First half goal results in a 1-0 loss; CLTFC still have a path to the knockout rounds with one group stage match remaining vs. Cruz Azul at home on Wednesday
First Half
Lineup: Kahlina, Byrne, Malanda, Privett, Pedro, Westwood, Bronico, Bender, Vargas, Tavares, Agyemang
Saturday night’s match at Subaru Park, which kicked off Charlotte FC’s Leagues Cup campaign, got off to an… odd start. Referee Marco Nava from Liga MX issued a yellow card to Philadelphia’s Jose Martinez before the match even kicked off for a reason that wasn’t immediately clear.
However, while the pre-kickoff shenanigans were chaotic, the opening 25 minutes of the match were the opposite. Charlotte FC started the stronger of the two teams before Philadelphia grew into the match as the half progressed.
Both teams created chances through their left backs. Kai Wagner served an excellent cross in the 16th minute to Tai Baribo, but the Israeli forward jumped too early and looped his header well over the crossbar. Joao Pedro – getting a spot start in place of Jere Uronen – had a few good services, from both open play and a corner kick, but CLTFC couldn’t connect on them.
Charlotte’s best chance of this period came from Kerwin Vargas, who lasered the ball across the mouth of goal towards Iuri Tavares. The cross had a bit too much height, though, and flashed just over Tavares’ head.
Philadelphia then opened the scoring in the 33rd minute. Andrew Privett got pulled out of position attempting to intercept a pass, and Daniel Gazdag broke into the box to reach the ball just before it crossed the endline, cutting it back to the six-yard box. Baribo was there waiting to pass it easily into the net for the 1-0 lead.
In the 39th minute, Union forward Samuel Adeniran (making his first start since arriving in a trade with St. Louis City) seemed to have a good chance to double the lead after receiving a clever pass to put him one-on-one with Kristijan Kahlina. He put his chip wide, but it wouldn’t have counted anyway with the offside flag up.
Still, momentum was certainly building for Philadelphia as the half closed. CLTFC looked disjointed going forward, but they remained disciplined to reach halftime down by only one goal with a chance to make adjustments in the locker room.
Second Half
Lineup: Kahlina, Byrne, Malanda, Privett, Pedro (80’), Westwood, Bronico, Bender (56’), Vargas (81’), Tavares (56’), Agyemang (81’)
Substitutions: Swiderski (56’), Smalls (56’), Uronen (80’), Petkovic (81’), Cambridge (81’)
Charlotte FC created the first good chance of the second half in the 48th minute. Tavares played a clever flick to Joao Pedro down the sideline, and the young Brazilian curled a well-weighted pass in behind. Patrick Agyemang raced on to it, cut twice around Jack Elliott, and fired a shot on goal from close range that was deflected behind for a corner kick.
On the other end, Adeniran had a good chance to snap a shot on goal after Gazdag’s deflected effort fell at his feet, but it was right at Kahlina.
Unfortunately, about 10 minutes into the half, Tavares was forced to exit the match after an awkward collision in a tackle by Oliver Mbaizo left the forward hobbling. Tyger Smalls replaced him, and Head Coach Dean Smith also used the substitution window to replace Ben Bender with Karol Swiderski.
This was the first chance to see Charlotte’s two strikers – Agyemang and Swiderski – together on the field. Swiderski appeared to be playing in a more free-floating, second striker role while Agyemang led the line as a more prototypical center forward to stretch the defense.
Smalls was given a yellow card in the 60th minute for a bad tackle on Martinez. He attempted to win the ball in a 50-50, but his studs rolled over the ball in a dangerous way. A scrum between the players ensued while Martinez was down, but referee Marco Nava was never sent to the monitor by VAR to review the play.
Philadelphia Union Head Coach Jim Curtin went to his bench for the first time in the 67th minute, replacing Adeniran with usual starter Mikael Uhre.
Smalls did create a flash of danger in the 74th minute, though, using his pace to blast past Elliott and fire a low cross in. Union goalkeeper Andre Blake was in a good position to kick it clear at the near post.
Dean Smith made his final three changes in the 80th minute. Jere Uronen was a straight swap for Joao Pedro at left back, Nikola Petkovic took Agyemang’s place, and Brandon Cambridge entered for Vargas for his first CLTFC appearance of the season after he suffered a bad injury in preseason. Meanwhile, Jesus Bueno replaced Alejandro Bedoya for the Union.
Baribo nearly doubled his tally in the 84th minute, but Kahlina made a very good stop diving to his left to keep the ball out of the net. From the resulting corner, Philadelphia did put the ball in the back of the net when a Glesnes flick-on went to Gazdag on the back post for a tap-in. However, the Hungarian was offside on the Glesnes touch, and it was immediately disallowed (and confirmed by a short VAR review).
Charlotte tried to secure an equalizer, but their late attempts fell short, ending their three-match unbeaten streak. Nonetheless, they will have an opportunity to bounce back with the second group stage match against Cruz Azul at Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday.
