Charlotte FC Stock Up, Stock Down: Westwood has Player of the Year performance
By Sam Vanolinda

Ashley Westwood (Photo courtesy of CJ Hellner/TopBin90)
Charlotte FC bounced back after a rough patch with an impressive 3-1 victory against one of the best teams in the league, FC Cincinnati Saturday night in Ohio.
It was a game jam-packed with action, with two disallowed goals, a red card, a penalty save, and back-and-forth play that rivaled an NBA game.
It is hard to write about football after my home country just lost its second straight Euro finals, but this performance was incredible. England could've used Westwood on Sunday after his performance versus Cincinnati
Here is the stock up/down for this match:
Stock Up
Ashley Westwood
This was a vintage Ashley Westwood performance. The leader in the middle of the pitch was able to grab a hat trick of assists Saturday night in a perfect performance.
Not only was he able to help slow down an incredibly talented Cincinnati attack led by Luciano Acosta, but he also pulled the strings like prime Steve Nash, setting up all of the Charlotte FC goals.
His first assist was a beautiful first-time whipped ball to the back post after Abada passed the ball to him on the edge of the box, which Tavares finished well.
His second assist was a nifty tapped ball through a tight space to Adada who smashed the ball into the net.
His third was a corner that was headed in by Kerwin Vargas, a winger who has been incredible in the air so far this year compared to most wingers.
On top of those assists, Westwood was 54/58 on passing, had five chances created, seven passes into the final third, two interceptions, and seven recoveries.
May have been the best performance by any Charlotte player this year.
Kristijan KahlinaÂ
Kahlina continues to be a top-tier goalkeeper in MLS. He proved himself on Saturday with his amazing penalty save which helped secure the three points.
Kahlina also had six total saves (four diving saves) and 1.40 goals prevented.
Kahlina is perfect for this team because he can bail out the defensive mistakes that inevitably will happen when you are in a low-possession squad.
The Front Three
Each member of the front three on Saturday, Vargas, Taveres, and Abada, all had similarly good games, each contributing a goal and having solid performances.Â
Tavares solidified himself as someone who can offer cover for Agyemang in that striker position. His versatility will be valuable for the squad as the season goes on.Â
Vargas, after a rough start to the year, has been consistently good for the past month or so, he seems to be a player that improves as the season progresses.Â
Abada was very active on the ball and was creating numerous chances for the team. He is a player who is very important and can take over when Charlotte FC counterattacks. Â
SummaryÂ
After such a positive game, there are not many negatives that can be pointed out on Saturday. Despite some players falling out of the lineup and having minimal impact recently (Dejaegere, Lindsey, Petkovic, Tuiloma) I don’t feel the need to go into detail about those players.
A pretty cool fact that Brian picked out is that Charlotte had four SuperDraft players on the field in the 90th minute of the game Saturday night when Nick Scardina was subbed on for his debut.
It shows the success of the development team within the club and how young players have been able to come into the first team and make an impact.Â
We look toward the next game, away versus Colombus on Wednesday. Charlotte sits sixth in the East and is only two points off fourth, each game is massive for the rest of the year.
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