Charlotte 4-1 San Jose: An Excellent Defense of the Fortress
On Saturday night, the boys had the fortress rocking as they defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 4-1. With this win, Charlotte moves to second in the Eastern Conference with 10 points, just two points behind the first place Philadelphia Union. The undefeated home streak is alive as well as the Crown move to a perfect 3-0-0 at home. An impressive start to the season and it was nice to see the form from the Cincinnati game carry over.
With Tim Ream and Patrick Agyemang representing the USMNT, the starting XI featured some changes. Idan Toklomati made his first MLS start upfront in place of Patrick and Souleyman Doumbia held down the left back spot in Tim’s absence. One player that I was a bit surprised to see starting last night was Wilfried Zaha as he had been in England visiting his family earlier in the week.
The action started fast as Kristijan Khalina made a brilliant stop in the 6th minute to prevent an early Quakes lead. Charlotte put their first on the board in the 10th minute as midfielder Pep Biel fired one home from the edge of the box on a deflected cross from Zaha for his second goal of the season. The Crown 1 San Jose 0. San Jose came close to equalizing in the 21st minute as a header went just over the bar. The man with the armband extended the lead to two in the 36th minute on a nice assist from Toklomati. Like Luke Combs says, “When it rains it pours” and Brandt Bronico added a third to Charlotte’s lead after a nice chip of the keeper which left the goal unoccupied. Kerwin Vargas added the nail in the coffin in the 52nd minute and celebrated with a backflip. San Jose finally found the back of the net after a red card on Andrew Privett resulted in a penalty. 4-1 in favor of the Crown. When the final whistle blew, it was a night to celebrate in the Queen City, three points and moving up the table.
This was a complete performance, attacking from the start and the defense did their job. Not much more you can ask for. I really liked the way Souleyman played, especially after getting into town the day before and I hope he gets to feature for the Crown more in the future. In basketball it’s good to capitalize on second chance opportunities and that was the case last night, a deflection lead to a goal, putting yourself where your man can find you with the ball lead to a goal. A great win and I hope the boys can carry some momentum into Colorado next week as they take on the Rapids at 4:30 pm at Dick’S Sporting Goods Park