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(05-24-2023 10:11 PM)blazr Wrote:  Yeah, we're (Nashville) kind of ticked that our manager sat our starters until 60' since it was a Cup game and not regular season. Would have been exciting to see Birmingham host Nashville with all our supporter groups within easy driving range. I really like the format of the Lamar Hunt Open Cup but we had a mid-week game last week, a regular season match Saturday, our game last night, and a regular season game coming this Saturday. It is what it is. All clubs have to navigate the comps outside of the season like this, CONCACAF Leagues Cup, Campeones Cup, etc. in addition to having players holding spots with their national teams. I think the record will be broken again. Regardless of the distance between CLT & BHM, it's the quarterfinals of the Open and Bham should start getting excited.

I know Legion wanted Nashville as well since they've beaten 3 teams to make it this far in the cup. Would have been a good omen to have gotten a 4th.

But you're not kidding about managing teams. It almost cost us against Chattanooga when Legion thought they could trot out an academy team and dunk on a NASL squad. And they've had to deal with this cup run on top of an extremely front-loaded schedule within the league and injuries to our best players. Hopefully they can get healthy with this little gap and come out strong against Miami.

Something important is that even if Legion aren't able to advance, the point needs to be made that we're still one of the favorites to win USL and fans need to come back.