Charlotte FC Report: Week 8, 2022
Charlotte got another W last week against the team that defeated them in their first meeting. The hometown club got the afternoon win against Atlanta United and all it took was a corner kick goal from Jordy Alcivar. The “Olimpico” goal was very impressive and luckily Charlotte’s defense maintained for the remaining 79 minutes. It earned Alcivar the honor of MLS Goal of the Week. If the season ended today, Charlotte would be in the playoffs with a 5 seed. I realize the season is just starting out, but they’re performing better than I initially thought they would. They’re obviously not a dominant squad right now, but there are a lot of reasons to stay excited about Charlotte soccer. For the upcoming week, we’ll have two games for the home club.
MLS
Today, Charlotte FC will be playing in Massachusetts against the New England Revolution. The two teams met earlier in the season and Charlotte picked up their historical first win against them, 3-1. The Polish Pistol picked up two of the goals and Ben Bender got his first professional goal in that contest. I know that playing in a road environment will definitely be in favor of the Revolution, but I think Charlotte definitely has a chance to prove that they’re truly the better team. New England gives up 2 goals per match and since Charlotte has gotten that first win, they have played really well. The Revolution have only won in one contest this season and things aren’t looking particularly well for the rest of the season. In the first contest, New England’s lone goal came from Carles Gil on a penalty kick. Gil leads the squad with 3 goals, so look for him to be prevalent on the strike again here. The action kicks off at 7:30 tonight.
MLS
Charlotte will have their first look at US Open Cup action on Wednesday and it will be the first mid-week action for them this season. The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup contains 103 professional and amateur clubs in the United States. I’m still learning things about soccer and I think that this is really cool. It’s really only for bragging rights, but they’re still contest that you want to win. On Wednesday, Charlotte FC will square up against Greenville Triumph SC. Greenville has only played in two contest this season and they lost their only USL League One matchup against Central Valley Fuego FC. In their latest contest, they defeated Oakland Roots in US Open play. Jake Keegan and Don Smart scored the two goals in the win. It is rare that a lower level team defeats an MLS club in one of these matchups, so expect a nice Charlotte FC win here despite this being a road contest for them.
It’ll be cool to see Charlotte playing in the middle of the week, but I’m interested to see how this will affect them as a club. Based on prior results, I expect Charlotte to come away with two wins this week, but how will it affect them going into next week? It will be interesting to see. Hopefully this will be a good week for them.
Yacs