Legion return to winning ways with victory over Charlotte
Right now, the Legion are playing some quality soccer, possibly the best The Magic City has seen at this point in the club’s two-year history.
With a mix of youth and experience, the lads have already put together a solid season of work and show no sign of falling down the table.
After 5 matches played, the boys in black sit atop USL Championship Group G with 10 points.
Newcomers Bruno Lapa and Jonny Dean have made early strides for the Legion. With Dean’s elite speed and Lapa’s Brazilian flair, the goals and assists have come easy for the boys this year, with the exception of the NCFC game where they were held scoreless after midfielder Bolu Akinyode’s questionable red card.
In the latest match with Charlotte Independence, forward Neco Brett finally lived up to the hype and slotted home two goals in a 4-1 throttling at BBVA Field.
“It feels pretty good,” said Brett according to a press release. “As a forward you always want to be scoring goals. What was most important was getting three points, especially at home. I think me, Brian, Bruno and the guys, we understand each other, we know what it takes to be dangerous going forward. We’re just following the coaches’ instructions.”
Sadly, MVO wasn’t able to keep a clean sheet due to a penalty scored late in the contest, but the defense played well all game aside from that.
We can only hope the form of attackers Brett, Wright, and Lapa sticks around for a while and the goals keep coming.
On the other side of the ball, the defense took a huge blow this week. UAB graduate Mathieu Laurent tore his ACL once again, the same one as last year, which is upsetting news to say the least. A guy like him who was working so hard every day to achieve match fitness and recover fully absolutely deserved to have a go at some point this season, but it just didn’t work out for him. Mathieu, you’re in our thoughts man and we hope that these bumps in the road don’t hold you down for too long.
Hopefully defender Razak Cromwell makes his return to action soon because our backline is running very low when it comes to depth. It would have been useful to have a guy like Kyle Fisher or Femi stick around to play CB this season, but it is what it is and that’s just not a possibility.
The boys will return to action to face Atlanta United 2 this Saturday at 7:30 PM CST. ATL 2 has struggled mightily this season, earning only one win in six games. They sit in third place in USL Group H.
Let’s hope that the boys come out to play and show off more of the same in terms of attacking and scoring goals.
I am expecting a very solid showing on both ends of the pitch, and I’m predicting a score line of 3-0, with goals coming from Wright, Brett, and Kasim (Yes, I think Prosper will be back in the starting lineup and net his first goal of the season).
Anyways, until then, mask up and hammer down, KRO, and up the boys in black!
(Photo courtesy of AL.com)