Diving Deep: Birmingham Legion 2-1 Colorado Springs Switchbacks

Apparently, the Legion and Switchbacks want to keep as many statistics between the two teams as even as possible.

The most important stat – the result – is perfectly balanced. It stands at 1-1-1, with each team taking a 2-1 win (both in the Magic City) and the one game in the Rockies going 1-1. very neat.

Most of the other stats in this game were pretty close to parity. The Legion had just a 2% possession edge. Both teams made 11 interceptions. The Legion made 450 passes, just 6 more than the Switchbacks (5 of those were long passes, which we’ll get to later), and both teams were a hair over 81% accurate in passing. Both were about 69.5% accurate in the attacking half.

Even the game’s heatmap is an exercise in symmetry:

The Legion is playing left to right. But this does give a hint as to where the balance began to break down. The Legion had the better of the overall attacking play. Notably, the Three Sparks sent in a total of 23 crosses to just 10 for the visitors. Of those, 11 were corners whereas the Switchbacks had a measly 2. Hence the itty bitty green dot to the top left. Admitedly, the Legion was just 30% accurate from out wide, and the Switchbacks were 50%, but 7 still beats 5. Here’s a look at all the crosses in the game:

All but 2 of the Legion’s crosses were into the 18-yard box and at least 5 (probably 6, it’s difficult to make out exactly) were into the 6-yard box. That’s a phenomenal way to create attacking threats. It’s also most un-Legion-like; this team is usually very bad at crossing, certainly post-Jonny Dean. And indeed, long passing in this game was generally pretty poor. Especially early in the game, the Legion was trying to launch long balls into the Colorado Springs half and see what happens. Well, long passes are a low-success option. It’s just a way to give the ball away most of the time, since your attackers are usually outnumbered by the defense. They only really work well in a counter-attacking situation, in particular on corners where centerbacks are pulled forward. But as we have noted, corners weren’t happening at the Legion end. Moreover, the vast majority of the Legion’s unsuccessful passes were long balls, and most of those were vertical balls straight up the field.

Still, when the Legion did get the ball into the final third, it hammered the defense. The Three Sparks had a 19-15 edge in shooting and an 8-3 edge in shots on target (and that doesn’t;t count Jake Rufe damn near breaking the crossbar). Bear in mind also that both Legion goals came off saved shots that Christian Herrera did not hold on to. Both Legion goals were technically unassisted, but that isn’t the reality of it; shots can themselves be assists.

The Legion played its now customary 4-3-3, although sometimes it looked like a 5-2-3 or even a 5-1-4, depending largely on how Jake Rufe (who probably played his best-ever game as a Legionary) and Dawson McCartney were deployed. Nominally a wingback, he also played as an additional centerback at points during the second half. Indeed, his final average position was deeper than that of fullback Derek Dodson. Dawson, in contrast, played a pretty aggressive attacking role as a true wingback, well ahead of his fullback AJ Paterson, and ended up with the tying goal.

The best news about this game though was that the Legion was able to recover from a very shaky start. Yes, the Legion did match the Switchbacks with 3 shots on target in the first 12 minutes, but they weren’t particularly threatening and the defense was clearly not in sync on Zach Zandi’s early goal. Tommy Soehn was evidently pretty unhappy on the sideline nd whatever he told them either changed the approach a tad or energized them into much more effective play.

In the end, these were 3 points the Legion could not afford to drop. The team has a very tough week ahead, with a rapidly improving Rhode Island coming to town Wednesday for a reunion with some old friends and a trip to Albuquerque Saturday against a powerful New Mexico United who will have had 10 days rest since their Open Cup loss to LAFC.