Ahead of their 26th game of the 2025 USL Championship season, Birmingham Legion have little left to fight for.

The club is eight points adrift of the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. With five games left, they would need a miracle turnaround to save the club’s worst-ever season.

“We need people to step up now in these last five games,” Mark Briggs said. “We’ve put ourselves in a position that’s almost impossible, so let’s finish the season on a positive note. Let’s finish the season with good energy coming into next year.”

Briggs said that as long as there’s still a mathematical chance, no matter how minuscule, the team would keep fighting for it. But with such a slender probability — John Morrissey of USL Tactics gives the Three Sparks a 3% chance of making the playoffs — he admitted some of the focus is already turning to the 2026 season.

“We have five games that we have the opportunity to go and win,” Briggs said. “Let’s go after these five games. Let’s not play with any fear. Let’s not play with worrying about playoffs. Let’s not play with worrying about anything.

“Let’s just go to the game, focus on the gameplan and see where we end,” he continued. “And that will hopefully give us some sort of positive energy, a positive vibe to carry through the offseason and into next year.”

He added that the players, the staff and himself are not just fighting for the season, but also playing for their futures. He recognized that the season has not been good enough for what Birmingham Legion wants and expects to be, and that meant everyone, whether their contract carries into the next season or not, is in jeopardy.

After a rough week of back-to-back collapses, Briggs also said the club is currently lacking leadership on the field. With Tyler Pasher, his chosen captain, finally returning from injury, there is at least some positives going into tomorrow’s game.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Pasher said. “Can’t complain. Just trying to get my fitness back.”

The Canadian said he’s not sure if he’ll be able to start tomorrow’s game as he continues to work his way back from a month-long injury.

This is the second time Pasher has had to sit out a portion of the season after missing the early weeks with a separate injury. As he returns with five games left but little to truly play for, he said his mentality, and that of the team, is simply to focus on each individual game as it comes.

“It is what it is,” he said. “The guys have been starting out games, doing really well. It’s just working on putting that complete performance for 90 minutes. It’s just come to that point where it is what it is. Guys are working hard, controlling what they can control.

“[We’re] just focusing on one game, putting our best performance out there and winning the game,” he added. “That’s all we can focus on. The outcomes will take care of themselves.”

The one bit of motivation Legion can take heading into tomorrow’s matchup with San Antonio FC, currently 4th in the Western Conference, is that they have a surprisingly good record against that conference’s leading sides.

The Three Sparks beat first-place Tulsa in the Jägermeister Cup before drawing them in the league, defeated Briggs’ former side, second-place Sacramento Republic, in dramatic fashion, and vanquished sixth-place El Paso Locomotive under Eric Avila’s interim charge.

“Hopefully that gives us a little lift, a little confidence, because we have done quite well against the better teams in the West,” Briggs said. “Hopefully we can go and put on a performance and put on a show. It’s a fantastic field, it’s a fantastic stadium, it’s a great environment.

“So these are the games you want to go out and play in,” he continued. “So let’s go in and show a little bit of courage, do what we’re payed to do and enjoy doing what we’re paid to do.”

Birmingham Legion face San Antonio at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in Texas. The game will be televised live on WABM My68 locally and ESPN+ nationwide.

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