Game Preview: Birmingham Legion v. Rhode Island FC
An old friend comes to visit.
Tonight will be Mark Briggs’ first home game as head coach of the Birmingham Legion. Therefore it’s a notable event and hopefully one that will be marked by very positive attendance numbers despite being a midweek game. At least today’s weather is a big improvement over the absurd amounts of rain we’ve been experiencing so far this month.
Also, the header image for this post was quite intentionally chosen to include Stephen Turnbull, who is apparently pointing the way for Ramiz Hamouda. It turns out I took quite a few shots of him in last year’s game and I had a fair number of options to choose from.
Stephen will of course be facing his old teammates tonight (7:00pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network, but don’t you dare be in front of a TV) as Khano Smith brings his Rhode Island squad to town for their first road game since opening the new Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket to big crowds at 2 games.
Those 2 games ended in draws, 0-0 with San Antonio and 1-1 with Monterey Bay. Draws are of course nothing new to Rhody. They had 15 of them last year and 3 already this season. This season their record to date is 1-3-3 which, more than coincidentally, is the same record as the Legion. The Legion has the tiebreak advantage, that being PPG against in-conference opponents. Rhode Island has lost all 3 conference games to date, all by a 0-2 scoreline (to Charleston Battery, Loudoun United and Detroit City). Add in the draw with San Antonio and the team has failed to score in 4 of 7 games. In fact, they have scored just 6 goals in the Championship and the only win was a 3-0 margin over Oakland Roots. They did beat League One’s Westchester SC 4-1 in the Jägermeister Cup, but Westchester aren’t exactly good.
Of those 6 goals, one was an own goal (by Phoenix’s Pape Mar Boye in a 2-2 draw). Of the 5 that Rhode Island scored themselves, 2 were by our old friend J.J. Williams, the other 3 by Albert Dikwa, Clay Holstad and Joe Brito. In the Westchester game, J.J. scored another two and the others were by Frank Nodarse and Maxi Rodriguez. Holstad Nodarse and Rodriquez also each scored in 2 Open Cup games.
J.J. Williams injured a calf in training May 1st and has not played since. He likely will be absent tonight. If so, Rhody will be missing a big chunk of its scoring.
That’s not to say that the team is without threats. They just haven’t truly manifested yet. In response to the question of who to watch out for, Coach Briggs said, “Yeah, I think Holstad in midfield’s a top player in this league and I think obviously Dikwa has scored goals consistently every stop he’s had in his career. But I think you look at [Noah] Fuson, you look at [Jojea] Kwizera, you look at Rodriguez who scored many goals for Detroit before going here. Like, they’ve got top players all over the field and if you give them time and space, they’re going to hurt you.”
Formationally, Rhode Island is hard to predict. This season the team has deployed in a 4-2-3-1, a 5-3-2, a 3-4-1-2, a 3-4-2-1 and a 3-5-2. 6 different formations in 10 total games. In the absence of J.J., it will most likely be Dikwa and/or Fuson up top. As far as style is concerned Briggs noted that Rhode Island and Detroit—Sunday’s opponent—are “two very well-coached teams that play actually a very similar style. In regards to they’re both possession-based…they both want to manipulate you with the ball. And they’re both very good in transition. And so we’ve got to make sure that defensively we’re tuned in, we’re connected, we’re compact. And then we force them into areas that we want to force them into.”
That’s useful since the team will not have a lot of time to prepare for the weekend’s tilt. This is also somewhat the style that he wants the Three Sparks to be playing, which could things interesting and possibly very even. However: “So, yes, we have a game model and we have an identity of who we are but we also have to understand that if the opponent defends high they leave a lot of space in behind and we have very quick players. If the opponent defends low, then you have to have a different type of movement.”
Adaptability, then, is the name of the game.
It should also be noted that the weather has not hurt the Legion’s preparations. Even with the heavy rain, the team has had several double sessions over the past ten days and was able to move training to Protective Stadium yesterday when the fields at Dunnavant Valley got too wet.
Prediction: No J.J. Williams, short rest, travel. Those all scream advantage Legion. But bear in mind that as low-scoring as Rhode Island is, they also do not allow big numbers – 9 so far this season. Part of that is keeper Koke Vegas but their defense is also solid. Also, they are underperforming their xG, which per American Soccer Analysis is 8.01. The Legion is scoring fairly well, but has allowed 12 goals, above their xGA of 10.53. This is a tough one. Given that it’s Rhode Island, I’m going with a draw.
(cross-posted from the Football Forge)