Charlotte FC tries to take home stadium magic on the road
Plus: Another Polish star joins the team — and how do you pronounce 'Kamil Jozwiak'?; What the heck is an 'olímpico'?; Charlotte FC players show support for Hornets, Charlotte Independence
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Tough road swing ahead for CLT FC
Miguel Angel Ramirez can’t contain his excitement after Charlotte FC wins its third straight at home (Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC.)
Charlotte FC (3-4) is seven games into its inaugural season and showing its first noticeable trend: This is a good home team. Charlotte has won three in a row at Bank of America Stadium — a “fortress,” as midfielder Brandt Bronico put it after last Sunday’s 1-0 win over Atlanta.
Overall, Charlotte is 3-1 at home, for the second-most home victories in the MLS’s Eastern Conference. The lone loss at Bank of America Stadium came on a world-class goal by Efrain Alvarez in a 1-0 loss to L.A. Galaxy in front of record crowd of 74,479 in the home opener.
Since then, Charlotte has defeated the New England Revolution, FC Cincinnati and Atlanta by an aggregate score of 6-1. The difference? The fans.
“The supporters are amazing,” Bronico said after a standout performance against Atlanta. “I think they make this a fortress for us. I think other teams come here and are intimidated by how loud the crowd really is. And it’s just an amazing atmosphere.”
Coach Miguel Angel Ramirez commended the fans for giving Charlotte badly needed energy late in the game against Atlanta. He learned just how much energy Charlotte fans had been expending when he jogged down to the supporters group behind the East Goal to interact with fans — and hug “Sombrero Man” Hector Cortes. He noticed that the fans had yelled themselves hoarse.
“You can have people that go to the theater or cinema, and they just watch the game,” Ramirez said. “Here, they don’t (just) watch the game, they finish without voices.”
On the flip side, Charlotte is trying to buck another developing trend, sitting at 0-3 on the road. Charlotte plays its next three games on the road — four if you include the U.S. Open Cup game in Greenville against the Triumph on Wednesday. They’ll play at New England on Saturday, at Colorado on April 23 and in Orlando on April 30.
“We’ve got to figure out ways to win on the road,” Bronico said. “I think that’s the next step for us as a team.”
Only five of 28 teams in MLS have a winning record on the road so far this season, led by the class of the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia Union (2-0), and the New York Red Bulls (3-0).
“Away games are tough in MLS,” Bronico said. “When I was in Chicago, we struggled with winning on the road. But we have a really strong group here, a really great group of guys and guys that know how to get jobs done. As a new team, as an expansion team, I think we can find the confidence to get wins on the road, and I think we have a great opportunity and a great test ahead of us.”
Up Next: Charlotte (3-4) at New England (1-4-1)
When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.
How to watch: WAXN (Channel 64), Telemundo or live stream at www.charlottefootballclub/live or on the Charlotte FC app. Local restrictions apply.
Notable:
The New England Revolution, defending MLS regular season champions, have lost four in a row, or five if you include their demoralizing loss to Pumas UNAM in the Concacaf Champions League right before they came to Charlotte March 19. Here’s a great breakdown of what’s been ailing them.
Charlotte FC defender Christian Makoun missed the Atlanta game with a sore adductor (hip) muscle but is expected to be available Saturday.
Polish forward joins Charlotte FC, poised for first action; pronunciation tutorial for ‘Jozwiak’
Kamil Jozwiak joins Charlotte FC on the practice field this week. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC.)
Charlotte FC finally has its second star player in the fold after Polish winger Kamil Jozwiak arrived Saturday and began practicing with the team this week.
Jozwiak signed as Charlotte’s second “designated player” (without regard to salary cap) five weeks ago but had been in his native Poland awaiting his visa and rehabbing an ankle injury. Both the ankle and the paperwork are well in hand.
So what now? Jozwiak hasn’t played in a game since Jan. 30 with Derby County of the English Championship. He said he still has some minor swelling after playing on the ankle but that it’s manageable with post-game treatments. Even while maintaining a high level of fitness working out in Poland, he’s not in game shape yet, after only several practices with his new teammates in the U.S.
“I don’t think that I could play 90 minutes,” Jozwiak said Wednesday. “Maybe a little bit less time, but it’s not my decision. We’ll speak with coach in [the] next few days, and we will make a decision together.”
Coach Miguel Angel Ramirez could decide to ease him back into action off the bench. Ramirez also has additional minutes to work with in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup game against the Greenville Triumph.
