Week 24 Preview: all you need to know

It hardly seems fair to saddle a team that has a very hobbled roster with a short week of rest after a late road game way out west, but that’s what the Three Sparks are dealing with this week. What’s in store?

The most important part

Friday (7:00pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network) the Legion takes on Detroit City. The good guys won the opposite fixture 2-1 back in late June. Since then the Legion has gone 3-3-2, although 2 of those losses were against Louisville and Charleston. Detroit has gone 1-3-5, the only win being a 4-0 score over Miami the game immediately following the Legion game. They have not won a game since June 29th. They have scored 8 goals in those 9 games (so only 4 in the last 8 games), although they have allowed only 7.

Detroit has a scoring problem equally as bad as the Legion’s. They started out rather better and have a total of 27 so far, 2 less than the Three Sparks on one less game. But obviously they have hit a road block lately. Their problem is different though in that they take very few shots, sitting 18th in the league. That puts them at a healthy15% conversion rate but a good conversion rate is easier to achieve on a low shooting rate.

Despite that, they have a +3 goal difference. The two goalkeepers, Nate Steinwascher and Carlos Saldaña, have 6 clean sheets between them. Steinwascher has 117 starts, but of late the two seem to have been trading off; it’s hard to say who the Legion will be facing. Both are good.

It’s also not that they are short on attacking talent. Leading scorer Maxi Rodriguez has 7 goals and Ben Morris has 4. They also have Elvis Amoh and Victor Bezerra, both on 3 so far. Rodriguez has been with the team since 2021 and Englishman Morris since last year so both are well-attuned to the team’s style.

There should be little doubt that a full-strength Legion team would handle Detroit fairly comfortably. And therein lies the problem. The Legion is far from full strength and apparently is still without new signee Rida Zouhir. On top of that, Alex Crognale will be serving a suspension, leaving the team without its stalwart centerbacks (Phanuel Kavita is probably still out). The status of several other players is unknown, in particular Tyler Pasher. The Legion lineup Friday is a huge question mark.

Prediction: Despite that, I am going with a Legion win. The Three Sparks may be short-handed, but Detroit played twice last week. They are relatively tired and have scoring issues. Stefano Pinho is coming into his own lately and Kobe Hernandez-Foster is developing fast. 2-0 to the home team.

Best of the rest

There were already 3 games in the Championship Wednesday (with 14 goals between them), none directly impacting the Legion. The Three Sparks’ tilt against Detroit is the only Friday game, so you have your choice of games to watch on Saturday. No games on Sunday this week.

Rhode Island v. Oakland Roots (Saturday, 6:30pm, CBS Sports Golazo Network)

Rhode Island trails the Legion by 3 points and has only lost once since June 8th. Oakland stumbled a bit lately, giving up 10 goals to Pittsburgh and Sacramento, but have since recovered with two straight wins and remain 3rd in the West, tied on points with Memphis but with a game in hand and only 3 points behind Sacramento. Both teams have a lot to play for.

Tampa Bay Rowdies v. Loudoun United (Saturday, 6:30pm, ESPN+)

The Rowdies are rather on an island in 3rd place in the East, with a lot of space either side of them, although they do have two games in hand on Charleston who are 9 points ahead. Indy in 4th are 5 points back but on one additional game. Loudoun are holding on to the 8th spot right now, a point behind Detroit and a point ahead of North Carolina. However, a win and the right results elsewhere could see them jump to 6th.

Louisville City v. Charleston Battery (Saturday, 7:00pm, ESPN+)

This one hardly needs any introduction and is easily the biggest game of the week. Lou City is just a point in front of the Battery and has 2 games in hand. Charleston therefore really needs to win. Louisville has lost at home just once this season (2-5 to Rhode Island) and just boosted its attack by signing Phillip Goodrum from Tulsa. As if it needed any more attacking power.

San Antonio v. North Carolina (Saturday, 8:00pm, ESPN+)

North Carolina are 9th right now, but are only 6 points out of 4th place; that’s how tight it has become in the East table’s midsection. San Antonio has 1 point from its last 4 games (a dreary 0-0 draw with the equally struggling Pittsburgh Riverhounds). The boys from Cary have a good opportunity to make the East race even tighter and are ridding a 2-game win streak over the West, including a 4-1 shellacking of Colorado Springs last week.

Back in the Old Country

The Blues’ League One campaign didn’t start off as well as hoped last weekend as the team needed a late Alfie May penalty to draw 1-1 with Reading. They did rather better in the first round of the EFL Cup (aka the Carabao Cup), beating Charlton Athletic 1-0 away on Wednesday despite Dion Sanderson getting a 78th-minute red card (hmm, that sounds familiar…). They will play Fulham in the second round August 27 or 28.

This weekend they will play Wycombe, who lost 2-3 to Wrexham last week in the league and beat Northampton Town 2-0 in the Cup, oddly enough also seeing red in the 78th minute. This one will not be televised in the US, but it could be a fairly big test.

The Blues are still active in the transfer market. This week they added Icelandic right back Alfons Sampsted on loan from FC Twente of the Netherlands. There’s likely more yet to come.