August 14, 2025 • 24 mins
On this episode, we’re joined by one of the most insightful voices in American soccer broadcasting—Ross Smith, MLS Season Pass Match Analyst. Known for his sharp tactical breakdowns, storytelling from his playing days, and years covering the league, Ross helps us preview a big Western Conference test: Charlotte FC hosting Real Salt Lake.
With both sides pushing for playoff position and fresh off results that could shift momentum, we dive into the key battles and storylines ahead. Ross breaks down:
Why Real Salt Lake’s fluid attack can be so difficult to contain even with the Moonman.
The strengths and risks of Charlotte’s mid-block against RSL’s movement
Who plays the 10 for Charlotte?
Can Charlotte continue for 6 straight wins?
You can watch Charlotte FC vs. Real Salt Lake this Saturday, live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Follow on X: @RossSmith_20
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Welcome to Charlotte FC Podcast.Nick Finnelli here.
I'm joined with a a special person I've already had on the
podcast, but more in just the interview.
And now we're going to talk about the match and it is Ross
Smith. Welcome, Ross.
Thanks, Nick. Thanks for having me on again.
It's great. Yeah, So if you don't know Ross,
he's just a super, super sharp and wonderful nice guy.
(00:31):
He's a he's had a playing career, of course, and he was at
a Portland covering them and nowhe's with MLS season pass and
we're here to actually break down the clash between Charlotte
FC. And we also have, like, rial's
playing well as of late, even though they just lost last week
to New York Red Bulls, but they only had two losses in all of
(00:53):
June and July and now into August.
And that was to Red Bulls and then a home game to FC
Cincinnati, who Charlotte just saw.
And then Charlotte, on the flip side, has won five in a row.
And it's not really lost since aspell in June where they lost 3
or 4 and also had a difficulty in in May.
So they are kind of on the upward trend.
(01:14):
So Ross, what are you? What are you thinking about
going into this match? You've seen them a lot.
You've been covering a lot of Charlotte's matches.
Yeah, it's it's a real interesting one, Nick, just
given where both teams are in the standings and RSL just
slightly outside the playoff line looking to get in.
And and and Charlotte because ofthis run, they've put themselves
(01:35):
back in the picture after what was a a tough goal for a little
bit being on the road, but but before league's Cup.
And and I know league's Cup didn't go well for for
Charlotte, but you look at the regular season form and it's
been it's been really good and it's been really good despite
changes that are happening with Patrick Agiman being transferred
(01:57):
out, you know, Pepe outgoing down now.
And so to to rejig the team, Milanda just coming back.
You've been without your star centre back, Kalina starting to
come round to form. He was brilliant in the last
game. And so your goalkeeper of the
year hasn't had the best of seasons, but it's starting to to
turn things around. So be where you are right now
(02:17):
and not hitting Top Gear is, is a good sign because you you can
only hope the way it's trending for Charlotte right now that
it's it's going to get better and better.
And this is the time of year when you want things to start to
click. Yeah, you definitely want to
peek. You you see that that's who
makes the runs. It's not necessarily the best
team all year round. It's the one who can make that
(02:37):
run at the end of the year and and be in that form.
So looking directly at this match, we got no Diego Luna.
I know we were expecting that, but a little incident there at
the end there and he gets, he gets 2 yellows which puts him in
a red and now he's out. And I know RSL has played
without him when he was with theUS national team.
(02:58):
But how does RSRSL change their attack?
And who becomes the creative outlet in this?
Yeah, it's a tough one because Luna, I, I did think it was
worthy of it, a yellow card and of a second yellow card.
Sometimes the threshold for a second yellow card is a is a bit
more than your first tricky 1. And it's disappointing.
(03:20):
I it's a plus for for Charlotte,not having Diego Luna in the 11
facing you. But in terms of the broadcast,
when you step in, as you know onthe media side, you want to see
the best talent on the pitch, ofcourse, so difficult one there.
RSL they've got a player called Gonzalez Gonzalvez who is who's
that sort of same #10 style. I wonder if Pablo Mastrani will
(03:42):
will change his system slightly.He likes to to play a back four
and then you're holding 2 and then the next two in front are
almost like 2 number 10s. They can split out wide, but
really they're good pocket players as we like to call them.
And then your two strikers on top of it.
And so Diego Luna would occupy one of those number 10s.
I just wonder if Diego Gonzalez will will occupy that number 10
(04:06):
role on his own and we see a a slight change of system.
So Gonzalez, wonderful player, but he can come in and out of of
the game. He can drift in and out of it.
If he's on the ball and he's doing well, then he's terrific,
but he can go missing as well. So I would look for that player.
That's the the obvious replacement.
That's the obvious guy who who really needs to step up in that
(04:29):
role. All right.
And then on the other side, again, you already mentioned no
Pep BL. Has Charlotte been able to
figure out who is going to be inthat place?
They tried Wilf for a little bitin FC Cincinnati, maybe to get
him more touches and have some more control.
They ended up moving him back out to the left side and kind of
(04:49):
Vargas played in that spot. What do you what do you see them
doing with the 10 now? Because that still seems like an
area that they need to figure out.
Yeah, it's it's really interesting and you know what,
Nick, I I thought when I saw that eleven, I thought that's a
that's a blow to Eric Williamsonand the last game of league's
cup. I was covering the game and Eric
(05:11):
was was good. You think of of the goal that
was scored. Oh, who put the final touch on
it? I'm thinking of the build up
play it was, it was up to Eric Williamson set it back for
Westwood who played it along theline to Cambridge and then
Cambridge went in the ball. Smalls.
