Lower Alabama Report: September 3

Legion must win; Huntsville needs to get points

Birmingham Legion FC

Image credit: Birmingham Legion; Jake Rufe

Last weekend's game was a 4-4 draw on the road against Orange County. Birmingham scored first, three minutes after the game started, for their first lead of the night. Unfortunately, they couldn't build on that lead. The score went back and forth; Legion would get a lead, and then Orange County would equalize. The halftime score was 2-2, and then four more goals were scored in the first 21 minutes of the second half, including an insane own goal from distance by Orange County. Of the two teams, Orange County would be able to walk away with more positives. Birmingham came away knowing that they blew an opportunity to collect three points that they desperately needed. Three Legion players received team of the week honors, including Amir Daley and Sebastian Tregarthen, who took turns scoring and assisting each other on those goals. It was an entertaining match, but the Birmingham defense was a mess.

This week's road game against Tulsa is going to be especially difficult. The Legion defense has been particularly leaky in recent games, and the roster will be thinned out due to Phanuel Kavita (Rwanda) and Ramiz Hamouda (USYNT U17) being called up for International duties. Tulsa is cruising to the playoffs, sitting in first place in the West, 8 points clear of second place. They're coming in off of a 0-2 loss to Colorado Springs, which ended a 14-game unbeaten streak in league play. On a positive note, Legion beat Tulsa 2-1 in Jagermeister play on May 31, also on the road. They've got to find a way to stay focused on defense and keep Tulsa out of the net. Time is running out for any chance to make a move and get into the playoffs. The game is Saturday, September 6 at 7:30 CT.

There's been plenty of speculation surrounding Jake Rufe's recent lack of playing time. Jake has been very effective playing various positions, but has spent most of this season as a center back. For some reason, he's clearly fallen out of favor with Mark Briggs. Notably, he's gone from being a starter that played ninety minutes, to a sub that's used sparingly. During Legion's particularly leaky recent form, Jake has not been a party to very much of it, and his exclusion is not due to injury. I looked back and ran the numbers for the season. Birmingham's opponents score goals against Legion at a rate 30% higher per minute when Jake is not on the field compared to when he's in the game. With Kavita and Hamouda unavailable, hopefully he'll be on the field against Tulsa, where he belongs.

Huntsville City FC

Image credit: Huntsville City

Huntsville City hit another bump in the road last weekend, losing 0-2 to Atlanta United 2. It was their second loss in a row, after a six game unbeaten run that preceded that. The loss has them in third place in the East, and they'll need to guard against sliding down the table. The standings are tight, and the wrong combination of just a few results could see them quickly shuffled back to sixth place.

The first hurdle to avoid the shuffle will come immediately, as HCFC will be on the road against NE Revolution 2 Monday, September 8 at 6:00 CT. The Revs are just one point behind Huntsville, in fifth place. They've lost twice in their last ten games, with a couple of draws in the mix. They typically play light on possession, but more even at times, so they can mix styles to frustrate opponents. Huntsville will need to press the issue on that, and play their game. Christian Koffi hasn't seen the field in three games, and he's been missed.

UPSL

The UPSL Premier season kicks off this weekend, and includes two teams that I'll cover for the Fall season.

FC Birmingham had a tough Spring, and appeared to be set for relegation. With realignment, they've stayed up in Premier, and will be competing in Georgia Zone 2. First up will be a trip to Chattanooga to face the Scenic City Soccer Club on Saturday, September 6 at 7:00 ET. FCB is looking to rebuild, and this will be a tough early test.

FC Columbus Elite will be competing in Georgia Zone 1, and they'll be on the road against Georgia Athletic Soccer Club on Sunday, September 7 at 2:00 ET. Spring was Elite's first season in Premier after being promoted from Division 1. They started slow, and got better as the season went along, but still finished in the bottom half of the table. Athletic was a mid table team, but was one of the teams that ran into Elite when they were in their best form in the Spring, with Elite winning 2-0. With Fountain City/UMA not competing in the Fall, it will be interesting to see if Elite picks up some key players.