US OPEN CUP: Second Half Goal Surge Lifts Charlotte FC Over the Independence
- Forrest Wimberly
- Apr 18
- 2 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
All-Charlotte US Open Cup Derby Goes to the Crown:
The Sportsplex in Matthews was buzzing Wednesday night as a crowd of 3684 watched the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Round of 32 match featuring an all-Charlotte affair as Charlotte FC (MLS) defeated their in-town rival Charlotte Independence (USL1) by a score of 6-0. The Independence played a solid opening 45 minutes but were ultimately undone by a 23rd minute red card issued to their starting keeper Giorgos Tasouris that saw the short-handed Jacks be forced into defending wave after wave of Charlotte FC attacks. The bend-but-not-break defending of the Jacks held strong until the dying seconds of the half where the extra space and fatigue of the defenders finally caught up to the lower division side.
The MLS side found their opening goal off the foot of Archie Goodwin in first half stoppage time and never looked back in the match. Goodwin pounced on a low, driven cross running across the Jack’s goal box in the 45+1 minute to side-foot the ball into the open net and the Crown into the lead. The goal had certainly been coming due to the Charlotte FC pressure and run of play after the red card.
Building on the 1-0 halftime advantage, Charlotte FC pumped in two quick goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half to pull away from the scrappy lower division Jacks. Henry Kessler nodded down a looping corner kick served to the back post in the 59th minute and then in the 68th minute Nimfasha Berchimas one-timed in a ball rolled across the penalty box into the nets to put the game out of the Jack’s reach. Charlotte wasn’t done scoring as David Schnegg rifled a low free kick through the Independence wall into the nets for the 4-0 advantage in the 72nd minute. After the fourth goal, the 10-man Independence were just chasing shadows all over the defensive third of the field and the Charlotte FC attack kept dialing up the pressure trapping the Jacks in their own half as the final minutes of the match were totally dominated by the Crown. Two late tallies in the 86th minute by Kerwin Vargas and in the 88th minute by Baye Coulibaly capped the scoring and sent Charlotte FC cruising into the Round of 16.
Two late tallies in the 86th minute by Kerwin Vargas and in the 88th minute by Baye Coulibaly capped the scoring and sent Charlotte FC cruising into the Round of 16. Charlotte FC will now host Atlanta United at the Sportsplex in the Round of 16 to be played April 28 at 7:00pm EST. Atlanta defeated MLS NEXT Pro Chattanooga FC 3-1 to set up this all-MLS matchup in the next round.
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