And Smalls and Smalls had the final touch, but that was a nice
bit of interchange between Williamson and and and Westwood
(05:33):
and I thought we were starting to see a relationship there and
Williamson linking up with the central midfielders.
But I did make the the point in the game in the last league's
cup game, saying Williamson almost needs to go up another
level. That Pep yell in this game
wouldn't make it his his game. He would take over.
He would end up getting another assist or he would get a goal.
And it just felt like Williamsona little bit of OK, we're good,
(05:58):
we're good here. Instead of being a cutthroat.
I'm going to make it so obvious that Dean Smith isn't going to
Take Me Out of the team. And I've seen Eric Williamson
seen him closely at at Portland.I was previously with Portland
on the broadcast side and Eric was fantastic, one of the best
midfielders in this league. He's gone through a couple real
rough years with his ACL and he's done tremendously well to
(06:20):
come back. But he's needing to prove
himself with the manager who I think first and foremost you got
to stick in, you got to stick in, you got to commit every
single second of the game. And Eric could be guilty of it's
seeming as though he's falling out of games, that he's drifting
at times, but when he turns it on he is superb and we started
to see that in the last league'scup game.
(06:40):
But I think with Eric, it's the understanding on the Dean Smith,
you can't drift in and out, you can't have a moment of
brilliance and then you, we don't see you for 5-10 minutes.
You need to be brilliant all thetime on both sides of the ball.
So I, I say that which I'd, I'd be surprised if we see Eric
coming back in, you know this. But what does that mean?
Then this Wilfred Zaha start at the number 10.
(07:02):
He drifted outside and Kerwin Vargas started to play in that
little pocket. It it's interesting.
Dean Smith can go so many different ways and what it comes
down to, he can go with three similar type of players with
Gianni Bronico, Westwood. It's an interesting 11 Nick as I
go through all the different scenarios in my mind, I just I
don't know what Dean Smith wherehe sees the strength and
(07:22):
matching up against RSL, what hehas to account for and and going
forward. But but Zaha, I think as long as
he gets his touches on the ball,he can play in there.
Of course he can. He's he's got the technical
ability. I didn't think he got enough
touches on the ball against Cincinnati, but when he did, he
was good and you could see him. And I know he's become
demonstrative and he's taking a lot of stick for how he acts
(07:42):
towards his teammates, the referees always complaining.
But I what I would say is he's he's got a point.
Get him on the ball. Get him the ball as much as
possible to see what he does with it.
And I think now he's starting toevolve as a players doesn't have
the legs to go and run past you quite like what he used to.
He still has an injection of pace, but what it is showing now
(08:04):
is is his technical ability and he and he's had that which he
has that which helps the longevity of his career.
Anyways, it's my long winded answer Nick to you to to think
I'd be interested to see to see Wilf, to see Zahav go back in
there again to start the game. Yeah, well, I mean, Wolf had
three goals and seven assists onthis nine game stretch of goal
(08:26):
contribution, so and he's kind of doing it in all areas.
So that's why I think Dean triedto put him in there because he's
like, like you said, more touches, but they just didn't
seem to get him there. And Wolf seems to have more
space, kind of knowing he's looking at goal rather than
playing behind it or or kind of going in both directions.
(08:46):
It seems like, you know, he's more comfortable on that side.
But I think he'll go back over there.
I think he'll go back over thereand they'll try.
I mean, Brant had a couple good runs in FC Cincinnati.
And they might use him to push forward more because he won't
have to cover Evander. He won't have to cover Luna like
he's like he's usually targeted to do when we have somebody
(09:09):
playing there, so who knows? I think I think Dean Smith is
one of the best managers in the league at nullifying their
opponent and understanding and and the fact that they don't
have have Diego Luna, that they have Diogo Gonzalez, like I
said, but without Luna in there,you know, you don't have as much
to worry about and to like I said, to to nullify and to take
(09:31):
out of the game. But I look at there's many
instances with Dean Smith where he's gone up against it.
Columbus Cruz, one of the best examples with Dean Smith, what
he puts out for his plan to nullify is brilliant.
So it'll be interesting to see. I I feel as though Dean Smith,
he, he starts there, has figuredit out and then he works to his
his strength going forward. So it'll be interesting it
(09:52):
there's a lot of thought that goes in behind the manager's
decisions. Do you think a lot of it has to
do with just Dean like sticking to like, hey, we're going to
play this mid block because it'sgoing to control this middle
3rd. It's going to be compact.
We're going to stay in shape. We we keep passing lanes so it
doesn't allow them to move. Teams have to play really wide
(10:13):
in order to kind of get in through it or they play over the
top, which Charlotte was suspectable to a couple times
earlier in the year. So does that, is that something
that fits well with, you know, because you talked about almost
playing two 10s for RSL, are they going to be able to kind of
(10:34):
squeeze in those areas and make that mid block harder for
Charlotte to keep the shape? Yeah, it's it's it's interesting
with because to your point, I feel like with Charlotte and
with the the strength in the middle, you do have to go round
the outsides to to be able to toget at them.
And and Charlotte aren't the team that are going to come out
(10:55):
and press. And you can understand like
Wilfred Zaha isn't going to go and and press the whole game and
really run up to the centre backs.
And I think Dean Smith is well aware that he just doesn't have
that style of of player that areare going to going to grind and
and grunted out up there to first and foremost to close
down. So I think that we're with Dean
(11:15):
Smith, it'll make it really difficult for ourselves.
It's interesting because then you know, what does Pablo
Mastroianni do to be able to to get beyond, to get around the
outside? He's got a couple of new
strikers that he's signed that I'm sure one of them he's he's
wanting to unveil Victor Olutunji is is been signed from
Sparta Prague and he's waiting for his visa to come through.
