What's happened to Charlotte FC?
5 things that have gone wrong during 5-loss tailspin, plus Agyemang, Ream call-ups to USMNT, advancing Saturday's Columbus game and more
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5 things that have gone wrong during this 5-game MLS losing streak â from injuries to defense to a brutal road schedule, Charlotte FC skids from 1st to 8th in Eastern Conference
A lot of stunned faces from a crowd at a home game this month for Charlotte FC (Photo by Matt Geslin of The 5 and 2 Project.)
One month and two days ago, Charlotte FC reached first place in the Eastern Conference. Remember that? Charlotte had just defeated San Diego 3-0 on April 21 to move into the top spot for the first time in franchise history.
Up next? New England.
Dax McCarty, the MLS legend turned newbie Apple commentator, called it a potential trap game in an interview with the Charlotte Soccer Show podcast, as in: Watch out, New England isnât that bad, and Charlotte has some flaws.
âI would say to Charlotte fans, you can be confident, but donât be cocky,â McCarty said. âThis could be a trap game.â
Trap game? How about trap door? Charlotte lost that game 1-0 and plummeted for a franchise-high five league losses in a row. Charlotte is now sitting eighth, barely above the playoff line, with a lot of work left to do.
Charlotte has a home game this weekend, but Bank of America Stadium hasnât been much of a âfortressâ of late. (Charlotte has lost its last two there against New England and Chicago.) Saturdayâs game is against Columbus, which is No. 3 in the Eastern Conference, which outplayed Charlotte 4-2 three weeks ago. And unlike Charlotte FC, which just went 120 minutes and into a shootout â which they lost Wednesday night in U.S. Open Cup play against D.C. United â Columbus had all week to practice and recoup.
Charlotte will then head back out on the road for five more league games. Five. Theyâre at the New York Red Bulls, Toronto, Philadelphia, at Kansas City and Chicago. Charlotte will go the entire month of June without playing at home.
As for the last five? Hereâs a breakdown of five reasons for this five-game losing streak in MLS play:
1. Complacency?
Itâs the most nebulous but perhaps the most logical place to start, given where this team was four weeks ago. When asked if his team got complacent, Coach Dean Smith says no. Center back Tim Ream says maybe. Human nature might tilt a bit toward Ream.
âThis game has a funny way of humbling you very quickly,â Ream said. âWhen you think youâre riding high, you think youâre doing well, complacency can set in, I think a little bit of that has definitely creeped in, and itâs something we need to kick out the door right away.â
2. The schedule
Dean Smith, not one to sugar coat, said this stretch of road games âis nuts.â Heâs not wrong. Charlotte is in the midst of playing 10 of 12 games on the road. Thatâs two home games in two months. Home and road disparity is often pronounced in MLS, which must have something to do with how much having crowd support and familiar conditions inspires continuous all-out running for 90 minutes.
Charlotte also will have had midweek games every week in May, while two of their MLS opponents â Chicago and this weekâs Columbus â have not. At least this week it was a U.S. Open Cup game during midweek, not just lopsided MLS scheduling. Charlotte will have played nine games in May after only four in April.
Smith isnât complaining about the schedule, so much as just stating facts. There will be a payoff down the road, with Charlotte FC hosting a stretch of home games later in the season. But the biggest payoff now is in dollars and cents for ownership and the city. During this road stretch, Bank of America Stadium is doubling as a venue for FIFA Club World Cup matches and concerts by Shakira, Kendrick Lamar and Metallica.
Coach Dean Smith searching for answers during the teamâs recent five-game skid. (Photo by Matt Geslin, The 5 and 2 Project.)
3. Nathan Byrne got hurt
The veteran right back managed to play through the April 12 game in Montreal in pain but ultimately had to undergo surgery to repair a disc in his neck. He is out of action for several months.
Charlotteâs new acquisition at left back, Souleyman Doumbia, injured his hamstring a week after Byrne went down. Since Doumbiaâs last game against San Diego, Charlotte has been outscored 14-6 in five MLS games. As stable as Charlotteâs defense was a year ago, two key injuries have rattled its cage. As those outside positions have been more vulnerable with less experienced, more offensive-minded players, itâs also put more on the shoulders of the midfielders to pick up the defensive slack.
A knowledgeable Charlotte FC fan named David Bakke (@GypsyNoLonger on X) used ChatGPT to discover an interesting statistic: While strikers typically account for 50%-60% of MLS goals and attacking midfielders 20%-30% percent, those numbers have flip-flopped this season for Charlotte FC. Of their 21 goals allowed, 33% have come from strikers and 43% from attacking midfielders. So Charlotte has been prone to leaving too much space for the second wave of attackers.
4. Wilfried Zaha is underperforming
The colorful personality is an easy target given his skills, premier League pedigree and flamboyant nature â not to mention his designated player tag, which makes expectations grow exponentially. Lately, his chemistry with teammates has been called into question from observers on the outside looking in, though anyone within the team has yet to raise any red flags.
