Game Preview: Birmingham Legion v. Tampa Bay Rowdies

First, the bad news: this blogger will be flying from Birmingham to Orange County, California while this game is being played. Second, the even worse news: he is not going there for the OC v. Rhode Island game and will also be at a baby shower while the Loudoun County v. Birmingham Legion game is live on Saturday. The sacrifices we make for family.

Anyway, the Tampa Bay Rowdies will be in the Magic City for a midweek matchup (Wednesday, 7:00pm, CBS Sports Network). The reverse fixture back in May saw the Three Sparks win 1-0 in St. Petersburg. Both teams’ fortunes have been up and down since then. Lately, both have been rather down.

The Legion’s problems you are most likely quite familiar with. The Rowdies, however, have been a bit of a mystery. They remain 3rd in the West, but are a distant 13 points behind the Charleston Battery (who have admittedly played two more games, but still). The cushion between them and Detroit City in 4th is 4 points and Detroit has also played one additional game. That being said, after a very ho9t start the Rowdies have cooled off markedly, especially recently. They have just 4 points from their last 5 games. The only win was a 2-0 affair over Miami. Not exactly overwhelming. The draw was 0-0 with Phoenix Rising. Otherwise: they lost 2-0 to Loudoun, 2-3 to Detroit and most recently 2-4 to the Colorado Springs Switchbacks in a very embarrassing game. So they have exactly the same record over the last 5 as the Legion has, although the Legion has lost three straight without scoring.

There are a few factors in the Legion’s favor. Most obviously, the Rowdies will be traveling on short rest after Saturday’s road game. The Legion will be working on an 11-day break and are at home. Less evident is that Rowdies manager Robbie Neilson got himself red-carded for foul language at half-time of the game in Colorado and thus will be absent. Further, in a presser Monday, Tommy Soehn hinted that with the extended break, the team “has a couple of guys back.” He didn’t elaborate but if Tyler Pasher is one of them, that’s going to be a big deal. If Diba Nwegbo is another, all the better.

That being said, Tampa Bay can score. They have 45 goals on the season with 14 from Manuel Arteaga and 13 from Cal Jennings. They are most definitely not without threats. Admittedly, they were kept scoreless in 2 recent games and the 2 they scored in Colorado were after the Switchbacks were already 4 goals up and probably not working overly hard any more. Still, ignoring their attack is unwise.

Defensively they’ve allowed 31, better than the Legion but still not great. Keeper Jordan Farr sits behind a 3-man back line (sometimes 5) usually anchored by former Legionary Freddy Kleemann but featuring a rotating group including Blake Bodily (who scored an own goal over the weekend), Aaron Guillen, Jordan Doherty and Edwin Munjoma. The Legion has struggled against such defenses, notably the Pittsburgh Roverhounds a couple of weeks back.

Prediction: This is going to be a tough one. The Legion has far more on the line than the Rowdies, but they are also going to want to rebound from a poor stretch of results. Overall, I think the good guys have the edge – and have owned the Rowdies of late – but ultimately I’m putting this one down as a draw.

Update:

The Legion announced today that it signed forward Darwin Matheus just before yesterday’s roster freeze. A standout with Atlanta United 2 back in 2022, the Venezuelan adds some potential punch to the Legion attack, which is sorely needed. This could change things for this game.