Fuchs talks transition from player to coach
Plus: Copetti out with leg injury, transfer window opens, MLS attendance record surpassed, advancing Cincinnati and more
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Q&A with Christian Fuchs, Charlotte FC’s first star player, on his shift to a new role as assistant coach; ‘I have never been through as many ups and downs’
It’s Coach Fuchs now. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC.)
Christian Fuchs came to Charlotte at the age of 35 as a veteran of 18 seasons in Europe, where he won a Premier League championship with Leicester City in 2016, and a former captain of the Austrian national team. He was named captain of Charlotte’s new expansion franchise and served as a willing and outspoken ambassador for Major League Soccer in Charlotte.
Fuchs played 26 games last season, scoring three goals, before being limited by an ankle injury and ultimately announcing his retirement in January. Coach Christian Lattanzio first approached Fuchs about the idea of joining Charlotte’s coaching staff last year when he was still playing, and ultimately they made it official the day after Fuchs announced his retirement in January.
Excerpts from my recent conversation with him (edited for length and clarity):
Q. Now that you’re more than six months into your job as an assistant coach, what have you thought of coaching? How's it going?
There’s definitely a transition period changing roles, changing sides. There’s a lot for me to learn in terms of seeing the overall picture rather than only being focused on your own position and the surrounding players. It definitely widened my scope of understanding, especially having a great person, a great leader who is supporting me and teaching me.
Q. Speaking of Christian (Lattanzio), does he have you in a specific role?
Everything is teamwork, so there’s always input from everybody, but he wants me to focus more on our attacking players especially — and specifically how we make our runs, what’s the positioning — and attacking set pieces as well.
Q. That’s interesting because we think of you as a defender. Then again as a defender, you’ve had to mark these players and account for their runs, right?
And what I didn’t like.
Q. I’ve seen you pull striker Enzo Copetti aside at halftime or after a game. Has this been a good chance to build new one-on-one relationships?
When the ref blows the whistle for the break, I want to be as quick as possible with the (attacking) players. I feel it’s important to point them in the right direction, making sure I give some tips for the second half.
Q. You’re in a unique position to go from being teammates with a lot of these guys to a coach. Were you worried about what that would be like?
I wouldn’t say worried but interested in how this would play out. They are good lads, really eager to learn, very respectful, professional. That’s what you want for players.
Q. Was there any one player or two you felt might be awkward, say, telling Guzman Corujo to sprint harder?
Well, there might be different approaches with different players, (based on) what stage of their career and the best way for them to receive information. There are a lot of different ways you interact with those players. And I think being a player, being a teammate, helped me to understand them more, to get close to them maybe easier. It has been a joy and a pleasure so far.
Q. What’s something you appreciate now about coaching that you didn’t appreciate as a player?
As a player, you need to appreciate that your time commitment compared to a coach is far less. What I appreciate as a coach is that you don’t have the painful knees anymore. (Though) if you jump into a session because it's needed — I still consider myself in OK shape — not having had the training that I had before, the knees hurt twice as much.
Fuchs, seen here against DC United in February 2022, was Charlotte FC’s captain during his playing days in the team’s inaugural season. (Photo by Kevin Young/The 5 and 2 Project)
Q. Your last professional season — and Charlotte FC’s first — started strongly for you, but then you dropped off as the season progressed. Could you see the writing on the wall?
It was those damn injury problems I had with my ankle early in the season. I really screwed up my ankle, and it carried through the whole season. I still feel it, to be honest. I tried hard to help the team as much as possible.
Q. Will it always be special to you to be a part of the first MLS season here?
Always. I wouldn’t say it was a great season that we played. I think we were better in the second part of the season. But it’s still only in the second year. It’s still a team that needs to find itself, that still needs to be shaped. You need to understand and manage expectations as well, that nothing just works overnight. In my whole career, I have never been through as many ups and downs, to be honest. With everything that happened over the last couple of years here, it has been an emotional roller coaster.
Q. You did such a good job last year explaining what happened with former coach Miguel Angel Ramirez and why he didn't work. Now that you see how Lattanzio works up close, can you give a sense how the team responds to him? Has it been a good fit?
I mentioned it last year as well to many people that for me, as a player, it was a real joy to get to understand the system that we want to play. And we get that feedback from the players nonstop as well. You have an Ashley Westwood coming in, Justin Meram, who are new and are like, “We love it,” because it’s possession-based, and we really want to enjoy the ball instead of just chasing it.
But the way we want to approach the game, you cannot hide as a player. It’s very important that the players understand what we want from them, which by now they do. And I think they are doing well. I mean, of course you could always be better, and you cannot avoid individual mistakes. But overall, when I look back on games — especially those where we might have not won, that we got away with a point — in most of those games, we have been pretty dominant.
Q. Lattanzio is known for developing players. Is he coaching you as a coach?
100 percent. He’s a great mentor. He gives you the freedom, the trust, but he’s always available when you need to pick his brain for advice.
Q. It’s a pretty anonymous job to be an assistant coach in soccer. Have you enjoyed the anonymity of it or do you miss being in the spotlight?
Well, it’s an anonymous job, yeah, but there’s a lot of work every single day. Obviously Christian is our No. 1, our leader, but he can only be as good as the team, and we try to support him in every single way, the best way possible. The product on the field is a reflection of what we are trying to do.
