Daniel Rios, Pablo Sisniega did the unexpected and gave Charlotte FC a ‘perfect night’
Saturday’s Charlotte FC game against Philadelphia was the perfect case study in unpredictability.
Not many people could have foreseen Charlotte FC, a team clinging to its playoff hopes, defeating one of the best teams in Major League Soccer. Nor could many have envisioned Daniel Rios and Pablo Sisniega — two players who stood on opposite sides of the pitch and yet at the center of the team’s special win — to do what they did.
Sisniaga smiled widely after his team’s 4-0 win.
“It was the perfect night,” he said.
Delivering Charlotte FC’s perfect night on offense was Rios. The forward broke a club single-match record of four goals scored on Saturday. He had the game ball, signed by his teammates and coaches, tucked under his arm when he walked into the news conference on Saturday after the match.
He called it the “top 1” game of his life.
“It hasn’t been an easy season, but we’re still fighting and we still believe,” Rios said. “And I’m so happy that I was able to score. I’m so happy for the effort of the team and for all of the fans.”
His first two goals came thanks to two assists from Kamil Jozwiak, who slithered passes from the flanks across the goalie’s face and hit Rios in perfect stride before Rios finished the pass off.
The third goal was a Rios penalty in the 72nd minute — the first hat-track in Charlotte FC history — and the fourth goal was thanks to another great Rios run in extra time (this time assisted by McKinze Gaines).
“He’s our ‘bomber’ because I know he can score goals,” Italian-born head coach Christian Lattanzio said. “This is the way we say ‘goal-scorer’ in Italy. Bom-bur. So he’s a bomber, and I think that the combination of him and Karol (Swiderski) works well.”
Said Sisniega of Rios’s performance: “I’m super happy for Danny. Super hard worker. Obviously we’re very good friends. We’re both Mexican, so we’re very close. And I was just very happy to see his hard work pay off.”
If Rios was the heralded goal-scorer Lattanzio knew he was, then Sisniega was Saturday’s surprise.
The goalkeeper hadn’t played a match for Charlotte all year. And he didn’t think that would change this weekend. But then the club’s steely starter Kristijan Kahlina suffered a finger injury in warm-ups and couldn’t play — and 20 minutes before kickoff, Sisniega was told he’d be in the starting 11.
And then, as if his presence at all wasn’t a surprise enough, Sisniega notched a clean sheet and one save against one of the best offenses in the league. Entering Saturday, Philadelphia had scored 68 goals — more than two goals a game.
“It was an unreal moment,” Sisniega said. “It was just great to be out there again. It had been a very long time since I played an official game. So it felt great to be back out and get some minutes, and the atmosphere, like I said, was truly amazing.”
Said Lattanzio: “The game plan didn’t change when Kristijan was out because we are blessed to have a very good set of goalkeepers. Really good. ... I was sorry for (Kahlina), but at the same time, I didn’t have any doubt to put Pablo in the game.”
It’s true that Charlotte FC’s playoff dreams are unlikely to be realized, even with Saturday’s result. (Winning the final two regular-season games doesn’t even guarantee a postseason, after all.) It’s true that Rios is paid to score like he did on Saturday, and that Sisniega, once Kahlina is healthy, will likely return to his role as understudy.
But it’s also true that on Saturday night — in front of 46,000-plus fans in Bank of America Stadium who brought their patented party spirit — Charlotte FC came as close to perfection as it possibly could.
Much like what might become the legacy of the club’s inaugural season.
This story was originally published October 2, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