Smith was asked about an instance in last Saturdayâs loss to Chicago when Zaha barked at midfielder Djibril Diani for making an errant pass. Smithâs response was to point out a time when captain Ashley Westwood had something to say to Patrick Agyemang for a bad pass, but âWe don't talk about that because it's not Wilf,â Smith said.
In terms of pure production, though, two goals in open play (to go with two penalty kicks) and zero assists through his first 12 games is less than ideal. In one of the first preseason games after Zaha joined Charlotte on loan, he fed Agyemang for a breakaway goal that looked so promising. Those connections have been lacking. Smith has tinkered with moving him âinto pocketsâ more centrally located on the field, but changing to a 3-4-3 formation left them even more vulnerable on defense, which is not helping either.
5. Pep Bielâs hot streak interrupted
A tight hamstring cost midfielder Pep Biel only one MLS game â May 3 at Columbus â but it also broke up an incredible run of form that saw him rise to the top of MLS in assists. To that point, he had nine goal contributions in nine games. Heâs been five games without either, including 16 minutes off the bench Wednesday in D.C. Defenders have paid him more attention, making his vertical passes tougher, and Charlotte has paid the price.
Pep Biel has incredulous moment against Chicago. (Photo by Matt Geslin of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Homecoming of sorts for Agyemang as he and Ream called up for U.S. Gold Cup camp
Agyemang and Ream received word this week that theyâve both been called up for the U.S. Menâs National team camp in preparation for the upcoming Concacaf Gold Cup. Not just that, the first of two upcoming exhibitions [June 7 vs. Turkey] will be played five minutes from the Agyemangsâ home in East Hartford, Conn. The game is at Rentschler Field, home of the University of Connecticut football and soccer teams.
What are the odds?
âItâs crazy,â Agyemang said Friday. âItâs definitely amazing. Thatâs something that Iâve been hoping for. To have that opportunity potentially is a blessing.â
Incredibly, Agyemang was 9 years old when the U.S. menâs team played the Czech Republic at Rentschler Field in a send-off exhibition ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Agyemang was supposed to walk out with the U.S. team that day for the national anthem with his East Hartford Hornets travel ball team but forgot his permission slip. Now he wonât need one.
âThat was my first game ever,â Agyemang said. âTo see that in real life, and to see how much it meant to everyone at that field and at that game, it was like âOh, I want to be a part of this.ââ
Agyemang driving the ball against Costa Rica in January. (Photo by Taylor Banner, Charlotte FC.)
The team will play a second friendly on June 10 against Switzerland at Geodis Park in Nasvhille. The duo will not miss any Charlotte FC action during the camp but will miss at least the Philadelphia game on June 14. Gold Cup play begins in earnest for the U.S. team with group play matches June 15 against Trinidad and Tobago, June 19 against Saudi Arabia and June 22 against Haiti. The knockout rounds start June 28, building up to the July 6 final.
For Agyemang, this is his third call-up, since bursting onto the national scene with a pair of goals in friendlies during the January window. He added another goal in the third-place game against Canada in Concacaf Nations League play in March.
Ream, who has played in 68 games for the U.S. including the 2022 World Cup, earned his fifth call-up since Maurico Pochettino was named U.S. Menâs coach in September. He has worn the captainâs armband in his last six starts with the U.S. team.
Smith said Friday morning that Ream has been nursing a thigh injury, though, and is a question mark for Saturdayâs game against Columbus.
Quotable: Turning around Charlotte FCâs slide
Center back Tim Ream on Charlotte FCâs five-game losing streak in MLS play:
Westy [Ashley Westwood] and I said it: âNo one is going to help us. No one is going to dig us out of the hole weâre in.â It starts with us. It starts at training ground. The desire to put things right each and every session ⊠coming in and putting in the hard work all over the field.
Up Next: Charlotte FC (6-7-1) vs Columbus Crew (7-1-6)
When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
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:
After starting the season 5-0 at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte FC has lost its last two home games: 1-0 to New England and 4-1 to Chicago. This is the second straight game Charlotte will be coming off a midweek game while its opponent does not.
Five consecutive MLS losses dropped Charlotte under .500 for the first time this season.
Charlotte lost in a shootout to DC United on Wednesday night in Washington in the U.S. Open Cupâs Round of 16. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty had two assists, Agyemang scored his second goal in U.S. Open Cup play this year, and Tyger Smalls chipped in his first goal in a Charlotte FC uniform.
Center back Adilson Malanda, who has played every minute of each MLS game this year, went 120 minutes in that game.
Andrew Privett did not make the trip to Washington (nor did veterans Zaha, Westwood and goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina) with a sore hamstring, but an MRI was negative, and he returned to practice this week.
Diego Rossi leads Columbus with seven goals, one of which came against Charlotte on May 3.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fourth 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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