Lattanzio back in the hot seat
Why Charlotte FC should give its second-year coach more time, plus the great Messi grass debate, a preview on inaugural Leagues Cup play and more
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Charlotte FC faces looming Lattanzio decision
Lattanzio (right) under the microscope another rough stretch in his second year with Charlotte FC. (Photo by Kevin Young/The 5 and 2 Project.)
Christian Lattanzio has yet to coach a full season for Charlotte FC — he took over for fired Miguel Angel Ramirez 14 games into the inaugural season last year — but again he finds himself under fire.
With 11 games to play in this Major League Soccer season, and Charlotte (6-9-8) winless in its last eight games while leading the league in goals allowed, he’s become the target of a steady stream of “Lattanzio Out” sentiments from Charlotte FC supporters on social media. The voices got even louder after a hapless 2-0 loss in Montreal last Saturday when Charlotte failed to get a shot on target and played the first half, as captain Ashley Westwood conceded afterward, like “high school football.”
If the club were going to make a coaching change, this would be a good time. Charlotte FC doesn’t play another MLS game for a month, when they travel to play the newly-anointed king of MLS, Lionel Messi, and Inter Miami August 20.
For the next two weeks they’re playing in the group stage of the first ever Leagues Cup, where teams from MLS and LIGA MX, the Mexican League, match up in a World Cup style format. The next two games games don’t count toward playoff chances. So you could fire Lattanzio now, and give a new coach four weeks to get acclimated, before games start counting against your primary goal of making the playoffs.
Or you could wait and see how Charlotte does in the Leagues Cup and if they bow out of group play, still have two weeks of down time to bring in a new coach or promote an interim coach from within the system.
But would they? Should they?
In a word, the feeling here is no. If you fire Lattanzio now, he becomes the second coach you’ve fired midseason in your first two years of existence. Then you probably also need to fire your sporting director and admit to your fanbase you’ve had no idea what you’re doing in this expansion process. At the very least, unless pure disaster strikes in the next two games, you give it until the end of the season to decide.
Why?
1. Lattanzio found himself in a similar hot spot coming down the stretch last year, when he still had the title of interim coach. Then during the last five games of the season, Charlotte FC made a big push for the playoffs before falling just short. This time Charlotte has 11 games left and is within four points of ninth place and a potential playoff spot. They probably wouldn’t make it farther than the new No. 8 vs. No. 9 play-in game at best, but for a franchise trying to steadily build, and one that’s been through the last year that this one has, that’s not too shabby.
2. The front office built the initial roster with Ramirez in mind. After they fired him, they started tearing it down and rebuilding it around Lattanzio. That is ongoing — Scotsman Scott Arfield has played three games, and new Belgian midfielder Brecht Dejaegere is not even here yet. Charlotte FC is in pursuit of another defender which could fall through if a coaching change is made in the midst of it. Is the front office going to rework the roster every year? Charlotte Fickle Club?
3. The most rabid fans really don’t want to hear it, but it’s absolutely true: Prominent Charlotte FC player Anton Walkes died in a preseason boating accident. Two others, Andre Shinyashiki and Nuno Santos, were taken out of the equation after they were linked to a sexual assault report. Those are three players you can argue were in Charlotte’s top 15 roster spots. How do you punish the coach moving on without them just months afterward?
4. Rabid fans don’t want to hear this either, but Charlotte FC has been continually hampered by injuries. Two of its three designated players, Kamil Jozwiak and Enzo Copetti, have missed extended time with leg muscle injuries. The top two center backs on their roster, Guzman Corujo and Adilson Malanda, have started one game together — on June 21 against the New York Red Bulls.
5. And while even I had to wonder after the way the team played Saturday night in Montreal, from what I’m told, the players are still behind Lattanzio. That’s the one thing — and one BIG thing — Ramirez lost last year, and it’s the primary reason why he had to go. He lost their confidence. From what I gather, this team hasn’t quit on Lattanzio. He raises fans’ eyebrows — and often ire — with some of his lineup decisions, substitutions and willingness to play people out of position. But if players are still behind him, the train has a chance to keep running.
If we’ve learned nothing over the past seasons, it’s that the line is fine between winning and losing (and this year, tying) in Major League Soccer. Out of respect for that fine line, and for the sake of at least a shot at stability, Lattanzio deserves more time.
Santos departs for Portuguese club
Nuno Santos (right) playing against Atlanta this spring. (Photo by Kevin Young/The 5 and 2 Project.)
