Charlotte FC suffers another shutout, falls to Austin FC in frustrating home loss

Karol Swiderski sat outside the top of the opposing box after the final whistle sounded. He’d been there throughout the game, prowling the defense for holes and hunting for scoring opportunities — but no fruitful chances arose.

Swiderski finished with three shot attempts, none of which landed on target, in a frustrating 1-0 Thursday night home loss for Charlotte FC to Austin FC.

Charlotte dominated all possession metrics and camped out near Austin’s goal during the second half — but it could not finish plays inside the final third, a disconnect between chances and scoring that led to the team’s sixth shutout of the year.

“I felt it was a very one-sided second half that I would have been disappointed even to draw, let alone losing it,” interim head coach Christian Lattanzio said.

The decisive goal came from Austin’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft, Daniel Pereira. The midfielder came in at the 60th minute — by the 62nd, he’d given Austin (9-4-4) the lead off a howling shot that rammed off the crossbar and went in.

Missing shots

Charlotte’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft, Ben Bender, had a scoring chance of his own in the first half. A deflected cross landed on his foot, but the midfielder’s shot sailed well high of the goal.

Bender’s squad took nine shots — but just two came on goal. After Bender’s miss, Swiderski and Anton Walkes both sent shots above the goal.

After the latter’s miss, the defender put his hands on his head in disappointment.

“Unfortunately this time it didn’t work but I feel like if I get in that position again I can really capitalize on it,” Walkes said. “But you don’t always get two or three of them chances in a game so you just have to take it with a pinch of salt and be ready for what happens next.”

Good process, bad results

Across almost every possession metric, Charlotte had a sizable lead on its opponent. Lattanzio’s squad controlled 63.5 percent of the possession and did so with a flurry of effective passes — connecting on 83.7 percent.

The team generated 0.6 expected goals and limited the second-highest scoring squad in the entire league to just 0.3 expected goals. Nevertheless, Charlotte found itself on the wrong side of the ledger.

“That’s why the strikers also are so expensive because they have to do a difficult job and to play where the spaces are congested,” Lattanzio said.

One of those strikers had a chance in the 67th minute to tie the game up. Andre Shinyashiki drove down the field and cut toward the middle — but his shot was low and center-cut, an easy save for Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.

That was Stuver’s first save of the game — he’d register his second six minutes later by diving in front of a low screaming shot from Brandt Bronico.

“I think we need to be better in the final third. I think everybody, the wingers, the striker, the midfielders, I think it’ll come with time but it doesn’t just come you know, you have to work on those things,” Shinyashiki said. “So we’ve got to get working.”

Offensive struggles continue for Charlotte

In its inaugural season, Charlotte has struggled to score. This is the sixth time this year that the team has been shut out in a game.

Its 17 goals — a number that’ll stay the same after another scoreless outing — ranked second-worst in the Eastern Conference heading into Thursday’s game.

Shinyashiki said that some of the issues happen due to luck, a prime example coming in the first half when a Titi Ortíz shot bounced off the right goalpost and did not go in.

“I think that the more you work, the more luck you have,” he said.

Returning players making impact

All 10 of the players who couldn’t play due to health and safety protocols came off the inactive list for Charlotte.

Of those ten, goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, Józwiak, Ortíz, Bender and Shinyashiki started for Lattanzio.

“Probably not,” the coach said postgame when asked if all the players were at 100 percent. “But I never want to look for excuses … I think we had enough of the ball to create more dangerous chances… we cannot feel sorry for ourselves. We need to move on, we have an important game, a difficult game again on Sunday.”

Kahlina made a save and Józwiak constantly delivered pressure with a hard-charging offensive game.

Christian Fuchs wore the captain’s armband and started his first game since May 22.

Pride festivities

Charlotte hosted its first Pride Night, wearing special training tops during warm-ups.

“We’re with you,” Walkes said to the LGBTQ community in Charlotte and the fans in attendance celebrating Pride.

“It’s a big celebration,” he added. “I think there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world right now and there’s always bad people out there saying things and to make progress, we really have to be supportive and just keep supporting each other and being proud.”