Charlotte FC brought Westwood from the brink of retirement
Devastated by an ankle injury, disillusioned with a frustrating recovery, English Premier League veteran found new lease on soccer life in MLS; plus yellow card suspensions and previewing Atlanta
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After a gruesome ankle injury robbed Westwood of his love for the game, a ‘new adventure’ in Charlotte guided him back
Ashley Westwood manning the midfield against NYCFC. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Midfielder Ashley Westwood’s arrival in Charlotte has been anything but smooth. A week after he joined the team in preseason, and two days after his introductory press conference, defender Anton Walkes was killed in a boating accident.
Charlotte FC lost its first three games, with Westwood as captain, taking any luster off hopes the team would pick up where it left off last season. And just when Charlotte started to turn the corner, in a 2-1 win in Orlando, Westwood injured a hip flexor muscle.
Even when he returned to action after six weeks out — which the team marked by posting a video interview with Westwood on social media — it got completely lost amid breaking news that Charlotte FC players Andre Shinyashiki and Nuno Santos had both been linked to a sexual assault report.
Westwood left the English Premier League for this?
Yet, through it all, you could still find Westwood upbeat and smiling. We set out to discover why.
Here’s the short answer:
“I’ve come off the back of a bad injury that I nearly retired from,” said Westwood, 33. “But the fact that Zoran (Krneta) gave me a ring, and I spoke to the manager (Christian Lattanzio). It gave me a boost back in England to get back fit … Charlotte saved my career.”
A devastating injury
The injury he’s talking about was to his right ankle. It happened April 17, 2022, while playing for Burnley of the Premier League, when he lunged for a ball as West Ham defender Nikola Vlasic closed in on him. Westwood’s right ankle buckled and twisted under the weight of his own body.
“I had the feeling when I looked down at my leg, I thought it was going to be a compound fracture,” Westwood said. “I thought the big shinbone was coming out of the skin. That’s what it felt like. Then I looked and my foot was facing the other way.”
His ankle was dislocated and fractured, and his foot rotated awkwardly 90 degrees to the right. The way some of his Burnley teammates later described to him, his foot was turning purple due to the lack of circulation. The only relief in that moment, Westwood said, was either from the shock he was in or damage to nerves, he didn’t feel excruciating pain.
Trainers were able to manipulate his ankle back into place on the field. He was carried off the field on a stretcher. He called his wife, Rebecca — who had taken their two children on a weekend vacation — from the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
“It didn’t really sink in until the next day,” he said. Three of his Burnley teammates came to his house to see if he was OK. “I broke down in tears.”
Two days later he underwent surgery, as doctors repaired his ankle by inserting a metal plate and pins.
In the first few weeks after surgery, Westwood said he felt encouraged, “I was ultra positive, like ‘This ain’t stopping me.’” But that changed three or four months into his recovery.
“There was scar tissue and the ankle just couldn’t move,” he said. “That’s when I felt ‘I’m never getting back.’”
‘In a weird place’: Burnley was being relegated, or demoted, from the Premier League to the tier below in the English Championship — and going through the upheaval of a coaching change and a roster rebuild. His wife, Rebecca, has endured some health problems of her own during the previous year. Then the injury.
“I lost my love for the game,” he said. “I was in a weird place. … I just felt like it was time to enjoy our lives. Life’s too short. I want to spend it with the kids.”
Westwood continued going through the motions with Burnley, and got as far as playing in some “friendlies” last fall. But only after getting a call from Krneta, Charlotte FC’s sporting director, shortly thereafter did his hopes begin to change.
“I was honest with (Burnley) and said, ‘This is something that excites me, gives me a new challenge,’” Westwood said.
‘Charlotte’s an incredible place’
He and his wife had first talked about the idea of coming to the U.S. when English soccer star David Beckham purchased Inter Miami in 2019, a year before its debut in MLS. Then they watched the U.S. perform well in last winter’s World Cup.
They had an American friend living in Cheshire, England, who spoke highly of Charlotte. So did Burnley chairman Alan Pace, an American who grew up in Southern California and spent time on Wall Street and in the front office with Real Salt Lake.
“He said ‘Westy, I would love to put you off going to America, but Charlotte’s an incredible place to bring up your family,'“ Westwood said. “Even he was on board.”
Gerald Henderson connection: Westwood said he and his wife vowed to move their family to Charlotte and start “a new adventure” together. On a visit to Charlotte in December, Westwood was introduced to Gerald Henderson at a Hornets game. The former Charlotte Bobcats star now has a real estate agency. Henderson helped the Westwoods find a townhouse in Myers Park, which is dog-friendly, an 8-minute ride to Bank of America Stadium and a short scooter ride to Freedom Park. They enrolled their son Frankie, 11, and daughter Elsie, 8, in school and fell in love with the community.
“We love Freedom Park. We love the city,” Westwood said. “It’s a special city, and hopefully we’ve got many more years here.”
All was well until March 18 in Orlando, when Westwood felt a pop in his hip while kicking a ball in warm ups.
“I thought ‘I’ll get through this game fine,’” he said. “But there were three or four balls I could have played through to McKinze (Gaines) and Enzo (Copetti) but I just had no power.”
