It’s a special HOT BREAKING NEWS edition of Fútbol Friday, The Charlotte Ledger’s weekly newsletter getting you up to speed on Charlotte FC, the city’s new pro soccer team.
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N.C. native Adam Armour scores Charlotte FC’s first goal with a header; ‘It was a great feeling’
Three games into its inaugural season, the Charlotte FC finally got its first goal. While Charlotte lost a 2-1 heartbreaker on a last-minute goal by Atlanta United, it finally found the back of the net. Charlotte’s new Major League Soccer team (0-3) got its historical first goal off the head of Adam Armour, a 19-year-old rookie who wasn’t even on Charlotte’s active roster for the record-setting home opener a week earlier. He came off the bench to start the second half Sunday afternoon.
The goal was set up by Ben Bender, another rookie who was making his first start for the Charlotte FC. His corner kick set up the header by Adam Armour, who beat Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan to the lower left corner of the goal in the 66th minute to tie the game at 1-1. Atlanta scored in stoppage time to win.
(Videographer Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project shot the video of the goal above ⬆️)
Who is Adam Armour? Armour, 19, is from Cary. He played his first professional soccer last year for the Charlotte Independence. He was born to parents from Dominica and Jamaica and signed with the German second division FC Nürnberg in the fall of 2020, according to his bio.
When Charlotte FC signed him last summer, he said: “To be able to play in your home state and represent the Carolinas in matches against MLS teams is a great challenge and a dream come true.”
After the game, Armour talked about overcoming the disappointment of missing out on the home opener:
It was tough, especially in a massive game, like last weekend at home with the record attendance, but I knew that my opportunity would come, and thankfully, I have great teammates and great coaching staff around me that pushed me — even though they could tell I was down and could tell I was a little frustrated — but they pushed me and they were able to get the most out of me, as well as myself getting the most out of myself. I know as well as them the goals that I have for myself. So I used that frustration to help do my thing this game. It was a great feeling.
Armour on the end of Charlotte FC’s goal-scoring drought:
It’s like ripping the band-aid off. I feel like now that the first goal has been scored, we have the chances, we have the quality. I feel like the goals are going to start coming. (The 2-1 loss) is not the result we wanted, and it definitely hurts to give up the game like that, but I feel like going forward, we’re going to have the confidence to score goals and keep the momentum going.
Coach Miguel Angel Ramirez:
(Armour’s) response the day after the (Galaxy) game in training was amazing. During the week, I put him as an example in front of the players. This guy was out of the roster, out of the game. He came the first day of the week with his best energy, trying to push and make my decision difficult. And the game rewarded him today.
… and the view from the stands:
Can you get enough of this? How about another angle?
Fútbol Friday will be back as usual on Friday with more.
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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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project
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