Charlotte FC’s home unbeaten streak has come to an end with a disappointing 3-0 loss to Minnesota United.
The loss was Charlotte’s worst performance of the season so far, with the team managing just one shot on goal for the entire match.
Charlotte started off controlling the ball early in the match and creating chances on counterattacks. Charlotte had a chance miss high in the fourth minute on a counterattack following a Minnesota corner kick. Charlotte’s lone shot on goal of the match came from Bill Tuiloma delivering a header to the far post.
Around the 30th minute is when the match began to shift with Minnesota controlling the match. Minnesota had a shot miss to the right in the 29th minute, a counterattack chance in the 30th minute that was cleared out by Andrew Privett before finally capitalizing on Charlotte’s defense looking disorganized in the 31st minute to take a 1-0 lead.
Minnesota would threaten Charlotte on the attack a couple more times in the first half with Tuiloma clearing the ball on one chance and Kristijan Kahlina collecting the ball from a cross on the other.
Minnesota kept their foot on the gas in the second half, adding two more goals early on, the first in the 49th minute and the second just four minutes later in the 53rd minute off a corner kick. Minnesota nearly added a fourth goal in the 54th minute with a shot hitting the post.
Following the Minnesota goals there were not many quality chances for either team, Minnesota had a shot from a difficult angle saved in the 69th minute and Charlotte had their biggest chance of the match from Patrick Agyemang with the last defender for Minnesota getting in the way of the shot to prevent a shot on goal.
Charlotte had one final chance to score in added time with a free kick that led to a Iuri Tavares header missing left of the goal.
On both of Minnesota’s goals in open play they took advantage of the space they were given by the Charlotte back line. The first goal had Tani Oluwaseyi split Tuiloma and Privett and get behind them on a run with no other defenders near, the second goal was off a cut back pass to Hassani Dotson with space between the Charlotte back line and midfield.
Overall, it was a poor performance from Charlotte, allowing Minnesota to control much of the match and create more chances than Charlotte was able to create in the attack.
For Charlotte’s next match, they go back on the road to face New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, April 27. The match is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. EST and is available for streaming on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
