Well the MLS Cup Playoffs are underway and Charlotte FC began their journey on October 28th. The Crown welcomed NYCFC to the Fortress for the first game in a best of three series. The result did not favor the home side as NYCFC walked away with a 1-0 win as both teams prepare for game two in the iconic Yankee Stadium. For this recap, I am happy to be joined by fellow Charlotte FC contributors Sean Faherty (FahertyFilms) and Film (Film from the Fortress).
To kick things off, let’s go over the starting xi that Dean Smith chose to go with. The front three consisted of Liel Abada and Kerwin Vargas on the wings with Idan Toklomati upfront. The men in the midfield were Djbril Diani, Brandt Bronico and the man with the armband Ashley Westwood. With Kahlina in net, let’s see the four men in front of him. Dean decided to go with a centerback pairing of Tim Ream and Adilson Malanda while Nathan Byrne and Harry Toffolo held it down on the flank.
Alex
No major complaints from me on the lineup. We knew going into this one that Zaha was going to miss game one due to the red card he picked up in the regular season finale and I’m not mad at Abada and Vargas getting the start as both guys have played those roles for the team during the season. On the defensive side, the only thing I would have liked to see was a fullback pairing of Marshall-Rutty and Byrne. I don’t have anything against Harry, I just would have preferred to go with Marshall-Rutty in the starting spot because he has featured for the team many times this season.
Sean
I agree with Alex that we knew Zaha was going to be out this game but that really hurt us going into this game. Wilf brings such a great energy and a lot of passion to the pitch that I think we were missing on Tuesday evening. I was hoping to see a strong showing from Abada in this match to fill in his spot as I think he has pretty high expectations to live up to.
Film
No surprises with this lineup. Outside of Zaha for Abada this is the lineup I expect Dean to choose for CLT’s playoff run. While I have no issues with the lineup, I wish we had used our substitutes differently. When chasing a goal down it felt odd our first substitution was Abada for Smalls, taking off one of our more creative attacking players. I loved adding the second striker in Goodwin for Bronico but wish it has been 5 to 10 minutes sooner. Lastly, Charlotte needed someone who could move the ball through the midfield, linking our defense to our attackers in Vargas and Toklomati. This was a perfect game to bring on Williamson or Petkovic in the last 10 minutes to see if we can find a goal. I trust Dean and I am sure he has good reasons, but from in the stands I wish we had seen a few different changes.
Now let’s get into the match. The weather wasn’t great but that didn’t stop the fans from showing up to support their team. New York struck first in the 34th minute and didn’t look back as they held the lead until the final whistle. Looking at the stats NYCFC outshout Charlotte 12-9 and had five shots on goal compared to four for Charlotte. Charlotte played a cleaner game overall, committing seven fouls to eight for NYCFC. The big difference was the five yellow cards given to New York and none being given to Charlotte. Now for more in depth analysis i’ll turn it over to the two guys who were in attendance.
Sean
In the post game press conference Dean Smith mentioned the team really didn’t come out with the advantage of a home playoff game and I couldn’t agree more. The energy just did not feel like it was there on the pitch and I felt like NY dominated possession in the first half. I was looking for a strong appearance from Abada but he never really had a chance all game which was disappointing. Charlotte FC came out stronger in the second half but NY really played solid defense the entire match and never gave CLT a chance. Hopefully they can turn it on on Saturday to bring another playoff match back to the Fortress on 11/7 with a win.
Film
Disjointed is the word I would use to describe Charlotte FC this game. In possession, Charlotte did not have any way to break through NYCFC’s 5-man press. When Charlotte did get the ball forward the lack of Zaha became evident. Abada did not create and spent most of the match near the sideline where he could not make an impact. While Bronico found some good positions, he lacks the technical ability of Biel and Zaha to be that attacking playmaker. This ultimately left Toklomati isolated up front having to try to win 1 on 1 battles. Defensively, Charlotte’s press was uncoordinated with lone players sprinting forward to pressure defenders but nobody else supporting allowing NYCFC to play around the pressure. This limited Charlotte’s ability to cause turnovers and create attacks in transition.
The second half Charlotte did find some success attacking down the right side. Kerwin Vargas stretched the pitch wide on that side and was able to receive the ball forward in those wide spaces to cross. However, the runs into those crosses were not very strong and Charlotte failed to create any dangerous chances generating only 0.5xG (expected goals) out of this match.
If there was one big weakness this game it was Djbril Diani. He was slow this game both on the ball and in his off the ball positioning. He lost the ball multiples times during buildup allowing NYCFC some of its most dangerous attacks including a shot from Perea that went off the crossbar in the 31st minutes. And defensively he was out of position and unable to stop the run of Alonso Martinez that allowing him 10 yards to build up speed on his goal scoring solo run.
Getting Zaha back into the starting xi will definitely help for the next match. But CLTFC is going to have to get in sync in their buildup and their defensive pressing to avoid an early exit from the playoffs on Saturday.
A huge thank you to both Sean and Film for helping out and giving their thoughts on game one. The boys look to bounce back on Saturday as they travel to Yankee Stadium for the second leg of the first round.