Another Leagues Cup dud for Charlotte FC
Charlotte falls in physical Leagues Cup opener; Plus: Defender Nathan Byrne returns from neck injury; Zaha on passing his roll and advancing Sunday's game vs. Chivas
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Charlotte FC loses cool in second consecutive loss to open League Cup play in tournament between clubs from MLS and Liga MX
One of many testy moments in Charlotte FC’s 4-1 loss to Juarez on Thursday night. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Another year, a different format, and the momentum of a five-game unbeaten streak in MLS didn’t change much for Charlotte FC in the opening of Leagues Cup play Thursday night.
In the third edition of the tournament that pits clubs from Mexico’s Liga MX against teams from Major League Soccer, Charlotte FC fell flat again. FC Juárez manhandled Charlotte both on the scoreboard, 4-1, and on the field. [This came after Charlotte was shut out 1-0 in its Leagues Cup opener in Philadelphia last year, a game coach Dean Smith characterized as unsightly a year ago.]
This time, Charlotte FC got to play all three games of the opening round at home, all against Liga MX opponents. What on paper was the weakest of the three, Juarez FC, was the dominant team Thursday, which doesn’t bode well for upcoming matches Sunday against Chivas and Thursday against Monterrey, a FIFA Club World Cup team.
This year, the top four teams from each league advance, rather than the top two teams from each group. That means Charlotte is a long shot to advance after failing to get a result in the first game.
Juárez came to Bank of America Stadium for the first time with an effective strategy: get under Charlotte’s proverbial skin.
In the opening minutes of the game, winger Wilfield Zaha was grabbed in the back by midfielder Guilherme Castilho. He responded with a retaliatory shove. Somehow, neither player was carded. In the final minutes of the game, Idan Toklomati was even less restrained and got a red card to show for it.
After being shoved to the ground by Juarez midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro, Toklomati walked up and headbutted him, right in front of the referee.
She ejected him via red card, which means Toklomati will receive an automatic suspension for Sunday’s game against Chivas, and possibly Monterrey too, given that the card was for violent conduct. [The moment was captured here by videographers for TopBin90.com.]
“In these sort of games, there's always going to be gamesmanship,” Coach Dean Smith said. “You have to deal with it. Unfortunately, we lost our heads.”
Toklomati scored Charlotte FC’s lone goal Thursday night and was their primary striker after the departure of Patrick Agyemang to the U.S. Men’s National team and later via transfer to Derby County in England. Toklomati’s backup, Tyger Smalls, has seen only limited action this season.
Captain Ashley Westwood knows a thing or two about “chippy” play and showed respect to Juárez for using it to their advantage Thursday.
“That’s football,” he said. “That’s what happens all over the world, and that’s something we can learn from because they were brilliant at it tonight. We've come up against a different challenge, and we've been found out. So we learn from it.”
Smith had missed practices leading up to the game, traveling home to the U.K. for three days following a death in the family. He was not pleased with what he came back to Thursday.
“I actually told them [at halftime] it felt like my eyes were bleeding,” he said. “That's how bad that first half was.”
When asked what was missing in the first half, Smith said:
“I didn't see enough commitment. I told them at halftime I didn't see them care enough. It's almost like, ‘We've had a good run in the MLS and it's a League Cup, and it'll just happen.’ It doesn't. We told them that there'll be teams fighting hard to get victories. You could see how much it meant to [Juárez] getting the victory. I don't think it meant that much to our players, and that's a disappointing thing.”
Byrne returns to lineup after neck surgery
Veteran left back Nathan Byrne is back after three months out following neck surgery. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
As bad as it was on the field Thursday night, there was some good news for Charlotte FC: the return of Nathan Byrne. The veteran right back made his first start and played 60 minutes after missing three months following neck surgery.
Smith qualified the performance as Byrne “battled through a tough start,” but just having him back on the field provided teammates a lift.
“He’s a huge boost for us,” Westwood said. “He needs minutes. This is his mini preseason now. [But] a player like him is vital. He brings experience, brings quality, and he brings leadership as well.”
Byrne met with media on Wednesday and described how such a significant injury of two slipped discs in his neck started innocently.
“I thought I just slept badly and had a stiff neck,” he said.
The pain persisted. A steroid shot helped him continue to play through it, but the effects were short-lived. When he started feeling tingling and numbness in his fingers, he knew it was time to go back to neurosurgeon Dr. Mark Smith.
After playing on April 12 in Montreal, he went back expecting another steroid shot. Dr. Smith told Byrne that if he continued on the same trajectory, he could suffer permanent nerve damage. He recommended surgery.
“I didn’t want an arm that didn’t work,” Byrne said.
Byrne said his biggest fear was surviving the operation, so once he started his rehabilitation, he was confident throughout.
“After the surgery, I was happy to wake up; that was the main thing,” he said. “I felt terrible, couldn’t eat, but I knew I'd be back.”
Playmaker Zaha adapts to shifting role
Zaha has been showing off his vision through his goal contribution streak. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Wilfried Zaha did not have an assist in his first 12 games with Charlotte FC. Remember that? That’s a distant memory now that the star winger has become a playmaking machine. Zaha had nine assists in his previous 10 games before Thursday, including one in each of his past six games.
Zaha has mixed in six goals as well. Entered Leagues Cup, he was on a club record streak of either contributing a goal or an assist for eight consecutive games.
After picking up his ninth assist against Toronto, Zaha attributed his passing production to a shifting role.
“To be honest, I'm not usually the person that does the passing,” he said. “But obviously I have to adapt to help the team, and the gaffer makes me play a little bit more inside to help build [up] … I have to change my game. But I don't mind if we're winning games then.”
Zaha draws so much defensive attention that when he finds an open teammate through traffic, it’s almost a sure goal. Exhibit A: the pass he made to Kerwin Vargas for an exclamation point goal on his Bobblehead night in a 2-0 win over Toronto.
Zaha has also shown he can thread a pass directly upfield into the penalty box, through the teeth of the defenders. That’s what he did to find a streaking Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, who then tapped a square pass to Pep Biel for his second of two goals in a 2-1 win over D. C. United.
Zaha got another “hockey” assist against New York City FC when he slipped a pass to Biel in the box, who crossed to Toklomati for the finish.
“I've got an eye for a pass, so if I do get the ball, [I’ll tell] Pep and the other players, Kerwin, Liel [Abada], ‘Just run. If I can try and find you, I'll find you,’” Zaha said. “If they trust me and make the run, I'll do my best to find them. It's worked a few times so far.”
Correction
In Fútbol Friday last week, we incorrectly identified Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty as one of 14 siblings, leaving out his brother, Simbad, who is the second-oldest of 15 siblings. We apologize for the error.
Up Next: Charlotte FC (0-1-0) vs. Chivas de Guadalajara (0-1-0)
When/Where: Sunday at 7:50 p.m. Bank of America Stadium
How to watch: FS1, Univision, TUDN, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Find information about how to subscribe for the season here.
How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.
Notable:
Now that Charlotte FC lost the first game and has an uphill climb to advancing in Leagues Cup, Smith might choose to focus on getting minutes for players who haven’t seen much playing time in MLS action.
Center back Adilson Malanda did not play Thursday because he’d been nursing a sore knee. He’s not expected to play Sunday.
Tyger Smalls will be the likely starter in place of Toklomati Sunday. It would be only his second start in 28 games over the past two seasons with Charlotte FC. He started against the Chicago Fire on May 15, 2024.
Chivas lost its opening Leagues Cup game 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fourth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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