Jake Rufe's return, consistent fouling, an early midfield introduction and a decisive week ahead
My Birmingham Legion FC talking points following their 1-1 draw at FC Tulsa in Saturday's USL Championship game
As of Thursday this week, it will be two months since Birmingham Legion’s last league win. With just four USL Championship Ws across the season, they have the worst win-record of any club in the league across both conferences. The closest is Miami FC on five. Everyone else has at least six.
And yet, despite a third consecutive draw and their fourth in the last five games, the mood feels improved around the Three Sparks. It could be that a late goal can do that for you, or it could be because the result, though not as much as the team needed, was still one point gained on all their direct rivals.
With a bye week this weekend ahead of the most important week of their season, any ounce of goodwill and momentum is needed.
Rufe’s redemption
“The Rufe, the Rufe, the Rufe is on fire,” was the chant for Birmingham Legion fans after Saturday’s draw.
The Alabama-native, absent from the starting line-up for over a month, made his return to the team in style. In addition to a commanding performance at the back, he grabbed the late equalizer, only his third goal in Black and Gold, to secure what could be an invaluable point for the team.
“I knew I would have an opportunity to get back on the field,” Rufe said. “We have a roster full of good players, so (falling out of the starting lineup) can happen at anytime, that's part of being a professional athlete. I'm just knew that when my number was called that I was going to give it my all, so I'm happy I was able to contribute with a goal."
Rufe’s absence from the lineup had been something of an question mark in recent weeks, especially as the starting defense struggled. With every week he remained out, I received more and more questions on whether there was more going on with him than the public was privy to.
I had no answer, and quite honestly was just as confused as everyone else. Even as Briggs decried the team’s lack of heart and fight, he kept out one of the players who time and again has put his body on the line for the team and never let anyone doubt how much he cares about this club.
Not even that, but Rufe has been one of the most consistent and reliable performers to this point in the season. You only need to look at every centerback’s goals conceded per 90 to see it.
Jake Rufe - 1.38
AJ Paterson - 1.40
Phanuel Kavita - 1.53
Tiago Suárez - 1.60
Ramiz Hamouda - 1.64
Ethan Kos - 1.78
Maliek Howell - 2.68
Even looking beyond the centerbacks, only three Legion players — Moses Mensah (1.08), Tyler Pasher (1.14) and Matt van Oekel (1.35) — have seen less goals go in while they were on the pitch this season.
And yet, Rufe’s eventual inclusion Saturday had as much to due with circumstance as with anything else. With Hamouda and Kavita on international duty and Howell injured, Briggs had little other choice than to line up Suárez, Rufe and Paterson across his backline.
However, prior to the game, he recognized that the Huntsville-native deserved a chance to earn his place back in the lineup.
“To be honest, I think we may have been a little bit harsh on Jake,” Briggs said. “He'll be back in this week, and he's got the opportunity to keep the jersey and stay in the team.
“Let’s hope he can take the chance, but we may have been a little bit harsh on Jake as we've looked at selection and as we've looked at other things,” he added.
If Saturday was an opportunity to “keep the jersey,” Rufe certainly put all the chances on his side.
Even before the goal, Rufe was a clear contender for Legion’s Man of the Match.
In possession, he had the second most touches on either team (80, one behind Suárez’ 81), completed the second-most successful passes (43, behind Suárez’ 48), all while boasting the second highest pass accuracy among Legion starters with 10 or more passes (79.6%, behind Sam McIllhatton’s 82.1%). He also completed two successful dribbles and won two fouls.
Defensively, he completed a team-high 10 clearances, won nine duels — including four aerial duels — made two interceptions, had a 100% tackle success rate and only gave up one foul.
All of this combined to earn Rufe a place in the USL Championship Team of the Week.
“I’m so happy for Jake because he is the epitome of a top professional,” Briggs said after the game. “He may have been harshly done by the lineup decisions in recent weeks, but he kept his head and his mindset, so for him to score the equalizing goal, I’m so happy for him.
