Game Preview: Birmingham Legion v. Rhode Island FC

First off, full disclosure: yours truly is a former resident of the Ocean State, having lived there a couple of years before moving to Birmingham.

Of course, the opposite can be said of quite a few of today’s visitors. Not only is the Rhode Island head coach our very own Khano Smith, but the team roster includes Collin Smith, Gabriel Alves, Zach Herivaux and JJ Williams, former Legionaries all. Additionally, midfielder Clay Holstad is a Birmingham native. This one will look like an intra-squad scrimmage.

Regular readers will already know that Rhode Island is sitting in second place in the Forge’s Power Rankings. This despite still being in 9th place just below the playoff line. That’s only on tiebreakers though (they have one less win than North Carolina). And they are definitely getting into a groove after a predictable slow start. They look to have completely shaken off the expansion team struggles. Over the past five games they have earned 11 points (second only to New Mexico United) and have scored a massive 16 goals, including a staggering 5-2 win in Louisville (they drew 0-0 with Lou City just four weeks earlier). The only other team to have scored double-digit goals over the same stretch is Memphis 901 with 10. Granted, 6 of those 16 goals were against El Paso Locomotive and The™ Miami FC, but the team does appear to be scoring pretty much at will.

Note also that in the previous 13 games they had scored just 11 goals, so they have really hit their stride lately. Of the total 27 goals, 6 were scored by Albert Dikwa, the dangerous Cameroonian striker who joined the team from the Pittsburgh Riverhounds this season (his move likely has a lot to do with Pittsburgh’s scoring woes). Next best on 4 goals is Frank Nodarse, a Cuban whom the team snapped up from the defunct Rio Grande Valley Toros. Get this though: he’s a centerback. Third on the list with 3 is another striker: Noah Fuson, who came to the team from Columbus Crew 2 (where Clay Holstad also came from).

Fuson is also the assist leader on the team with 4, just ahead of JJ Williams and Marc Ybarra on 3. Ybarra, a midfielder, is another former Riverhound. Overall, it looks like Rhode Island sourced its inaugural squad from relatively few places.

So scoring is not an issue for this team. However, defending does seem to have its issues. Despite scoring 27 times, the team still has a goal difference of -1. Even over the recent stretch they have allowed 9 goals. Miami last week managed to score twice on them. The most they have given up in a game though is 4 in a 1-4 loss in Tampa Bay in just their third game ever. On the other hand, in the very next game they held the Charleston Battery to a 0-0 draw. Predictability is not Rhode Island’s way.

Of the 28 goals allowed, 15 were conceded by Koke Vegas, the Spaniard previously with San Diego Loyal and 13 by Jackson Lee. Lee is an Australian in his first fully professional season and joined Rhode Island despite being selected by LAFC in the first round of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft. Each of them has 10 league appearances; the team has only played 18 games though; Lee subbed in for Vegas after an injury in one game and a red card in another. Lee also played the team’s only US Open Cup game in which he allowed 4 goals through extra time and another 5 in the penalty shootout, losing to Charlotte Independence.

Rhode Island plays almost exclusively with a 3-man back line, that being typically Nodarse, Holstad and Karifa Yao. Yao is a Canadian whose previous professional experience is mostly with Cavalry FC, the Calgary team in the Canadian Premier League and one of its more successful clubs. The overall formation is usually a 3-4-3 using 2 strikers and an attacking mid. The team also shifts its players around a fair amount and plays a rather Total Football style, which given Khano Smith’s long association with the Legion is hardly surprising.  But with that 3-man defense it remains rather surprising that the team has allowed so many goals. A weakness? it would appear so.

As for the Legion tonight, the team will for its national TV debut (so be there well before 7:00pm!) be sporting yet another brand new kit. This one though has no real Birmingham association; it’s sponsor-driven. Coca-Cola has a new limited-edition drink called Sprite Chill. Tonight’s kit will be in that drink’s colors (green, light blue and white):

Prediction: This one will, I think be a high-scoring affair. On both sides. I’m going with a draw, 2-2 or more.