Telltale road swing for Charlotte FC

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Five years into writing about Charlotte FC, this should-be-rookie-no-more writer made the mistake of asking a British-born soccer player if the club he captains was facing a gut-check moment.

Charlotte FC had just played one of its worst games in recent memory — a 3-1 loss in Columbus on Wednesday night — on a night when it could have clinched a playoff spot and was fighting for a coveted top-four spot in the Eastern Conference. Next up for Charlotte are two more road games, including Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia against the scorching hot Union, which hasn’t lost in 14 games.

I’m not sure Ashley Westwood knew what the heck he was being asked. Gut check is a more American idiom than British — and yes, admittedly, cliché — that refers to moments a team takes stock of its own shortcomings and recalibrates its resolve. The Englishman gave it a good answer anyway, when asked if this was a “gut-check time of the season.”

“No, hopefully it's a reality check,” said Westwood, whose critical turnover led to Columbus’ third goal. “Hopefully it's given us a kick up the backside that we might have needed.”

Then he said something that seemed to ring a little truer four days after Charlotte FC had rallied from 2-0 down to beat FC Dallas at home, 3-2, in one of its most exciting games in recent memory.

“We were lucky against Dallas,” Westwood said Wednesday night. “Tonight wasn't good enough. We'll get back tonight early hours, have some recovery, day off tomorrow, and then we head for Philadelphia. We need to put in a good performance.”

Scorching hot Philadelphia: The Union has climbed from last place in the Eastern Conference as of late July to sixth place, just below No. 5 Charlotte FC. The defending Supporters’ Shield winner has won each of its last eight games by a combined score of 28-8.

The Union is led by U.S. soccer’s newest sensation, 17-year-old Cavan Sullivan, who just set the record for the most goal contributions in an MLS season by a teenager with an assist Wednesday in a 3-1 come-from-behind win over No. 4 Chicago. That gives Sullivan seven goals and 14 assists for 21 goal contributions.

You might recognize the bleach blond midfielder from the tongue-wagging celebration of his first international goal for the U.S. Men’s National team in a 3-0 rout over Mexico on Oct. 3.

Charlotte hasn’t exactly been slouching, either. Until Wednesday night, the Crown had lost to just one team in MLS play since mid-May, and that was a pair of losses to Chicago. But after watching them flop in Columbus, giving up a barrage of 31 shots (a Columbus record), it left room for doubts to creep in as to whether Charlotte can match the league’s best teams. Charlotte FC is 2-5-2 against teams currently ranked in the top four of the Eastern and Western Conferences of MLS and 11-4-5 against everybody else.

As Charlotte travels to play three of its last five regular season games, including the season-finale Nov. 7 at Inter Miami against Lionel Messi, players will be eager to prove they can stack up against MLS’s best and without a frenzied comeback.

“We're going up against a team that are performing really, really well, but I'd probably say we're in the top four or five since the World Cup break who've been performing well, as well, in the league,” Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith said. “So it makes for a good matchup as long as Wednesday's performance was an outlier.”

When Archie Goodwin went down with a season-ending foot injury on Sept. 26, and Idan Toklomati suffered a scare with his knee over the international break, the overriding thought was Charlotte FC would need to scramble to bring in a striker via free agency before the MLS roster froze. Then Charlotte FC went and acquired a midfielder.

Abdoulaye Doucouré joined the club first as a “trialist” and then signed through the end of the season in a deal made official on Saturday. He would not be available until the final few games of the regular season, Smith said, and presumably the playoffs.

The acquisition might be a head-scratcher, but given the challenges of finding quality on the free agent market with the transfer window closed, Smith indicated Charlotte went for the best available player who aligned with their needs.

“We needed to bring another player in,” Smith said. “Ideally, it would have been a center forward, but the free transfer center forwards out there weren’t good enough for our club, or if they were good enough, weren't available, didn't want to come, whatever the reason. So we got our next best thing, what we could. Doucouré’s come in, he’s training well, obviously working on his fitness, working on his visa as we speak. Come, hopefully the last couple of games and playoffs, then he's available.”

The French midfielder was most recently in the Saudi Pro League but spent a majority of his career in the English Premier League. He made 278 appearances with Watford and Everton. Most recently with Everton, he scored 21 goals and had 14 assists in 166 appearances.

Charlotte FC general manager Zoran Krneta said Doucouré is a player with good technical ability whose strength is connecting and advancing the ball forward. Smith said the club hasn’t had someone he considers a like-for-like replacement for midfielder Pep Biel when he needs a rest, and Doucouré offers that.

Doucouré had signed a two-year contract to play with NEOM SC in the SPL but was released from that one year in after an injury-shortened season.

When/Where: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Subaru Park, Chester, Pa.

How to watch: Apple TV. Find information about how to subscribe for the season here.

How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.

Notable

Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fifth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!