MATCH INFO:
Oakland Roots vs Birmingham Legion FC
Saturday, October 1
9:00pm CT Kickoff
Laney College Football Field – Oakland, CA
Watch – My68, ESPN+
Birmingham Legion FC meets the Oakland Roots at Laney College Football Stadium on Saturday, October 1 for the Legion’s last away match of the regular season. The matchup will be the first time these sides meet in club history.
The Black & Gold garnered a 1-1 draw against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in its last fixture on September 23, with forward Marlon Santos scoring in the first ten minutes of the match to start the game off strong. After conceding one, the Three Sparks kept its defense intact and came out with a hard-fought point. Birmingham defender Alex Crognale was a standout against the Rowdies, recording a team-leading six clearances, a goal-stopping block, and winning possession for the Sparks eight times. All that rightly earned Crognale a spot in the USL Championship Team of the Week for Week 29.
The Three Sparks are locked in a tight race up top in the Eastern Conference with only three games left in the regular season. Birmingham (4th place) is tied with the Tampa Bay Rowdies (3rd place) in points at 55 each, and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (5th) are only two points behind Legion FC with 53 points.
“These games are really important in the fact that you want to enter the playoffs in the right frame of mind,” said Head Coach Tommy Soehn. “You don’t want drop-offs. You want to stay consistent,” said Soehn, who hopes to get a win in Oakland.
Oakland come into its matchup against the Three Sparks with three wins, one draw, and two losses in comparison to Legion’s three wins, two draws, and one loss in their last six. Óttar Magnús Karlsson is the standout for the Roots, having scored 17 goals on the season to become the third top scorer in the league. Paired with Edgardo Rito, who has seven assists in 28 appearances, Oakland have proved themselves capable of scoring goals and will be a respectable opponent for the Three Sparks.
The Roots find themselves fighting for a chance to play in the USL Championship playoffs. The California side sits in tenth place in the Western Conference, two points behind RGV Toros who currently sit at seventh, the cut-off point for the post-season.
“[The Oakland Roots] are going to have everything to go for,” said Soehn. “They have a good transition game, with their wide guys, and got some targets that can score goals so we got to make sure that, one, our effort is there, and two, tactically we play up to what we can,” said Soehn.
For this week’s UAB Medicine Injury Report, defender Freddy Kleemann is again the only person on the list, as he is still out due to a torn ACL.
Fans can tune in to My68 or ESPN+ to watch the match and can follow @bhmlegion on twitter for live match updates.
The Three Sparks return to Protective Stadium on Sunday, October 9, at 4:00PM for the second-to-last home game of the regular season against Western Conference leaders San Antonio FC. Fans can grab tickets today!
For team updates, news and more, follow @bhmlegion on social media, sign up for Legion FC’s Newsletter, or visit bhmlegion.com. The Legion FC app is also available for download via Apple or Android. For gameday reminders, sync the Legion FC 2022 schedule to your calendar HERE.
