The third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup kicks off tonight in North Carolina as the Charlotte Independence travel to Sahlen’s Stadium to face the Oaks of NCFC. On the line are state bragging rights and the opportunity to host the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer in the next round.

The Independence face another “derby” after knocking out the Charlotte Eagles in the second round. That match was a wild, back-and-forth affair that finished 2–3. NCFC moved on by way of brushing aside the Carolina Dynamo by a score of 1–6. These two teams have been pitted against each other on the field and off of it since the inception of the Independence back in 2015.

Our Ian Foster wrote about the rivalry between the two cities of Charlotte and Raleigh yesterday, and it can be read here. He followed that up this morning with a retro diary of last year’s match, and that can be read here.

This article will focus more on the two teams as they stand currently on the field, and since all I know for sure about NCFC is that they really like their hot dogs and gas stations, I decided to enlist the help of another one of our writers, Matt Clark, who covers NCFC for us and does an excellent job.

First, the facts.

2017 Records (W-D-L, all competitions)

CLT: 4–2–2

NCFC: 5–2–3

Goals Leader (all competitions)

CLT: Enzo Martinez, 6

NCFC: Lance Laing, 4

Goals Per Game (all competitions)

CLT: 1.88

NCFC: 2.0

Goals Conceded Per Game (all competitions)

CLT: 0.72

NCFC: 1.3

A brief look at Charlotte’s recent form:

The Charlotte Indpendence entered the month of May in a tailspin after taking a 4–0 thumping up in Rochester. Since then though, they have won three straight in all competitions and look to be hitting their stride at just the right time for this match.

The attack that couldn’t find the net earlier in the year has scored 11 goals in their last three games… that’s a goal every 25 minutes. The front four of Alex Martinez, Enzo Martinez, Jorge Herrera and David Estrada have led the way and have all stood out during this three game run.

Herrera has made USL TOTW the last 2 weeks that CLT has played.

All of the Independence writers on staff here have asked questions about Charlotte’s defense this season, but despite not having a clean sheet, they have played much better since inserting Callum Ross into the starting 11 to pair with Jun Marques Davidson as a more defensive midfield. I would expect a similar approach against NCFC.

With that being said, let’s talk to Matt Clark about North Carolina FC.

A look at the team from Cary

Alex (A): How has NCFC’s season been shaping up so far?

Matt (M): They have tinkered with a few things over the last few weeks. Offensively, the Oaks struggled Sunday at Jacksonville without Lance Laing playing and only getting Matt Fondy late in the game. Tiyi Shipalane has been a nice spark on offense and has great footwork while Billy Schuler has been very strong, especially in the USOC.

Defensively has been where NCFC has had the biggest struggles of late. There was notable frustration on goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre’s face in the loss at Jacksonville as the defense struggled to get back to face the Armada’s counter-attack.

A: It sounds like the two sides are having similar troubles. Charlotte has yet to keep a clean sheet, but they’ve only allowed multiple goals 3 times I believe. I’ve heard Matt Fondy’s name been thrown around a lot on Twitter. Is he someone you expect to impact tomorrow’s result?

M: I would stress that he has the ‘potential’ to be an impact player. Fondy is a very good forward, but has been a little too fast off the pass and been caught in offside traps, or been stripped because of that one extra touch.

The biggest impact player could be Lance Laing. He has been battling illness and did not play Sunday. However, when he is on the field, the Oaks are a different attacking team.

A: What does he do well that the Independence will need to limit in order to limit his impact?

M: It’s kind of a ‘you can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him’ kind of thing with Laing. You don’t want to pack the defense because that limits your counter-attacking options. You really can’t 2-on-1 him either because you have Fondy, Schuler and Shipalane who can be just as big of a threat.”

A: It sounds like there are a lot of options for NCFC in the attack; you mentioned their defense struggling, do you think that is a trend that may continue? As you’re describing them, it sounds like this could be another high scoring affair.

M: I don’t see it being a recurring issue. Jacksonville is a very stacked offensive team with the NASL’s leading scorer in Zach Steinberger. Couple that with the heat and Sunday was the makings of a bad game for the Oaks. It isn’t that the defense has been bad, but Sylvestre has a league-high 40 saves in league games.

That may seem good, but if you look at the fact that the NCFC defense has allowed that many shots on goal, it brings a different perspective. Sylvestre had only given up 12 goals in NASL play, which isn’t bad, but he has just the one clean sheet. So, again, it’s not that the Oaks’ defense is bad by any stretch, it just could be a lot better.

A: That sounds very similar to Charlotte’s opponent last weekend, Orlando City B. With all that said, would you like to make a prediction for tomorrow?

M: I like how the Independence plays, but I don’t think they have enough to match the Oaks. I can see a 3–1 game in favor of North Carolina FC. Then again, it’s the U.S. Open Cup and anything can happen… just ask New York Cosmos.”

Prediction time:

These teams match up pretty closely on paper, and in talking to Matt it seems like the Oaks and Jacks have had similar struggles defending at times and finding scoring without their leading goal scorers on the field.

I imagine this is going to be a highly emotional game after what happened last year and how seriously both sides take the USOC. I expect Coach Jefferies to put out Charlotte’s strongest 11. I won’t try to guess what the game plan will be but regardless I think it will turn into a very up and down game with plenty of scoring chances.

I’m predicting an Independence victory and a final score of 1–2 with goals scored by David Estrada, Jorge Herrera, and Matt Fondy.

Charlotte Supporters celebrate Enzo Martinez’ game winner in the second round of the USOC by singing “we all dream of a team of Martinez,” to the tune of Yellow Submarine by The Beatles.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make the game in person, but I wish those of you in Jack’s Militia, QC Royals and Slogic’s Army going to Cary safe travels and miraculously strong voices! Wear your blue and COYJ!

The game kicks off at 7:30pm and will be streaming on ussoccer.com.

We’ll have a link to that and full coverage of the game on Twitter at @SoccerNSweetTea.