After first win, Charlotte FC head coach Miguel Ángel Ramírez won’t look too far ahead
Miguel Ángel Ramírez’s tone regarding possible playoff expectations for Charlotte FC didn’t strike the same note of doubt on Thursday as it did earlier this year.
Before the start of the season, Ramírez declared in Spanish, “Right now, we’re (screwed),” as he prepared to enter Major League Soccer with a roster light on attacking players.
After a first win last weekend against New England and player additions in recent weeks, Ramírez’s outlook for the season wasn’t as bleak prior to the upcoming match against Cincinnati, scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday at Bank of America Stadium. Ramírez’s tone wasn’t one of complete optimism, either. Instead, he dismissed playoff talk when asked if his position changed on his team’s potential to make a run this year in light of its recent performance.
“If we didn’t win last week would you ask me the same question?” Ramírez said. “Honestly, no. But we cannot move with the waves of the expectations. We have to have (it) very clear who we are and the process that we are making, so forget expectations.”
The front office publicly expressed its desire to host a playoff match as a Year 1 goal, but despite the promise Charlotte FC showed last weekend, Ramírez noted Thursday that the roster remains “under construction.” Charlotte FC signed Polish winger Kamil Jóźwiak two weeks ago, and he’s expected to report to training after his visa is secured ‒ a timeline that is fluid.
Derrick Jones, a midfielder who signed around the same time as Jóźwiak from the Houston Dynamo, will be available to play on Saturday, as he was last weekend. He could see minutes since Charlotte FC will be missing starting midfielder Alan Franco since he is with Ecuador’s men’s national team for upcoming World Cup Qualifiers. Center back Christian Makoun will also be unavailable this weekend while playing with Venezuela’s men’s national team.
Karol Świderski is questionable for Saturday due to a right thigh injury he sustained during last weekend’s match, in which Świderski scored two of Charlotte’s three goals, but he remains with the MLS club rather than with Poland’s men’s national team.
“It will depend on his evolution even until Saturday, so let’s see tomorrow how is he feeling,” Ramírez said.
Winger Yordy Reyna is also expected to be available to play after a right thigh injury, but Ramírez said that Reyna is “not 100%” yet.
Based on his comments, these daily factors and week-to-week opponents are what Ramírez prefers to focus on with just four matches completed out of 34-match regular season. He said that “nothing changes” in his approach and preparation, no matter the result, and cautioned against expectations ‒ good or bad.
“We cannot move with the waves of winning and losing, for high or for low,” he said. “ … As a leader of the club, I need to keep my balance for the good of everybody, for the good of the project. Even losing the three first games, I was the same as the preseason or before preseason, so it’s important to have the balance of winning or losing, controlling the message and the expectations, and keep doing the same thing.”
Charlotte FC is ranked 12th of 14 teams in the Eastern Conference with three points, above Montreal and Miami. FC Cincinnati is ranked eighth in the conference (six points) with wins over Orlando and Miami. Striker Brandon Vázquez leads their team in goals this season with four.
Fans might be quick to read into the standings, or buoyed by Charlotte FC’s first win and wondering whether it will continue. Ramírez said that his best strategy is not to look too far ahead.
“Forget about the playoffs,” he said. “Let’s think on Cincinnati on Saturday. … We want to be present, so I don’t want to think on Monday. I want to think on Saturday.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 5:43 PM.
