Charlotte FC is winning ugly
Plus Bronico making a difference, previewing Saturday's game in Philly and more
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Playing good defense, winning 1-0 might not be aesthetically pleasing to watch, but it’s got Charlotte FC in fifth place
Charlotte FC celebrating goals like Brandt Bronico’s on Wednesday night and playing the game — together. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC.)
Charlotte FC clung to a 1-0 lead at halftime Wednesday night against Orlando, facing 45 minutes more minutes playing a man down because of Scott Arfield’s red card late in the first half. What was captain Ashley Westwood’s message to his teammates?
“Enjoy,” said Westwood, when asked by Jorge Gonzalez of TopBin90.com.
Wait, what? Enjoy?
This is the team that couldn’t hold onto a lead to save its life last year — blowing six of them in the 80th minute or later. Now they’re supposed to be having fun trying to hold a lead with only 10 men on the field?
“Everyone works for each other,” Westwood explained. “Every day in training, we play against extra men, so we knew what we were doing.”
Charlotte put it a valiant effort, and actually had a shot at a miraculous win, going up 2-1 on a Brandt Bronico chip shot off the perfect pass from Patrick Agyemang. Ultimately, Orlando evened the game 2-2 in the 81st minute, but Westwood said to come out of the red card situation with a point from a draw was “sometimes better than a 4-0 win. We showed real character tonight.”
Charlotte FC has been doing the dirty work to collect points in eight of its past nine games and holds steady in fifth place in the Eastern Conference under new coach Dean Smith. Playing good team defense — as opposed to 1-on-1 defense all over the field last year under Christian Lattanzio, as center back Adilson Malanda described — Charlotte FC leads MLS in clean sheets, or shutouts, with eight.
Smith, who promised the defense bottles of wine with every shutout, has been buying so much wine he’s racking up membership points at Foxcroft Wine Club. While a postgame song never really took off last season, UB40’s “Red Red Wine” has become a new tradition at Bank of America Stadium. It was blaring Saturday night after a 1-0 win against DC United.
“We don’t panic. We don’t shiver under the pressure in the last five minutes,” left back Jere Uronen said after that game. “We know it’s going to be a storm and we’re going to be there for that. We have each other’s backs. When you keep on getting these wins and protecting the lead, you can feed off it.”
Charlotte has allowed just 20 goals this season, which is second-best in the league behind defending MLS Cup winner Columbus Crew.
Meanwhile, Charlotte has scored just 20 goals in 19 games, which is tied for third-fewest in MLS, but the team is holding steady until more offensive firepower arrives. There are five more games to play before the summer transfer window opens. In the meantime, they’re OK with winning a game 1-0.
“We know what we are,” Westwood said. “We need to get better, obviously, in the final third. We know that. We’re not naïve. But we’ve got the foundation to be a real good team.”
Bronico factor: Born to run
Bronico celebrates his first goal of the 2024 season the best way he knows how — by running. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC.)
Brandt Bronico started the year injured; a quadriceps strain was the first really debilitating injury of his career. He missed out on weeks of opportunity to impress a new coach. And when he first got back healthy, the defensive midfield spots were solidified with Westwood and Djibril Diani playing the pivot for a team not giving up goals.
But Bronico just did what he does. He kept working. He kept running. And he’s earned his way into Smith’s rotation. Go on and cue the “Forrest Gump” memes; it works.
“His running stats are incredible,” said Smith, who coached in the upper echelons of English soccer for 10 years. “Out of all the players I’ve ever worked with, he’s the best runner I think I’ve worked with, in terms of covering distance across the pitch, and his will to keep covering distance.”
Smith can keep tabs on players through the Catapult tracking system they wear under their jerseys for every game and practice. He gets data on everything from distance covered to how long players are running at their max capacity.
“When you’ve got somebody who can run like (Bronico) can,” Smith said, “it’s best to utilize him.”
So he has. First, Smith put him in the starting lineup against Nashville on May 11 along with Diani and Westwood for a more defensive midfield structure to contend with Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge. He tried the formation again two games later against L.A. Galaxy.
Without a consistent, proven, No. 10 — or attacking midfielder — on the team yet, Smith keeps employing Bronico a little higher on the field.
“I see him as somebody who can actually run beyond defenders, and he’s done that a number of times,” said Smith, pointing to a run Bronico made in Atlanta which led to an assist on a Liel Abada goal. “He can certainly cause problems to the opposition backline by making [those] runs, but he doesn’t neglect his defensive duties as well.”
Bronico has taken four shots in the past four games, and on Wednesday night, he finally got one on target. His chip over a committed keeper put Charlotte up 2-1 against Orlando SC.
“I love to attack,” said Bronico, the native of High Point and former Charlotte 49er. “In college, I was an attacking player, and my first years in Chicago, I was more of an attacking player. So I have a lot of experience there, and it feels good to bring that part of me out again.”
Charlotte FC notes: Raising a glass to ‘The Captain’; Lattanzio gets new head coaching job
Westwood has watched Charlotte Knights games, putted at the Wells Fargo Championship and braved The Fury at Carowinds, but now the one his English teammates jokingly call “Captain America” is getting his own beer. HopFly is releasing “The Captain,” calling it “a delicious easy-drinking pilsner.” In honor of the occasion, Westwood will host a meet and greet Sunday at HopFly from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
HopFly Brewing Company is located at 1327 S. Mint Street. It will have UEFA EURO 2024 games on TV, as well as local vendors and music for the event from 1 to 5 p.m.
Lattanzio lands in Belgium: Charlotte FC’s former coach Christian Lattanzio, who was fired in November, has landed a head coaching job with Sint-Truiden, a first-tier club in Belgium.
Up Next: Charlotte FC (8-6-5) at Philadelphia Union (4-6-8)
When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Subaru Park, Chester, Pa.
How to watch: 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:
Kerwin Vargas has scored goals in each of Charlotte’s past two games and now leads the team with four.
Charlotte FC begins a stretch of six road games in the next eight games played. Saturday stacks up as a winnable game, though, against a team that is surprisingly 1-5-3 at home.
Philadelphia scored three goals Wednesday against the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference, FC Cincinnati, albeit one with absences along a backline that had allowed the second-fewest in MLS (18). Cincinnati salvaged a 4-3 win with a stoppage time goal by Luciano Acosta.
Philadelphia was playing without captain Alejandro Bedoya, who is out 2-3 weeks with a quadriceps injury.
Philly striker Tai Baribo is teammates on the Israeli national team with Charlotte’s Liel Abada. Baribo, 26, just scored his first two MLS goals Wednesday against Cincinnati. He was signed last August out of Wolfsberger AC in Bundesliga, Austria’s first tier league.
Charlotte FC played Philadelphia to a 0-0 tie at Bank of America on May 25 in what was Abada’s first game back from a quadriceps injury. He played just 10 minutes.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her third 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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