Charlotte FC will look to start a new winning streak on Saturday night when they travel to Columbus, Ohio, to play the surging Crew.
Even though Charlotte (6-3-1, 19 points) lost 1-0 to the New England Revolution last weekend for its first loss in the past four matches, coach Dean Smith said he is optimistic about a rebound versus the Crew (6-1-3, 21 points).
“We had more than enough chances with open looks a number of times in the first half,” Smith said about the game against New England.
Smith was more concerned about the officiating than the lack of scoring and is lighter in the wallet because of it. He and midfielder Ashley Westwood were issued undisclosed fines on Wednesday for comments after the match.
Smith said New England was offside prior to scoring its goal. He also said the officials couldn’t get a handle on the physical play against his players.
“It almost doesn’t feel like a loss because the officials have taken the game away from us,” Smith said.
Charlotte star forward Wilfried Zaha, who has two goals in eight matches, is frustrated as well. He took to social media this week to tell critics, “Please stop chapping, especially my name.”
In contrast, the Crew are on a 4-1-0 binge because unexpected scoring has happened when the forwards are struggling. Goals by Max Arfsten (eight in 52 matches) and Sean Zawadzki (six in 72) fueled a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes last Saturday.
Their goals were not by accident but a result of coach Wilfried Nancy’s possession attack, which attempts get every player involved.
“This is the relationship between players. We work a lot on that,” Nancy said. “This is not one, two (players); this is how four or five or six players can understand the game at the same time. This is something that we do every day in different ways.
“That’s why I’m really happy we were able to bring more uncertainty on the opposition because this is not only two, three, four players; this is more players that are involved within the play.”
–Field Level Media
