Charlotte FC are boarding a cross-country flight over to California for a marquee matchup with star-studded LAFC on Saturday.
Here are the three ingredients of the match for LAFC.
Avoid Costly Turnovers
In last week’s 3-2 loss to Chicago Fire FC, head coach Christian Lattanzio felt that turnovers in midfield led to too many transition moments, which ultimately cost the team “too much”.
“Especially the way we want to play, we want to create a lot and be open with our players. We can’t afford to lose simple balls in midfield because we invite transitions. And, if we do lose the ball, we have to recover the ball differently and better.”
The Fire took full advantage of these transition moments, and there is no reason to believe that an LAFC side spoiled for attacking riches – Gareth Bale, Christian Arango, and Carlos Vela just to name a few – won’t do the exact same.
Avoiding simple turnovers in midfield will be key to limiting the chances these superstars get.
Put Together a Full 90 Minutes
Lattanzio’s side have showed glimpses of brilliant play throughout the summer months. However, outside of a marquee 4-1 win over Nashville (which was at home), the team has yet to put together a fully dominant 90-minute performance.
While no one is expecting the Crown to walk all over league-leading LAFC at their stadium, it will be important to put together a complete 90-minute performance on Saturday. Players like Christian Arango, who has scored nine goals in his last 11 games, will likely take full advantage of any defensive lapses or 10-minute periods of bad decisions.
As forward McKinze Gaines put it this week, it’s about “bringing consistency home and away” to begin climbing the table.
Fuel the Belief
Coaches and players have talked all year about approaching the season with a game-by-game mentality. Not getting too ahead of yourself is important in professional soccer; otherwise, you drive yourself crazy with the potential playoff scenarios.
However, the bigger picture could hold some undeniable extra motivation for a team that believes in themselves as playoff worthy. Especially since away form has held back CLTFC all season (they have the second-most home wins of any team but only one away win), a crucial point or three against the best team in the league would be a massive boost heading into the stretch run.
This could give players that little bit of extra motivation required to find that one extra sprint, one last-ditch tackle, or one moment of magic that would net the Club a big result.
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