(11:39):
I don't know what the the statusis there a player that we've
seen a couple times from Ron Cruz, who's coming across from
Bodafogo, you know, wasn't playing playing much there was
at the Club World Cup, but, you know, wasn't really in involved
a lot. But he's been signed on loan.
And so, you know, what does Pablo Mastroianni do those two
players certain certainly Cruz, you know, I expect you to see
(12:02):
him, but Ola Tunji, just wondering what will happen
there. But there's been a lot of money
spent up front for for Pablo Mastroianni to have
reinforcements in the transfer window.
So will you see both those guys this weekend to help get beyond
beyond Charlotte? Yeah, that sounds like what RSL
is doing. It's like, hey, we we weren't
sure where we were going to be, but they're sitting there, like
(12:24):
you said, right on the edge in 10th and they're really, you
know, went out from being in 7thin the West and they're they're
it's like they're going after it.
They're going to make a run heretoo at the.
End got new ownership. We want to inject money into it,
you know, and and the previous owner was only around for a
short period of time. They put money in it into it.
(12:44):
Credit to them. They had Arongo who's at San
Jose now, but he went cold last year and then was transferred
off. You know, you just figure
something's gone on there. The fact that Arongo's come in
and they've spent money on him. RSL last year he was banging in
goals. I forget what his run is, but he
he barely scored after the summer months last year and then
he was shipped off to San Jose. So they're willing to spend and
(13:05):
that they're certainly back in Pablo Mastorani to to go in and
make a run at this. And they've they've Got Talent
in their in their team and they're strong structure.
You know, Pablo Mastorani, what a job he's done.
It's it's impressive that he's the fifth longest serving
manager and he's only just got in this job.
But the the turnstile that's happened.
He's the fifth longest serving manager in the league right now.
(13:27):
Wow, that's crazy. So looking at this match, is
there something when when you look at it, you know, we talked
about what a coach manager may do, may not do, but what knowing
the players, knowing how this this kind of comes out, what do
we look for? Look, do we see this as, OK,
(13:48):
Charlotte's got this because we can tell by this is happening
or, oh, Rs, LS going to take this one because of these
things, Yeah. It's a great question, Nick,
because I think that's changed now without Patrick Adjyman and,
and when Charlotte were at the best, when I thought they were
on it today. And a great example is San
(14:10):
Diego. When San Diego came in and they
were the, you know, the, the, the, the new fresh sense of the
league that the, the polished sports car that you know, was
sitting in the driveway and everybody wants to talk about
and look at. They came in the Charlotte and
Charlotte were the first team toreally punch them on the nose
and say have that and they did that because of Patrick Agiman
(14:32):
and how they played over the top.
And Columbus, the same with DeanSmith, what he did with Columbus
because of Patrick Agiman is that all of a sudden they
thought, wow, how do we deal with this is get a solid at the
back. You got Malanda back, which is
massive. So from Alanda being back and
then, you know, put it into Agiman and then you play off
them. See, see what we get for
seconds. We get up the pitch now, I think
(14:54):
there's still a a bit of figuring out to do.
You could go into Patrick Adjyman, you could play in the
Pet BL. Those are two massive positions
that Dean Smith doesn't have that quality in there right now
with Pet BL's injury. So to say Charlotte are are are
really on top of it. I, I think it's figuring out.
I think Leah Lobada needs to step up a bit more and I've seen
a difference in him the last fewgames.
(15:15):
I don't know about you, but I feel so when he's getting on the
ball, he's thinking if it comes off or not, I'm going to get my
head down and I'm going to just drive at the fenders.
No more of just passing it off and, you know, keep in
possession or I'll pick my moments.
Every moment is about us. Now when he's getting and it's
it's positive. It's it's a breath of fresh air
(15:36):
I think from him. Just go for it.
And I, I think Kerwin Vargas, he's in been in good run.
So I immediately I think with those guys in Zaha, you got to
get them on the ball. Toklamati for me scoring goals.
I know, but he's drifting too much in and out of games.
I think he's trying to find his place.
I think those three if, if Charlotte are on, they need to
to be getting on the ball. And for for RSL again, it's it's
(15:58):
big in their system. They're number 10s.
They build out through through through their holding through
the two sixes. And so if they're getting on the
ball and turning and playing into the 10s, then that's when
things start to really happen for them.
So Charlotte will want to eliminate that.
But those three that I mentionedbefore for Charlotte, they get
on the ball, you know, they start driving at the fenders in
the front half. That's when you can see them
(16:19):
really that the shoulders go back.
They they, they puff their chestout and that's when Charlotte
starts to get going. Nice.
Yeah. I, I, I agree with a lot of
that. I feel like that Charlotte's
defense has been molded back. I mean, I know we got burned
back, but it just feels like it's it's kind of back to where
it was in that kind of sturdiness.
(16:40):
And I think that makes everybodyelse play a little bit more at
ease and a little more open. So I feel like that has really
been the key to their success has been getting that defense
back to not making those mistakes and just being solid
because then it helps the rest of the offense either have those
transitions that they need or doit.
So I don't know if it matters whether you know who's in there,
(17:03):
as long as they're linking up, you know, that's that.
That was difficult in FC Cincinnati.
They just weren't linking up. You know, whatever they were
doing on offense, it wasn't happening.
And we're lucky to get the 10 men and we'll, we'll spolly
there. Yeah, that's and you look at
last year compared to this year.Last year you were able to, you
(17:24):
knew exactly what the back 4 wasgoing to be game in, game out.
