North Charlotte Today

Kerwin Vargas and Brandt Bronico scored in a 2-2 home draw after Scott Arfield’s first-half red card put Charlotte FC down a man for 50 minutes.

On Wednesday night in North Carolina, Charlotte FC and Orlando City SC wasted no time in getting the chances flowing inside the first five minutes. Liel Abada burst through with pace and tried to fire the ball low across the goal. Patrick Agyemang couldn’t get a touch on it despite lunging at full stretch. On the other end, Duncan McGuire had a significant chance for Orlando after an Ashley Westwood turnover but fired his shot wide of the near post.

Charlotte FC struck first through Kerwin Vargas, who scored in his second consecutive match after netting last Saturday’s match-winner. Abada played a smart one-two with Scott Arfield before taking a big touch behind and sprinting past his defender. He cut it back inside the box, and Orlando misplayed the clearance, allowing Vargas to easily pass the ball into the net.

Jere Uronen nearly doubled the lead for Charlotte FC a few minutes later, smashing an impressive long-range strike off the crossbar with his weaker right foot. Arfield also had a chance to shoot on goal after Abada squared a pass to him on top of the box, but his effort was saved.

Orlando created several dangerous moments as Kahlina was forced into saves in the 19th minute on a Facundo Torres header and later held a deflected Nico Lodeiro shot.

The match changed significantly in the 35th minute when Arfield earned a straight red card, reducing Charlotte FC to ten men for the remainder of the game. Initially, referee Allen Chapman gave a yellow card, but video review confirmed that Arfield caught Felipe Martins with his studs from behind, escalating it to red. Martins was forced to sub off shortly after.

From there, The Crown committed to defending deep and counter-attacking with their front three's pace. Westwood and Djibril Diani continued playing as midfield pivots with less support due to Arfield's absence.

Things worsened in stoppage time when Adilson Malanda took Luis Muriel’s shot to the side of the head. CLTFC athletic trainers treated him on-field; he left under his own power as they retained their 1-0 advantage into halftime.

Fortunately, Malanda was deemed fit at halftime, and Head Coach Dean Smith kept his team unchanged. Orlando Head Coach Oscar Pareja substituted Dagur Thorhallsson for Ivan Angula at halftime.

Torres had an immediate chance from kickoff in the second half but was denied by Kahlina. In the 50th minute, Agyemang and Abada sprinted behind in a two versus one from halfway; Torres tugged Agyemang down from behind earning a yellow card but preventing an opportunity.

Charlotte nearly doubled their lead twice more within minutes as Abada was denied by Mason Stajduhar and Diani’s header drifted over from Uronen's corner kick.

In response to relentless pressure from Orlando, Dean Smith brought on Brandt Bronico and Ben Bender for Liel Abada and Kerwin Vargas in an attempt to bolster defense after conceding an equalizer by Duncan McGuire in minute 64 via Torres' assist.

Bronico connected almost immediately serving Bender whose header missed target under pressure. Defensively those substitutions adjusted Charlotte into more diamond midfield formation while maintaining offensive threat evidenced by Bronico’s composed finish chipping over Stajduhar putting Charlotte ahead again despite being down man due Uronen's assist won tackle follow-up against Jansson/Muriel combined effort late-game struggles continued equalized soon after following Kahlina's initial save rebound volley finish Torres finally closing out thrilling contest between two teams vying playoff spots upcoming recovery period minimal before next match Philadelphia Union road trip scheduled Saturday