CHICAGO – Once again, Charlotte FC get their revenge on their opponent with the same score line they were beaten by the last time around. This time their victim was the Chicago Fire who the Crown came back against from being down 0 – 2 to win it 3 – 2. Interim head coach Christian Lattanzio said afterward that the hardships the team has gone through this season led to the mental resilience the team showed on the night.
“I said in the past and I keep on saying that we need to give an identity to this football club. Some of the fans, and rightly so, feel frustrated with the results but we need to follow a path. On this path there are no shortcuts, meaning that you need to go through difficult situations.
“We are a very different team in a short space of time than the team who played Chicago at home. I don’t think we would lose that game now. Chicago played strong that day and deserved to win that day but we are a different team now. To be a different team you have to go through those games like losing at home to Chicago because you learn things sometimes the hard way.
“I saw in my team today resilience, a team that always played to win because we could have put another defender when we were 2 – 2 to get a draw but we wanted to keep going and play our game.”
When asked about what he told his players at halftime, Lattanzio mentioned that he didn’t have to say much but just remind them of how hard they trained in the week following up to the match to prepare for this moment.
“It was just the guys we trained so well this week and the boys were up for it. We knew the next goal would be decisive. We scored that one that in my opinion was valid, but we didn’t give up, we kept going, and we knew the next goal was important, and in the end, I believe we deserved the win.”
Lattanzio applauded his team for overcoming what seemed to be a never-ending amount of obstacles that in the end resulted in a performance that would make Charlotte fans proud.
“I think the boys showed a lot of very good things. We always talk about how much we love our fanbase, but I think the fanbase can be proud of this team tonight in many different ways. Many things I believe didn’t go our way in the first half, they had two chances and scored both... But the boys believed, we kept doing our things, we kept playing, and we gave 100%.”