You knew Colleen was on top of his game and that gave the
foundation for Charlotte to to really build that confidence off
of and to in games when things aren't going well.
You had a default button where that default button hasn't been
able to be pushed this year because the the chopping and
changing injuries to perform of players.
(17:46):
But Cincinnati was the the, the first real sign where I thought
there it is. It's it's, it's coming back now.
I know Tofolo still needs to come into the team.
I imagine he'll take that left back position where players are
kind of jumping in and out. Although I would say I did like
Nathan Byrne and and Zaha together.
They seem to and of course they have the English background, but
(18:07):
because of Byrne, his age as well, I think Zaha, as much as
he'll dig into some of his his team mates, you know, there,
there's a part there where there's a bit more understanding
and an understanding of where where you've come from, your
backgrounds, the age of both of those players.
And it just felt as though watching that relationship, I
thought that that looks like a partnership that Zaha's
(18:31):
enjoying. So what happens, you know,
Tofolo, I imagine he's got to come, come in, you know, the the
profile of the player, the levelof the player, you know, is it
Nathan Byrne then goes to the right, right side.
Marshall Ruddy I think is in it in a bit of a rut right now that
needs to come out of it. But in terms of your centre back
pairing, Tim Ream I thought was tremendous in the last game.
(18:53):
But Milanda, there was a couple of moments where he was caught
out a little bit, his positioning, but on the ball,
the way he was playing out was so good.
Kalina, that's the best I've seen of him.
I don't know about you best I'veseen him with him all season
long. So you're starting to get that
base back, that core back and again, timing now you you got
the push to playoffs. If, if you can get that set that
back four. And again, Tofolo, I'm I'm
(19:15):
really interested to see you know, and I know visas and and,
and sorting out his visa and when is he going to be
available? But what does that look like to
to have that back four finally for Dean Smith intact?
Yeah. And then one last question is
about new players coming in. Tell me your thoughts of getting
Drake calendar. Interesting, incredibly
(19:37):
interesting. And I mean, Drake Calendar isn't
a #2 Drake Calendar is a #1 and so you're bringing in Drake
Calendar again, Nick, I look forward to getting on the
training ground to start to understand that signing.
I mean, it's what it says. It's not good news for David,
David Bingham and David Bingham who's, you know, done a job and
(19:59):
wasn't a number one at previous clubs and and sees himself as a
number one, would still in my eyes, for certain clubs be a
number one. But it's not good news for David
Bingham, I imagine. But Drake calendar come in.
You know, Kalina's had a dip this year.
Is there something going on? But he was tremendous again and
I think that that really helped him.
(20:19):
I haven't looked at this. And and not to say that a player
all of a sudden decides to play really well, but the the news of
Drake calendar, when did that break?
You know, was there something that's the Kalina no going into
Cincinnati's game with that transfer happening and the
performance of a player, you know, and again, Kalina, I
imagine, is such an honest player.
(20:40):
He's given his best week in weekout.
But there's something that happens to a player when they
know that their job is up for grabs.
And I don't think David Bingham ever threatened Kalina in terms
of what the manager's stance wasfor Kalina to feel as though his
job is threatened. I just wonder now, what are you
going to see from from Kalina? Is it going to be more of
Cincinnati given that there's that added push?
(21:03):
What are what are your thoughts with with Drake coming in?
I'm like everybody else. I think it's great it, it
stabilizes everything because you, like you said you got
another #1 But then it gets me thinking, you know, do they have
offers for Kalina? Is he, you know, is he like, I
(21:23):
mean, talk to him after the match and he's like, you know, I
got a contract coming up in coming years.
You know, you do this. This helps all the stuff that me
playing well helps. But it's such a short leash for
a goalie. It's it's incredibly kind of
unfair in some ways for a goaliebecause it's like one thing they
do, they let in a goal and boom,they're not, they're not part of
(21:45):
it. And you know, yeah, you can have
strings of not playing well, butanother player out in the the
field, if they're not playing well through strings, you might
miss it because it's not everything they do is not as
impactful. So it's kind of interesting with
with goalies, yeah. Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
That's a tough the life of a a defender as well.
You, you, you go into a match thinking, I hope I don't mess
(22:07):
up. You know, that's the mentality
of a defender and a goalkeeper, because if you have that one
moment and you're punished for it, everybody looks at that,
that moment, Whereas the other way around, the striker goes
into a match thinking, I hope I just have one good moment
because I'll remember for that. You know, you can tell him to
set it back. And I'm sour to it.
All the mentality of, you know, my attacker teammates, that's
(22:28):
that's, that's the life that they lived was just give me one
good moment and I think just spare me one bad moment.
Yeah. All right.
So you got one sentence. If you could describe the your
gut feeling of the style, tone of the storyline for this match
in one sentence, what would you say?
Hard fought, hard fought. I think for for both teams.
(22:51):
It it, it will be, it will be you would say a a a bumping of
heads, a battle before you you get to the beauty.
Awesome. Well that's Ross Smith from MLS
Season Pass. He's a match day analyst, one of
the best voices out there. Go check out his podcast with us
(23:12):
where we did a deep dive into what what motivates him what
what is Ross's story. So we got that.
You can listen to that from fromlast year and then catch him on
every MLS match with his cohort Tony Husband and they're on
Apple TV. And of course this Saturday
night doing the Charlotte FC match at 7:30 against Real Salt
(23:33):
Lake. Thanks again, Ross.
Thanks so much Nick. You're you're one of the best at
asking questions. I always love chatting with you.
