Thousands of new soccer supporters got a first glimpse of their new team, expansion side Charlotte FC, playing its first competitive match to start the 2022 MLS season.
They got the full-on MLS experience on Day 1.
Charlotte FC lost its inaugural match 3-0 at D.C. United, but based purely on the play shown on the field, you could never have guessed that the team in blue was the expansion side on this night.
But that’s sometimes the way it works in MLS, where the margins are razor-thin and any team can beat any other on any given day. The chaos is part of the league's charm and Charlotte FC got a taste of it. The club went from thinking it was ahead 1-0 to going 0-2 down before halftime.
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Charlotte FC has some personality
We’ve seen a fair share of hapless expansion team debuts over the last decade in MLS. Charlotte FC stood out for being more than competent for a team that has only been together for a handful of weeks. But beyond the positive play on the field, it was the attitude that shone through.
Charlotte FC was proactive from the opening whistle, and while the team made mistakes, the players still imposed their style on D.C. as the road team.
"Some teams that are new would have folded [down 2-0], but we didn't fold," said midfielder Brandt Bronico. "I don't think the scoreline reflected our performance today."
"Even though [we were] 2-0 down we tried to play our way. We stepped it up in the second half, running non-stop. We didn't give up and we believed in ourselves," said veteran defender Christian Fuchs. "Most important for me is the team spirit, and we didn't stop. We kept going."
Even head coach Miguel Angel Ramirez, who just a few weeks ago talked about how he felt the team was “screwed” (as translated from Spanish) after some player signings fell through, took some satisfaction from the performance, mistakes aside.
"I was feeling happy and proud of what I was seeing, knowing that we just recently started," Ramirez said postgame in Spanish. "These are smart guys who have desire and who believe."
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Bad luck, no calls for Charlotte FC
So if Charlotte FC played so well, how did it lose 3-0? A strong dose of bad luck had a lot to do with it.
Charlotte’s Titi Ortiz scored a well-worked 19th-minute goal that would have given them the lead, but it turned out after video review that he was a tad offside, which nullified the effort.
Then the referee called a penalty for a Charlotte hand-ball offense that resulted in the first D.C. goal via PK. But a foul committed by a D.C. player in the lead-up to that hand ball probably should have nullified the penalty. The referee didn't think so.
Moments later, Charlotte FC had a penalty shout of its own on the other end, also for a hand ball. (The ball took a close-range carom, but the D.C. player's arm was unnaturally outstretched). But Charlotte didn't get that call.
"We didn’t [get an explanation]," Fuchs said of the referee's calls, expressing frustration with the hand-ball decisions. "There was no explanation given."
Toss in the deflections that led to D.C.'s two other goals — Charlotte 'keeper Kristijan Kahlina should have done better on one of them — and the woodwork that Charlotte's Yordy Reyna struck in the second half, and the expansion team saw an outsized number of bad breaks.
"It has nothing to do with communication," Fuchs said of D.C.’s last two goals. "These two situations were simply unlucky."
So Charlotte FC is down 3-0 due to:
— Russell Varner (@rvarner) February 27, 2022
A questionable at best hand ball call
A deflected goal
A bad luck own goal
All you can do is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Where's Karol?
Teams reduce the luck factor when they have quality players on the team. Charlotte's $5 million center forward, Karol Swiderski, was stuck in Poland because of paperwork.
It makes a difference. D.C. United started their potential $5 million Ecuadorean forward, Michael Estrada (he’s actually on loan and the transfer fee wouldn’t trigger if they don’t pick up the option), and he proceeded to score twice on his debut.
Charlotte had players filling in at forward, and while they did what they could, it wasn’t the same. Fuchs felt "effectiveness in front of goal" was what ultimately cost them, and "it will be helpful when [Swiderski] is back and can be our real striker and real No. 9 [center forward] that we need."
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His manager agreed.
"We got to the penalty area more often and better than [D.C.] did, but they converted [their chances]. We didn't," Ramirez said. "There's the big difference in soccer. It's in the penalty areas where you need to make the difference to be able to win a game."
"Of course, it's better to have a striker to finish these actions," Ramirez continued. "Hopefully we'll have Karol at home [next weekend] and we have Danny Rios [acquired Feb. 25] one week more to work with us, and to know each other."
About that home game coming up March 5 against the LA Galaxy. It will be Charlotte FC's home opener, and the club is on track to break MLS's single-match regular-season attendance record (72,548) by hitting the 75,000 mark at Bank of America Stadium.
A rabid fan base could prove to be one of the defining traits of the early days of this new club. A few hundred fans trekked to D.C.'s Audi Field and made themselves heard.
The first home match could set the tone for the season. It will be a unique opportunity for Ramirez and Charlotte FC to leave a lasting first impression by putting on a show. Based on Charlotte’s performance in their MLS bow, it’s a team that could probably deliver on that promise.
Full credit to Charlotte FC's traveling support - several hundred of them directly to my left, probably among the largest traveling contingents I've ever see at Audi. #DCU
— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) February 26, 2022
No shortage of love for the @CharlotteFC faithful. 💙 pic.twitter.com/wxlan5aVNI
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 27, 2022
