Charlotte FC is facing their second straight Canadian opponent to round out their three home match stretch against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Here are the three ingredients of the match for the Whitecaps.
Avenge Your Home
Charlotte FC have earned 12 of their total 13 points at home this season and won four straight at home before losing to C.F. Montreal the previous week. But the Crown can avenge their home turf against the Vancouver Whitecaps as they wrap up their three home game stretch.
The Whitecaps have struggled away from home, losing every single one of their five matches this season when playing away. They’ve gone on an unbeaten three game streak but will be battling fatigue from their intense midweek match against FC Dallas.
It’s a great opportunity for Crown to grab all three points in front of their fans before the following tough away match up against the New York Red Bulls in the U.S. Open Cup and the Seattle Sounders just four days later.
Depth For Days
Despite losing Adam Armour for the season and not having forward Yordy Reyna and goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega available for the upcoming match, this has been the deepest Ramirez’s squad has been all season.
Attacking reinforcements like Kamil Jóźwiak, Andre Shinyashiki, and now Kerwin Vargas have bolstered the front line to give Ramírez plenty of options to choose from. And players returning from injury like midfielder Chris Hegardt and Vinicius Mello, have elevated the competition levels within the squad to a new level.
It’s suddenly become very difficult to just make the 18-man roster for gamedays. This is a problem that Ramírez will be glad to have because it will give him more flexibility and will only push all players to raise their game.
Limit Crossing
The Whitecaps are ranked 4th in the league for most crosses attempted in the league. Their entire game model is based on hitting teams in transition, getting the ball wide, and crossing it to one of their target men, Lucas Cavallini or Brian White.
A perfect example of this was in their most recent match against F.C. Dallas where they began their comeback off a headed goal by Cavallini from a cross. The way that the Crown can prevent Vancouver from crossing is by depriving them of space on the wings. Having more numbers and closing down space wide will be key in limiting the Whitecap’s crossing threat.
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