Hartford Athletic Head South, Look to Keep Rolling in Birmingham
The Latics are on the edge of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference as they take on Birmingham Legion
Hartford Athletic are aiming for a third consecutive win in the USL Championship as they head south to take on Birmingham Legion on Saturday night. The Latics are coming off back-to-back midweek wins over New Mexico United and Miami FC and are on a run of good form that has seen them vault to the edge of the playoff places in the Eastern Conference, level on points with Saturday night’s opponents.
It’s the 10th meeting all-time between the two clubs, both of whom joined the USL Championship ahead of the 2019 season. In only one of the previous nine meetings has there been more than a goal to separate the two sides, the exception being a 4-0 victory for the Latics back in 2019.
After Louisville and Charleston — who sit level on 41 points across the table — the conference is extremely compressed with only 10 points separating the remaining 10 teams. And in fact, of those 10 teams, Hartford are arguably in the best form having claimed 10 points from their last five league games; more than any of the other squads vying for what is presumably six playoff places.
One key for Hartford remains finding some consistency: according to American Soccer Analysis, they have five games in the Championship this year with an expected goals of over 2.50 including the two best attacking performances by that measure in the entire league in 2025. The Latics also have eight games with an expected goals of less than 1.00.
For a team that has only played 17 games in the league, it’s clearly been feast or famine in the attacking third. On a positive note, the recent trend has been good: over their last seven games, only once have they had an expected goals below 1.00, and that came against RIFC in the third game in eight days.
Another key for the Latics will be strengthening a squad that has been one of the smallest in the league to this point. Signs there are positive as well, as Hartford added experienced Championship defender Baboucarr Njie ten days ago, and the club does seem to be on the lookout for a couple more additions as they attempt to consolidate for a difficult second half that will see busy weeks and a lot of road games. With other playoff chasers like RIFC and Tampa Bay also adding to their squads over the last ten days, Hartford can’t afford to stand pat, even if it has found a decent vein of form with the current squad.
Birmingham made its own big move earlier this year, when they parted ways with longtime manager Tom Soehn, and replaced him with former Sacramento manager Mark Briggs. Since his appointment, Birmingham have hardly made a 180 degree turnaround — they’ve won only three of thirteen league games since Briggs took the helm at the end of April — although their attack has shown some signs of life as of late with a pair of three-goal performances in the last few weeks.
When the clubs met earlier this season, Hartford contained a theoretically dangerous attack and the Latics defense has continued to be solid overall, although still occasionally inclined to the catastrophic error. With the Legion attack perhaps waking up a little, Burke’s men will need another solid defensive effort on Saturday night to take something from a critical fixture.