USLC Week Four: Sparked in Birmingham
USL Championship gets Week Four kicked off this Friday with Tulsa hosting El Paso Locomotive at the ONEOK Field - that will be their third home match in less than a week and only Pittsburgh Riverhounds and El Paso Locomotive will have played as many matches by then. Should they win, depending on other results in the Eastern Conference, FC Tulsa could find themselves in first place heading into the week of the US Open Cup Second Round.
The current team at the top may have something to say about that, however, as Birmingham Legion have played one match fewer but are two points clear of Tulsa and one point ahead of both Louisville City and Pittsburgh at the top of the table. The season is just a puppy and looking at the standings might be a waste of time. Tampa Bay, who host Birmingham this weekend, certainly hope to prove that’s the case. The Rowdies have started slower than some expected - drawing at home in their first match; drawing on the road in week two; then losing away to Charleston last weekend. Tampa Bay hope to break their winless run when they welcome first place Legion to Al Lang Stadium.
Birmingham, who also kicked off the season with a draw, have followed up with two wins on the trot beating Tulsa 3-2 then shutting out Hartford last week 1-0. Legion have five goals from four different goal-scorers, including a brace from Tyler Pasher Week Two. Tampa will need to lock down Pasher and Brett, then hope JJ Williams can get them an early goal or maybe Lucky gives them a late goal to give their fans something to cheer about.
Its First place visiting Tenth when Birmingham Legion head south to Tampa Bay, but its early enough in the season to flip the script.
Results from Saturday, March 24 -28
Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1 - 1 Miami FC
RGV Toros 1 - 1 Monterey Bay
Hartford Athletic 0 -1 Birmingham Legion
Louisville City 0 - 3 El Paso Locomotive
Detroit City FC 0 - 1 Indy Eleven
Charleston Battery 3 - 0 Tampa Bay Rowdies
San Antonio FC 1 -0 Colorado Springs Switchbacks
FC Tulsa 3 - 0 Loudoun United
Orange County SC 2 - 2 Las Vegas Lights
Sacramento Republic 1 - 0 San Diego Loyal
Oakland Roots vs Memphis 901 - POSTPONED
FC Tulsa 0 - 0 Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Out West we have last place Phoenix Rising, who will be playing in only their third match of the young season, hosting the very same San Diego Loyal team who smashed them 3-0 two weeks ago. San Diego started their season off with a pair of wins at home (including that impressive win over Phoenix) but went on the road to a tough Sacramento Republic and were unable to put a ball in the net. Evan Conway, Elliot Collier, Ronaldo Damus and company will look to get back to scoring ways.
With only two results in place for Phoenix, I’m not sure we have seen enough to make a judgement and its entirely possible they make Wild Horse Pass Stadium a fortress this week, earn three points, then shoot up the table. We’ll see Rising look to maintain possession (53% in their draw with Charleston and 67% in their loss to San Diego) then try to get former Indy Eleven man, Manuel Arteaga, on the scoreboard. There’s good news no matter what; unless they face San Diego in the playoffs, they won’t have to deal with them again.
Friday, March 31
FC Tulsa vs El Paso Locomotive - 6:00pm (PST) / 9:00pm (ET)
saturday, April 1
Hartford Athletic vs Orange County SC- 11:00am (PST) / 2:00pm (ET)
Loudoun United vs Colorado Springs Switchbacks - 1:00pm (PST) / 4:00pm (ET)
Detroit City FC vs RGV Toros - 1:00pm (PST) / 4:00pm (ET)
Indy Eleven vs Las Vegas Lights - 4:00pm (PST) / 7:00 (ET)
Miami FC vs Memphis 901 - 4:00pm (PST) / 7:00pm (ET)
Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Birmingham Legion - 4:30pm (PST) / 7:30 (ET)
Monterey Bay vs San Antonio FC - 7:00pm (PST) / 10:00 (ET)
Oakland Roots vs New Mexico United - 7:00pm (PST) / 10:00pm (ET)
Sacramento Republic FC vs Louisville City - 7:00pm (PST) / 10:00pm (ET)
Phoenix Rising FC vs San Diego Loyal - 7:30pm (PST) / 10:30pm (ET)
by Josh Duder