Hartford Athletic Looks to Kickstart Season, Welcome Birmingham Legion to Trinity Health Stadium
The Latics have yet to record a point in the 2025 USL Championship season
An unexpected week off did little to improve Hartford Athletic’s outlook, as a still-understrength side welcomes Birmingham Legion to Trinity Health Stadium on Saturday evening. With no points yet in four games of league play — and just one goal in the USL Championship — Brendan Burke’s side will try to get their season on track against a Legion side that just parted ways with long-time manager Tom Soehn.
The Latics will still be missing Michee Ngalina and Marlon Hairston through injury, and last weekend’s postponement means that Beverly Makangila and Adrián Diz Pe both still have one-game suspensions to serve due to red cards received against Loudoun United. With so many players unavailable, Burke emphasized that Saturday could be more about the effort on the field than the result.
“Saturday's just going to be about fight,” he said. “Missing, you know, potentially four key starters is not going to help us. It's just not. I'd be lying if I said it did, but it presents a huge opportunity for the next guy to step up and take responsibility.”
One potential bright spot for Hartford is that midfielder Samuel Careaga, who has not been seen on the pitch since making a substitute appearance in the season opener against Lexington SC on March 8, is likely to be available, with Burke saying that he hopes he can start. Careaga will hopefully contribute something that the Latics have lacked so far this season: quality in the final third. Burke emphasized the need to be patient as the midfielder builds his match fitness but added that “to see him on the field now is a huge boost to the mood.”
On the other side of the pitch, Birmingham became the first team in the Championship to make a managerial change this season, parting ways with Tom Soehn just over a week ago. Soehn, who had previously also managed in MLS with DC United, Vancouver Whitecaps, and the New England Revolution (the latter two on an interim basis), was the only manager in Legion’s history, having been appointed ahead of their inaugural season in 2019. He led Birmingham to playoff appearances in each of their first five seasons, reaching the conference semifinals in both 2021 and 2023, and making a run to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup during the 2023 season.
In 2024, the club missed the playoffs for the first time in their history, and that, combined with a slow start to the 2025 season that saw Legion garner two points from their first four games, as well as crash out of the U.S. Open Cup to USL2 side Little Rock Rangers, was enough to cost Soehn his job.
It’s easy to see why the club decided to move on from Soehn, as Birmingham has no shortage of talent on the roster, especially in the attacking third. In addition to leading scorer Ronald Damus, who has been a key part of title-winning teams in Orange County and Colorado Springs, the Legion also have former Las Vegas and Phoenix standout Danny Trejo (48 combined goals/assists in 80 USL Championship appearances) and three-time USL Championship First Teamer Enzo Martinez, as well as veteran Tyler Pasher and former Latic Preston Tabort Etaka who provides a dynamic option off the bench. With that kind of firepower, the Legion clearly were aiming higher and their first post-Soehn result was a 3-1 win over El Paso Locomotive last Sunday.
Given last Saturday’s postponement, there’s little new to be said about Hartford heading into this weekend’s fixture. The Latics desperately need both better performances and better results, with warmer weather hopefully driving a bumper crowd on Saturday evening, there’s no time like the present to start delivering either one.