After months of uncertainty over the futures of Nuno Santos and Andre Shinyashiki, Charlotte FC has answered at least half of that question. The team announced this week that Santos has returned to his native Portugal, joining Vitoria S.C. on a permanent transfer for an undisclosed fee.
The fact that Charlotte was able to get something in return as well as clear space on its roster for new additions like Scott Arfield and Brecht Dejaegere is a positive development. Whether or not Charlotte can work a deal to unload Shinyashiki is yet to be seen. An attempt to trade him to Real Salt Lake in May failed.
Both Shinyashiki and Santos were linked to a police report in which a 23-year-old woman said she was sexually assaulted in the hours after Charlotte FC’s season-opener against New England on Feb. 25.
Santos, 24, who was acquired last summer from Portugal’s S.L. Benefica, appeared in just nine games total for Charlotte FC, including five games (two starts) this season. He had one goal and one assist in four games last season.
The Messi natural grass debate
On the eve of Lionel Messi’s event on Sunday, “unveiling” him as a member of Inter Miami, MLS commissioner Don Garber told The Athletic and a small group of reporters he expected teams with turf surfaces would install temporary grass surfaces to accommodate Messi and Inter Miami.
Garber said:
That’s going to be the decision of every club when they do travel to those stadiums that don’t have natural grass. My expectations are that that’s what they will do, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to figure all of that out. MLS promotes a lot of international games, and we have been able to bring natural grass into those stadiums, but we’ve never done that for a regular season game.
His comment put the focus squarely on Charlotte and Atlanta, both of whom play on artificial turf in stadiums they share with NFL teams and both of whom host Inter Miami before the 2023 season is out. In response on Thursday, Charlotte FC announced it had no plans to install grass for the Oct. 21 game against Inter Miami, releasing this statement through a team spokesperson: “All of our Major League Soccer matches are scheduled to be played on turf, and there is no plan to change to natural grass.”
Charlotte put down temporary natural grass for an exhibition against Chelsea last year and for the Gold Cup doubleheader earlier this month featuring the U.S. Men’s National team, Trinidad & Tobago, Honduras and Haiti. But to go to that length and expense to ensure Messi plays in front of a packed house on the final game of the season — one that could have playoff implications — is another question entirely. To accommodate a single player for an opponent in a game that could determine whether Charlotte FC makes the MLS playoffs — when the fanbase has been screaming for a playoff berth — would seem antithetical. Already, though, local fans point to the sharp increase in ticket prices for the Inter Miami game and the proverbial mutiny that might come if Messi doesn’t play, as reasons why grass should be installed.
For his part, Messi has not revealed his intentions. The debate figures to rage on.
“I have great confidence in Messi’s professionalism,” Garber said. “He’s a very competitive guy. … And I expect that he’s gonna want to do everything he can to play in as many games as he can. The operational aspects of that still need to be worked out.”
Next Pro’s Walker wins MLS “Goalie Wars”
Goalie Wars champion Isaac Walker showing off his spoils. (Photo courtesy of Major League Soccer and MLS Next Pro.)
Crown Legacy FC goalkeeper Isaac Walker of Charlotte FC’s MLS Next Pro team was invited to participate in the Goalie Wars last Tuesday night in Washington D.C., a goalkeeper skills challenge that’s returned to MLS All-Star festivities. Walker made the most of his trip, winning the competition and earning a championship belt to bring back to Charlotte. Charlotte FC radio color analyst Jessica Charman, a former goalkeeper in her own right, should get an assist for helping prepare Walker with a little goalie wars prep in Charlotte earlier in the week.
Up Next: Charlotte FC at FC Dallas in Leagues Cup
When/Where: 9 p.m. Friday, Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
How to watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. For information on how to sign up for a regular subscription, click here.
This will be the first time Charlotte FC has ever faced FC Dallas, a team currently ranked 8th in the Western Conference in MLS.
Dallas features one of the most dangerous players on the planet right now in forward Jesus Ferreira, whom Charlotte fans saw score a hat trick — his second straight in Gold Cup action, in a 6-0 victory for the U.S. Men’s National team over Trinidad & Tobago at Bank of America Stadium on July 2.
The top three finishers in Leagues Cup action qualify to compete in the Concacaf Champions Cup, the annual tournament that crowns a champion from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean and serves as a qualifier for the FIFA World Cup. For a more in depth look at the inaugural Leagues Cup tournament, read here.
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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