In the Third Round of the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, Birmingham Legion FC and Chattanooga Red Wolves SC had a rematch of last year’s Second Round match up, this time down at The University of Montevallo. This matchup in 2023 resulted in a 4-1 win in the Scenic City for Birmingham, but this year was tougher as the Legion equalized twice, forced extra time and ultimately won 4-2 in front of a capacity crowd.
The story of the match was a four-goal performance by Birmingham’s Stefano Pinho as he scored two equalizers in regulation and two more goals in extra time to send the Legion to the Round of 32. Pinho becomes just the 13th player in the tournament’s Modern Era (1995-present) to score four or more goals in a single game. In fact, he’s just the second during that span to score four goals after halftime.
The match started with a flurry of chances for Birmingham, with several corners and early fouls in Birmingham’s favor, but Chattanooga weathered that storm. At the 12-minute mark, the deadlock was broken by a picture-perfect set piece by the Red Wolves. Ricky Ruiz, the 2021 USL League One assists leader, put in a perfect ball into the box that was headed into the back of the net by Leo Folla.
Immediately after the resulting kickoff, Jake Rufe quickly picked up a yellow to open Legion’s book. Legion had several more chances to put a ball on target, but none to the worry of Tim Trilk, the Red Wolves keeper. That frustration really showed as in the 34th minute, Enzo Martinez picked up a yellow card on a late challenge. Outside of some small chances on each side, the first half ended up fizzling out with Red Wolves up 1-0 as they were seeking to reach the Fourth Round for the first time in club history.
The second half started with Tyler Pasher coming on for Enzo Martinez, and his impact was felt immediately with a beautiful corner finding the head of Stefano Pinho in the 48th minute to pull things level.
The match continued to gain intensity as Tabort Etaka Preston picked up a yellow card in the 57th minute. That intensity fully bubbled over as Legion goalkeeper Matt VanOekel and Red Wolves’ Ropapa Mensah had a nasty collision in the box, resulting in a Chattanooga penalty and a VanOekel yellow card, that was slotted away by Ricky Ruiz to give Chattanooga its second lead of the night in the 76th minute. Not even five minutes later, Pasher found Pinho again on a corner to draw the match back to level the score at 2-2 in the 80th minute.
The match fully went in the favor of Birmingham when Pinho was through on goal, and Gustavo Fernandes did what he had to do, and pulled him down just outside of the box, resulting in a red card for the Red Wolves in the first minute of second half stoppage time. Despite being down a man, Chattanooga managed to hold on to the draw long enough to force extra time.
In extra time, Birmingham continued to tighten the screws on Chattanooga, and at the very end of the first half of extra time, Pinho found himself on the end of yet another corner, this time provided by Kobe Hernandez-Foster in the first minute of stoppage time in the first period of extra time to give Birmingham their first lead of the night.
To start the second half of extra time, Prosper Kasim, the hero of Legion’s Open Cup run in 2023, turned provider and played a through ball to Pinho, who slotted it away for his fourth of the night, and the first open play goal of the night between the two teams. To end the night, 15-year-old Ramiz Hamouda made his first appearance for Birmingham Legion.
The match ended 4-2, but the scoreline does not reflect just how well Chattanooga played, but it is once again that Legion come out triumphant against the Red Wolves of Chattanooga to earn their way into the Fourth Round of the US Open Cup for the second year in a row.