Legion FC Falls 1-0 at Home to Detroit City FC

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USL Birmingham Legion FC

Legion FC Falls 1-0 at Home to Detroit City FC

August 16, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Birmingham Legion FC News Release


Birmingham Legion FC battle Detroit City FC
Birmingham Legion FC battle Detroit City FC
(Birmingham Legion FC)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Back in June, Birmingham Legion FC went up to Keyworth Stadium and snapped Detroit City FC's streak of 15 consecutive wins when leading at halftime. On Friday night at Protective Stadium, once again Detroit took a halftime lead, and once again a lengthy streak came to an end.

Unfortunately for Legion FC, that streak was its opponent's eight-match winless streak as Detroit heads back to Michigan with a 1-0 victory, its first since June 29.

"We weren't in it from the start," said Birmingham coach Tom Soehn. "We're going to have a deep discussion on Tuesday when we return to practice and watch how poor we were in all phases. Hopefully, we can respond from that."

A goal from DCFC defender Brett Levis proved to be the difference and pulled his club within a point of Legion FC in the USL Championship Eastern Conference table, with a game in hand. Following the loss, Birmingham's record at home falls to 4W-6L-2D, having earned one point in its last two matches on its home field.

"This season what we've been doing on the road is what we should be doing at home and it's not happening," said midfielder Enzo Martinez. "We have to figure out a way to fix this and stay together as a team, because there is still time to turn it around, but there is no time to keep dropping points at home."

After narrowly missing out on a couple of half chances by playing balls over the top, Detroit City FC unlocked the Birmingham defense in the 32nd minute.

Working down the left side, Rhys Williams sent a low cross into the box that forced Legion FC Matt Van Oekel off his line, but it was deflected away from goal by Phanuel Kavita. Unfortunately, the ball rolled right to Levis, who took a touch to control before guiding a shot into an open net for the evening's first score.

"We were bad all the way through," said Soehn. "We were sloppy with the ball and didn't work hard enough all across the board and it didn't get much better the rest of the game."

The goal came on Detroit's first shot on target of the match, but the side would add more in the latter 45 minutes that forced some heroics from Van Oekel in goal to keep the deficit manageable. The Birmingham veteran goalkeeper finished with four saves against five shots on target.

On the other side, Legion FC registered just five total shots on the evening. The only one on target came in the 53rd minute on a Stefano Pinho header off of a free kick from Kobe Hernandez-Foster that was saved by DCFC goalkeeper Carlos Saldana.

Searching for a late equalizer, Birmingham garnered 67-percent of the possession in the final 15 minutes of the match. However, as was the case for much of the night, the attack was unable to find much space against Detroit's shape.

"Including myself first, we were very sloppy at moments with the ball and on the final pass," explained Martinez. "They defended really well and we weren't able to break them down. They are a blue-collar team that sits behind the ball and just made it really tough on us."

A member of the Legion FC bench was issued a red card in the sixth minute of second half stoppage time following a decision to award Pinho a yellow card. Kick-off for the match was delayed by 20 minutes due to inclement weather.

Midfielder Rida Zouhir made his debut for the club with a start and 85 minutes of action before being subbed off for Miguel Perez. Zouhir joined Legion FC this week on a season-long loan from MLS-side CF Montreal.

Check out the Birmingham Legion FC Statistics




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Birmingham Legion FC battle Detroit City FC
Birmingham Legion FC battle Detroit City FC
   

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