As under the pump as Birmingham Legion FC was feeling going into Sunday evening’s home game against El Paso Locomotive FC – winless in all competitions so far in 2025, resulting in the first coaching change of the campaign on Wednesday with the departure of Tom Soehn – there’s something about coming out from that with a victory that can at least feel like a step in the right direction.

It might not have seemed quite as comfortable as the final 3-1 scoreline indicated, but thanks to Ronaldo Damus’ two-goal performance and the help of the woodwork late on Daniel Carter’s close-range chance to equalize for the visitors, Birmingham finally got what they were looking for.

“We needed that,” said Damus, who now has four goals in the league this campaign. “[These first few games] haven’t been easy, but that happens in life. Individually, we are all so good. Today, we played together, and we had success.”

Legion wasn’t the only team to break its duck in league play this weekend.

Miami FC did so as well, coming through with victory at San Antonio FC that continued one of the most peculiar streaks currently ongoing in the Championship. Miami has won four league games in the past two seasons, and two have come against SAFC, running the overall streak to three wins in a row for the Florida side in the interconference series.

Oakland Roots, meanwhile, broke through with a 2-1 win on the road against FC Tulsa on Saturday night as Wolfgang Prentice bagged both goals. Of the three sides, there still feels like the most work to be done in Oakland to find a path to consistent success, but this is at least a start.

On a weekend where numerous frontrunners continued to stake their claim as contenders with wins further up the standings, the tension closer to the bottom should feel alleviated.

Here are this week’s rankings.