Awoken Metro drenches Charlotte, 3:1
May 29, 2024
When Metro acquired Emil Forsberg from "sister" side RB Leipzig, heads were turned. This was not the type of player Red Bull has signed over the past decade. The uplift in quality in the attack third became evident immediately, but Forsberg has not exactly set the league on fire. Perhaps tonight was a start of a new chapter. The Swede scored two in two minutes, the first on a beautiful free kick, as Metro downed Charlotte in a rain-delayed game, 3:1.
Metro was forced to play without Sean Nealis, whose absurd second yellow in the last game forced an absence. The home team was more than lucky to go into halftime goalless. Charlotte gone one past Carlos Coronel on the short side, but hit the goalpost. Then, on a breakaway, Coronel committed early and had the ball luckily hit straight into him. On the offensive side of the ball, Metro was completely disjointed, not able to complete consecutive passes for long stretches of time.
Lightning at halftime delayed the game for a good hour, and the game resumed in a torrential downpour. Whatever Sandro Schwarz said during the long break must have worked, as Metro came out much more spry. However, it was Charlotte who had the first golden opportunity of the half, when Andres Reyes fell to send the visitors on a breakaway. Thankfully, Daniel Edelman tracked back to thwart the play in the box.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 74th minute. Forsberg was fouled just outside the box, and then sent a perfect three kick over the wall and into the net. Then, two minutes later, Edelman sent a long looping ball that a Charlotte defender whiffed on. Lewis Morgan pounced on it in the box and sent it back to an unmarked Forsberg, who got his first MLS brace.
In the 83rd, Metro used its favorite attacking play from last year, a John Tolkin right-sided corner. The ball dropped in the box to Reyes, who blasted his first of the year from close range.
Charlotte got one off a deflected shot deep into injury time, but it mattered littler other than pissing off Coronel, who barely missed the shutout.
Maybe we need more thunderstorms at halftime?
Lineup: Coronel, Tolkin, Eile, Reyes, Nealis, Edelman, Amaya, Carmona, Forsberg, Morgan, Manoel. Subs: Vanzeir, Gjengaar, Burke, Hall.
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