Thanks so much for the time. Sure, Again, thanks for
listening to another episode of the Charlotte FC Podcast where
we bring you the fascinating people who work for and around
Charlotte FC and the world of football.
(23:53):
The Charlotte FC Podcast is edited and produced by me, Nick
Fanelli and Eli Fanelli. Please help us out and share
this episode with others. Five stars and follow CLTFC
Podcast on Instagram X and YouTube.
Until next time, enjoy the day.
Welcome to Charlotte FC Podcast.Nick Finnelli here.
I'm joined with a a special person I've already had on the
podcast, but more in just the interview.
And now we're going to talk about the match and it is Ross
Smith. Welcome, Ross.
Thanks, Nick. Thanks for having me on again.
It's great. Yeah, So if you don't know Ross,
he's just a super, super sharp and wonderful nice guy.
(00:31):
He's a he's had a playing career, of course, and he was at
a Portland covering them and nowhe's with MLS season pass and
we're here to actually break down the clash between Charlotte
FC. And we also have, like, rial's
playing well as of late, even though they just lost last week
to New York Red Bulls, but they only had two losses in all of
(00:53):
June and July and now into August.
And that was to Red Bulls and then a home game to FC
Cincinnati, who Charlotte just saw.
And then Charlotte, on the flip side, has won five in a row.
And it's not really lost since aspell in June where they lost 3
or 4 and also had a difficulty in in May.
So they are kind of on the upward trend.
(01:14):
So Ross, what are you? What are you thinking about
going into this match? You've seen them a lot.
You've been covering a lot of Charlotte's matches.
Yeah, it's it's a real interesting one, Nick, just
given where both teams are in the standings and RSL just
slightly outside the playoff line looking to get in.
And and and Charlotte because ofthis run, they've put themselves
(01:35):
back in the picture after what was a a tough goal for a little
bit being on the road, but but before league's Cup.
And and I know league's Cup didn't go well for for
Charlotte, but you look at the regular season form and it's
been it's been really good and it's been really good despite
changes that are happening with Patrick Agiman being transferred
(01:57):
out, you know, Pepe outgoing down now.
And so to to rejig the team, Milanda just coming back.
You've been without your star centre back, Kalina starting to
come round to form. He was brilliant in the last
game. And so your goalkeeper of the
year hasn't had the best of seasons, but it's starting to to
turn things around. So be where you are right now
(02:17):
and not hitting Top Gear is, is a good sign because you you can
only hope the way it's trending for Charlotte right now that
it's it's going to get better and better.
And this is the time of year when you want things to start to
click. Yeah, you definitely want to
peek. You you see that that's who
makes the runs. It's not necessarily the best
team all year round. It's the one who can make that
(02:37):
run at the end of the year and and be in that form.
So looking directly at this match, we got no Diego Luna.
I know we were expecting that, but a little incident there at
the end there and he gets, he gets 2 yellows which puts him in
a red and now he's out. And I know RSL has played
without him when he was with theUS national team.
(02:58):
But how does RSRSL change their attack?
And who becomes the creative outlet in this?
Yeah, it's a tough one because Luna, I, I did think it was
worthy of it, a yellow card and of a second yellow card.
Sometimes the threshold for a second yellow card is a is a bit
more than your first tricky 1. And it's disappointing.
(03:20):
I it's a plus for for Charlotte,not having Diego Luna in the 11
facing you. But in terms of the broadcast,
when you step in, as you know onthe media side, you want to see
the best talent on the pitch, ofcourse, so difficult one there.
RSL they've got a player called Gonzalez Gonzalvez who is who's
that sort of same #10 style. I wonder if Pablo Mastrani will
(03:42):
will change his system slightly.He likes to to play a back four
and then you're holding 2 and then the next two in front are
almost like 2 number 10s. They can split out wide, but
really they're good pocket players as we like to call them.
And then your two strikers on top of it.
And so Diego Luna would occupy one of those number 10s.
I just wonder if Diego Gonzalez will will occupy that number 10
(04:06):
role on his own and we see a a slight change of system.
So Gonzalez, wonderful player, but he can come in and out of of
the game. He can drift in and out of it.
If he's on the ball and he's doing well, then he's terrific,
but he can go missing as well. So I would look for that player.
That's the the obvious replacement.
That's the obvious guy who who really needs to step up in that
(04:29):
role. All right.
And then on the other side, again, you already mentioned no
Pep BL. Has Charlotte been able to
figure out who is going to be inthat place?
They tried Wilf for a little bitin FC Cincinnati, maybe to get
him more touches and have some more control.
They ended up moving him back out to the left side and kind of
(04:49):
Vargas played in that spot. What do you what do you see them
doing with the 10 now? Because that still seems like an
area that they need to figure out.
Yeah, it's it's really interesting and you know what,
Nick, I I thought when I saw that eleven, I thought that's a
that's a blow to Eric Williamsonand the last game of league's
cup. I was covering the game and Eric
(05:11):
was was good. You think of of the goal that
was scored. Oh, who put the final touch on
it? I'm thinking of the build up
play it was, it was up to Eric Williamson set it back for
Westwood who played it along theline to Cambridge and then
Cambridge went in the ball. Smalls.
And Smalls and Smalls had the final touch, but that was a nice
bit of interchange between Williamson and and and Westwood
(05:33):
and I thought we were starting to see a relationship there and
Williamson linking up with the central midfielders.
But I did make the the point in the game in the last league's
cup game, saying Williamson almost needs to go up another
level. That Pep yell in this game
wouldn't make it his his game. He would take over.
He would end up getting another assist or he would get a goal.
