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Two goals. Clean sheet. Road victory.
It was a dominant performance from The Crown. They ended the night with 3.5 xG, five big chances created out of 18 total shots, and nine on target. That's a lot of attacking prowess on the road in blustery conditions. Toronto, on the other hand, yielded only .6 xG on two shots on target. Stats don't lie (sometimes).
The first half was a consistent onslaught from Charlotte. The wind was at their backs, literally and figuratively, for the majority of 45 minutes. Pep Biel had a couple of chances saved, Liel Abada nearly slotted one back post, and two near-goalline saves kept Charlotte from the breakthrough. There is not much going the other way for Toronto, except for a couple of breaks. At the half, however, zeros on the board had everyone thinking, can Charlotte find a way or will this be another disappointing night?
The answer is no. Charlotte continued to pepper the net and found the opener in the 56th minute off a beautiful bit of play from Wilfried Zaha and Liel Abada. Zaha found himself centrally with one defender in his way, made some moves, and hit an inch-perfect ball down the wing that put Abada in attack mode. Abada's perfect touch pushed him into the 18, and he eventually found Pep Biel for an easy finish. Well, easy for Pep. 1-0.
David Bingham made his first regular-season start for Charlotte FC tonight. He wasn't tested much but made two big stops on the night to keep Toronto at zero. For much of the second half, Toronto would find some attacking threats, but nothing tested Bingham much as Adilson Malanda and Andrew Privett put up a wall all night. At fullback, Souleyman Doumbia returned for his first start since he picked up an injury on 4/19. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty moved over to right back in his return home to Toronto, where he was a Homegrown signing at just 15 years old. The group worked to get Charlotte's first clean sheet since April 19th at home against San Diego.
To top it all off, Zaha would play another delicious ball, this time leading a charging Patrick Agyemang with only one defender in his way. Pat caused enough ruckus without a foul to free the ball up and charge at goal. He cut back and hit what is becoming a signature shot for him: a clean shot backpost past the keeper. 2-0 victory secured.
A much-needed win on the road before the international break. Their first-ever win in Toronto. Charlotte can rest up and recharge before heading to Philadelphia on June 14th.
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