“He’s a great guy, a great player and he deserved that goal,” he added.
It remains to be seen whether Rufe did enough in Briggs’ eyes to keep the jersey when Legion host Tampa Bay Rowdies next week. But if Saturday was anything to go by, there may be a public outcry at Protective Stadium if he does not.
Playing nasty
In soccer, there’s a lesser-heralded skill commonly referred to as “the dark arts.” This is the ability to play with an edge and get away with things that other players and teams might not do.
On Saturday, Tulsa demonstrated exactly what that looks like in practice. Half an hour into the game, the home team had committed 10 fouls to Legion’s three. But, somehow, the yellow card count read 0-2 in the opposite direction.
There is certainly an argument to be made for a lack of consistency by the referee, who also missed an elbow to Ronaldo Damus’ head, but there is also a lesson for Birmingham to take away.
The Three Sparks need to learn how to play nasty.
Tulsa’s early fouls weren’t just random bad tackles. They were consistent and calculated fouls to break up play and interrupt any momentum Legion tried to create in possession. The longer the referee let these slide without further repercussion, the more emboldened the hosts became. It resulted in a first half where Birmingham barely got anything going attacking-wise as a result.
Tulsa got away with it because nobody was advocating for Birmingham. Even on the Damus elbow, not a single teammate appealed to the ref when the Haitian went down. In different circumstances, if for example the usually chippy Enzo Martínez gets in the ref’s face about it, the outcome might be different.
Fans generally don’t want to see that kind of behavior from the players, but there is such a thing as being “too nice.” Briggs even spoke about it prior to the game, referencing another elbow to one of his players’ faces, that of an Indy Eleven player on Ramiz Hamouda a few months ago.
“I’ve never seen one of our guys do anything like that,” Briggs said. “Raz, our 17-year-old, gets elbowed in the face in Indy. Not one person goes up to the guy who elbowed him and says ‘what the f*** are you doing?’ He’s our young player. We’ve got players on the field that are 34, 32, 28, 29, and not one of them protects our guy.
“Nobody runs and protects his teammate,” he added. “And that’s the problem right there. It’s all about me and you and you and you, but not about us. It’s ‘I have to look good.’”
Some of what Tulsa did can come from the arrogance players have when they’re top of the table. Manchester City, the dominant team in the English Premier League, have become infamous for getting away with tactical fouling.
With that context, we can understand that a Birmingham Legion side at the opposite end of the standings might not come into games with the same mindset. They don’t feel invincible and don’t come into games thinking they can get away with things, because so much has gone wrong for them this season.
But if that’s going to change, the mentality needs to as well.
Prior to the game, Briggs said Tulsa’s DNA was, just like Louisville City, the top team in the other conference, “running, tackling, communicating, competing.” If he can’t ignite that desire to do those small things, the little details that often happen off camera and don’t get as many plaudits, it will be hard to turn things around.
“People want to play when they want to play,” Briggs said. “It’s f***ing obvious. … Teams that are attacking and play beautiful football but don’t defend never win anything. Like Manchester City play beautiful football, but they f***ing work. The way they run, the way they compete, the way they talk, that’s why they’ve been consistently good.
“None of the good play matters if you’re not willing to do the stuff off the ball that’s just basic,” he added. “Communicating, competing, f***ing helping your teammate, doing the nasty side of the game, the ugly side of the game. That’s what wins. The running, the fighting, all that stuff.
“If you don’t do that, it’s like the saying about talent. You can have all the talent in the world, if you don’t work hard, the talent’s wasted.”
An early midfield change
Another notable moment in Saturday’s game came 11 minutes into the encounter, when Samuel Shashoua went down with an apparent ankle issue.
The Englishman has been key to a recent uptick in performances, even if the results haven’t been there to match, so it was a worrying sight for Birmingham. He had also started brightly on the night, completing all five of his passes, including three in the final third, successfully pulling off both his dribble attempts and regaining possession three times.
