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Charlotte FC

Match Preview: Charlotte FC vs Orlando City SC

June 18, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Charlotte FC News Release


Charlotte FC follows their 1-0 victory over DC United with a midweek match against Orlando City. This marks the first encounter between the two teams this season.

Last season, Charlotte dominated this matchup, securing two wins and a draw against the Lions. However, despite Orlando's current position at 14th in the Eastern Conference, they are a talented team looking for a spark to turn their season around and cannot be underestimated.

Match: Charlotte FC vs. Orlando City

When: Wednesday, June 19

Where: Bank of America Stadium

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET

Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV - How to Watch & Listen

Listen: WFNZ 92.7 FM (English) & WOLS 106.1 FM (Spanish)

Previous Matches:

Charlotte FC 1 - 0 DC United (Major League Soccer | June 2)

LAFC 3 - 1 Orlando City (Major League Soccer | June 1)

Eastern Conference Table: For the full live table, click here.

Charlotte FC - 28 points, 18 GP

Columbus Crew - 27 points, 15 GP

Toronto FC - 24 points, 18 GP

Philadelphia Union - 20 points, 17 GP

Nashville SC - 20 points, 17 GP

---------- Playoff Line ----------

...

13. Atlanta United - 17 points, 17 GP

14. Orlando City - 17 points, 17 GP

15. New England Revolution- 16 points, 16 GP

The Wine is Flowing

Dean Smith promised his defenders a bottle of wine for every clean sheet they managed this season. With the team now boasting a league-leading eight clean sheets and going five consecutive home games without conceding, the players are building quite a collection of bottles.

The Crown's defense has propelled them to 5th in the league and 9th in the Supporter's Shield standings. Despite scoring the third-fewest goals in the Eastern Conference, they're proving that a strong defense can make a significant difference.

"Defense wins championships," said Brandt Bronico, reflecting on the team's success this season. "If you can get the defense right, you can [then] start creating and having fun on the offensive end."

"The collective defense-first mindset is probably the most important thing in the locker room," he added.

Charlotte's defensive solidity is a team effort, from Patrick Agyemang's relentless pressing upfront to Kristijan Kahlina's crucial saves in goal.

Dean Smith has dramatically redefined Charlotte's identity this season. Once known for their shaky defense in 2023, they've become a defensive powerhouse among the MLS elite. Although this success might be costly for Smith's wallet, he surely hopes the wine keeps flowing.

The Opponent

At the start of the preseason, many pundits and media outlets considered Orlando City a serious contender for the MLS Cup. However, as the season has progressed, Orlando finds itself near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. This is the same team that finished second in the Eastern Conference last season and advanced to the Conference semifinals, where they were ousted by the eventual champions, Columbus Crew.

The Lions are currently enduring a winless streak of four consecutive matches. Three losses during this streak came against some of the league's top teams, including Columbus Crew, New York Red Bulls, and LAFC. Their latest game resulted in a 3-1 defeat against LAFC, yet despite the scoreline, it was arguably one of Orlando's better performances this season.

Winger Facundo Torres has been a standout figure for the franchise, but the season's bright spots have been SuperDraft pick Duncan McGuire and MLS veteran Nicolás Lodeiro. McGuire leads the team in goals with five, while Lodeiro tops the assist chart with five.

Head coach Oscar Pareja has struggled to get the roster - which is on paper one of the league's most talented - to gel. Nevertheless, there is still hope. If Orlando can recapture their form from last season and finish the second half of this season strongly, they could still make a push for the playoffs.

The Season So Far

CLTFC won their first match of the season over NYCFC with a gritty 1-0 win at home. They then faced three consecutive games on the road, securing a 1-1 draw in Vancouver before tight losses to Toronto (1-0) and Nashville (2-1).

Upon finally returning to Bank of America Stadium, the team impressively downed the defending MLS Cup Champions, the Columbus Crew, by a 2-0 score. Then, they secured another impressive result, drawing the defending Supporter's Shield Champions, FC Cincinnati, in a 1-1 match.

After a disappointing road loss in New England, CLTFC won a thrilling back-and-forth match against Toronto at home courtesy of a late Patrick Agyemang match-winner but then suffered two disappointing results in a row with losses to Minnesota and NYCFC.

However, following those back-to-back losses, Charlotte responded with a five-match unbeaten streak where they didn't concede a single goal. The streak was ended by the New York Red Bulls, yet Liel Abada swiftly revived his team's winning momentum by securing his first brace for the Club in the subsequent game versus Atlanta United. The team followed it up with another win, this time at home against the D.C. United.

Now they face a struggling Orlando City for an opportunity to make it three straight wins overall and six straight shutouts at home.

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