CHARLOTTE – In a close contested battle against the L.A. Galaxy, Charlotte FC fell short but head coach Miguel Ramírez is proud of the performance against what he previously stated as a team “with the potential to win MLS Cup.”
“I believe that we can feel proud today, because most of the time we were better than L.A, a team with top players. In the second half, we were much, much better and until the very end we had several possibilities to score, so I’m happy about that.”
One of the areas Ramírez was specifically proud of was in the American youngsters, Chris Hegardt and Ben Bender, who both looked lively when they were brought late into the game.
“You saw their performance, Bender is a 2001 and Hegardt is a 2002, they are boys still playing against men. They are playing professional football for the first time, and you saw their performance, they have the talent. Both Ben and Chris were aggressive going forward, they fed off the energy of the crowd. Of course, they are frustrated with the loss because they want to win... they are winners.”
As for the team overall, they continue to improve with every game, specifically showing progress in their ability to remain steady in the latter stages of the match.
“I feel like myself and the players are more mature with every game. Against D.C. United we were dying physically, technically, and tactically in those last 15 minutes. Today that didn’t happen, we were able to finish the game strong, fighting until the end to score. For me, this is a big step for us.”
However, goals continue to elude the team despite them continuing to create good scoring opportunities for themselves. It’s been the final product that has haunted the team throughout the first two games of their season. On how to improve this? Keep being persistent because the goals will come as long opportunities continue to be created.
“Keep being persistent... I think scoring comes in phases. Sometimes you will have good phases, and other times you’ll go through bad phases. But no phase lasts forever. We just have to keep training and working hard but I would be much more concerned if we weren’t creating scoring chances at all. But on another day, those chances we missed, go in.”
The inaugural home match didn’t have the fairytale ending that the team and fans desired it was joyous occasion for Ramírez who wants to keep the party going.
“We play football because we want to win... but today, I believe I am the happiest coach in the world. It was amazing. I cannot describe in words the energy and I would like to thank everyone who joined us in this party, it really was a party.”
“Even though we didn’t win, we will continue the party. My request is that I would like to see all of them [the fans] back.
