In the first ever meeting between the two clubs, Birmingham Legion dominated Brooklyn FC on their way to a 4-0 win.
The Three Sparks came into the game on the back of a 4-0 loss of their own, and a run of seven games without adding to the win column. The result was therefore paramount, but so was the performance.
“It’s a good response from the last game we had,” Eric Avila said. “The guys were up for the challenge, especially after a tough couple of games, so for us to respond like that is a positive and we’re looking forward to the next game.”
Avila led the team from the dugout in the absence of Jay Heaps, with the head coach serving a suspension for a red card picked up against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Avila emphasised that though the sideline presence was different, his focus had been on keeping things moving as usual to ensure a smooth environment for the players to perform in.
Avila wasn’t the only Legion member thrust into an unusual role either. Following international call ups for Phanuel Kavita and Kadeem Cole and injuries to Bryce Washington and AJ Paterson, Birmingham had just one recognised centerback available to them in the form of newcomer Hamady Diop.
Nico Brown, nominally a winger who’s been played at fullback this season, had the responsibility of stepping into the centerback slot. After conceding 21 goals in the last seven games, the results could have been disastrous for an already struggling backline.
Instead, the Black and Gold registered their first clean sheet in nearly two months.
“The communication with him was throughout every minute of it,” Jassem Koleilat said of his role in helping Brown find his bearings. “It was definitely difficult, because obviously I have to focus on the rest of the backline and the holding mids, the communication there and where they are.
“But it helped me to stay even more locked in keeping him in the right spot,” he continued. “Because if he stays in the right spots, it gives me a chance to talk to the players I have to. So props to him, he did a good job. When’s he’s called upon, he’s dependable.”
Playing attacking-minded players on the backline is not unusual for this Legion side, where three of the four rostered fullbacks were originally wingers. Even the defensive midfielder shielding Brown, Samuel Shashoua, was originally brought in as a winger.
“Yeah, it’s strange,” Shashoua said. “Nico came here as a winger too, so seeing him at centerback is funny. But I thought he did really, really well in an amazing backline. I thought everyone at the back was strong defensively.
“For me, personally, it’s been a really interesting experience [playing defensive midfielder] this year, and actually kind of fun,” he continued. “I get to work on different aspects of my game, and almost seeing the game face first. Normally I’m turning with someone on my back, but this year I’ve had more time to look up and try to orchestrate play. I think that’s only going to benefit me as a player to be able to do these type of things.
“But defensively, today, it was tough for me at 11 a.m. Birmingham’s too hot,” he added with a laugh.
Despite that heat, Birmingham started the game with plenty of energy, and it quickly paid off.
After just 14 minutes, Peter-Lee Vassell took a free-kick from a wide position. Though it deflected off a Brooklyn defender’s head, the ball still hit the inside of the post and rolled into the net for the go-ahead goal.
The Three Sparks looked to build off that early lead, knowing full-well their record at keeping them has been abysmal. In the last three games alone, the Legion had twice taken a lead within the first 15 minutes only to find themselves trailing by the half-hour mark.
Birmingham prevented any such turnarounds this time, but could not find the second goal despite plenty of effort in trying. Sebastian Tregarthen came closest in the 27th minute, but the tight angle was well-covered by the Brooklyn goalkeeper to deny him.
In the 41st minute, Legion then suffered a setback when Tyler Pasher had to come off with an injury. Serge Ngoma replaced the Canadian in what turned out to be positive change for the Legion.
Though the Black and Gold would have felt frustrated that they held only a one-goal lead going into the break, they needed little time after it to double that. After creating the first goal, Vassell turned provider by running into the box on a Ngoma pass before unselfishly teeing up the loanee for a tap-in just three minutes after the second-half restart.
That cushion should have liberated the Legion team to play without fear, but instead it appeared to energise their opponents. For the next 20 minutes, Brooklyn went on the front foot and tested Koleilat for the first time of the day.
It was another substitution in the 82nd minute the eventually put the game beyond doubt.
Sebastian Saucedo came on for Vassell with less than 10 minutes left to play and almost immediately found himself thrown into the action. With his first few touches, he raced into the box before executing a clever switch of direction, getting brought down and drawing a clear penalty.
The forward dusted himself off, stepped up to the spot and calmly slotted it straight down the middle for the third of the day, less than two minutes after stepping onto the pitch.
“I’m just happy to be back, helping my team in the best way I can,” Saucedo said after returning from a brief spell on the sidelines.
“It’s definitely hard,” he said of his role as a super-sub this season, after claiming his fifth goal-involvement off the bench. “I wish I could help the team the full game, but it is what it is. You can only control what you can, and the time I get I love helping the team. That’s just the most important thing.
“But coming in as a sub is hard, especially in this league,” he added. “I’ve played in other leagues, and this league is so much more demanding so trying to get up to rhythm is definitely difficult.”
Ronaldo Damus rounded out the scoring in additional time to claim his sixth goal of the season. Gevork Diarbian did the hard work of setting the Haitian up, carrying the ball from nearly the halfway line into the box. After the winger’s cross found Damus at the back post, there was no doubt he would poke it into the back of the net.
The 4-0 result is Birmingham’s biggest win of the season, and their first since August 2nd against Rhode Island. It leaves them nine points off the final playoff spot with just five games to go, meaning there is no more margin for error.
“Every game is important,” Vassell said. “Every single game we play is important, but we still have to take it one step at a time, one game at a time. That’s the only thing we have control over.”
The team will take heart from a performance that had everything they needed. After finally finding their scoring touch in recent outings, this was the first time they paired it up with a solid defensive showing, let alone a clean sheet, while starters and utility players all contributed to a crucial team victory to end a tough run of fixtures.
With a break this weekend for the first time in two weeks, Avila said it’s time to get focused ahead of a crucial run-in.
“We just need to reset the brains a little bit, reset the energy,” Avila said. “We’ve been going on for a good solid two weeks of Saturday – Wednesday [games]. So we need them to get their mind off of it just a bit, but also reel them in and get ready to go again with the same feeling that we had for this game.”
“It’s weird, because last time we had this good feeling was against Tulsa, and we had a little break too,” Shashoua added. “And sometimes when you win 4-0, you want to go again and just play again and try and keep that rhythm. So I hope that these three, four days serves us, gets us physically recovered but mentally still staying in that feeling of just happiness and playing with some joy. Hopefully these next five games we can end games with a similar feeling.”
Birmingham Legion will return to action at 6 p.m. October 3 with a trip to Detroit City FC. It will be the first of four away trips to close out the season, with only October 18 against Loudoun United remaining on the home schedule.
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