Charlotte FC’s Stock Up, Stock Down: Biel puts up Team of the Week level performance, Doumbia shines in debut, Captain Westwood leads from the front
By Sam Vanolinda
Charlotte FC proved they are a force to be reckoned with in the East with their 4-1 victory over San Jose Saturday night. With Patrick Agyemang, Tim Ream, and Liel Abada on international duty, this may have been a trap game with a depleted lineup, but the Crown efficiently handled the opposition.
The Earthquakes' defense was faulty last year, giving up 78 goals, so Charlotte could find gaps in the backline and exploit them even without two starters on the front line.
The midfield three decided they would score in a game in which the questions were about Idan Toklomati and Kerwin Vargas replacing Abada and Agyemang. Ashley Westwood, Pep Biel, and Brandt Bronico all scored goals before the game even went to halftime.
The win moved Charlotte FC to second in the Eastern Conference behind only the Philadelphia Union, which has also played exceptional soccer in 2025. Charlotte FC's three wins this year have proven that they can adapt and win in a multitude of ways, whether counter-attacking, controlling possession, or sitting back and protecting a lead.
Here is the Stock Up/Down for the sixth straight home MLS Victory:
Stock Up
Souleyman Doumbia
“He put in an excellent performance, and we can be thankful to him. He got back off a plane last night at midnight, he's fasting for Ramadan, and he's gone out and ended up playing 90 minutes without a lot of training in the last week or two…”
Above are Dean Smith’s post-game thoughts about the new singing Souleyman Doumbia, who, as the gaffer said, had just arrived in America, was fasting, and was thrown into a game with very little preparation or time to gel with the team.
Given those conditions, Doumbia was excellent in his Charlotte debut. He breathed fresh air into the attack because he is a natural wingback with speed and willingness to get forward. When you have Wilfried Zaha on the same wing, a left-back who wants to overlap will have space to work with.
It was Doumbia’s run that created the first goal for Biel. While Ream has been doing a good job at his unnatural position of left back, having a more natural player in that position made all the difference; with Privett’s red card, he will likely start again next week.
Pep Biel
Pep Biel is making an early case for the team MVP in the first five games of the year.
Saturday night was the best game of his MLS career and the best game from a Charlotte FC attacker this season. Two assists, one goal, a 9.1 Fotmob rating, a 9.5 WhoScored rating, and Man of the Match.
Biel started the game with an excellent curled finish from a deflected cross that fell to him slightly out of the box and then proceeded to add two assists, one beautiful weighted pass into Bronico, who turned into Messi chipping the keeper and scoring the open goal, and then finding Vargas on the wing for the fourth goal of the match.
Biel is becoming the team's desperately needed number 10. Here’s hoping the team can secure his services when his loan ends in August.
Kerwin Vargas
When Vargas came on as a sub last week, he looked flat, but as I said in my last article, he deserves a chance to start and prove himself.
Lucky for Vargas, Abada was playing for Israel, so the Colombian got his chance to shine. He scored a much-needed goal to increase his confidence.
Vargas looked lively on the right, and when Biel found him with space in front of him, he ran into that space and finished into the bottom left corner with class.
A confident Vargas competes for a starting role. As the season progresses and rotation becomes more common, he is a great player to have.
Ashley Westwood
Westwood always does the dirty work for the team. He is a captain's captain, a leader, willing to sacrifice personal glory for the team.
Saturday, however, Westwood’s daughter scored a goal in her morning soccer game, so Westwood had to score the second Westwood goal of the day.
While doing his usual excellent work as a pivot, defending well and progressing the ball to the attacking side of the field, the English midfielder found himself in a striker's position for a tap-in due to Idan Toklomati's great hustle and pass in the 36th minute.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Idan Toklomati, Brandt Bronico, Kristijan Kahlina, Nathan Byrne.
Stock Down
Andrew Privett
The penalty and red card were both questionable decisions, but when you are up 4-0 in the late stages of the game, there is no need to make that tackle.
I don’t know if Privett wanted Dean Smith's bottle of wine for keeping the clean sheet, but he dragged a San Jose player down in a goal-scoring position and was sent off.
Luckily, the game was over, and Ream will slot into the left-center back position next game, but it was a silly mistake.
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