Week 2 Preview: all you need to know

OK, this early season schedule is already totally bizarre. Six teams had a bye last week, and two more get one this week. Two teams have a double-game week; one of them is already two games played with 6 teams not even having set foot on the field yet. Just strange.

The most important part

Off this week are Hartford Athletic and…you guessed it…the Birmingham Legion. And of course the Legion has to head up to Connecticut next weekend to play the aforementioned Athletic so the Three Sparks don’t even get the advantage of a week off before the road game. And the reason that week’s game isn’t a home game it’s because of this:

As if motocross last week wasn’t enough. Oh well.

Best of the rest

With the Legion and its upcoming opponent both off, you really have your choice from the 11 games being played this Saturday. Here are the three most interesting matchups:

Rhode Island FC v. New Mexico United (3:00pm, ESPN+)

Khano Smith’s and Michael Parkhurst’s new team got the week off so this will be everyone’s first chance to see what they have built. All indications are that they have put together a very competitive squad. New Mexico will be a tough first test. They beat the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1-0 last time out, although that was at home. How will they fare up in the chilly Northeast?

Tampa Bay Rowdies v. San Antonio FC (6:30pm, CBS Sports Golazo)

An early season meeting between two expected contenders is always worth checking out. The Rowdies were another team on a bye to start the year, and San Antonio were held to a surprise 2-2 draw at home by Loudoun United, who played 61 minutes down a man after a really stupid head butt by Christiano François. They’ll be looking for some improvement for sure.

El Paso Locomotive v. Louisville City (2:00pm, ESPN+)

The Locomotive have already played two games, losing 0-1 to Hartford last Saturday and drawing 1-1 with Monterey Bay Wednesday evening in a rather boring affair. Lou City are the Legion’s next opponent after Hartford so we do need to do some recon. They will be at less than full strength right out of the gate as the very dangerous Brian Ownby is out for an extended time after surgery for an undisclosed leg injury.

Back in the Old Country

Birmingham City got ever deeper into difficulties last week with a 0-1 loss to Millwall on Saturday, the goal being scored in the 90th minute, followed by another 0-1 loss on Tuesday to Middlesbrough. They now find themselves in 21st, one place and one point out of the relegation spots with 9 games left to play. This Saturday (10:00am, an hour later than usual as the UK does not change its clocks for another couple of weeks) they play Watford, who are 14th. The Blues need points desperately at this stage.

How to watch CBS Sports Golazo

The Legion aren’t scheduled to appear on CBS Sports Golazo yet, but here are several games each week on this channel, so it seems a good opportunity to offer a primer on how to watch it for those of you who are unfamiliar with it. Since it only became available April 11 last year, I’m guessing that’s most of you.

Golazo is a 24-hour streaming-only live soccer channel. It’s not available on any standard streaming package, but there are numerous ways to watch it. They aren’t necessarily intuitive though:

1. Paramount+. If you are a subscriber to this service (it’s one of the best, honestly), this is probably the easiest way to watch. Yellowstone and Star Trek fans are in luck, then. In the TV app, scroll to the vertical menu on the left and then scroll down to Live TV and select it. Then in the list of channels, scroll down to Golazo.
2. CBS Sports App. Paramount+ isn’t available on all phones, but CBS Sports is. It’s also available on TVs (Android and Fire stick at least). On the mobile app, select Watch in the bottom menu, then scroll across to Golazo and tap on the selected show/game. On the TV app, everything currently running live is available at the top, so just scroll across to Golazo, or alternatively do the same in the Live and Upcoming menu immediately below that.
3. Pluto TV. Pluto is free and may be the easiest option. It’s also available on TVs and mobile phones. In both, just scroll down in the channel guide until you find Golazo, which should be fairly close to the top.
4. Web browser. All of the above are also available through a browser: Paramount+, CBS Sports, Pluto. All the links will take you directly to the Golazo screen; only Paramount+ will require an existing sign-in.