Preseason Review: Birmingham Legion 2-3 Chattanooga FC

The Legion suffered another defeat in preseason this past Saturday, going down 2-3 to MLS Next Pro side Chattanooga FC at Dunnavant Valley. The visitors must be feeling pretty good about their prospects in MLSNP this season, having already beaten Atlanta United 2-1.

That being said, the Legion definitely displayed some progress in the past week. For a start, they opened the scoring on a nice finish by Ronaldo Damus on an assist from rapidly improving newcomer Sebastian Tregarthen. Chattanooga quickly equalized on a defensive error, but that was all the scoring for the opening half.

As for the Legion’s overall play in the half, the home side definitely dominated with at least 8 shots on target to just 2 for the road side. Moreover, the speed that Tommy Soehn had been asking for is evidently developing. Not only that, but it is present on both sides of the formation.

In the 4-2-3-1 that the Three Sparks predictably used the right side showed some power with Stephen Turnbull at right fullback and a combination of Dawson McCartney and Tregarthen in front of him. On the left Moses Mensah was pushing extremely high and had Danny Trejo in front of him to send innumerable crosses into the box as well as launching a couple in himself. With Kobe Hernandez-Foster not participating (he was there but not in uniform) there was no third man to help out but he would likely be the defensive pivot anyway. It also needs to be pointed out that Dunnavant Valley is a very wide field – likely the maximum permitted. On the large number of narrower fields in the USL Championship crossing is going to be a major feature of this year’s play.

Defensively, AJ Paterson was still out although he was on the bench with no knee brace or crutches evident, which is a very good sign (Tyler Pasher was also hanging out). Ethan Kos got the start again as a trialist and remained solid if not quite as impressive as against Atlanta. Other than the one error, the back line had little difficulty controlling the Chattanooga attack, mostly keeping them out of the 18. Fernando Delgado had relatively little to do in goal other than shout at his defense for the one score. Matt van Oekel also did not play but was kitted out and working in warmups.

It also needs to be said that the referees were clearly also very much in preseason form with some questionable decisions being made. Several offsides against the Legion were likely incorrect (although it’s not that bad of a thing if your forward is getting caught out of position a few times) and at least one blatant free kick foul incurred by Moses just outside the box was allowed to pass (much to the Chattanooga keeper’s amusement, who clearly knew it was a bad call).

The second half was a bit wild. Both teams made wholesale changes as expected. Chattanooga won the half 2-1 and the Legion score was a PK slotted in by Lucca Dourado after Preston Tabort Etaka was brought down in the box. Several faces we saw last week were not on display though: defender Dyan Bellios did not appear to be around any more; neither did forward Yaniv Bazini, which was perhaps a bit surprising given how well he performed last week. Jackson Wrobel was effective in midfield and the fact that he was wearing #17 was an early clue that the Matthew Corcoran transfer to Nashville SC was a done deal. Another player who did well was trialist #14 who started on the left wing and flipped with Preston about 30 minutes into the half. He didn’t get the ball into the air too much but he was confident in possession and aggressive moving forward. Not sure if we will see him again; the Legion is pretty well set for wingers.

As for that wing switch: this writer is not as a rule a big fan of inverted wingers. As a tactic it puts the player’s dominant foot away from goal. That means two things: first, crosses become almost non-existent; second, any attempt on goal requires the player to cut inside. If you’re playing against a slow defense it can work, and it did produce some very good chances on Saturday. But this was against a second-string third-tier defense on a wide field. Against a full Championship defense on a narrower (and therefore crowded) field it will be much less effective. On the other hand, shots are almost always inswingers and can target the back post.

All told, this was progress. Much remains to be accomplished of course, especially communication up front. And yes, we still need a central attacking midfielder. Maybe he will come out of the open tryouts held earlier on Saturday…