On a 1-5-0 slide in their past six games, Charlotte FC can boost their fading playoff hopes with a win Saturday over visiting New York City FC.
Charlotte FC (10-17-2, 32 points) are in 12th place in the Eastern Conference and seven points under the playoff line. Charlotte has been held scoreless over its last two games, dropping a pair of 2-0 shutouts to Toronto FC and FC Cincinnati.
Charlotte lost both games despite heavily controlling the possession and totaling 33 shots over both outings. Those types of losses are “devastating a little bit,” defender Jaylin Lindsey said, but he feels Charlotte is close to a breakthrough.
“There are just little things we need to still work on. … If we just fix those correctly and execute more of the game plan within those games, I feel we come away with more points than we got,” Lindsey said.
Charlotte’s only win in its past six matches came against New York City FC, a 3-1 road victory on Aug. 17. Despite the large gap between Charlotte and NYCFC (13-10-7, 46 points) in the standings, the two clubs are in similar runs of bad form.
New York City has only one win (1-6-2) in its past nine games. This slump coincides with the departure of star striker Valentin Castellanos, who was lent to Spanish club Girona FC in July.
Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against FC Cincinnati earned a point for NYCFC, and interim head coach Nick Cushing considered the game “a step in the right direction” given his team’s overall solid play.
However, there was still frustration with the result, as New York City held 65.3 percent of the possession and a 22-4 shots advantage.
NYCFC defender Thiago Martins had a nightmarish game, scoring an own goal in the first half and then sustaining an ejection after a red card in the 75th minute.
“Of course we’re disappointed we didn’t put our chances away,” Cushing said. “Of course the (own) goal is cheap, but it’s a mistake, an individual error. It’s not from being unorganized or it’s not from falling asleep.”
Martins will miss Saturday’s game on red-card suspension. Nico Acevedo and Maxime Chanot are also unavailable due to yellow card accumulation.
–Field Level Media
