On Saturday, the Charlotte Independence will face Orlando City B at 7:30 p.m. They met in Charlotte’s second game of the season back in April and saw the game finish in a 1–1 draw. Goals were scored by Charlotte’s Lewis Hilton and Orlando’s Albert Dikwa… the latter left quite an impression on the Independence owner.

Jokes aside, Charlotte is going to have to come up with a better plan to contain Albert Dikwa this time around as he really was everywhere in the last meeting. If he and Pierre Da Silva, the Baby Simba who is second in the East with 4 assists, aren’t kept in check, it won’t bode well for the Independence.

That game also saw Charlotte struggle in the final third, a pattern that followed for most of the season prior to the 5–1 thrashing of NYRBII and last week’s U.S. Open Cup match against the Charlotte Eagles. I think we will see a more cohesive attack with the addition of Enzo Martinez, who did not play in the first game in Orlando.

Status Update: OCB

Orlando is currently sitting on 12 points with a 3–3–3 record, good enough for 6th place in the Eastern Conference. As their record indicates, they haven’t done one thing particularly well, nor particularly poorly. They average 1.2 goals scored per game and 1.1 goals conceded per game.

If I had to describe their season so far in one word, it would be: balanced.

Orlando City B’s goalkeeper, Earl Edwards Jr., is second in the Eastern Conference in saves with 27, an average of 3 per game. This stat (like most stats) can be interpreted in different ways. It could mean that Earl Edwards Jr. is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. Or, it could mean that he’s playing behind a less-than-stellar backline and often has to cover for their mistakes.

It’s probably a little bit of both, kind of like if the leading tackler on a football team is the free safety: good that he’s making the tackles, but bad because he is the last line of defense and the guys in front of him aren’t doing their job well enough.

Hold your horses

With all that being said, it’s entirely too early to put a lot of stock into stats for either team or individuals. Charlotte has played only 6 games in what can only be described as bizarre scheduling at best. I assume our stadium “situation” has had an impact on the schedule but it is still odd that we have as many as five games in hand on some members of the league. June 17th can’t come fast enough!

Prediction time

I would expect to see Charlotte line up similarly to their most recent league game against NYRBII, way back on May 11th. Callum Ross and Jun Marques Davidson teamed up to sit deep in the midfield to support a backline that was struggling in the weeks prior. They still conceded the first goal but put in a much stronger defensive effort, thanks also in part to new loanee Donnie Smith, who held down the left back position.

Callum Ross heads the ball away in the Charlotte Derby. (Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

I think the Independence are in much better form than they were the last time they visited Orlando, where even in a draw, they seemed to be a step above OCB. Recently, their attack has been hitting on all cylinders and it seems as though they have figured out a way to play without a true target man at forward.

I think this run will continue with a comfortable 3–1 victory over the lion cubs. Goals will be scored by Enzo Martinez, Alex Martinez and Luke Waechter will get on the end of a set piece as well. He has come about as close as you can to scoring on a couple of set pieces.

It’s just a matter of time before Waechter scores one of these!

I would love to hear what you think is going to happen in the game! Interaction is what makes this more fun for me and all our team at SNST. Tweet me your predictions @alex_warren55 and @soccernsweettea!