FC Cincinnati Second Half Scouting: Inside Charlotte FC's Final 14
Into the (other) Queen City: What Charlotte faces September 12 in Cincinnati.
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Charlotte FC travels to TQL Stadium on September 12, a road test deep in the back half of the season that could have real playoff implications for both clubs. To break down what's coming, I went to the beat. Laurel Pfahler is the president of the North American Soccer Reporters and founder of Queen City Press, where she covers FC Cincinnati. Here's what she says Charlotte fans need to know.
Who is this team?
A club that traded caution for chaos — and is still figuring out if that’s a trade worth making.
Pat Noonan’s teams had long been known for patience: methodical play out of the back, grinding out results, letting the attack operate within a rigid structure. The downside was that chances were hard to come by — and “many of their goals came on very low xG chances.” This season, FCC changed the formula: more direct soccer, more avenues to goal beyond Kévin Denkey and Evander. Role players like Tom Barlow, Pavel Bucha, and Kenji Mboma Dem have contributed in ways previous squads didn’t ask of them.
The tradeoff has been steep. “In trying to move the ball forward more quickly, that has led to silly turnovers,” Pfahler said, “and the back line doesn’t have the speed to handle transition moments,” especially while Miles Robinson was limited by injuries and load management ahead of the World Cup. Only Orlando City has conceded more goals than FCC this season.
Seventh in the East is well below where a club of Cincinnati’s spending expected to be. Per Pfahler, fans are worried the front office will look at a positive late run before the break and conclude things are trending up — when the defense still needs real fixes. The club is actively working on the roster, she said, but with no moves finalized heading into July, patience is running thin.
The player to know
Evander. It took him time to find his scoring touch this season, but once the first goal fell, there was no stopping him: “once he got it, he couldn’t be stopped.” All nine of his goals, per Pfahler, came in the last eight games before the break, alongside a couple of key assists. Her read: “He’s just playing at an MVP level.”
The under-the-radar piece
Pavel Bucha. Pfahler called him the “underrated puppeteer and engine for FCC” — a natural No. 8 who was shifted to right wingback over Ender Echenique to provide defensive balance and get Dado Valenzuela into the lineup. “His passing really sets up the attack in a way no one else seems to be able to achieve,” Pfahler said, “without forcing Evander to drop back too far into the midfield.” Where Bucha lines up in the second half is unclear, but it doesn’t seem to matter. He produces from anywhere.
Where Cincinnati hurts you
Set pieces. FCC is the best in the league at them, and she pointed to two specific edges: Evander’s delivery, which has been sharp for two straight seasons, and a set-piece analyst the club brought in specifically this year. The investment is paying off — FCC leads the league with 13 set-piece goals, up from eight a year ago.
Also worth flagging: Nick Hagglund’s throw-in. Per Pfahler, it functions more like a set piece than a restart, and two of them directly led to goals this season.
Where they’re vulnerable
The left side of FCC’s defense. Bryan Ramírez — a converted winger, not a natural wingback — is slow to recover in transition and tends to give up on plays too quickly. “Opponents put a lot of dangerous crosses in from FCC’s left side,” she said, “and that’s where a lot of goals have originated.”
What makes it more surprising: “despite having a lot of height at centerback, the Orange and Blue also have struggled to defend the box through the air” — the kind of vulnerability Charlotte exploited for its first goal in the 2-2 draw on May 9. She noted that Bucha’s move to right wingback helped stabilize that side, but the left has remained a persistent problem.
The matchup to watch
Ashley Westwood. When Pfahler was asked what would concern her most as an FCC fan watching Charlotte, she went straight to his service into the box. “His late runs from a deeper position also could be punishing for a team that tends to lose track of marks,” she said. Pep Biel came up as well — he’s caused Cincinnati problems before — but Westwood’s delivery against a back line that struggles in the air is the game within the game.
The bigger picture
The May 9 draw at Charlotte still stings. Pfahler called it “maybe the most disappointing draw FCC has played in a while.” Outside of the first ten minutes of the second half, she said, “they played well enough to get a victory.” Then the back line went quiet at the worst possible moment. “The defense just seemed to fall asleep,” Pfahler said. “Even coach Pat Noonan couldn’t explain what happened in that stretch.”
Both goals were stoppable: the first came off a header assisted by a header — “you don’t see that much where a team gives up two headers in the box on one play” — and the second was Charlotte’s Djibril Diani slipping behind Nick Hagglund and cutting it back to an open Pep Biel. FCC steadied but couldn’t find a winner. “It was definitely a missed opportunity,” Pfahler said. For context: the Orange and Blue have never won at Bank of America Stadium.
The record at Charlotte has a pattern, and it’s more situational than systemic. “Playing at Charlotte has been really challenging for whatever reason,” she said, noting that the first two matchups under Dean Smith came early in seasons when FCC tends to be slow out of the gate, and that last year’s loss at home came during a wider rough stretch for the club.
The September 12 trip to TQL Stadium arrives in the middle of what Pfahler views as a critical stretch for FCC. The front half of the season, she noted, was supposed to be the easier portion of the schedule based on 2025 results — “and the Orange and Blue didn’t pick up enough points to take advantage of that.” Coming out of the break, Cincinnati faces Vancouver and Columbus — the rivalry game — before September. If those don’t go well, the atmosphere around the Charlotte match could be tense. “Anything outside of a top-four finish in the East would be disappointing,” Pfahler said.
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