Queen City Stalemate — Union Draw Charlotte FC 0-0
Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union
The Philadelphia Union and Charlotte FC played to a scoreless draw in their first matchup since a 2-2 draw in September of last year.
Only four points separated the Philadelphia Union and Charlotte FC going into Saturday night’s game, yet the teams were in very different form. The Union’s most recent 3-nil road win, over the 10-men New England Revolution, was their only win in the last five games. The Crowns of Charlotte, meanwhile, were unbeaten and unscored upon in four games, three home at Bank of America stadium.
The first half brought about some good action for both sides, Charlotte dominating possession and the Union with the edge in shots and attempts on goal.
The first of these shots called Union starting (mostly regular nowadays) goalkeeper Oliver Semmle into action. Iuri Tavares did great work to keep the ball in on the left sideline and managed to find Nikola Petkovic sneaking into open space in front of Semmle. The angle was tight and Semmle came out big using his feet to make the stop.
Minutes after that, a left-footed ball from Jack McGlynn found the head of Julian Carranza. His headed ball found a wide-open Daniel Gazdag in tight to Charlotte goalie Kristijan Kahlina. Kahlina was able to drop to his backside quickly, kicking away Gazdag’s shot with his left foot as he did so.
The second half let off the accelerator at times but still produced plenty of moments to steal three points for both sides. Julian Carranza and Gazdag had opportunities for the Union, both having varying levels of difficulty for different reasons. Oliver Semmle also came up big to stop a late Andrew Privett header though his best was yet to come. In the 88th minute, Liel Abada was able to wiggle onto his left foot at the top of the box. His curling left-footed shot was heading for the bottom corner until Semmle showed a strong right hand, pushing the attempt wide of his goalpost.
These teams will see each other a good bit coming up but on this night they settled for the good they could take out of this game. Charlotte remains unbeaten and unscored upon over five games while the Union get another point after a stretch of three defeats in five games.
The Union return to the Subaru Park pitch Wednesday for a mid-week fixture against Toronto FC. They will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak at home, the longest in club history. Gametime is at 7:30 PM EST.
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