Charlotte enters the Second Round of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night against a team that is no pushover. The Ocean City Nor’easters are a PDL squad from New Jersey, and in the “Modern Era” (1995-present) only two other amateur teams, the Michigan Bucks and Des Moines Menace, have more wins in this tournament.

The Nor’easters have totaled 10 U.S. Open Cup wins as well as five upsets of professional teams.

In the first round of this year’s tournament, they won handily against AFC Ann Arbor of the NPSL, 3–0 on the road. Each of those goals was scored by a different player.

One of those scorers has a very soccer nickname: Fredlin “Frediñho” Mompremier wears the number 10 for the Nor’easters, and I’ll certainly be on the look out for him in this matchup. He even has his own 11 minute hype video on YouTube. He’s titled himself “The Future of Football” in the below video. Shoot your shot, Mompremier.

“The Future of Football”

I’m not sure the Open Cup could come at a much worse time for the Independence. Currently, the team is battling injuries at numerous positions, then couple that bit of adversity with this game being sandwiched between two Saturday games. This situation will make Coach Jeffries earn his paycheck this week.

I’ve wrestled back and forth on who I think we’ll see rotated in for this game. I think we could see Jake Areman, Mutaya Mwape, Calvin Doum, and Daniel Steedman start tonight. It’s also worth noting that Mwape played for the Nor’easters during the 2016 season before joining the Charlotte Eagles in 2017.

Game Details

What: Charlotte Independence vs. Ocean City Nor’easters (U.S. Open Cup)

Where: Sportsplex, Matthews, NC

When: Wednesday, 5/16, 7:30 pm

Prediction Time

As tricky as predicting a starting 11 will be, so will be predicting a score. It’s especially becomes tricky when the scheduled forecast is a mix between rain and thunderstorms.

Due to the weather being a factor I believe we’ll see a rather low scoring affair. I’m predicting a 2–0 victory for Charlotte over Ocean City.

COME ON YOU JACKS!!!