Charlotte FC Stock Up, Stock Down: Yet another 10-minute defensive breakdown hands Orlando a point; Biel excellent; Tuiloma scores in return to lineup.

By Sam Vanolinda

Kerwin Vargas and Bill Tuiloma (Photo courtesy of CJ Hellner/Topbin90)

Charlotte FC returned home on Saturday night after a long and treacherous stretch of away games due to the Club World Cup schedule. 

While the result, a 2-2 draw, is a decent scoreline against one of the best teams in the East, Charlotte FC blew a 2-0 lead in just 11 minutes. Adding to their meltdowns of late

. 

The bank was buzzing after Pep Biel’s opening goal, a great side-of-the-foot finish from an excellent Nick Scardina cross; it got even louder when Bill Tuiloma, subbing in for Andrew Privett, headed in what seemed to be the winner from a Pep Biel free kick.

The loudest pop of the night was when Nick Scardina made a heroic goal-line clearance when Ramiro Enrique rounded Kristijan Kahlina and shot into an empty net.

Despite all these great plays. Charlotte FC broke down defensively like usual, allowing two goals in quick succession to Orlando, who tied the game in the 80th minute.

The lack of attacking depth, with Agyemang playing for the USMNT and Zaha out due to yellow card accumulation, meant Charlotte had no chance to secure the winner. The moment Orlando tied the game, Charlotte had no opportunity to secure three points. 

Here’s the stock up and stock down for Charlotte FC’s 2-2 draw with Orlando.

Stock Up:

Bill Tuiloma 

With me mentioning defensive breakdowns, you may not think I would be praising defenders in this article. With that said, there is no way that Tuiloma’s stock is not up after that performance.

Coming in to replace Malanda, the New Zealand international was solid defensively and managed to score a goal. 

I mentioned in the last stock article that Charlotte should slot in Tuiloma because of his veteran presence. He proved why he is still an excellent option on Saturday night.

While the goals were a shame to give up, you cannot blame Tuiloma. They were primarily a result of Scardina being out of gas on the right side and having no one to replace him.

Tuiloma also had some impressive passes. One long ball almost resulted in a goal in the first half, and another led to the Pep Biel goal in the second half.

His long diagonal ball hit the Spaniard in stride from outside the center circle. It's an impressive pass that won't show up on the stat sheet.

Pep Biel

Biel became the fastest Charlotte FC player to make 20 goal contributions on Saturday. He continues to dominate this season, even playing in a winger position against Orlando because of the absences. 

His goal was a good finish from a cross that isn’t easy to score a goal from; he used the momentum of the ball to slash it at an unsavable angle into the side netting. 

Right after the Crown secured his services until the end of the year, Biel put out a signature performance. He always comes up big when it matters, and it's a shame that another outstanding performance of his doesn’t end in a win.

Biel repeated in the post-game presser that the team continues to “throw, points, many points,” and it’s hard to disagree. Even when the performances are good, lapses of focus result in losses or draws. 

Charlotte needs to get its full squad back together, and it needs to focus on results and discipline as the season winds down. The schedule is forgiving, and they have eight more home games, so there are plenty of chances to make a run.

Stock Down

Liel Abada

With the lineup as depleted as it was, a DP not starting in this game shows what type of impact Abada has had this year.

When he was subbed on in the 80th minute, he should’ve provided a good outlet as the team counterattacked the pressing Orlando team, but he showed very little.

Vargas was an honorable mention in this game due to his defensive effort and energy, especially in the first half; Abada is beginning to look like a questionable signing.

Ashley Westwood

Westwood continues to be a player who has fallen from grace as the season has progressed.

You just don't notice him in games, not in an underrated, doing-the-dirty-work type of way, but in a silent and slow way.

While he will always complete a decent amount of passes and cover good ground, defensively, he didn’t make a tackle, had zero interceptions, and only had one defensive action the entire game.

Westwood is a captain that the team and fanbase respect, but he needs to step up his play and lead the team back into the playoff picture.