Nowhere To Go But Up?: NCFC Week 1 Review

Picture by Gregory Ng at NCFCShots.com

All the buzz and excitement of a mysterious offseason built up to the opening kick off against the out and out best team in League One. Through 90 minutes, North Carolina FC showed promise but eventually fell 2–1 after a glancing header from Lachlan McLean caromed in off the post and capped off a long stretch of Greenville dominance.

How it Happened

Greenville was on the board early after Lomis put in a penalty. Not much to argue with the decision; Martinez really lost his head in the box and put in a totally unnecessary challenge.

After the penalty, North Carolina answered quickly with a fantastic individual effort from Selmir Miscic. He took down a long ball from Coan in the box, broke down Greenville right back Abdi Mohamed with some quick stepovers, and laced it to the far side of the keeper before help defense could arrive.

Mohamed would have a long shot saved off the post, but NC was the more threatening team throughout the first half.

Jay Tee Kamara found Coan on a lovely chipped ball in the 19th minute, but Coan’s touch was too long and he couldn’t get a good shot. Martinez had a nice stretch of play in the 21st minute where he tracked back to end a promising Greenville attack, then shortly after put a beautiful ball over the top to Coan. Coan’s ball to Kristo was perfectly weighted but the shot went straight to the Greenville keeper. The last good chance of the half for NC was a weighted through ball from Kamara to Kristo, who was just inches shy of contact before the Greenville keeper claimed the ball.

After the half, it was all Greenville. The Triumph finally earned their second goal off a McLean header that went in off the post. NCFC would have a good chance to level it in injury time after Academy player Cole Frame beat his man on the turn and put in a dangerous ball; unfortunately, Greenville would save both the shot and the rebound.

Game Notes/Key Metrics:

• North Carolina FC came out in maybe the most classic soccer formation of all time; the 4–4–2 with the big man — fast man strike combination. Brutal but effective, Kristo did a great job as an outlet and sprang many NC opportunities by winning the ball against smaller CBs.
• The penalty changed the game. The attacking player did not have great position, was heading to worse position, and did not need to be fouled. I think it would have been a much more even game without it.
• Keep the ball in Greenville’s third more than 28% of the time and in NCFC’s third less than 30% of the time: North Carolina won the possession battle 53–47, for all the good it did. Greenville was happy to let NC kick around in their own half. The ball was in NC’s own third 34% of them time, in the middle third 48% of the time, and in Greenville’s third just 18 % of the time.
• Limit Lomis to 3 or fewer shots and 1 or fewer inside the box: Lomis had 4 non-penalty shots, all in the box, but only put one on target. This was probably a success against the most prolific forward in the league so far. The CBs also were able to prevent Greenville from using Lomis as an easy possession outlet.
• More than 11 shots, with more than 7 on target: NC fell short of this mark, but generating 10 shots on just 66 passes in the final third is pretty impressive. NC also managed to generate 1 npxG per 59.5 final third passes; better than Greenville’s mark of 1 npxG per 67.5. The ability to create danger with limited touches will hopefully scale as NCFC faces less capable opponents.
• Kristo takes 5 shots: Despite his hard work in hold up play, Kristo was limited in the box. He took 1 shot that went directly to the keeper. This was also his only penalty area touch. Notably, in the second half at least two set pieces -a corner and free kick- were driven low towards the box rather than lofted in. It seems like a waste of a 6'5" striker to not put it into the mixer a little bit.
• Keep the ball in Greenville’s third more than 28% of the time and in NCFC’s third less than 30% of the time: Greenville absolutely dominated the field tilt, with the ball in their own third just 18% of the time and in NC’s third 34% of the time. NC played a very good game for a team on the back foot, but they will need to improve here to pose more of a threat in the future.
• No Red Cards: Check. The head referee did a good job keeping the game in check.
• Players enjoy what is supposed to be a beautiful day on Saturday: It was absolutely beautiful weather and a perfect night out for the fans in attendance. Despite limitations, the crowd felt full and lively with the Miscic goal getting the best cheers of the night.

Other notes:

• Kristo and Kamara looked like a great partnership. Kamara occassionally dribbled into blind alleys but looked threatening with his ability to play line breaking balls.
• Martinez had the bad foul in the first half but played well through the end of that half and keyed a great move to set up Kristo. Greenville attacked the area behind him much more in the second half. Hamilton came on for a brief spell at the end and this may be a positional battle to watch.
• Nelson Flores worked very hard at left back and put in a good shift, although he was pinned back for most of the game and unable to offer much in the attack.
• Aside from the poor first touch on a golden chance, Coan was excellent and Miscic did a great job being a threat in the box. The attacking 4 looked good and were able to find space behind the aggressive FBs of Greenville.
• Didn’t see anything impressive from Arriaga or Pearson. Both gave the ball away a little too cheaply at times and neither provided a spark in possession. When Naz returns to the lineup it will be interesting to see if he slots in at CM.
• Flick and Mbaye did a great job putting out fires defensively, though their marking of McLean was not good enough on the winning goal.
• It was great to see Cole Frame come on, and he did well to create the final chances for NCFC. He looked a little out of place at the beginning but should learn quickly.

Next up:

NC goes on the road to face Forward Madison. The #2 team in League One drew in frustrating fashion (56% likelihood of winning based on shots and xG, just 26% chance of a draw) against FC Tucson and may take it out on NCFC.

Current Power Rankings:

1. Greenville Triumph SC (1607 offense, 1645 defense)
2. Forward Madison (1581, 1611)
3. North Texas SC (1675, 1480)
4. Union Omaha (1547, 1574)
5. Chattanooga Red Wolves SC (1521, 1531)
6. Richmond Kickers (1545, 1471)
7. North Carolina FC (1503, 1475)
8. Toronto FC II (1612, 1362)
9. South Georgia Tormenta SC (1451, 1496)
10. Ft Lauderdale SC (1514, 1430)
11. FC Tucson (1516, 1410)
12. New England Revolution II (1464, 1399)