March 6, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Charlotte FC News Release
The final score line of 3-1 between Charlotte FC and St. Louis City didn’t tell the full story of the night. After the Crown took the lead in the 26th minute, the first half ended with a brutal down spiral of events that saw them down 2-1 as they went into the break.
“I think if we get to halftime 1-0 it’s a completely different game,” said captain Ashley Westwood. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that. The biggest disappointment is that we’ve given three goals, they’ve not had to work for it, that’s the biggest disappointment.”
Charlotte gave up an own goal and a penalty in the last minutes of the first half and then a third from a bad giveaway attempting to pass back to the keeper that was intercepted. Even thoughtthe mistakes were committed by individuals, Head Coach Christian Lattanzio stresses that the entire team owns them starting with himself.
“We are in this all together,” said Lattanzio. “One guy can make a mistake, but we all own it. Me first. If there is someone responsible for that, it is not Bill, it’s not Adi, it’s not Karol for the penalty, it’s me. I take all the responsibility and blame that has to be taken.”
Despite the deflating result there were some positives to take from the performance starting with striker Enzo Copetti opening his MLS scoring account in emphatic fashion. Karol S!widerski whipped in a cross that the Argentine perfectly redirected into the bottom left corner of the goal to give Charlotte the lead in the 26th minute.
Christian Lattanzio believes that Copetti is only improving with every match stretching back to preseason and that he will only continue to improve.
“I think he’s improved, and I believe the improvement will keep going. He’s a fighter we know that but today he found the right time to connect with the goal that we scored…
“Enzo is a guy that needs a little bit of help and time to adapt to the league, but I thought he was more disciplined in pressing a little bit better with his game back to the goal… I saw an improvement from the first game.”
As for the team wide performance, it was one with more personality compared to their previous match against the New England Revolution. They did well in the buildup phase where they were able to bypass St. Louis’s high press through quick combinations on several different occasions but that final pass to finish sequences was still lacking.
“I thought the boys played really well in the buildup…
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