Rough one in Columbus. Here’s my recap of the biggest storylines.
Final: Columbus 3, Charlotte FC 1
- Charlotte was outshot 33-9 (14-3 on goal)
- 33 shots is a Columbus club record
- At halftime it was already 22-5 in shots (9-3 on goal)
The bright spot: Toklomati’s 12th
Idan Toklomati is 22 and looked totally nonchalant opening the scoring. He won the turnover, found his spot and finished. That ties Pep Biel for the team lead with 12 goals. The confidence is there, and the future looks bright.
Early pressure, then the turnover
Columbus fired off four or five good looks early, mostly up the left side. Kristijan Kahlina was tremendous, including a big save on a rocket from Brais Méndez, and had 8 saves in the first half alone. It could have been much worse.
Then came a very sloppy turnover, and Méndez got the equalizer within 11 minutes of our goal. Tim Ream and the back line looked at each other in disbelief and frustration. That’s happened too often, and it cost Charlotte on the road.
Dean Smith’s halftime statement
Smith said this week that lineup decisions are performance-based, and he followed through with three subs to start the second half:
- Byrne for Cleary
- Aloko for Abada
- de la Torre for Bronico
Moves like this can disrupt a locker room, but I liked it. The poor defending and lack of possession are a long-standing trend, not an isolated incident.
It got uglier
The turnovers kept coming, and Columbus had a 3-1 lead by the 65th minute with two goals in two minutes. It was reminiscent of what Charlotte did to Dallas on Saturday, but being on the receiving end had to be miserable. Anass Zaroury had his way with the defense all night.
What’s next
Smith has a lot of questions to answer about the performance and the subs, with a quick turnaround to fix the leaks before Saturday at Philly. The Union are only 3 points behind Charlotte in the table.
Full instant reactions here: https://charlottefooty.substack.com/p/postgame-instant-reactions-charlotte-237
What did you all think of the halftime changes? Is this a personnel problem or a system problem?