“He’s available and he can go with us, so let’s see,” Ramirez said Thursday. “We have one training more, to have more information. But yeah, he's ready.”
Whatever time Jozwiak gets on the field, all eyes will be on his pairing with striker Karol Swiderski and the dynamic they bring playing together up front. The pair play together on Poland’s national team and have for the under-19 and under-21 Polish teams also.
“I hope our cooperation will be very good, and that will be very good for Charlotte as well,” Jozwiak said.
Swiderski helped introduce the 23-year-old Jozwiak to the city of Charlotte this week. He and fellow countryman and CLT FC teammate Jan Sobocinski showed Jozwiak a couple of spots in South End on Monday night, including a stop at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.
Fans have already done their part to welcome Jozwiak to town, doing a roaring rendition of “The Poznan” in the Supporters Section before last Sunday’s game against Atlanta. Polish fans made “The Poznan” a worldwide phenomenon 12 years ago when they first turned their backs to the field, draped arms around each other and jumped up and down, while supporting the club Lech Poznan against Manchester City. Jozwiak came of age with Lech Poznan, graduating from their academy and then playing 123 matches (scoring 17 goals) for them, before moving to Derby County of the English Championship.
Jozwiak was at Bank of America Stadium last weekend to see Charlotte’s version.
“That was very nice,” Jozwiak said. “And I hope they will have a lot of occasions to do it again.”
Jozwiak will wear No. 7 for Charlotte FC.
How to pronounce ‘Kamil Jozwiak’: If you are curious how to pronounce his name, let Jozwiak tell you himself. Here is a recording of Jozwiak saying his name, first with the Polish pronunciation and the second one, a little more English-friendly (Kaw-meel Joe-zwee-ack.) The good news is Jozwiak is OK with us leaning on the second one!
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What the heck is an ‘olímpico’?
If you saw Jordy Alcivar score on a corner kick last Sunday — actually kick a ball from the corner flag and bend it into the goal — and you had to rub your eyes, wondering what you just saw, you’re not alone.
Soccer aficionados call the rare spectacle a “gol olímpico” or an “Olympic Goal.” The term dates to 1924, when Argentinian Cesareo Onzari scored directly off a corner kick, without contact by a teammate, against Uruguay.
The game was a “friendly,” or an exhibition match, but Uruguay was the reigning Olympic champion. At the time, neither the players nor fans knew scoring that way was even legal, but soccer’s governing body had recently legalized it.
The angle of a goal like that — kicking from a spot that’s even with the goalposts — makes it difficult, not to mention the fact that it has to avoid deflection in a high-traffic area in front of the goal. Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan seemed to get just a piece of Alcivar’s kick but not enough to alter the trajectory.
Some of the biggest names in soccer have scored Olympic goals — French legend and former Arsenal player Thierry Henry scored an “olímpico” against the New York Red Bulls in 2012, and English star David Beckham did it for the L.A. Galaxy in 2011. (Bend it like Beckham, indeed.)
U.S. Women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe became the first to actually score an olímpico in the Olympics, and she has done it twice. Rapinoe scored an olímpico in the 2012 London Olympics against Canada and again in 2020 in the Tokyo Olympics against Australia.
It’s such a rare feat, most players and teams don’t bother practicing it. But Alcivar said he did while working on specific kicks during individual drills last week.
“The truth is I was practicing a lot this week with (midfielder) Ben Bender,” Alcivar said after Sunday’s game. “I think I practiced it enough to be able to do it today.”
The result was chosen MLS goal of the week.
Charlotte FC players cheering on local teams
Photo posted by Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina on his Instagram account (@kahlina_k.)
As much love as fans have showered on the Charlotte FC so far, players like Kristijan Kahlina are doing their part to be good fans of other Charlotte teams as well. Decked out in LaMelo Ball’s No. 2 Charlotte Hornets jersey, the standout goalkeeper cheered the Hornets on to victory against the Orlando Magic on April 7.
Also, a large contingent of Charlotte FC players were out at American Legion Memorial Stadium to support the Charlotte Independence of the USL last week, including Christian Fuchs, Brandt Bronico and Adam Armour, all of whom spent time on loan with the Independence last season.
Previous editions of Fútbol Friday
You can find previous issues of The Charlotte Ledger’s Fútbol Friday newsletter online.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now cutting her teeth on soccer and the Charlotte FC just as fans in Charlotte do. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project