Not every goal is created equal.
While they do count the same, some put the beautiful in the beautiful game. Charlotte FC’s opening goal in a 2-0 win over FC Cincinnati Saturday at Bank of America Stadium is a prime example.
It’s an 11-pass sequence that started deep in their defensive third working through Cincinnati’s high press, a nice switch at the midfield and capped by a Ben Bender ball across goal powered in by Karol Swiderski to give Charlotte a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute.
Swiderski added his second goal of the game — his second consecutive brace — in the 55th minute to cap a second straight win for the expansion side.
Swiderski’s inclusion in the match was unexpected as an injury against New England last week keep him from receiving the call up to the Polish national team. Still, the forward played 89 minutes in the win.
“We need to be super proud of these kinds of players that even with pain, with [soreness] and the last-minute decision say, ‘Coach, I prefer to go and make a risk.’ We test him before the game, come in earlier. So it was a last-minute decision,” Charlotte coach Miguel Angel Ramirez said. “But, listen, if it’s not a problem for his health, and we have that problem of the medical department and saying let’s make it and during the game if he feels like he can’t and it’s coming bigger and bigger, we change. So for that, I prefer him to start the game than to be on the bench, to not lose one change, one substitution.”
