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USL Birmingham Legion FC

Legion FC Caps Season with Offensive Onslaught in Oakland

October 27, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Birmingham Legion FC News Release


Birmingham Legion FC battles the Oakland Roots SC
Birmingham Legion FC battles the Oakland Roots SC
(Birmingham Legion FC)

HAYWARD, Calif. - Knowing its unfortunate postseason fate before kicking off out west, Birmingham Legion FC made the most of its final outing of 2024. With a rotated starting line-up and a point to prove, The Three Sparks ran roughshod over Oakland Roots SC with a 5-0 victory on Saturday night to end its USL Championship season on a much-needed positive note.

Having experienced its fair share of less-than-ideal luck over the course of the year, Legion FC finally saw some breaks go its way, with the squad converting all of its shots on target. The five goals mark the most that Birmingham has tallied in a match in 2024, surpassing its four-goal outputs in a pair of Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches against Chattanooga Red Wolves SC and the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

A brace from Preston Tabort Etaka highlighted a four-goal showing in the first half, with Stefano Pinho and Diba Nwegbo also putting their names on the scoresheet, while Enzo Martinez followed with the match's only goal of the final 45 minutes.

The victory sees Birmingham finish with 45 points and a 13W-15L-6D record for ninth place in the final Eastern Conference standings.

Midfielder Matthew Corcoran made his first appearance in the starting lineup this season and provided the assist on Nwegbo's goal. Defender Ramiz Hamouda also received a start for the first time since August 16 and his first appearance since September 28.

Legion FC's run of goals began emphatically in the 21st minute with Tabort Etaka running onto a long diagonal from Kobe Hernandez-Foster. The forward's second touch brought him to the top of the box from the right side before curling a shot that was placed perfectly in the top left corner, freezing Oakland goalkeeper Timothy Syrel.

From there, the floodgates opened up for The Three Sparks with Pinho getting on the scoresheet 10 minutes later by chipping an out-of-position Syrel from 30 yards out after Moses Mensah picked out the Brazilian from his own box. The 31st minute goal was the 10th in USL-C play and 14th across all competitions for Pinho, both of which lead the club to conclude the season.

Birmingham extended its lead to 3-0 shortly in the 35th minute on a freekick from Corcoran from the left side. His in-swinging ball picked out a leaping Nwegbo, who was able to get a glancing header just inside the far post. Tabort Etaka then capped off the goals explosion with a long-range effort in the 40th minute that dipped just enough to get under a diving Syrel. It sent Legion FC into the halftime break with a 4-0 lead, despite having an expected goals metric of 0.62.

Things calmed down considerably in the second half, but Martinez left one final parting shot to remember 2024 by. The Legion FC veteran received a throw-in from Jake Rufe just inside the attacking third in the 87th minute, took advantage of an Oakland defender slipping and fired off a screamer from his right-foot that pierced the back of the net.

It marked sixth USL-C goal and seventh overall for Martinez this season and it was also the beginning of an eventful sequence of events for the midfielder, as he would be sent off with his second yellow card just four minutes later.

Trevor Spangenberg got the start in goal for Legion FC for the sixth time this season and recorded his first clean sheet. He made one save with Oakland putting just one of its 21 total shots on frame.

MATCH DETAILS

BOX SCORE

1ST HALF

2ND HALF

FINAL

BHM (13W - 15L - 6D; 45 PTS)

4

1

5

OAK (13W - 16L - 5D; 44 PTS)

0

0

0

LINEUPS

BHM: Spangenberg - GK, Mensah, Kavita - C, Hamouda (Crognale 56$B!l(B), Rufe, Hernandez-Foster, Corcoran (Perez 66$B!l(B), Martinez, Tabort Etaka, Nwegbo (Matheus 82$B!l(B), Pinho

OAK: Syrel - GK, Njie (Rasmussen 45$B!l(B), Hackshaw (Logue 45$B!l(B), Margvelashvili, Alekseev, Riley, Gomez, Reid, Donasiyano (Dwyer 72$B!l(B), Sinisterra (Cruz 66$B!l(B), Rodriguez (Chery 45$B!l(B)

GOALS

BHM: Tabort Etaka 21$B!l(B, 40$B!l(B; Pinho 31$B!l(B; Nwegbo 35$B!l(B; Martinez 87$B!l(B

OAK:

DISCIPLINE

BHM: Martinez (Yellow) 69$B!l(B, (Yellow+Red) 90+1$B!l(B

OAK: Hackshaw (Yellow) 24$B!l(B

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Birmingham Legion FC battles the Oakland Roots SC
Birmingham Legion FC battles the Oakland Roots SC
   

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