Go home, USL Championship, you’re drunk.
Birmingham Legion traveled West to take on Orange County with both teams craving points in their respective playoff race. The result? The most unhinged back-and-forth you’re likely to see this season, if not ever.
The Three Sparks took the lead within three minutes, only for Orange County to peg them back a little over 20 minutes later. From then on out, all hell broke loose as Legion took the lead another three times, only to lose it shortly after on every occasion.
A penalty, one of the most absurd own goals you’ll ever witness, and two goals in two minutes all joined forces to put forward a clear “Game of the Season” contender.
It all started perfectly for Birmingham Legion, who came into the game with a slightly tweaked formation. Instead of the usual 3-4-3, Mark Briggs opted for a 3-5-2 with Enzo Martínez operating as a 10 behind a Sebastian Tregarthen and Ronaldo Damus front line. The Three Sparks took advantage early on, threatening with Tregarthen in behind a few times even before the goal.
Then, in the 3rd minute, Samuel Shashoua won the ball high up the pitch and laid it off for Martínez. The Uruguayan played his compatriot through, and Tregarthen chipped in a cross for Amir Daley to connect with on a diving header, opening his Legion account in his second start for the club.
Buoyed by the fast start, Legion proceeded to have the better of the opening exchanges.
In the 22nd minute, a set-piece saw the OC keeper come off his line and miss the ball, only for Tiago Suárez to then head over the empty net. Orange County immediately made Birmingham pay off a corner kick down the other end, which inexplicably bounced in the box and straight through the defense to be headed in at the back post.
Legion have typically struggled right after conceding, but tonight was the opposite. Just four minutes after OC leveled the tie, Damus put his team back in front with his 10th league goal of the season.
Martínez attempted a shot that fell to the Haitian, who wriggled away from his defender before scoring against his former club for the 2-1.
Birmingham could have extended their lead in the 40th minute when Martínez failed to connect with a backpost header when faced with an open net. And just as it had happened earlier in the game, Orange County immediately made the Three Sparks pay.
Bryce Jamison raced down the right side of the field and kept the ball in by looping it over Ramiz Hamouda’s head. Quick feet then got him past Phanuel Kavita, who fouled him for a cheap penalty even as he was running away from goal.
Ethan Zubak stepped up, and though Fernando Delgado got close to the attempt he could not prevent the 2-2.
At the break, Birmingham would have felt it was their game to win. If not for two mistakes, both moments after a gilt-edge chance up the other end, the Three Sparks would have been cruising to the finish line.
Instead, the second half only upped the madness.
In the 52nd minute, with Damus pressing him, OC’s Vuk Latinovich attempted a pass back to his goalkeeper. Instead, the defender pulled off a perfect lob to score an own goal out of nothing.
Barely a minute later, Orange County equalized for the third time of the night. A simple ball into the box was not cleared, and Pedro Guimaeres was there to smash it home.
The scoring was far from over, as Tregarthen put Birmingham ahead for an insane fourth time some eight minutes later. After assisting Daley’s opener, the duo exchanged roles when the wing-back surged down the right side and put in a low cross for the Uruguayan to smash home first time.
But, you guessed it, Orange County had not said their final word either. In the 66th minute, Chris Hegardt won the ball in midfield, strode towards the box and powered a daisy cutter into the bottom corner.
With 25 minutes left to play, the game equaled Birmingham Legion’s highest scoring 90-minute outing, a 4-4 draw with the Tampa Bay Rowdies in last year’s US Open Cup (ultimately lost 6-4 in extra-time).
With both sides needing the three points, neither looked content to settle for the draw. Birmingham’s best chance came when the OC goalkeeper dropped a cross into the feet of AJ Paterson in the 80th minute, but the defender could only poke it over.
A few minutes later, Preston Tabort Etaka beat the goalkeeper to a through ball, but the forward’s touch took him too far wide and allowed the keeper to get back in position and make the save.
A draw seemed fair in the end as neither side deserved to lose the game, but Mark Briggs and his players will no doubt be incredibly frustrated to have let a lead slip away on four separate occasions.
With Rhode Island getting a surprise win over Charleston Battery, Birmingham now sit three points off the eighth and final playoff spot. They face another Western road trip next week, traveling to the top team in that conference in FC Tulsa.
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