But after being treated by the physio, Shashoua returned to the field only to be forced off 10 minute later, in the 24th minute.
In his place, Peter-Lee Vassell made his Birmingham debut.
The attacking midfielder was signed just two days prior after training with the club a couple of weeks, and proved to be a timely addition. With Roman Torress recalled from his loan, Kobe Hernández-Foster sold, Tyler Pasher injured and Edwin Laszo suspended after accumulating too many yellow cards, Vassell was the only midfielder available to bring on for that central role.
Thrust onto the pitch earlier than either he or the coaches would have anticipated, the debutant ended up playing nearly a full 90 when factoring in stoppage time, going for 82:40 minutes. For a player who hadn’t played a competitive game in months, it was a lot to ask, but he acquitted himself well.
“We think he can give us something that we we don't necessarily have,” Briggs said following Vassell’s announcement Thursday. “He’s more of a number eight, kind of a box to box, good on the ball, likes to get forward, but athletic profile, which we don't have. He's a different profile to what we have.
“He’s a decent size and he's just a different profile in regard to athleticism,” he continued. “He’s very good on the ball, can score a goal, likes to get forward, likes to make runs from deep. So just something different.”
Vassell showed off some of those abilities in Legion’s three-man midfield, which became a two later on as the team chased the game. The Jamaica international had the highest pass accuracy of any Legion players with 10 or more attempts at 83.3% and also put in a team-high three successful crosses.
He also showed great awareness and movement to get on the end of Damus’ long ball over the top in the game’s dying moments, but unfortunately could not get the connection required for a game-winning goal.
New signings under Briggs have often been thrown straight into the lineup, but unlike Vassell they’ve often been playing for a different club up to the moment they made the switch. Legion’s latest signing was no doubt supposed to be eased in more slowly, and it’s therefore hard to judge exactly what Birmingham signed given the context.
But with a full week of practice ahead, he should only get sharper and fitter ahead of Legion’s next game.
Midfield has been a real area of worry for the Three Sparks for much of the season, but with the double Sam pivot it looked like they had finally found a pairing that worked. Shashoua’s injury is hopefully nothing serious — he is seen making his way to practice in cleats in Legion’s latest Instagram reel — but Vassell showed that, though maybe not particularly flashy, he can do the job when called upon.
A massive week up ahead
As mentioned in this article’s intro, the draw was a better result than anticipated.
That is because not one other team at or below the playoff line picked up any points this weekend. Losses for Indy Eleven, Rhode Island, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Miami FC confirmed that the final Eastern Conference playoff spot is still anyone’s to claim.
“The funny thing is, we can still make the playoffs,” Briggs said. “If people just say ‘I want to do the nasty part of the game,’ we can play. Everyone knows we can play and we can create.”
With a bye week this weekend, Legion will soon have a game in hand on many of their competitors. Rhode Island and Indy Eleven face off Saturday at 6 p.m., while Tampa and Miami will also be in action that same day.
But even though those results will afford the Three Sparks some clarity on what they need, one thing is already certain. Next week could very well be defining to the season.
With the roster freeze enacted last night at 10:59 p.m. CT and only one more bye week to come, we’ve entered the home stretch. And it all starts with two games in five days against two direct rivals for the playoffs.
Birmingham Legion host the Tampa Bay Rowdies at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday September 17 at Protective Stadium. They then travel to Indianapolis for the second time this season to take on Indy Eleven at 4 p.m. Sunday September 21.
Lose both games, and that’s probably curtains on the season. Win both and you’ve not only hampered your direct rivals, you’ve taken all the momentum going into the final five games of the season.
If there was ever a time for Birmingham Legion to flip the switch and find some form, that time is now.
“A result like this strengthens our belief for sure,” Rufe noted after Saturday’s game. “We have one goal in mind with this game coming up. Our season is on the line. The stakes are high, and we’re going to be ready.”