham Legion’s season, and nobody, players or coaches, can put a finger on why. Because it’s not about skill, and it’s certainly not about preparation. It’s about the players coming in with the wrong mindset.
The media get to speak to Briggs before every game and always ask how practice has been going. Every single time, the answer has been positive. When the team has lost, he’s said he’s seen a good response from the players. When the team has won, he’s seen them use that to push on.
And yet, the in-game performances do not match up.
There is obviously a possibility Briggs is protecting his players, refusing to publicly call them out if practice hasn’t been good enough. But it feels more likely that the players are showing up how they need do during the week and simply failing to do so on certain matchdays, the ones against “weaker” or struggling teams, where they think they can get by with less than 100% performance.
But Briggs said it himself a few weeks ago. Nobody wins in this league without giving 100% every time.
He’s clearly stated that that’s what he wants from his players. It’s up to them to prove they can do it, or many of them will find themselves looking for a new club come wintertime.
Ronaldo Damus speaks out
Ronaldo Damus is not the most outspoken of players. His one postgame interview so far, following his brace in the win against El Paso, was awkward. It was clear that this was a player trying to give an interview in a second language.
As such, he is unlikely to be one of the main voices Legion fans hear from this season, especially after a loss.
But on Thursday, he posted the following statement to his Instagram account.
Though game last night but not the result we wanted. We might not be seeing the results we want right now but we haven’t lost our ability. We just need to reconnect with what drives our hunger. Every team goes through tough moments. What makes the difference is how we respond. Now is the time to remember why we started, why we wear this jersey. We have talent. We have heart. We have work ethic. We have each other. And we still have time.
Let’s come together, lift our heads, lock in, and take back what’s ours.
Success doesn’t forget those who never give up.
We’re RESILIENT.
As far as I’m aware, Damus is the first and only Legion player this season to take to social media to make a public statement about the team’s struggles.
While many players regularly share post-game action shots of themselves, nobody yet had acknowledged any of the difficulties the team had been going through. This is not a dig against any of them — there is no requirement or expectation for them to do so — but the fact that it was Damus who took it upon himself to break this silence was interesting.
Multiple players either shared the Haitian’s post to their stories or put something in the comments, but his statement, cross-posted to the official Birmingham Legion account, was the only one.
This is an noteworthy turn of events for a number of reasons.
First off, Damus is new to the team. And given his struggles with the English language, he is most definitely not one of the closer ones with the community.
Second, given his newcomer status, the forward isn’t one of the recognized team leaders. Enzo Martínez wears the captain’s armband, while Phanuel Kavita and Matt van Oekel are the other options.
Third, Damus was one of the better performers on the night. Briggs actually gave him a shoutout in his post-match presser as the only player who “wanted to score.” And with his team-leading seven goals in 13 games since joining the Black and Gold, the forward is far from the first person to blame for the poor season.
And yet, he is the one who spoke out.
A USL Championship champion last season with Colorado Springs Switchbacks, coming out with such a statement speaks volumes to Damus’ winning mentality. He could easily have said nothing and nobody would have thought anything of it.
But he chose not to, and that tells you everything you need to know.
Here’s another snippet from Briggs’ post-match press conference:
“When players don’t perform at the level they need to perform at, there’s going to be consequences,” Briggs said. “We’re not here to pat people on the back and it doesn’t matter. This is their job.
“You get paid to do your job,” he continued. “You get paid, if you’re a midfield player, to connect passes, to get on the ball, to break up passes, to take shots and hit the target. You’re an attacking player, you get paid to score goals, create opportunities, put the fans on the edge of their seats.
“I just asked them to look in the mirror themselves and come back and tell me, because some of us go home, don’t watch the games and don’t honestly look at ourselves because of that. Look in the mirror and tell me that you’re doing your job to the level that it needs to be done at. If you can say that, good. But if you can’t…”
Once again, Briggs is right. Before anyone else can, players need to hold themselves accountable.
Damus showed he is doing just that. More players would do well to heed his example.
The return of Stephen Turnbull, and some clarity
Amongst the chaos of Birmingham Legion’s season so far, Stephen Turnbull has been a bit of an enigma. The only “big-money” signing of the offseason (Trejo was free and Damus is on loan), the right-back has barely featured.
The former Rhode Island man had played just 217 minutes prior to Wednesday night, putting him 20th for minutes played amongst his peers.
After Tom Soehn’s Week 1 comment that his absence from that day’s game was a “coach’s decision,” there have been questions about his ability, performances in training and fitness levels.
