Preview and Scouting Report: Riverhounds to renew acquaintances with Birmingham Legion FC

Photo courtesy Ed Thompson

For the second consecutive week, the Riverhounds will face a very familar Eastern Conference foe before the home fans at Highmark Stadium when they take on Birmingham Legion FC.

The Hounds (1-1-1, 4 points) will be looking for their second straight win and the club’s 100th all-time victory at their current home field, Highmark Stadium — which players and fans alike like to refer to as the team’s fortress or Fort Highmark.  Earlier this week, we took a closer look at the success the Hounds’ have had at Highmark since it opened in 2013 — and particuarly since Head Coach Bob Lilley took over the controls of the club in 2018.

Riverhounds Notebook: It’s 99 wins at Highmark Stadium and counting

How's this for a stat… @RiverhoundsSC had more losses (16) at home in the two previous seasons prior to HC Bob Lilley's arrival (in 2018) the seven-plus seasons since (14).

More on Hounds' record at Highmark plus injury reports and updates in my latest Notebook…#PITvBHM https://t.co/mJlyhbVoIC

— John Krysinsky (@JohnKrysinsky) March 28, 2025

The Hounds will want to take advantage of being at home — as Saturday night’s clash vs a struggling Birmingham side will be the club’s lone scheduled, regular season match at home until May 3.

Three players are on the Hounds’ injury report (Charles Ahl – Ankle and Bertin Jacquesson – Hamstring have been ruled out while Perrin Barnes is questionable) — but the good news last week, Brad Sample was able to play and it appears that Lilley has more options for his group that has been one of the league’s best possession sides through the season, but have struggled to generate consistent scoring chances.

More on Birmingham Legion FC

After missing out on the USL Championship Playoffs for the first time in club history, Birmingham Legion went through an offseason makeover with some notable departures such as veteran center back Alex Crognale (San Antonio FC) and club original Prosper Kasim moving on, plus the transfer of star young midfielder Matthew Corcoran to Nashville SC of Major League Soccer.

The Legion FC (0-1-2, 2 points) have a lot of veterans, have added some scoring punch to a roster that already includes a few USL Championship legends, but they are struggling early in the season, without a win in its first three league matches and lost their first round US Open Cup match to the Little Rock Rangers.

Still, they showed some promise with a comeback against Detroit City FC last week — rallying for a 2-2 draw.   They also rallied against Louisville City FC to earn a hard-fought, 1-1 draw — so this is a team that the Hounds cannot take lightly and will have to put away.

The biggest arrivals have come in attack where the club added perennial double-digit goalscorer Ronaldo Damus on loan with an option to buy from Swedish club GIF Sundsvall and 2023 title-winner Danny Trejo, who returns to the Championship after a season with Korona Kielce in Poland’s top flight.

That duo adds to some impressive returning firepower that includes a who’s who of USL veterans including Tyler Pasher, Tabort Etaka Preston and Enzo Martinez in the squad, but the key question facing Legion will be finding the right balance defensively after conceding more than 50 goals in each of the past two regular seasons.

Longtime Hounds fans should be especially familiar with Pasher (who was on the high scoring 2015 team as a teen) and Martinez, now 34, always a dangerous playmaker and scorer, who has probably played two dozen matches against Pittsburgh in his long USLC career.

The veteran core of this team is — still — goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel, a now 38-year old second division veteran who joined the team in their 2019 expansion year.

Van Oekel has become a Steel Army favorite target.

https://t.co/8pTwunUs5B pic.twitter.com/lx4eD3XwUP

— Steel Army (@SteelArmy) March 24, 2025

The Legion have allowed six goals this season — and have been inconsistent in front of Van Oekel.  They do have veteran center back Jake Rufe — who’s also been with the club forever keeping things organized in the back but it looks like they’re still trying to figure out the best defensive unit.  The Legion are among league leaders in fouls conceded (48) and yellow cards (8).

 

Hounds Personnel, Tactics and Match-Ups to Watch

Sample saw his first action of the season as a substitute appearance last week, which gives Bob Lilley another option to a midfield group that has solid depth.

In each of the first three games, the Hounds have made just one change to the Starting eleven from the week before.

Last week, it was Aiden O’Toole who made his first start of the season.  With Beto Ydrach, who is back from a mid-week international appearance with Puerto Rico’s National Team and Jackson Walti providing solid options at the number six, Jorge Garcia, Jason Bourgey along with veterans Robbie Mertz and Danny Griffin as attacking midfield options — Lilley feels confident he can move some players in and out of the lineup to do a couple things.

• First, they can be tactically flexible, as we’ve seen (no surprise here) a few different wrinkles of formations that the Hounds have shown in the first three weeks.
• Also, giving the younger players opportunities to be battle tested early in the season will certainly help as the season evolves in building the team’s chemistry as they continue to push to be stronger on the ball and work to improve in connecting passes in the final third.

Beto’s back from international duty 😁 pic.twitter.com/6xDkf1G0aL

— Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (@RiverhoundsSC) March 28, 2025

• Lastly — Danny Griffin has continued to play higher up in the pitch — which is something Bob Lilley told PSN in the preseason that he believed would pay off in terms of scoring and playmaking.  Sure enough, Griffin came through with the team’s second goal of the season and the game-winner to beat Hartford in the 75th minute last Saturday.

Defensively, the Hounds have a solid make up now that Illal Osumanu and Sean Suber are both fully fit and playing well as the primary two center back options in front of the league’s reigning Gold Glove winner, goalkeeper Erik Dick.

Don’t expect too many changes to the Starting eleven — though again — Lilley admitted last week that he’s still ‘tinkering’ with his lineup.  Maybe this week, as he’s healthier, that Sample could be penciled in as a starter.

Birmingham has been suseptical in the back — having allowed the most goals in the league to this point this season — so the Hounds are hoping they can get their big off season acquistion, Augustine Williams back on the scoring sheet.  Williams scored in the opener at North Carolina, but has been relatively quiet since — partially because he hasn’t been on the end of much service as he continues to draw a lot of attention as the lone target man.

While the Hounds have been sharp in possession (4th in overall passes) and passing accuracy (81% – 6th in USLC) — Birmingham has the third lowest in passing accuracy (71%) — so if the Hounds bring the high press as they like to at Highmark — they could be looking to punish the Legion who are having some issues playing it out of the back and through the middle this season.   Also, if trends continue, being that Legion FC have conceded a lot of fouls this season, the Hounds will want to make sure they take advantage of set piece opportunities — which they have failed to capitalize on early in the season.

John K’s Hounds’ projected Starting XI

 

Match info

Riverhounds (1-1-1) vs. Birmingham Legion FC (0-1-2)
Date: Saturday, March 29
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Highmark Stadium
Tickets: Ticketmaster
Odds: Hounds -150 / Draw +260 / Birmingham +370 at FanDuel
TV: KDKA+
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: SiriusXM FC, Channel 157 (national), Radio Las Palmas, 92.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Live updates: @RiverhoundsSC on X/Twitter
Match hashtags: #PITvBHM and #Grittsburgh