Week 26 Preview: all you need to know

Another bad home game by the Legion last weekend. amazingly, it didn’t hurt too badly in the standings. Detroit City and Indy Eleven both lost, Rhode Island and Loudoun United drew. All is not lost. Moreover, 5 of the last 9 games are on the road, where the Legion is a healthy 6-3-3. Of the 4 home games, one is against Las Vegas Lights (the Legion has not lost to any Western Conference team) and another is against…Miami.

The most important part

This game doesn’t really need much of an introduction. The reverse fixture was just 6 weeks ago and it’s not as if we aren’t familiar with this team, which from the Birmingham perspective should be called Old Boys.

Rhode Island is doing very well as an expansion team but has hit a slight bump in the road. They have just one win this month (3-0 over local rival Hartford) and did themselves no favors in last week’s 0-0 draw with Loudoun, which saw both teams fail to catch the Legion, who now sit a point above them both. Those were 2 points neither team needed to drop in the increasingly tight Eastern Conference race.

The bigger issue is on the Legion side. The Three Sparks have gone 22 minutes without scoring. In the miserable Detroit game, they managed just 4 shots and none on target. Say all you want about the injury situation (which is admittedly rough), that’s just not good enough. It’s also bad when the best player over the past two games was a second-half sub – Preston Tabort Etaka. Preston needs to be starting, frankly, and it’s bizarre that he isn’t. Especially in the absence of Tyler Pasher, who has been the team’s true game-changer this season.

It’s also not a great surprise that the league has identified a center forward as the Legion’s biggest need down the stretch, an opinion echoed by Kaylr Hodges in his Hammering Down podcast this week. We are certainly not going to disagree with that. But nothing has been done on that front and time is running very short.

Prediction: I’m not holding out much hope here. The Three Sparks are going down for the third loss in a row.

Best of the rest

No games tonight in the Championship. One game on Sunday (FC Tulsa v. Colorado Springs Switchbacks) isn’t all that appealing. Everyone else plays Saturday.

Detroit City v. Hartford Athletic (Saturday, 6:00pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network)

Detroit currently occupies the last home playoff spot in the East, 2 points ahead of the Legion. They lost last week to Tulsa. Hartford is all the way down in 11th, but is riding two impressive victories over Las Vegas and Louisville (albeit with Lou City down a man after 29 minutes and down two men after 66). They also beat Detroit a month ago. This one carries serious significance.

Indy Eleven v. Pittsburgh Riverhounds (Saturday, 6:00pm, ESPN+)

After last week’s win over the Legion Pittsburgh is knocking on the door of the playoffs, although they have played more games than all the teams they are chasing. Indy is on a rough stretch, having lost three straight if you include the midweek US Open Cup loss to Sporting Kansas City (that was delayed several hours due to weather). They are tied on points with the Three Sparks but with a game in hand.

Loudoun United v. Phoenix Rising (Saturday, 6:30pm, ESPN+)

This one is interesting: Loudoun are 8th, but tied on points with Rhode Island. They have a game in hand. That means they are 1 point behind the Legion, also with a game in hand. They lead Pittsburgh by 3 points, but with 2 games in hand. Needless to say, everyone around them wants them to lose. Phoenix are 10th in the West, but just 1 point out of the playoffs with 2 games in hand over Monterey Bay and Orange COunty above them. They have a tough assignment here but will be motivated.

The™ Miami FC v. Monterey Bay Union (Saturday, 6:00pm, ESPN+)

With Monterey Bay playing Miami, Phoenix may not see the playoff spots just yet. The Union are struggling at the moment, with just 1 point from 3 games under new head coach Jordan Stewart. This may be the cure though. Any dropped points for Miami will see them eliminated from the playoffs. They are on a 9-game losing streak; 5 more from the last 9 games will tie the league record (26, Antigua Barracuda 2012).

Back in the Old Country

Another league win for the Blues last week as they disposed of Leyton Orient 2-1 away, with new acquisition Alfie May adding his third goal in as many games. The midweek EFL Cup clash with Fulham ended a 0-2 loss, with former City loanee Jay Stansfield getting one of the goals. The Blues now sit in 5th in the league, behind Wrexham on goal difference and only two points out of first.

This week they play Wigan Athletic (Saturday, 9:00am, no US TV). Wigan are 18th, having a record of 1-2-0 and scoring just one goal in those three games. The losses were to Reading and Charlton, whom Birmingham City tied and beat respectively already this season. The win was over Crawley Town, though, who are 8th.

The transfer window is about to close (at 5:00pm Central today) and City are making the most of it. The planned loan deal for Rangers defender Ben Davies went through and he will be joined by fellow ex-Ranger winger Scott Wright for £300,000 ($394,000). A deal for the aforementioned Jay Stansfield is still in the works, with a League One record £10,000,000 ($13,100,000) reportedly being offered.

Update: The Stansfield deal was completed by the transfer deadline. The fee is unclear but is thought to be over £12,000,000. That is by far the League One record, beating the previous record of around £4,000,000, which was set twice earlier this year in the deals for Willum Willumsson and Christoph Klarer. Both those players were bought by…Birmingham City.