Hartford Climbs The Table With 4-1 Win Over Birmingham
USL Hartford Athletic

Hartford Climbs The Table With 4-1 Win Over Birmingham

August 9, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Hartford Athletic News Release


Hartford Athletic continued one of the best runs of form in club history in a 4-1 defeat of Birmingham Legion FC on the road on Saturday night. Mamadou Dieng netted his fourth career brace for the Green & Blue and his fifth goal in the past 3 games. Hartford has outscored its opponents 10-1 in the same span and have moved into the playoff places as of this writing.

In the 25th minute, Michee Ngalina put the ball across and connected with Mamadou Dieng who had his back to goal. As he attempted to turn and fire off a shot, Hartford's #9 was fouled, drawing a penalty kick. Dieng took the PK and buried it in the back of the net.

Off the restart, the Boys in Green doubled their lead. Junior Moreira won the ball and played it forward to Ngalina who was streaking down the left sideline. As all three Birmingham defenders rushed to shut him down, the 5'11" forward played the ball across the box to Dieng who was undefended in front of goal. Dieng had an easy one-on-one with the goalkeeper for his second of the match. Dieng now has nine goals in USL Championship play this season, just two shy of his single-season club record of 11 goals in 2024.

The rest of the half saw Hartford keep pressing towards goal, going into the locker room with eight shots and five on target to Legion FC's 6 and 2, respectively.

The home team started creating more chances in the second stanza. The most dangerous of which came in the 60th minute. First, Captain Tyler Pasher fired off a shot from the edge of the 18-yard box that glanced off the post and rebounded hard into play. The ball landed to Samuel Shashoua who took a touch towards goal but was brought down inside the box.

Shashoua took the PK, directing it towards the bottom right corner, but GK Antony Siaha was not ready to give up his streak of clean sheets and made a spectacular diving save. However, the referee determined that Siaha had left his line early, bringing the ball back to the spot for Shashoua to retake.

He went the other direction this time but Hartford's goalkeeper was up to the challenge, making another clutch save and keeping Birmingham scoreless.

The Boys in Green defended their lead for the next 30 minutes, even as Birmingham fought hard for a goal. Just as the game seemed to be nearing the end, stoppage time proved to be an exciting five minutes, with two goals for Hartford and one for the home team.

Early in stoppage time, substitutes Kyle Edwards and Adewale Obalola combined to score a third goal for the Green & Blue. Obalola won the ball in the middle of the field and quickly got it to Edwards who was making a run into the box. He fired the ball into the back of the net as the goalkeeper came charging out to stop him. Despite appearing mostly as a substitute this season, Edwards has now scored seven goals in USL Championship play, a number he reached in the 2023 season.

Before Birmingham could even figure out what had hit them, Hartford was back on the attack. This time Samuel Careaga got in on the action, dribbling towards goal and drawing two defenders. This left Obalola open on the right side, and Careaga made the selfless pass that left his teammate with the easy tap in goal to put Hartford up 4-0.

Seconds before the referee blew his whistle, Legion FC's Enzo Martínez found the back of the net on a Sebastian Tregarthen cross, making the final score 4-1.

WIth this win, the Boys in Green take home three crucial points and move up to seventh place in the Eastern Conference - one spot above the playoff line.

Hartford Athletic is back at home on Saturday, August 16 at 7:00 PM against FC Tulsa who sit at the top of the Western Conference table. Tickets are available here.

FAST STATS

HARTFORD BIRMINGHAM

Shots 12 17

Shots On Target 9 5

Corners 8 7

Fouls 12 11

Offsides 2 1

Possession 39.5% 60.5%

Passing Accuracy 71.3% 81.1%

Saves 4 4

SCORING SUMMARY

HARTFORD BIRMINGHAM

27 ‚¬Â² - Mamadou Dieng (PK) 90+5 ‚¬Â² - Enzo Martínez (Sebastian Tregarthen)

29 ‚¬Â² - Mamadou Dieng (MIchee Ngalina)

90+1 ‚¬Â² - Kyle Edwards (Adewale Obalola)

90+3 ‚¬Â² - Adewale Obalola (Samuel Careaga)

DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY

HARTFORD BIRMINGHAM

73 ‚¬Â² - Emmanuel Samadia (Yellow) 8 ‚¬Â² - Maliek Howell (Yellow)

30 ‚¬Â² - Sebastián Saucedo (Yellow)

45+3 ‚¬Â² - Phanuel Kavita (Yellow)

48 ‚¬Â² - Edwin Laszo (Yellow)

75 ‚¬Â² - Jake Rufe (Yellow)

LINEUPS

HARTFORD BIRMINGHAM

77 (GK) Antony Siaha 1 (GK) Matt Van Oekel

19 (DF) Emmanuel Samadia 20 (DF) AJ Patterson

22 (DF) TJ Presthus 3 (DF) Phanuel Kavita (Jake Rufe, 46 ‚¬Â²)

30 (DF) Adrián Diz Pe (Jordan Scarlett, 80 ‚¬Â²) 24 (DF) Maliek Howell (Sam McIllhatton, 78 ‚¬Â²)

15 (DF) Joe Farrell (C) 11 (MF) Dawson McCartney (Stephen Turnbull, 46 ‚¬Â²)

2 (DF) Sebastian Anderson 17 (MF) Edwin Laszo (Tabort Etaka Preston, 78 ‚¬Â²)

94 (MF) Marlon Hairston (Beverly Makangila, 65 ‚¬Â²) 19 (MF) Enzo Martínez

17 (MF) Jonathan Jiménez (Adewale Obalola, 65 ‚¬Â²) 21 (MF) Sebastian Tregarthen

8 (MF) Junior Moreira (Samuel Careaga, 80 ‚¬Â²) 14 (FW) Samuel Shashoua (Sebastián Saucedo, 78 ‚¬Â²)

9 (FW) Mamadou Dieng (Kyle Edwards, 71 ‚¬Â²) 9 (FW) Ronaldo Damus

11 (FW) Michee Ngalina 15 (FW) Tyler Pasher (C)

Check out the Hartford Athletic Statistics



United Soccer League Championship Stories from August 9, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central