Columbus Crew beat Charlotte FC 4-2, roll to second straight win behind brace from Ramírez
When the Crew beat the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday, they did it with an acceptance that not every game they play is going to fit their preferred aesthetic. But in Saturday's game against Charlotte FC, the Crew played one of their prettiest, most dominant halves of the season — and it carried them to their second consecutive win.
A chaotic five-minute stretch of the second half nearly spelled disaster for the home side, but behind two goals from forward Christian Ramírez and one apiece from forwards Max Arfsten and Cucho Hernandez, the Crew beat Charlotte 4-2, avenging their 1-0 loss at Charlotte from late April.
"I’m really pleased, first of all, with the intensity of the game," Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said. "The first half was really good. The second half also good. Not — we conceded these goals, but I really liked the intensity, knowing that we played Wednesday, knowing that this is the last game of this stretch."
To begin the Crew's eighth game in the last 25 days, kickoff was delayed for 30 minutes due to severe weather in the area, but once the game began, the Crew were in control from the first kick. They needed less than five minutes of game time to take the lead. Just as the time on the clock ticked into the fifth minute, Hernandez played a through ball to Ramírez running full speed at the goal. Ramírez had an open lane with just Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina in front of him, and he easily slotted the ball past Kahlina for his first goal since April 8.
The pace of the game turned hectic after the early goal, which gave Charlotte opportunities to challenge the Crew's makeshift back line — wingback Malte Amundsen, defender Steven Moreira and midfielder Sean Zawadzki were the Crew's three starting center backs — in transition. But when the Crew began to settle the pace down, there was little Charlotte could do about it.
Arfsten, starting at wingback in place of defender Mo Farsi, who was injured during warmups, doubled the Crew's lead in the 21st minute. Ramírez spotted Arfsten isolated on the right wing, and as a natural forward who has converted to wingback with the Crew, beating his defender one-on-one is a comfortable position for Arfsten. Playing on the right side allowed him to cut inside to shoot on his favored left foot, and he found a lane between two Charlotte defenders to shoot the ball into the far corner.
Footwork too nice. 😮💨
Max Arfsten extends the lead for @ColumbusCrew! pic.twitter.com/99FiXbYeDr— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 4, 2023
Charlotte appeared to score shortly after Arfsten's goal, but after a check by referee Alex Chilowicz, it was waved off because Charlotte winger Justin Meram was offside. Charlotte's other major scoring chance in the first half came in the 33rd minute, as Harrison Afful fired a low shot toward the corner of the net, but goalkeeper Patrick Schulte made the diving save, and Amundsen cleared away the second-chance shot for a corner kick that proved unthreatening.
In the 43rd minute, linking up with midfielder Lucas Zelarayán for the second consecutive game, Hernandez scored on an audacious volley to put the Crew up 3-0. Zelarayán found Hernandez running through a gap in Charlotte's back line and lofted a pass into Hernandez's stride. Rather than play the ball off the bounce, which would have given Kahlina an opportunity to intercept it before Hernandez could touch it, Hernandez stuck out his foot to lob it over Kahlina's head.
Hernandez's goal sent the Crew into halftime on a roll, after playing one of their most dominant halves of the season. But it didn't take long for things to go awry in the second half.
In the 56th minute, Charlotte forward Karol Swiderski worked around Moreira inside the penalty area and created space to shoot past Schulte for Charlotte's first goal of the game. And the mistakes kept coming for the Crew after that. Two minutes after Swiderski's goal, Meram took advantage of a misplayed ball by the Crew and immediately scored, putting Charlotte within one goal of the Crew.
But just one minute after that, the Crew struck back again. Arfsten played the ball into the box and Hernandez made a dummy run, allowing the ball to fall to Ramírez for the shot. Ramírez took one touch to steady himself and sent the ball past Kahlina's outstretched arm to once again give the Crew a two-goal advantage.
"I think we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit for the two goals," Ramírez said. "It’s a learning experience we keep talking about, especially over the last couple weeks, but it’s obviously built our character. I think if that would’ve happened say 10 days ago, I think the reaction would’ve been a lot different."
The Crew regained control of the game from there, and while Charlotte kept the pressure on when they were able, the Crew's control of the ball prevented Charlotte from generating many dangerous looks. The unorthodox trio of central defenders, combined with the midfield ahead of them, held strong through the final minutes, and the Crew came away with their second consecutive win — their first time winning back-to-back MLS games since a three-game win streak from March 25 to April 8.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew take control against Charlotte FC to win 4-2
