Charlotte FC are back in a big way.
The Crown's recent dip in form gave them a sense of desperation heading into Saturday's home match against the Columbus Crew.
Charlotte delivered on the pressure, notching a 3-2 victory.
"Credit to the players today," said head coach Dean Smith postgame. "Because it's really difficult playing against a team like that, where you have to defend well, especially after going 120 minutes for some of the players on Wednesday.
"So you know really proud of them today with that performance and that result against a really good team."
Agyemang makes the difference
The club’s top talent, particularly the attacking trio of Patrick Agyemang, Pep Biel, and Wilfried Zaha, led the way.
Agyemang, who was recently named to Mauricio Pochettino’s 27-man USMNT pre-Gold Cup roster, had arguably the biggest impact at Bank of America Stadium.
After Columbus' Ibrahim Aliyu opened the scoring, Agyemang equalized in the 19th minute, getting on the end of an in-swinging corner from Biel.
Just five minutes later, he bagged the brace. Zaha drew two players near the sideline and placed a gorgeous through-ball into the path of Agyemang, who timed his run perfectly and needed only one touch to roll the ball into the corner.
With his pair of tallies, Agyemang became the second player in club history to record multiple multi-goal games.
"I thought they looked a real threat every time they got it," Smith said of his attack. "I thought they linked up really well. The third goal was really good link-up play, as well. But some of the big chances had come from that.
"We spoke about how Columbus like to counterpress and commit bodies forward and leave one-on-ones. And if you've got Patrick Agyemang one-on-one, then you use it. And we used it every time."
Breakthrough coming?
The 24-year-old striker, who produced 10g/5a for Charlotte last season, has been finding his form of late, scoring five goals in his last six games across all competitions, including three straight matches.
He's been just as effective since making his international debut in January, scoring three times in four appearances for his country.
"It was great, definitely wanted more, but time will come with that," Agyemang remarked with a wry smile when asked about his brace.
"I was definitely happy. As a striker you want to help the team, especially when we went 1-0 down and to be able to bring us back to 2-1, with two goals quickly is a nice feeling. I think for me it's just carrying out this momentum."
Determined result
The Crew would not go down easily. Malte Amundsen equalized in the 65th minute, poking in a rebound after goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina stopped a free kick. But not long after, Biel handled a sharp pass from Zaha in the box and slipped a turning shot into the corner.
Biel now has four goals and seven assists on the season.
While Charlotte began the season well, picking up quality wins over FC Cincinnati and San Diego FC, they had struggled in the weeks since. Dean Smith's men were on a five-game league losing streak and ducked out of the US Open Cup on penalty kicks in a wild midweek fixture against D.C. United.
With the pressure rising, the Crown needed big-time performances from their marquee players. And they got them on Matchday 15.
A win over Columbus, who are in the mix near the top of the East, could be enough to get them back on track.
"We felt dangerous today ... that's how we're supposed to be as a front four or a front three," said Agyemang.
"At the end of the day, now we've seen that we can do that, especially against a team like Columbus. So why can't we do this throughout the season?"
