Charlotte FC Wins on Penalties at Yankee Stadium
Kahlina keeps Charlotte's season alive with a huge save to bring game 3 back to Charlotte
After a loss in game one to go down 1-0 in the series, the boys from the 704 looked to keep their playoff dreams alive on the road at Yankee Stadium. Winning on the road is tough and going on the road down a game with your season on the line can separate the contenders from the pretenders. Once again, 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 Wilfried Zaha 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
The lineup was similar to the one we saw in game one with one change. Wilfried Zaha is back from his suspension. That is major as it’s no secret that having your best players available gives you the best chance to win and Zaha provides another dynamic element in the attack. The rest of the lineup remains unchanged from game one and although I like Marshall-Rutty in the left back spot, Harry Toffolo is a good player and unlike Marshall-Rutty, he is under contract for the next few seasons. No complaints from me, glad to have Wilf back.
Sean
ZAHA IS BACK! Charlotte’s best player is back after serving a 1-game suspension for a red card and we were looking for a strong game from him. This is the classic Charlotte lineup I think of that went on the hot streak at the end of the season. Obviously Wilf is the one to talk about in this match for me because of what he brings to the table. Other than that, no surprises on the lineup and it’s exactly what I expect from Dean-O. Hoping this lineup gives us the advantage to force a game 3 back in Charlotte for two reasons; one being that I want to win in NY and the second being I know that gives CLT FC the best chance to advance to the second round.
Film
This is the lineup that CLTFC will run for their entire MLS playoff run, however far it goes. It cannot be stressed enough how important Zaha is to this lineup. Despite being slotted on the left side, Zaha plays most of the game drifting inward into the left half-space and center. In this way he is playing more as a #10 playmaker than as a winger, and this has been even more frequent since the Pep Biel injury. The other interesting wrinkle is despite it being a midfield 3, Brandt Bronico is playing as a more advanced midfielder with Westwood and Diani being deeper as holding midfielders. Bronico will join Toklomati in the front of the press in a 4-4-2 shape. In possession, Bronico will stay forward and be willing to either go central or drift wide to the right based on the movement of the other attackers and space avaliable. In this game, Bronico found himself in some great positions to create including a cross from the right that Toffolo should have scored and a nice pass from inside the box that setup Westwood’s shot off the crossbar.
Now let’s get into the match. If you paid attention to the alerts on your phone, you would have seen the match was 0-0 after regulation. We all know there are ties in soccer but not in the playoffs, someone has to win the game. On to penalties we go. NYCFC had a chance to end Charlottes playoff hopes and Charlotte had a chance to take game three back to the Queen City. When it was all said and done, Kristijan Kahlina decided that The Crown wasn’t done as his penalty save propelled Charlotte to a 7-6 win.
Alex
I was pumped when Kahlina made the final save. A win is a win and right now, there isn’t one bigger than game two. Shoutout to the defense as well, NYCFC outshot Charlotte 18-8 so the boys on the backline had to be up for it all game and they were. Playoff soccer is different and in a win or go home game, the boys didn’t stop fighting and the result is an even series.
Sean
Kahlina, Kahlina, Kahlina. He came up big with that save late in the penalties to force a game 3 and my mouth dropped when he got a hand on that ball to make the save. I thought the game was pretty scrappy and you could tell how bad both teams wanted to win. These teams have a lot of fight in them as the entire series they have played pretty good defense. Charlotte had a few chances in the first half and really should have had a two goal lead but they were just inches off. Bronico with his wicked shot that hit the cross bar and then Westwood right at the end of the half kissed the post as well. I was really hoping at least one of those found the back of the net. Then both teams fought to force penalties which is always very exciting. They lasted a while and you could tell the players had the fight in them. Finally, Kahlina came up with a huge save and Charlotte and then Nathan Byrne came up big with a final score to force game 3 and come back to Charlotte. I’m happy this game is on a Friday because having game 1 on a Tuesday was tough for the boys. The energy felt a little off and I’m sure it hindered the crowd, so now that game 3 is Friday I expect the supporters to bring all the energy. Nobody wants to come to “the Bank” and play Charlotte FC so I’m hoping home field advantage will be exactly what they need to advance to round two.
Film
This was much better from Charlotte FC. Zaha’s freedom to move in and out of the midfield and his skill on the ball helped CLTFC progress the ball into the attack and once in the attack he helped create the chances. He drifted centrally to receive a ball allowing Toffolo to overlap on the left and cross in leading to Bronico’s shot off the post. Similarly, Charlotte’s best chance of the game came from Vargas making a nice dribble through the midfield and finding Zaha centrally. Zaha then found Bronico wide on the right who crossed it in. Toklomati made an incredible dummy but Toffolo flubbed the tap in.
Despite creating more, CLTFC still has room for improvement. They can be more solid defensively and are still struggling to buildup passed NYCFC’s press. On the flip side, despite NYCFC statistically looking better in this match (they had a xG of 1.5 to CLT’s 0.6) I was overall unimpressed. Outside of set pieces and mistakes by CLT, NYCFC has struggled to create any scoring threat themselves.
Heading into game 3 it feels like this series is there for CLTFC to step up and take. I think CLT is the more skilled team with a more dangerous attack and solid defense when playing at their full potential. But NYCFC’s baseline performance is solid with no major weaknesses. If CLT come out playing fast, dyanmic, and tactically solid I think they could run away with this game. But based on how these first 2 games went, this may be another scrappy and uninspiring 90 minutes decided by a mistake, set piece, or another shootout.
Once again, a huge thank you to both Sean and Film for helping out and giving their thoughts on game one. Game three is set for a 7:00 kickoff Friday night. This one is for all the marbles, one team will move on while the other will begin offseason preparations.