USL Birmingham Legion FC

Legion FC Fails to Capitalize on Chances in 2-1 Loss Versus FC Tulsa

Published on August 22, 2021 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Birmingham Legion FC News Release


BIRMINGHAM, AL - Despite outplaying FC Tulsa for vast portions of the match on Sunday afternoon, to the tune of a 20-6 advantage in shots, a 13-4 advantage on shots in the penalty area, and an edge in possession, Legion FC let the visitors smartly tuck away their two clear scoring opportunities to slip out of Birmingham with a 2-1 victory.

Tulsa opened the scoring early as midfielder Lebo Meloto's back heel flick sprung forward Jason Johnson in behind the Legion backline and Johnson managed to find the back of the net in the eighth minute.

The home side registered 10 first half shots and came out on the front foot in the second looking for the equalizer, but a swiftly executed counterattacking opportunity from Tulsa in the 56th minute put the visitors up 2-0. Midfielder Eric Bird found forward Dario Suarez out on the break away, and Legion FC goalkeeper rushed out and got a hand on the shot, but Suarez's skipped past for the goal.

Legion FC kept pressing and got back a goal via the head of forward Junior Flemmings in the 68th minute to make it 2-1. Defender Thomas Vancaeyezeele whipped in one of the team's nine corner kicks and Flemmings rose highest to meet and finish.

Birmingham put up 10 shots in the second half as well as the first but, despite its best efforts, could not grab another goal or two. Tulsa goalkeeper came up with seven saves on the day, including a huge on late to smother a close-range attempt from Legion FC's Neco Brett. Head Coach Tommy Soehn says it all comes down to getting off to better starts in matches and looks to focus on improving in that area moving forward, like in next weekend's contest against Louisville City FC.

"We talked about starting well, because I think that's been a little bit of an issue for us, conceding first," said Soehn. "Going eight minutes and conceding obviously didn't rectify the problem, and now we're chasing. I thought today we created tons of chances, and obviously came up dry on a lot of them. That's another area we need to work on, but if you're chasing the game that tends to happen. Our focus is still to start games better and that was the focus today.

"The focus is still on us. Making sure that we clean up some of the things we just talked about. There's no easy weeks, and next week is just as difficult or more. We'll have to revisit, so we'll evaluate what we have and get back to work."

Midfielder Mikey Lopez when asked about FC Tulsa capitalizing on their chances today:

"We always knew they were a dangerous team. Their record doesn't really show how good of a team they are. They are a possession-based team and unfortunately, we didn't get the pressure that we wanted to get on to them enough of the time during the game. That's what kinda killed us at the end of the day. We fought back, we fought hard until the last minute, it just wasn't meant to be for us to get an equalizer or a winner in the game today."

Box Score:

1st Half 2nd Half

BHM 0 1

TUL 1 1

Goals: (Match Highlights)

TUL - 8' - #14 James Johnson (assisted by #30 Lebo Moloto)

TUL - 56' - #92 Dario Suarez (assisted by #44 Eric Bird)

BHM - 68' - #77 Junior Flemmings (assisted by #27 Thomas Vancaeyezeele)

Starting Lineups:

BHM - 3-4-3 - #1 Matt VanOekel ©; #27 Thomas Vancaeyezeele (86' - #22 Ben Ofeimu), #21 Zach Herivuax (61' - #7 Ryan James), #21 Alex Crognale (82' - #23 JJ Williams); #24 Jonny Dean, #6 Anderson Asiedu, #12 Eli Crognale (61' - #17 Jaden Servania), #5 Mikey Lopez; #10 Prosper Kasim, #11 Neco Brett, #77 Junior Flemmings

TUL - 4-2-3-1 - #1 Sean Lewis; #13 Matt Sheldon, #22 Bradley Bourgeois, #4 Mo Jadama, #26 Jorge Corrales; #44 Eric Bird, #16 Rodrigo da Costa (87' - #18 Solomon Kwambe); #11 Joaquin Rivas (74' - #2 Kevin Garcia), #30 Lebo Moloto, #92 Dario Suarez (74' - #21 Kembo Kibato); #14 Jason Johnson (65' - #10 Marlon)

Check out the Birmingham Legion FC Statistics

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