A very focused, full-strength Charlotte FC (MLS) side pushed past the visiting South Georgia Tormenta (USL-1) 4-1 in their first-ever home game in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. More than 3,500 fans crowded into the Matthews Sports Plex on the outskirts of Charlotte on Tuesday night to see the home team use four different goal scorers in their convincing win.
“A game like this could very well be a trap, especially for the younger players,” said Charlotte FC Head Coach Christian Lattanzio. “They need to understand the intensity is so important. We need to go and press every ball and it doesn’t matter the result, they have to play with this kind of mentality.
“(Tormenta) have some quality players. They can play, they can run, they’re young, some of them are quite talented and it can easily go differently than the way it started.”
Charlotte FC forward Chris Hegardt echoed his head coach’s ideas about avoiding the Tormenta “trap.”
Another great night FOUR the crown ✨ pic.twitter.com/QMyzpClgQS
— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) April 26, 2023
“I think Cup matches are good, it gives a lot of people that haven’t played much some opportunity, and obviously it’s fun to play teams that aren’t in your league and it’s very competitive,” he said. “ You saw Tormenta, they’re a really good team and they have a lot of good individual players. So these games aren’t easy, some say it is like a trap game because they (Tormenta) go in and play so hard, so we had to match that intensity today and I though we played really well. So we’re happy about it.”
When asked about the strong lineup Lattanzio added “To us, first and foremost, we want to respect the opposition, you have to play strong and go with your strong team.
“We are building here.”
Tormenta began the game on the front foot, forcing two Kristijan Kahlina saves in the first few minutes. After this initial action, Charlotte FC began to control the midfield spaces and possess the ball, working around the perimeter of the Tormenta defense. For the first 20 minutes, Tormenta was able to deal with any ball played into their concentrated defensive block then counterattack to find some relief from the Charlotte pressure.
In the 24th minute, a lofted cross into the box from the left flank was kept alive by a Hegardt header to find Kamil Józwwiak, who took a clever touch from a sharp angle as he looped a shot up and over the outstretched Tormenta keeper. Despite some tough tackles and some close calls the teams went into the half at 1-0 Charlotte.
The cloudy skies of the day had turned into a slight drizzle in the evening with the natural surface became very fast and greasy. The half opened with a quick red card to Tormenta’s Davey Mason on his second caution in the 48th minute which totally tilted the pitch in favor of the host. Charlotte FC used this man advantage to increase pressure on Tormenta, forcing the game deeper in the visitor’s defensive third and the second goal for Charlotte came off a turnover and driven Brandon Cambridge cross that was tapped into the open net in the 55th minute by forward Enzo Copetti.
Charlotte FC didn’t hold back after the second goal and wave after wave of attacks pinned Tormenta deeper and deeper in their end until a Derrick Jones worm-burner in 65th minute from the top of the box skimmed on the greasy surface, deflecting through a crowded penalty area, and into the Tormenta goal for a 3-0 home advantage
Tormenta did pull a goal back in the 83rd minute off the foot of Mathaus Cassini who hit a blistering shot from outside the area that rocketed passed a diving Kristijan Kahlina. Charlotte FC immediately answered the Tormenta goal just a minute later to end any hopes of a comeback and put the game on ice as Karol Świderski calmly took a page from Jones’ shooting school and produced his own worm-burner that skimmed through the box and tucked neatly into the near post for the final 4-1 advantage to the Crown.