And it just felt like Williamsona little bit of OK, we're good,
(05:58):
we're good here. Instead of being a cutthroat.
I'm going to make it so obvious that Dean Smith isn't going to
Take Me Out of the team. And I've seen Eric Williamson
seen him closely at at Portland.I was previously with Portland
on the broadcast side and Eric was fantastic, one of the best
midfielders in this league. He's gone through a couple real
rough years with his ACL and he's done tremendously well to
(06:20):
come back. But he's needing to prove
himself with the manager who I think first and foremost you got
to stick in, you got to stick in, you got to commit every
single second of the game. And Eric could be guilty of it's
seeming as though he's falling out of games, that he's drifting
at times, but when he turns it on he is superb and we started
to see that in the last league'scup game.
(06:40):
But I think with Eric, it's the understanding on the Dean Smith,
you can't drift in and out, you can't have a moment of
brilliance and then you, we don't see you for 5-10 minutes.
You need to be brilliant all thetime on both sides of the ball.
So I, I say that which I'd, I'd be surprised if we see Eric
coming back in, you know this. But what does that mean?
Then this Wilfred Zaha start at the number 10.
(07:02):
He drifted outside and Kerwin Vargas started to play in that
little pocket. It it's interesting.
Dean Smith can go so many different ways and what it comes
down to, he can go with three similar type of players with
Gianni Bronico, Westwood. It's an interesting 11 Nick as I
go through all the different scenarios in my mind, I just I
don't know what Dean Smith wherehe sees the strength and
(07:22):
matching up against RSL, what hehas to account for and and going
forward. But but Zaha, I think as long as
he gets his touches on the ball,he can play in there.
Of course he can. He's he's got the technical
ability. I didn't think he got enough
touches on the ball against Cincinnati, but when he did, he
was good and you could see him. And I know he's become
demonstrative and he's taking a lot of stick for how he acts
(07:42):
towards his teammates, the referees always complaining.
But I what I would say is he's he's got a point.
Get him on the ball. Get him the ball as much as
possible to see what he does with it.
And I think now he's starting toevolve as a players doesn't have
the legs to go and run past you quite like what he used to.
He still has an injection of pace, but what it is showing now
(08:04):
is is his technical ability and he and he's had that which he
has that which helps the longevity of his career.
Anyways, it's my long winded answer Nick to you to to think
I'd be interested to see to see Wilf, to see Zahav go back in
there again to start the game. Yeah, well, I mean, Wolf had
three goals and seven assists onthis nine game stretch of goal
(08:26):
contribution, so and he's kind of doing it in all areas.
So that's why I think Dean triedto put him in there because he's
like, like you said, more touches, but they just didn't
seem to get him there. And Wolf seems to have more
space, kind of knowing he's looking at goal rather than
playing behind it or or kind of going in both directions.
(08:46):
It seems like, you know, he's more comfortable on that side.
But I think he'll go back over there.
I think he'll go back over thereand they'll try.
I mean, Brant had a couple good runs in FC Cincinnati.
And they might use him to push forward more because he won't
have to cover Evander. He won't have to cover Luna like
he's like he's usually targeted to do when we have somebody
(09:09):
playing there, so who knows? I think I think Dean Smith is
one of the best managers in the league at nullifying their
opponent and understanding and and the fact that they don't
have have Diego Luna, that they have Diogo Gonzalez, like I
said, but without Luna in there,you know, you don't have as much
to worry about and to like I said, to to nullify and to take
(09:31):
out of the game. But I look at there's many
instances with Dean Smith where he's gone up against it.
Columbus Cruz, one of the best examples with Dean Smith, what
he puts out for his plan to nullify is brilliant.
So it'll be interesting to see. I I feel as though Dean Smith,
he, he starts there, has figuredit out and then he works to his
his strength going forward. So it'll be interesting it
(09:52):
there's a lot of thought that goes in behind the manager's
decisions. Do you think a lot of it has to
do with just Dean like sticking to like, hey, we're going to
play this mid block because it'sgoing to control this middle
3rd. It's going to be compact.
We're going to stay in shape. We we keep passing lanes so it
doesn't allow them to move. Teams have to play really wide
(10:13):
in order to kind of get in through it or they play over the
top, which Charlotte was suspectable to a couple times
earlier in the year. So does that, is that something
that fits well with, you know, because you talked about almost
playing two 10s for RSL, are they going to be able to kind of
(10:34):
squeeze in those areas and make that mid block harder for
Charlotte to keep the shape? Yeah, it's it's it's interesting
with because to your point, I feel like with Charlotte and
with the the strength in the middle, you do have to go round
the outsides to to be able to toget at them.
And and Charlotte aren't the team that are going to come out
(10:55):
and press. And you can understand like
Wilfred Zaha isn't going to go and and press the whole game and
really run up to the centre backs.
And I think Dean Smith is well aware that he just doesn't have
that style of of player that areare going to going to grind and
and grunted out up there to first and foremost to close
down. So I think that we're with Dean
(11:15):
Smith, it'll make it really difficult for ourselves.
It's interesting because then you know, what does Pablo
Mastroianni do to be able to to get beyond, to get around the
outside? He's got a couple of new
strikers that he's signed that I'm sure one of them he's he's
wanting to unveil Victor Olutunji is is been signed from
Sparta Prague and he's waiting for his visa to come through.
(11:39):
I don't know what the the statusis there a player that we've
seen a couple times from Ron Cruz, who's coming across from
Bodafogo, you know, wasn't playing playing much there was
at the Club World Cup, but, you know, wasn't really in involved
a lot. But he's been signed on loan.
