Charlotte FC brings home a point from Vancouver

TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Kerwin Vargas and his Charlotte FC teammates salvaged a point from a 1-1 draw Saturday at Vancouver to remain unbeaten after two games.

Over the course of a season, there will be games like this.

Matches that could have been won but weren’t. Sometimes, the circumstances will be that those same games might well have been ones that could have been cruel losses as well hadn’t a big play or other twist of fate intervened.

All in all, Charlotte FC’s 1-1 draw at Vancouver was pretty much what it should have been – a watchable but predominantly unremarkable match. There was action on both ends but nothing that would captivate the imagination or make it legend. The most important stat was that Charlotte remains unbeaten two games into the club’s third season.

Iuri Tavares, whose header off the crossbar set up Adilson Malanda’s game-winner against NYCFC last week, got his first MLS goal, to put Charlotte ahead in the 31st minute.

But with seconds remaining in the five added minutes to the first half, Vancouver equalized when a cleared corner kick was put back across the box where Ryan Raposo’s left footed low volley got past goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina on the near post when he looked to be anticipating a shot across his body.

Charlotte had other very good chances to score that didn’t finish, but so did Vancouver. Kahlina had to make five saves, several desperate fingertip pushes. His back line defenders were stout in front of and behind him, as when Andrew Privett had to clear a shot off the line that had gotten past Kahlina.

The first half, save for the end, was dominated by Charlotte. The second 45 tilted more towards the home side.

“The game became scrappy in the second half where we had control in the first,” said Charlotte head coach Dean Smith. He noted that the Whitecaps went more direct with long balls that Charlotte should have done better with in defending.

He would also want to see better “decision making on the ball” explaining, “They wanted to press us in the second half. We tended to play in front of the press rather than beyond it,” which let Vancouver dictate play.

“I think that's what take it took the momentum away from us to be honest, we had some we had some really good spells in the second half, but not as much control as we did in the first,” he said.
Charlotte could also have been more on the mark when they did have the chance to put the ball in front of the Vancouver goal.

“I thought we lacked a little bit of quality in the final third at times we've had crosses,” Smith said. “But you know, we've had some big chances in the game. If Enzo scores with the big chance to go up 2-nil, I think we win with three or four in the game.

“But it wasn’t to be. I think it was a game littered with errors after that first 30 minutes of control. There were too many errors from both teams.”

Most influential player

The hypercritics will only remember the big opportunity that Enzo Copetti missed in the 41st minute and not the chance he created for Jere Uronen in the 19th by chasing down a deflected pass to the touchline and playing it back to the Finlander’s feet. Nor the dummy he made, letting the ball from Brecht Dejaegere roll through his legs to the crashing Tavares for the goal.

Copetti created the 41st minute breakaway by poking the ball off a defender’s foot and took the option of trying to place it past the onrushing Yoehi Takaoka to the keeper’s left, but Takahoa laid out quickly to block the shot.

Although the scoring spigot has yet to open for the striker, Copetti has been Charlotte’s most influential player on the attack. Add to that his work on defense, scrambling to apply pressure immediately whenever Charlotte loses possession in the offensive third.

Notes

Nimfasha Berchimas came on again as a late sub for Tavares in the 83rd minute, getting a 14-minute run including added time.

Coming on as a substitute for the Whitecaps was Sebastian Berhalter, the son of U.S. National Team coach Gregg Berhalter. Born in London, the younger Berhalter played at North Carolina in 2019 before joining the Columbus Crew as a homegrown player. He came up through the Crew youth system when the elder Berhalter, a former Tar Heel, coached there from 2013-18.

A penalty kick call in favor of Copetti in the 23rd minute was reversed by referee Scott Bowman after VAR suggested he review the video.

The attendance of 29,624 at Vancouver’s 54,500-seat BC Place was the largest home opener crowd in the Whitecaps’ 50-year history when Vancouver first played in the North American Soccer League. A co-owner of the team is former NBA star Steve Nash. His brother Martin previously played for the Canadian national team.

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