• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • US Open Cup Central
  • US Open Cup Qualifying
  • US Open Cup History

Complete U.S. Open Cup Coverage

  • 2022 Schedule/Results
  • 2022 Statistical Leaders
  • Support TheCup.us
  • TheCup.us Store
  • TheCup.us Awards
  • Contact Us

2022 US Open Cup Round 2: Birmingham Legion explode out of halftime, beat Southern States, 3-1

April 8, 2022 by Kaylor Hodges

Birmingham Legion Southern States 2022 US Open Cup
Players from Birmingham Legion FC celebrate after scoring a goal against Southern States SC in the Second Round of the 2022 US Open Cup. Photo: Birmingham Legion FC

Home away from home, the 3 Sparks of Birmingham, Ala. took on the 3 Stars of South Mississippi in Tuscaloosa, Ala. After a tight first half, the Birmingham Legion scored three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half and prevailed by the score of 3-1.

If you appreciate our coverage of the US Open Cup for the last (nearly) two decades, and want to see it grow in the future, consider joining our Patreon team by clicking above.

While the Legion (USL-Championship) were the clear favorites coming into the match based on talent alone, the Stars (NPSL) absolutely earned their way into the Second Round through pure domination of the Georgia Revolution. Even though this was a match over an hour away from home, the Legion supporters were loud and rowdy for their first US Open Cup appearance since 2019.

Early on, it was a cagey affair with neither team fully able to take control of the match. While Legion were having the better of the possession, the first half consisted of a Stars team who lived by bending, and not breaking. Stars allowed the Legion to maintain the pace of play but would pull out the occasional counterattack that would catch the 3 Sparks on their backfoot. The first half ended with the Legion winning the possession battle with nearly 70% possession, but still tied on the scoresheet.

To begin the second half, neither team made a single substitution, trusting their guys to get the result to push their team on to victory. In the 48the minute, Legion winger Prosper Kasim decided to take matters into his own hands and curled a beautiful goal in from the top of the box.

Not long after, Legion made their first substitutes of the match. First being Macky Diop for their star signing of the offseason, Juan Agudelo. The former US National Team forward would make his debut with the club as he entered with Marlon Santos who replaced the goalscorer Kasim.

In the 62nd minute, Legion’s Enzo Martinez opened space and created a goal scoring chance from thin air. Martinez laid the ball off to the “Brazilian Magician” Bruno Lapa, who placed the ball perfectly in the bottom left corner. Not even two minutes later, the Legion bagged their third of the night with a goal by Marlon Santos, assisted by Anderson Asiedu, who completely carved open the Stars midfield.

In the 73rd minute, Southern States SC Stars opened their Second Round scoring account with a goal by Mason Walsh, who was assisted by Lucas Rivera. The celebrations were short as the team looked to capitalize on their momentum, but as quickly as they came, the goal scoring flood dried up completely.

For the rest of the match, the only news was substitutions where the Legion’s Edi Horvat came on in the 79th minute, and the Stars brought on Erwin and Lai in the dying minutes of the match.

“If you look at the game in its entirety, we had the same build ups and the same opportunities, today we just finished them,” said Legion head coach Tom Soehn.

With the win, Soehn moved up in the Open Cup record books. Soehn, who is among a select group of people who have won the US Open Cup as a head coach (2008 D.C. United) and a player (1997 Dallas Burn, 1998 & 2000 Chicago Fire), improves his career coaching record in the tournament to 9-3-0. His winning percentage of .750 moves him into a tie with Scott Schweitzer for second among all head coaches in the Modern Era.

“I know I’ve won this thing a few times … it’s an awesome tournament when amateur teams get to make runs. I was in MLS when we did that, but now we hopefully get a crack at an MLS team,” said Soehn.

Birmingham will have a chance to draw a MLS team when the Round 3 draw takes place on Friday at Noon ET. The USSF announced that they have been placed in a group with defending US Open Cup champion Atlanta United (MLS), Chattanooga FC (NISA), and South Georgia Tormenta FC (USL-1).

the Samba boys are flying ⚽️🇧🇷#ThreeSparks | #USOC2022 https://t.co/tQoFPUJI82

— Birmingham Legion FC (@bhmlegion) April 8, 2022

Pick out the corners, son | ⇱⇲

Bruno Lapa slide-rules the ball into the net to increase the @bhmlegion‘s lead over @SouthernState10. pic.twitter.com/3HLDQg4H8v

— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) April 8, 2022

Pick out the corners, son | ⇱⇲

Bruno Lapa slide-rules the ball into the net to increase the @bhmlegion‘s lead over @SouthernState10. pic.twitter.com/3HLDQg4H8v

— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) April 8, 2022

Filed Under: 2022 US Open Cup, Feature - Main, US Open Cup Tagged With: 2022 US Open Cup, Birmingham Legion FC, Southern States SC Stars

Primary Sidebar

Featured Video

Follow Us on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

U.S. Open Cup History

Weck Henney (left) and Davidson (right) of Chicago's Manhattan Beer fight for the ball with St. Mary's Celtic in the second leg of the 1939 National Challenge Cup Final at Starlight Park in the Bronx. Photo: Brooklyn Daily Eagle

1938-1939 National Challenge Cup: The first time the US Open Cup was invite-only

The 2021 US Open Cup is expected to be reduced to 24 teams and few may know this will mark the second time in the tournament’s history that the entire field was selected by invitation only instead of individual club entry.

  • American soccer’s greatest modern underdog story: Rochester Raging Rhinos win 1999 US Open Cup
  • US Open Cup officially cancelled for first time in tournament’s 106-year history
  • Spanish Flu, severe weather, Olympic Games: 2020 US Open Cup isn’t first tournament to be delayed
  • 1918/1919 National Challenge Cup Semifinals & Final: Bethlehem Steel earn back-to-back shutouts to win 4th title
  • 1918/1919 National Challenge Cup Quarterfinals: Bethlehem Steel flattens Goodyear’s tires as snow causes problems elsewhere

Analytics powered by

Copyright © 2022 • Built by Jacob Martella Web Development