The Charleston perspective on the win over Miami FC on Saturday
Charleston won 2-1 thanks to a late goal by MD Myers
Miami FC took an early 1-0 lead last night, but Charleston responded almost immediately with a quick restart on a free kick that caught Miami’s defense asleep. A ball by Arturo Rodríguez found Nick Markanich, a guy you don’t want to leave unmarked in the area. The quick response from the Battery restored the equilibrium of the match. Charleston Coach Ben Pirmann addressed this after the match.
The early goal against us unsettled us, so the response was key. Great quick restart by Aaron Molloy, great ball in by Arturo Rodriguez, and then Nick Markanich has been on fire. It helped reestablish the evenness of the game, but then it would tilt back in our favor. Sticking to our process and what we do well, which is moving the ball, breaking lines, and then counter-pressing when we lose it. So, that early response from Arturo and Nick was key to getting us back into it.
Miami FC had several counter-attacking opportunities with match level 1-1 to take a lead. But none of them came off and as the match went on, Charleston were consistently first to second balls both in midfield and on the attacking end of play. This effort paid off with a winning goal from MD Myers in minute 82, courtesy of a rebound in the area after an excellent initial save by Daniel Gagliardi. Post-match Myers addressed his winning goal and what made it happen.
I'm always just trying to get in front of the goal and anticipate a mistake by the goalkeeper, a ball that might find its way into the middle of the box. I saw Juan David getting ready to strike the ball, I knew he was gonna get a shot off and just wanted to put myself in a good position. The ball happened to bounce out and I just pounced on it right when it came out.
You can see it in practice and games, Juan has a great shot. So, if it’s not going in, it’s probably going to be a rebound or off the post or something like that. It’s always good to position yourself in the right spot, in case he doesn't put it in the back of the net, I hope that I'm in the right spot to put it away.
The failure to get to second balls is something Miami Head Coach Antonio Nocerino addressed to me in his postgame interview.
Pirmann reflected on the performance and what it meant to get three points on the road, especially against a team historically Charleston has had trouble beating.
We've been on the road three times. All three games have been extremely in our favor in terms of possession, shots, and chances, but have been difficult games. The biggest takeaway from the three road matches is that we've got 14 more of these away games, 30 more total, where teams will fight and claw and do everything they can to negate our movements, to take away our space. They will try to do whatever they can to get results, whether that's in the counterattack, drawing fouls, using energy and momentum from being at home. We know in seven days we'll have to do the same thing in Rhode Island.
Charleston goes to Rhode Island next week. Tampa Bay came from behind to beat Rhode Island 4-1 last night. We will have some coverage of that match either later today or tomorrow at The Florida Soccer Report here on Beyond the 90’.
Battery doing Battery things. Seem to be ready to defend their East Title.