Charlotte FC Report: Week 24, 2022
A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks with Charlotte FC. It has been a busy time for Charlotte full of ups and downs. A couple weeks ago in their matchup against Toronto, they were throttled. They dropped the contest, 4-0. It was their largest loss in club history. Their matchup with Columbus never really amounted to anything. The contest was started, but it honestly shouldn’t have been. It was delayed for hours and finally postponed. They will make the game up in October. On Wednesday, Charlotte picked up a big win at home against DC United. DC was the club they played in their first league match and this time was a different result. Charlotte picked up 3 goals in the winning effort. The first goal came from an own goal. Karol Swiderski picked up his 6 goal of the season in the 64th minute and Quinn McNeill scored his first career MLS goal in the 67thminute. Granted DC United is considered one of the worst clubs in the MLS this season, a win is still win and they picked up this one in convincing fashion. They will be facing one of the better defenses in the League tonight, so the competition will be much stiffer at home.
Charlotte FC
Charlotte has been busy over the last couple of weeks in terms of acquisitions. A couple weeks ago, they announced that Titi Ortiz was waived. In some ways, it was a surprising move because he was a vital part of the early season, but he was rarely seeing any action in the last couple of weeks. He rejoined Club Tijuana as he was on a loan with Charlotte, so in other ways, it wasn’t too surprising that he wasn’t retained. Brian Romero was signed from the Charlotte FC Academy and it is their first signing from the Academy. Romero made a big play in the Chelsea contest when he drew a penalty in the closing minutes of regulation. He’s only 16, so don’t expect him to play a lot coming up, but he could see some minutes in the next few contests. They acquired much needed Midfield help in Portuguese product Nuno Santos from SL Benfica. They also acquired two defenders. An English defender named Nathan Byrne from Derby County FC and Adilson Malanda, a French defenseman from Rodez AF. It is an exciting time in soccer where the transfer market is open, and we could see new talent for our club.
MLS
Charlotte will be playing Chicago Fire FC tonight at home. They announced over the last week that their star GK, Gabriel Slonina will be departing for Chelsea FC. He will be departing at the end of the MLS season, so he can finish the campaign with Chicago. Slonina is a big reason for Chicago’s stiff defense and it will be interesting to see how they compensate with his departure. Chicago has been on a good stretch as of late as they have won 3 of their last 4 contests. Their scoring attack isn't really led by one particular player. They have an even attack. Rafael Czichos was scored 2 in the last 4 as has Jhon Duran. This should be a good contest for Charlotte and honestly one they should leave with 3 points. Hopefully that will be the case tonight.
Yacs