And so, you know, what does Pablo Mastroianni do those two
players certain certainly Cruz, you know, I expect you to see
(12:02):
him, but Ola Tunji, just wondering what will happen
there. But there's been a lot of money
spent up front for for Pablo Mastroianni to have
reinforcements in the transfer window.
So will you see both those guys this weekend to help get beyond
beyond Charlotte? Yeah, that sounds like what RSL
is doing. It's like, hey, we we weren't
sure where we were going to be, but they're sitting there, like
(12:24):
you said, right on the edge in 10th and they're really, you
know, went out from being in 7thin the West and they're they're
it's like they're going after it.
They're going to make a run heretoo at the.
End got new ownership. We want to inject money into it,
you know, and and the previous owner was only around for a
short period of time. They put money in it into it.
(12:44):
Credit to them. They had Arongo who's at San
Jose now, but he went cold last year and then was transferred
off. You know, you just figure
something's gone on there. The fact that Arongo's come in
and they've spent money on him. RSL last year he was banging in
goals. I forget what his run is, but he
he barely scored after the summer months last year and then
he was shipped off to San Jose. So they're willing to spend and
(13:05):
that they're certainly back in Pablo Mastorani to to go in and
make a run at this. And they've they've Got Talent
in their in their team and they're strong structure.
You know, Pablo Mastorani, what a job he's done.
It's it's impressive that he's the fifth longest serving
manager and he's only just got in this job.
But the the turnstile that's happened.
He's the fifth longest serving manager in the league right now.
(13:27):
Wow, that's crazy. So looking at this match, is
there something when when you look at it, you know, we talked
about what a coach manager may do, may not do, but what knowing
the players, knowing how this this kind of comes out, what do
we look for? Look, do we see this as, OK,
(13:48):
Charlotte's got this because we can tell by this is happening
or, oh, Rs, LS going to take this one because of these
things, Yeah. It's a great question, Nick,
because I think that's changed now without Patrick Adjyman and,
and when Charlotte were at the best, when I thought they were
on it today. And a great example is San
(14:10):
Diego. When San Diego came in and they
were the, you know, the, the, the, the new fresh sense of the
league that the, the polished sports car that you know, was
sitting in the driveway and everybody wants to talk about
and look at. They came in the Charlotte and
Charlotte were the first team toreally punch them on the nose
and say have that and they did that because of Patrick Agiman
(14:32):
and how they played over the top.
And Columbus, the same with DeanSmith, what he did with Columbus
because of Patrick Agiman is that all of a sudden they
thought, wow, how do we deal with this is get a solid at the
back. You got Malanda back, which is
massive. So from Alanda being back and
then, you know, put it into Agiman and then you play off
them. See, see what we get for
seconds. We get up the pitch now, I think
(14:54):
there's still a a bit of figuring out to do.
You could go into Patrick Adjyman, you could play in the
Pet BL. Those are two massive positions
that Dean Smith doesn't have that quality in there right now
with Pet BL's injury. So to say Charlotte are are are
really on top of it. I, I think it's figuring out.
I think Leah Lobada needs to step up a bit more and I've seen
a difference in him the last fewgames.
(15:15):
I don't know about you, but I feel so when he's getting on the
ball, he's thinking if it comes off or not, I'm going to get my
head down and I'm going to just drive at the fenders.
No more of just passing it off and, you know, keep in
possession or I'll pick my moments.
Every moment is about us. Now when he's getting and it's
it's positive. It's it's a breath of fresh air
(15:36):
I think from him. Just go for it.
And I, I think Kerwin Vargas, he's in been in good run.
So I immediately I think with those guys in Zaha, you got to
get them on the ball. Toklamati for me scoring goals.
I know, but he's drifting too much in and out of games.
I think he's trying to find his place.
I think those three if, if Charlotte are on, they need to
to be getting on the ball. And for for RSL again, it's it's
(15:58):
big in their system. They're number 10s.
They build out through through through their holding through
the two sixes. And so if they're getting on the
ball and turning and playing into the 10s, then that's when
things start to really happen for them.
So Charlotte will want to eliminate that.
But those three that I mentionedbefore for Charlotte, they get
on the ball, you know, they start driving at the fenders in
the front half. That's when you can see them
(16:19):
really that the shoulders go back.
They they, they puff their chestout and that's when Charlotte
starts to get going. Nice.
Yeah. I, I, I agree with a lot of
that. I feel like that Charlotte's
defense has been molded back. I mean, I know we got burned
back, but it just feels like it's it's kind of back to where
it was in that kind of sturdiness.
(16:40):
And I think that makes everybodyelse play a little bit more at
ease and a little more open. So I feel like that has really
been the key to their success has been getting that defense
back to not making those mistakes and just being solid
because then it helps the rest of the offense either have those
transitions that they need or doit.
So I don't know if it matters whether you know who's in there,
(17:03):
as long as they're linking up, you know, that's that.
That was difficult in FC Cincinnati.
They just weren't linking up. You know, whatever they were
doing on offense, it wasn't happening.
And we're lucky to get the 10 men and we'll, we'll spolly
there. Yeah, that's and you look at
last year compared to this year.Last year you were able to, you
(17:24):
knew exactly what the back 4 wasgoing to be game in, game out.
You knew Colleen was on top of his game and that gave the
foundation for Charlotte to to really build that confidence off
of and to in games when things aren't going well.
You had a default button where that default button hasn't been
able to be pushed this year because the the chopping and
changing injuries to perform of players.
(17:46):
But Cincinnati was the the, the first real sign where I thought
there it is. It's it's, it's coming back now.
