The Charlotte Independence put in a solid performance on the road on Saturday night defeating the Richmond Kickers 0–2. They controlled the majority of the game and weathered a couple of storms by the Kickers in the second half to preserve their second clean sheet of the season and second in as many games.

Final Third Woes

The Independence haven’t had the best time in the final third this year, especially when teams get a lot of defenders behind the ball like Richmond did on Saturday. But they started the game well and dominated the ball for the first half hour of the game. While they almost gave up the game’s first goal in the 8th minute when Kickers’ forward Anthony Grant whiffed on a chance right in front of goal, Charlotte fans and players all breathed a sigh of relief and from that moment on, Charlotte was able to settle in and play their possession game that they like, getting the fullbacks forward and passing the ball around.

Despite this possession, the Kickers’ defense held strong and kept Charlotte from creating many quality chances. Enzo and Alex Martinez both had shots just miss the frame of the goal for the best chances Charlotte had in the first half from open play.

0–1 in the 45th minute

The breakthrough came from the penalty spot: after some great passing and movement in the 18-yard-box, David Estrada was taken down for the penalty. Enzo Martinez calmly slotted the ball in the bottom corner of the goal.

Second Half Adjustments

Richmond was determined to flip the script in the second half and came out of the locker room with their hair on fire. Despite one horrible and obvious dive by Luiz Fernando in the 47th minute that earned him a yellow card, the Kickers looked like they might equalize. Charlotte faced a barrage of shots in the opening 10 minutes of the half and they handled them well with a number of blocks by defenders and a couple of saves by Air Mizell… one in particular in the 52nd was fantastic.

After weathering the early Kickers storm, the Independence stretched the lead to two in the 57th minute thanks to a great piece of play from David Estrada and Joel Johnson down the right side culminating in an Enzo Martinez headed finish into the back of the net.

Johnson on the ball against NYRBII earlier in the season. (Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

Joel Johnson was immense for the Independence on Saturday! His stat line may not look all that impressive outside of the assist but he made a huge contribution in defense of that clean sheet as well as threatening in the attack by getting forward. I’m not totally convinced that the USL stat-keeper just mis-identified some things, because I don’t see how he had zero interceptions and only one tackle… but I digress.

Holding Off Threats

After going up by two goals and Enzo Martinez going on hat-trick watch, the Independence let the Kickers have more of the ball and went back into more of a defensive shell to preserve the lead. When they did get forward, it was Enzo making the push, getting off two shots that forced the Kickers’ keeper to make saves.

Unfortunately, Enzo came off in the 76th minute ending hat-trick watch. Lewis Hilton replaced him to see out the game and preserve the 0–2 lead.

This is when Cody Mizell and the rest of the defense shined most. Richmond was getting a little bit impatient in their attempt to pull a goal back and were firing a lot of shots from distance that ended up getting blocked by Independence defenders.

Cody Mizell did his now-weekly save of the week worthy save in the 77th minute when he dove to his right to keep out a header after it took a couple deflections. Just watch and appreciate how good Cody has been this season.

That was the last real solid chance that Richmond got in the game. Jaime Siaj actually came the closest to scoring the game’s third goal in the 89th minute when he came oh, so close to finishing in the bottom left corner but the ball went just wide.

Another strong road performance from the Independence, this time they got the result though!

Man of the Match

drumroll… CODY MIZELL!

Around the 75th minute I was debating with myself who was going to be man of the match. I had narrowed it down to Cody Mizell and Joel Johnson, and then Cody made that ridiculous save which put him clearly in the number 1 spot.

Cody made seven saves in the game, three of which were extremely difficult. That’s the second clean sheet in a row and Mizell will likely be nominated once again for save of the week; honestly you could probably nominate multiple saves from Saturday for save of the week.

Congratulations Cody! Maybe let Joel have a sip or two of your tea.

Looking Ahead

Charlotte now sits in the 8th spot, the last playoff position with 19 points and with multiple games in hand on most of the Eastern Conference. With seven(!) games in July, now is a great time for the Independence to be finding their form and getting much needed points!

The next game is against the Rochester Rhinos on July 1st at Matthews Sportsplex. Rochester is always a tough opponent and the Jacks will be looking for revenge after the 4–0 drubbing they faced in NY early this season. For more on the Rochester rivalry, check out the latest episode of SNST Weekly featuring a trio of Independence writers and fans.

See y’all Saturday at The ‘Plex! Come on you Jacks!