A new hurdle
By the 45th minute, he was down on all fours, and trainers were out to check him. He managed to play through stoppage time to finish the half, but that was it. An MRI later revealed he had a Grade 2 tear of his hip flexor muscle, which he says now “might have been a knock on from the ankle not being quite right getting back into it.” The doctor predicted he would be out for 12 weeks.
“It was very close to coming off the bone, which I was lucky,” Westwood said. “The scan showed 12 weeks, so to come back in six, we’ve done unbelievable.”
He was still out when the year anniversary of his ankle surgery came and went. He posted a video to his Instagram account during that time, one his wife had made to encourage him during his ankle recovery. It inspired him again with the hip.
Here’s the video:
“She said “I’ve not come all this way for you to be injured,’” he said and laughed. “She wears the trousers.”
Right at the six-week mark, Westwood returned against D.C. United. He played all 90 minutes in a 3-0 loss, getting his legs back underneath him. Then last Saturday against New York City FC, he showed he had regained his touch. Westwood threaded defenders with a pinpoint pass up-field that landed just at the feet of a streaking Gaines, who crossed for Copetti for the first goal in a 3-2 win.
Westwood says aerial videos make it look better than it really was, that they were simply applying tactics the team had been working on in practice. He would rather talk about his team, the win, his family, and the experience they are having in Charlotte than taking much credit.
Carowinds season pass: He said they’ve already bought season passes to Carowinds for the summer. For now, he’s been spending his afternoons after training, picking his kids up from school, carting his son to soccer practice and his daughter to gymnastics.
Westwood recently took his son Frankie to Target (or “Tar-shay,” as they’ve learned is the lingo) to buy a baseball bat. They’d seen other kids playing baseball at Freedom Park and wanted to give it a try. One afternoon, they joined in with some other boys and their fathers. Westwood couldn’t help but try a turn at the plate. Right on cue, he connected for a low line drive, which they captured on video and he later posted on Instagram, and he smiled all the way down to first base.
“This (opportunity in Charlotte) came along and gave me a new lease on life,” Westwood said. “And it’s the best thing we’ve done as a family as well.”
He acknowledges that he still has fears about re-injuring his ankle. He’s just had to make peace with them.
“Even now, when I’m passing the ball and I can hear people behind me, I’m like ‘Oh, this is what happened last time,’” Westwood said. “But it doesn’t affect me in the game, when you’re focused on winning. That’s more in training. It’s still in the back of your mind, but the physios reassure me that it’s stronger now than it ever was with a big metal plate in it and pins.”
Kahlina reclaims his spot in goal
Kristijan Kahlina has made his return from back surgery, starting against NYCFC in his debut for 2023 and following it up with a clean sheet 1-0 against Orlando City in the U.S. Open Cup. It just so happened that Kahlina returned to action the day after goalkeeper George Marks suffered an ankle sprain in practice, though Lattanzio said after the New York game that his intention had been to start Kahlina either way. Lattanzio said Marks’ sprain is significant and will likely keep Marks out of action for at least two weeks, if not more.
Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project made this cool video of a pumped-up Kahlina in goal:
News and nuggets
◼️ Copetti, Jones to serve suspensions: Charlotte will have to play in Atlanta on Saturday without striker Enzo Copetti and midfielder Derrick Jones, who are both serving one-game suspensions for accumulating five yellow cards on the season. They both picked up their fifth yellow cards during the 3-2 win over NYCFC. Each could face another one-game suspension if he picks up an additional three yellow cards, making it eight on the season. By MLS rule, if a player can then go five games without a yellow card, he would get to subtract one card from his season total.
◼️ U.S. Open Cup Round of 16: By defeating South Georgia Tormenta and Orlando City FC, Charlotte FC has advanced to the Round of 16 in U.S. Open Cup play. The team learned on Thursday afternoon its next game will be played at Birmingham Legion FC of the USL. The game will be played at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala., which seats 47,000, at 8 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, May 24.
Up Next: Charlotte FC (3-5-3) at Atlanta United (5-3-3)
When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta.
How to watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV for FREE (This is one of the games MLS and Apple have chosen to keep in front of the paywall.) For information on how to sign up, click here.
How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 FM in English. WOLS 106.1 FM in Spanish.
Charlotte FC avoided a scare with center back Adilson Malanda, who suffered and ankle injury against NYCFC but is expected to be available Saturday in Atlanta. Fellow center back Bill Tuiloma is still listed as questionable with a thigh injury.
Kamil Jozwiak picked up exactly where he left off prior to a leg injury he suffered two weeks earlier, scoring a key goal in U.S. Open Cup play. On Tuesday, he bulled his way to the lone goal in a 1-0 win over defending U.S. Open Cup champion Orlando City. Jozwiak has scored four goals in his last six games, including both U.S. Open Cup games.
Atlanta United thumped Charlotte 3-0 at the Bank on March 11 to drop Charlotte to an 0-3 start on the season. Since then, Charlotte has gone 5-2-3 while winning four of its past five games, including two games in U.S. Open Cup play.
Atlanta United has lost three straight matches for the first time since the fall of 2020. But Atlanta is also undefeated in five games at home this season, while going 4-0-1.
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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