North Carolina FC finished the regular season with 56 points, good enough to get them into seventh place and for them to host a match in the Eastern Conference play-in round. The opponents for the play-in match will be Birmingham Legion FC, a team NCFC did not fare too well against in the regular season.
The two teams faced off twice during the regular season, with NCFC taking just one point from a possible six against the Alabama club. The first match was a goalless draw that saw Birmingham midfielder Zachary Herivaux, on loan from MLS side New England Revolution, receive a second yellow in stoppage time. The second match ended 1-0 in the favor of the Legion.
With just one goal scored between the two sides in the previous two matches, expect the match Wednesday to follow this trend, as Birmingham have scored the least goals in the eastern conference with just 35. NCFC hasn’t been a scoring giant this season either, ranking seventh in the eastern conference with 57.
While the offensive numbers have been lackluster for both sides, the defense is what sets NCFC apart from Birmingham. Conceding just 37 times in 34 matches this season, NCFC ranks fifth in the conference for goals allowed, while Birmingham sits tied for 10th with 51 conceded.
What could see the NCFC offense come to life in the playoffs, however, is the return of forward Marios Lomis, who missed the majority of the season with a broken ankle after starting the campaign well.
If Lomis can’t find the back of the net, head coach Dave Sarachan will look to Robbie Kristo to come off the bench and make an impact. Kristo, now the team’s joint leading scorer with nine after his winner in the final regular-season game, has been excellent coming off the bench.
In just 854 minutes this season, Kristo boasts a conversion rate of 25.7%, which is about 5% higher than the league’s leading scorer, Solomon Asante of Pheonix Rising FC.
Spearheading Birmingham’s attack will be J.J. Williams and Prosper Kasim, who both have seven goals on the season. Kasim also leads the team in chances created and will be a player NCFC’s holding mid, likely Graham Smith, and the central defenders will need to watch out for.
Between the sticks, both teams have a brilliant goalkeeper in NCFC’s team MVP, Alex Tambakis, and Legion’s Matt Van Oekel. Van Oekel holds the advantage in clean sheets, with 11 compared to Tambakis’ eight, but the NCFC keeper saves a higher percentage of the shots he faces at 75.2% compared to Van Oekel’s 64.7%.
With the match likely to be very low scoring, a solid performance from either keeper could decide the match.
The playoff play-in match is set to kick off Wednesday at 7 p.m., and the winner will go on to face either the No. 1 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC or No. 2 Nashville SC in the quarterfinal. If NCFC wins, they will face Nashville, as it will be the higher of the two remaining play-in seeds, and the Legion would have Pittsburgh if they win on account of being the 10-seed.
