Charlotte FC Report: Week 6, 2022

The lads did it again! Charlotte FC are on a winning streak for the first time in club history. Yet again, Charlotte struck early, and it carried them to a win. They defeated FC Cincinnati 2-0 and it was never in doubt. Both goals were scored by our top striker, Karol Swiderski. The Polish Pistol is becoming quite the household name and has 4 goals in the last 2 games and that has put him in a share of the league leading spot. Kristijan Kahlina got his first clean sheet of the season and he came away with 5 clutch saves. Ben Bender also has a share of a league leading stat with 3 assists. They were donning the newly minted Black and Mint jerseys and they looked so clean. Charlotte dominated possession and looked like a real contender last Saturday. This week won’t be so easy for Charlotte though. They will face the league-leading Philadelphia Union on the road. 

6ABC Philadelphia

Philadelphia hasn’t lost a match this season and have only drew once. They’re on a 3-game win streak and they had last week off, so they will be well rested. Also, the Union will have the home advantage on their side. Philadelphia currently has a share of the lead for points in the MLS. They’ve gotten off to a great start, but I think Charlotte will give them a game. They’re led by Daniel Gazdag, who currently has 3 goals this season. Alejandro Bedoya and Cory Burke both have 2 goals. One thing that I’ve noticed about Philadelphia is that they don’t keep possession. Most of their matches end with them having ball possession in the 30’s. That’s pretty wild considering the fact that they haven’t lost a match yet. In their only non-win, they held the ball for the majority of the match. They may be on to something. Charlotte likes to control possession and Philadelphia likes to cede possession. It will be an interesting matchup and we’ll see which side will give. 

MLS

For Charlotte, a win would be great, but I think a draw is ideal. Philadelphia has gotten off to a hot start and if they can get out of Philly with a win/draw, it would be perfectly fine. Like I said, it appears that Philly wants opponents to control possession, so they can pick their attacking moments precisely. I can’t imagine where Charlotte having majority possession would harm them, so I say they should keep up the aggressive attack early and often. It should be a fun matchup, too bad there is a lot of big sporting events happening at the same time. 

Yacs