Q. Do you have ambitions of head coaching? Do you see that now in your future?
At some point, yeah. I see myself still in a development phase right now. We’re talking six months into my first year of coaching, but it’s definitely very enjoyable. I have ambitions to be a head coach at some point, but I also am humble enough to understand where my place is.
Copetti out with leg injury
Striker Enzo Copetti suffered an injury to his right lower leg, possibly a is calf muscle, Wednesday night during the first half of Charlotte’s 1-1 draw in New York. He tried to remain in the game but had to leave shortly thereafter in the 31st minute. A small stretcher was brought onto the field but Copetti was able to hobble off on his own power.
Copetti, seen here against Montreal last month, injured his leg this week at New York and is likely out this weekend — and maybe for longer. (Photo by The 5 and 2 Project)
Lattanzio said after the game Copetti would have a scan to determine the severity of the injury. A report from Spanish-outlet “CLT Soccer Show” Friday morning indicated that Copetti would be out for eight weeks. The Ledger was not able to confirm the report Friday morning, but Lattanzio was scheduled to hold a press conference early Friday afternoon and was likely to clarify.
Copetti was just three games into his return from a hamstring injury, which had kept him out of action for a month. Copetti, who was signed as a designated player (signed without regard to salary cap) from the club Racing in Argentina this offseason, is second on Charlotte FC with four goals (behind Karol Swiderski’s five) but hasn’t scored since his “brace” on May 6 against New York.
Charlotte FC faithful in a New York state of mind
About 25 Charlotte FC fans congregated and cheered in a section behind the goal at Wednesday’s away game against New York City FC, which ended in a 1-1 tie. They represented well, with chants throughout the game including “Banks, Beer and Soccer” and “Tenemos que Ganar,” while also enduring jeers from New York fans such as “Where is your championship!?” Most of the Charlotte FC fans in the total crowd of 15,122 seemed to live in the New York area but have Charlotte ties. (Photo by Tony Mecia/The Charlotte Ledger)
News and notes
◼️ Awaiting transfer news: The summer transfer window opened Wednesday around Major League Soccer, and the most notable thing so far for Charlotte FC is that new midfielder Scott Arfield was eligible to play. The former standout for the Rangers of the Scottish Premiership was signed by Charlotte as a free agent last month. He procured a visa from the Canadian Embassy — he has citizenship there through his father — and joined Charlotte FC for Wednesday’s 1-1 tie in New York, where he played 36 minutes in his MLS debut and made a couple of dangerous plays on goal.
One departure Charlotte FC might see is midfielder Nuno Santos. According to Portuguese sports newspaper Record, based in Lisbon, Vitoria SC is interested in making a deal for Santos and offering him a fresh start in his home country of Portugal. Santos hasn’t played for Charlotte FC since early April, when he and teammate Andre Shinyashiki were connected to an incident report for sexual assault. (No charges have been filed.)
Another player who could be on the move is Polish center back Jan Sobocinski, who has reportedly expressed interest in returning to his native country with Slask Wroclaw.
Coach Christian Lattanzio has lobbied Charlotte FC’s front office to acquire three additional players, so stay tuned.
◼️ Attendance record falls: Well, it was fun while it lasted. The 74,479 fans Charlotte drew for its inaugural home game on March 5, 2022 — the number broadcaster Lloyd Sam had tattooed on his arm — is now the second-highest attendance ever at a single MLS game. On July 4, some 82,110 came out to “El Tráfico” at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., to watch the L.A. Galaxy defeat LAFC 2-1. It was the Galaxy who also won last March (1-0) in Charlotte FC’s first ever game at Bank of America Stadium.
Charlotte FC president Joe LaBue shared his reaction on Twitter:
Sad to see the record go! However, they’re made to be broken, and this is fantastic for our league. Brilliant evidence of what MLS can become. The Rose Bowl looked electric, and the match didn’t disappoint.
Up Next: FC Cincinnati (13-2-5) at Charlotte FC (6-8-7)
When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
How to watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. For information on how to sign up for a regular subscription, click here.
How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 FM in English. WOLS 106.1 FM in Spanish.
Charlotte welcomes Cincinnati to the real Queen City Saturday night — the team with the best record (and most points, 44) in MLS. Cincinnati is 10-0-1 at home and 3-2-4 on the road, so perhaps Charlotte finds a way to at least draw.
Not that the home fans want to hear about another draw. Charlotte FC has tied its past four games and has not won since May 27, when it won 1-0 at the L.A. Galaxy. Still, Charlotte is just one spot out of the playoff picture in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
Charlotte has not won at Bank of America Stadium since May 17, when Brandon Cambridge scored two goals off the bench in a 2-1 win over Chicago. The “Fortress” hasn’t been what it was a year ago, when Charlotte went 10-6-1 at home. Now CLTFC is 3-3-4 at home, not all that off from its much improved road record this season of 3-5-3.
The upper deck is open for just the second time this season for a Charlotte FC game. (It was open for the season-opener against New England and for last Sunday’s Gold Cup doubleheader featuring the U.S. Men’s National team.) It’s “Marvel Hero Night,” and Charlotte FC will honor the military. The first 10,000 fans will receive a limited edition Captain America coin to match their training shirts for the day. Upper bowl tickets start at $15.
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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