After 19 weeks of USL Championship action, you could reasonably argue that 24 of 25 clubs are still in the thick of the playoff race. The stakes are high, and every team in the league has room to improve if they want to meet the moment.
Heading toward the home stretch of 2026, what’s eating at each club? I’ve got one major question that every team needs to answer in the months ahead.
Birmingham Legion
Can Gevork Diarbian and Ronaldo Damus kickstart this offense?
For a Birmingham team that hasn’t won a league game since May 2nd, there are plenty of problems to address. The fact that the Legion have underperformed their xG by a margin of 5.3 in eight matches since then is chief amongst them. Birmingham has been able to move the ball upfield, putting winger Gevork Diarbian (an electric one-v-one dribbler) and Ronaldo Damus (one of the USL’s most consistent strikers) in good positions with regularity. Finishing those opportunities is a different story. So long as those two – who have combined for a 4% conversion rate in 2026 – keep wasting chances, the Legion will continue to suffer.
