The Legion may have lost but the city of Birmingham won.

Even the hometown manager gave the crowd a standing ovation while battling during ten minutes of added time.

“Look in the stands, it’s hard to not to be ready to go and willing to fight your ass off for the group when you see 18,000 fans cheering for you,” Legion defender Alex Crognale said.

The Legion’s unprecedented run towards the Lamar Hunt Trophy came to an end in a 1-0 loss to MLS club Inter Miami CF on Wednesday night in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match at Birmingham’s Protective Stadium but would not be obvious if not for the scoreboard.

A record crowd of 18,418 surpassed the Legion’s record of 12,722 in their previous U.S. Open Cup match against Charlotte FC and is the largest crowd to witness a pro-soccer match in the state.

“At the end of the game, I felt it the most when I looked up and saw everybody,” Legion coach Tommy Soehn said. “Not a single person left and they were applauding. Credit to our guys, they put on a good show today.”

“Obviously, some of the issues we’re disappointed in,” he added. “Today was officiating and he fell into a trap of what they were trying to accomplish and allowing them to do it. The fans deserve better and we deserve better.”

The Legion found itself dominating the pace and came within inches of taking an early lead on an Enzo Martinez shot in the second minute of the match. Inter Miami was denied three straight times at the net before Birmingham was able to return to its side of the pitch.

There was an apparent handball that went uncalled, and the Legion were unable to take advantage in the collapse on defense by Inter Miami.

“We were unfortunately on the wrong side of those things,” Soehn said. “We all saw it on the replay, it was a handball, and that changes the game. Nothing we could do about that.”

Legion owned a 41 percent possession rate and outshot Inter Miami 11-10, creating multiple quality shots, but gave up a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal.

“Our guys didn’t quit, they pushed and pushed,” Soehn said. “At times, I felt like we pushed more than they did. Look at the salaries and how different it is. That stuff doesn’t matter, we had more heart today and we played it the right way. If we did some of the things they did, I would be disappointed in my guys tomorrow.”

Tied up at 0-0 coming out of the break, Inter Miami’s Nicolás Stefanelli scored the lone goal of the match in the 56th minute, taking a crossing pass from Corentin Jean and driving the ball into the right corner from the center of the box.

A little more than 10 minutes later, tempers began to flare as both Mikey Lopez and Tyler Pasher were shown yellow cards. Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender was served a yellow for wasting time and Rodolfo Pizarro was given a yellow on a foul in the seventh minute of added time.

Legion’s best opportunity for an equalizer came in the 76th and 79th minutes as defender Alex Crognale struck hard from 35 yards out, on a pass from Prosper Kasim, but missed just right of the net. Pasher also missed right on a shot from center box.

“The crowd came out, Birmingham showed out, and they deserved more,” Crognale said. “They were fully in the game. The second half, a lot of guys stayed down for cramps and grabbing their faces and making the game difficult. We created enough chances as a team to get a result but this is football, it doesn’t always bounce your way.”

As regulation came to a close, 10 minutes of added time was granted but Legion mustered only one shot on goal from Pasher, which was sent from outside the box but blocked, and a corner kick in the 11th minute of added time.

“There are wins and losses, and what I pride myself on is making sure that we play what we do,” Soehn said. “I was proud of the way we played today. We had moments where we really didn’t have a lot of the ball and had moments when we dictated the play. It won’t change the hurt in the locker room but we’ll get up and do it again. Just thankful that Birmingham noticed is really cool.”