The right back did start the next game before getting injured in the Open Cup match against Little Rock Rangers. After missing the next two games with that injury, he started once again in the El Paso win before disappearing from the matchday squad completely the following week.
Since then, he’s made three sub appearances, remained on the bench twice and missed out entirely one additional time. And with the recent signing of Erik Centeno, a third right back for the team, it suddenly looked like Turnbull’s days in Black and Gold were already numbered.
But with injuries to both of the team’s leftbacks and the absence for international duty of both Kavita and Ramiz Hamouda, Turnbull returned to the lineup Wednesday night.
Amid an overall disappointing performance, Turnbull put in a fairly solid display. Defensively, he won 10/13 duels, including 4/5 aerially, while also completing three clearances, two tackles, one interception and blocking one shot without committing a single foul. On offense, he completed 80% of his passes (71.8% in Indy’s half) and had one successful cross and one chance created.
While not headline grabbing, it was one of the better outings on the night. It was made only more impressive once Briggs shed some light on the player’s season to date.
“I thought he did great,” Briggs said. “I was actually really pleased with Stephen. Stephen’s been through hell. He’s had an illness that’s really serious and he lost an awful-lot of weight. He’s been battling through a lot, so for him to get himself back medically and healthy and put the weight back on and get back to his playing weight took an awful lot of work.
I was really pleased to see him perform at the level he he did and go for 90 minutes. What he’s been through has been really difficult, so I’m really proud of him and pleased for him.”
Knowing that information completely changes the narrative around Turnbull, and it’s a shame the club didn’t find a way to communicate it to the fanbase sooner. I’m sure there’s ethical and legal reasons not to, what with HIPAA and all, but many have drawn the wrong conclusions about a player fighting an incredibly hard battle as a result.
Now that we do know, however, I hope the fans can all get behind Turnbull and show him the support he needs and deserves in such a time.
He was an impressive player for Rhode Island prior to his move down South, and if Wednesday’s game and the work he’s been putting in battling this illness far from the limelight are anything to go by, he will repay that support tenfold if given the chance.
On Wednesday’s homophobic incident
Full disclaimer: I was unable to attend Wednesday’s game. As such, I do not want to get too much into a controversial topic I have no firsthand knowledge of.
But I still want to address some of it.
From various reports and communication I’ve had with different individuals, this is my understanding of the timeline:
At some point after the hour mark, homophobic chants took place behind the Indy Eleven goal, where Legion’s Spanish-speaking supporter’s group resides.
The chants, aimed at the Indy Eleven goalkeeper, are the same that Mexico’s national team have gotten in trouble for in recent times.
The referee called a halt to the game and spoke with both teams, while members of the Legion front office (Jay Heaps and Nick Hall) went over to the supporter’s group to confront them about the offensive language.
Extra security remained behind the goal for the rest of the game, but play was allowed to resume and the chant did not happen again from what I have heard.
To start off, let me state the obvious. Homophobia is stupid, and homophobic language has no place in a soccer stadium or anywhere else. But it wasn’t just stupid for what was said, it was stupid for the consequences to the game as well.
Legion had it’s best spell of the game right before the hour mark, and the enforced pause killed that momentum in its tracks.
“It came at a really bad time for us,” Briggs said. “It stopped our momentum, and we had to keep them engaged, keep them focused and keep them going.”
“We have great support, but can we support in a positive way, with a positive energy, and keep the flow of the game going?” he added.
The referee was absolutely right to call a stop to the play, and Legion were the ones who suffered for it. In wanting to “support” the team in this manner, whoever contributed to those chants just shot them in the foot instead.
That’s not the biggest issue coming from those chants, but hopefully it’s a consequence whoever contributed to them can learn from. I sincerely hope they take something away from this and educate themselves on the matter.
The fact this happened at the first game of Pride Month feels like some twisted irony, but it also means there was a welcome contrast at the other end of the field. Behind the other goal, the Magic City Brigade were flying their pride flags, demonstrating to everyone what sports should be: a place where all of us can come together, regardless of age, race, wealth, background or gender identity, and support our team in a positive and fun environment.
That is the kind of fan we need more of.
If you want to be one of those positive fans, Magic City Brigade have partnered with PrideRaiser to raise funds for the Magic City Acceptance Center. Learn more and make your pledge here.
There's a lot of good stuff here. The one thing that bothered me was the statement that Briggs felt like Damus was the only one that wanted to score. That doesn't match what I saw during the game