Will Cleary’s first career MLS goal buoyed Charlotte’s second-half comeback in a 3-1 defeat of visiting D.C. United on Saturday evening.
A sluggish first half that produced only two shots on target quickly turned into end-to-end soccer after halftime. Although D.C. (5-7-9, 24 points) outshot Charlotte (9-7-5, 32 points) 10-3 in the first half and initially enjoyed the better chances, Charlotte scored three consecutive goals to complete a come-from-behind victory to run its unbeaten streak to three matches.
Charlotte’s Kristijan Kahlina made four saves, while D.C. keeper Sean Johnson saved two shots.
D.C. United finally opened the scoring in the 54th minute when Louis Munteanu curled a shot past Kahlina. Matti Peltola caught the Charlotte defense by surprise with a quickly taken free kick and found Joao Peglow open at the edge of the box. Peglow laid the ball off to Munteanu with one touch, and he cleanly slotted his shot into the bottom right corner. Munteanu’s sixth goal of the season, ended a five-game goal drought.
Charlotte quickly struck back through David Schnegg in the 64th minute. A lofted free kick from Pep Biel found Rodolfo Aloko inside the box. Johnson stabbed away Aloko’s header, but Schnegg collected the rebound and tapped it into the net. Schnegg’s second goal of the season came against the team that waived him in January.
Two minutes later, Will Cleary gave Charlotte its first lead of the game. Biel neatly picked out Cleary in the center of the box with an in-swinging corner kick, and Cleary met Biel’s corner with a powerful header for the go-ahead tally.
Biel’s strike put Charlotte up 3-1 in the 77th minute. His bouncing goal came after a quick counter-attack led by Liel Abada. Abada received the ball in space from Biel and pushed the ball down to D.C.’s penalty area. Abada then played the ball horizontally to a streaking Biel, who took the ball in stride and tucked his shot into the bottom left corner.
D.C. defenders Keisuke Kurokawa and Silvan Hefti both picked up yellow cards in the first half. The yellow cards are Kurokawa’s and Hefti’s fifth of the season, meaning they’ll miss D.C.’s home match against Los Angeles FC next Saturday.
Allan Saint-Maximin was forced off the field in the 83rd minute of his Charlotte debut with an apparent leg injury after a physical tackle.
–Field Level Media
