With the terrible news of Guzman Corujo’s ACL injury, as well as the dropped points against Chicago Fire, we are now faced with a painful truth: Charlotte FC likely will not make the playoffs in it’s inaugural season.
It’s not exactly surprising, to be honest. MLS teams don’t generally make the playoffs in their first season. In the past five years, with 8 teams added to the league, only 3 have made the playoffs proper in their first year (Atlanta, LAFC, and Nashville). Expansion teams have growing pains, and Charlotte FC has had more than it’s fair share, between COVID delays, managerial changes, and roster turnover.
That said, if our form on the road had just been half of our form at home, we would be in a much better position to make the playoffs this year. We have won 8 of our 12 matches at home. We knew the Vault was a terrible place for teams to visit, and we have defended our turf well, picking up 24 points here. But we only have 29 points on the season. 12 matches so far away from home, 5 points. A single win and 2 draws.
I know when MAR was here, we played a much more defensive style on the road, looking to beat teams on the counter and snatch points. Under Lattanzio, we have played a style closer to what we play here on our turf, and the results have been marginally better, but not by much. We have to find a way to improve on the road, possibly by throwing caution to the wind and just attacking like crazy. We’re going to have holes in our defense until Corujo is healthy, so for the time being, the best defense may be a good offense.