I know Tofolo still needs to come into the team.
I imagine he'll take that left back position where players are
kind of jumping in and out. Although I would say I did like
Nathan Byrne and and Zaha together.
They seem to and of course they have the English background, but
(18:07):
because of Byrne, his age as well, I think Zaha, as much as
he'll dig into some of his his team mates, you know, there,
there's a part there where there's a bit more understanding
and an understanding of where where you've come from, your
backgrounds, the age of both of those players.
And it just felt as though watching that relationship, I
thought that that looks like a partnership that Zaha's
(18:31):
enjoying. So what happens, you know,
Tofolo, I imagine he's got to come, come in, you know, the the
profile of the player, the levelof the player, you know, is it
Nathan Byrne then goes to the right, right side.
Marshall Ruddy I think is in it in a bit of a rut right now that
needs to come out of it. But in terms of your centre back
pairing, Tim Ream I thought was tremendous in the last game.
(18:53):
But Milanda, there was a couple of moments where he was caught
out a little bit, his positioning, but on the ball,
the way he was playing out was so good.
Kalina, that's the best I've seen of him.
I don't know about you best I'veseen him with him all season
long. So you're starting to get that
base back, that core back and again, timing now you you got
the push to playoffs. If, if you can get that set that
back four. And again, Tofolo, I'm I'm
(19:15):
really interested to see you know, and I know visas and and,
and sorting out his visa and when is he going to be
available? But what does that look like to
to have that back four finally for Dean Smith intact?
Yeah. And then one last question is
about new players coming in. Tell me your thoughts of getting
Drake calendar. Interesting, incredibly
(19:37):
interesting. And I mean, Drake Calendar isn't
a #2 Drake Calendar is a #1 and so you're bringing in Drake
Calendar again, Nick, I look forward to getting on the
training ground to start to understand that signing.
I mean, it's what it says. It's not good news for David,
David Bingham and David Bingham who's, you know, done a job and
(19:59):
wasn't a number one at previous clubs and and sees himself as a
number one, would still in my eyes, for certain clubs be a
number one. But it's not good news for David
Bingham, I imagine. But Drake calendar come in.
You know, Kalina's had a dip this year.
Is there something going on? But he was tremendous again and
I think that that really helped him.
(20:19):
I haven't looked at this. And and not to say that a player
all of a sudden decides to play really well, but the the news of
Drake calendar, when did that break?
You know, was there something that's the Kalina no going into
Cincinnati's game with that transfer happening and the
performance of a player, you know, and again, Kalina, I
imagine, is such an honest player.
(20:40):
He's given his best week in weekout.
But there's something that happens to a player when they
know that their job is up for grabs.
And I don't think David Bingham ever threatened Kalina in terms
of what the manager's stance wasfor Kalina to feel as though his
job is threatened. I just wonder now, what are you
going to see from from Kalina? Is it going to be more of
Cincinnati given that there's that added push?
(21:03):
What are what are your thoughts with with Drake coming in?
I'm like everybody else. I think it's great it, it
stabilizes everything because you, like you said you got
another #1 But then it gets me thinking, you know, do they have
offers for Kalina? Is he, you know, is he like, I
(21:23):
mean, talk to him after the match and he's like, you know, I
got a contract coming up in coming years.
You know, you do this. This helps all the stuff that me
playing well helps. But it's such a short leash for
a goalie. It's it's incredibly kind of
unfair in some ways for a goaliebecause it's like one thing they
do, they let in a goal and boom,they're not, they're not part of
(21:45):
it. And you know, yeah, you can have
strings of not playing well, butanother player out in the the
field, if they're not playing well through strings, you might
miss it because it's not everything they do is not as
impactful. So it's kind of interesting with
with goalies, yeah. Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
That's a tough the life of a a defender as well.
You, you, you go into a match thinking, I hope I don't mess
(22:07):
up. You know, that's the mentality
of a defender and a goalkeeper, because if you have that one
moment and you're punished for it, everybody looks at that,
that moment, Whereas the other way around, the striker goes
into a match thinking, I hope I just have one good moment
because I'll remember for that. You know, you can tell him to
set it back. And I'm sour to it.
All the mentality of, you know, my attacker teammates, that's
(22:28):
that's, that's the life that they lived was just give me one
good moment and I think just spare me one bad moment.
Yeah. All right.
So you got one sentence. If you could describe the your
gut feeling of the style, tone of the storyline for this match
in one sentence, what would you say?
Hard fought, hard fought. I think for for both teams.
(22:51):
It it, it will be, it will be you would say a a a bumping of
heads, a battle before you you get to the beauty.
Awesome. Well that's Ross Smith from MLS
Season Pass. He's a match day analyst, one of
the best voices out there. Go check out his podcast with us
(23:12):
where we did a deep dive into what what motivates him what
what is Ross's story. So we got that.
You can listen to that from fromlast year and then catch him on
every MLS match with his cohort Tony Husband and they're on
Apple TV. And of course this Saturday
night doing the Charlotte FC match at 7:30 against Real Salt
(23:33):
Lake. Thanks again, Ross.
Thanks so much Nick. You're you're one of the best at
asking questions. I always love chatting with you.
Thanks so much for the time. Sure, Again, thanks for
listening to another episode of the Charlotte FC Podcast where
we bring you the fascinating people who work for and around
Charlotte FC and the world of football.
(23:53):
The Charlotte FC Podcast is edited and produced by me, Nick
Fanelli and Eli Fanelli. Please help us out and share
this episode with others. Five stars and follow CLTFC
Podcast on Instagram X and YouTube.
Until next time, enjoy the day.
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