Charlotte FC will try to rebound from a frustrating defeat when they host an FC Cincinnati side attempting to move on from midweek continental disappointment.
Charlotte (1-1-1, 4 points) fell 1-0 at 10-man Inter Miami on Sunday in a match where it enjoyed the man advantage for more than a half and also avoided Miami’s Lionel Messi.
Perhaps most disappointing for Charlotte FC, coach Dean Smith felt it was a performance that qualitatively exceeded their first two matches — a 2-2 draw at Seattle and a 2-0 home win over Atlanta.
“It was our best performance of the season I think, (and) 11-on-11, we definitely go on and win the game,” Smith said. “I felt that we were on top of the game and we would keep giving them problems. Balls over the top, balls down the side, balls played through them at times as well.”
But once Miami went down a man, then took a shocking lead early in the second half on a connection from Luis Suarez to Tadeo Allende, Charlotte found it difficult to solve Miami’s low block. Wilfried Zaha looked most likely to find a solution, but couldn’t.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati (2-1-0, 6 points) fell 3-1 Tuesday night at Tigres UANL in CONCACAF Champions Cup play, a result that sent Tigres to the quarterfinals on a 4-2 total goals win.
Evander gave Cincy a first-half lead in his seventh appearance following a preseason transfer from Portland. It was his third goal in all competitions for his new team as he tries to replace the production of recently departed 2023 MLS MVP Luciano Acosta.
But most MLS defenses will know Evander’s abilities after he was a 2024 MVP finalist. Charlotte’s Zaha may be less familiar after his offseason arrival, even if he is only a few seasons removed from producing double-digit goals in England’s Premier League.
“He can make plays in different ways, and he’s certainly got the experience,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said of Zaha, who has one goal in two games. “So we only have a small sample size of him with this group. But I imagine he’s only going to get better and better.”
–Field Level Media
