CFC humbles Carolina Core to remain unbeaten

Peter Plougmand scored his first goal for the club

CFC captain Farid Sar-Sar makes a tackle. He also scored today. Photo credit: Chattanooga FC Communications

Chattanooga Football Club continued its unbeaten start to the season after a convincing 4-1 away win over Carolina Core FC in High Point. Prior to today’s game, Carolina held a 2-1-0 record against Chattanooga, but the visitors came to North Carolina top of the MLS Next Pro Eastern Conference.

Ibrahim Covi endured a harrowing afternoon for the hosts. The French defender scored an early own goal and got himself sent off after receiving two yellow cards for foul play. Tate Robertson had an excellent game for CFC, swinging-in a free-kick for captain Farid Sar-Sar to head in on 34 minutes and contributing his own, deflected goal in the second half. His two contributions came either side of a David Polanco equalizer for the hosts. Polanco has now scored two goals in the past two games and looks set to surpass his tally of seven in 2024. He was assisted today by captain Jacob Evans who has now scored or assisted in every MLS Next Pro game so far this season.

The performance from Chattanooga was impressive, especially considering the general run of play. The Core dominated in shots (17 to 10), corners (7-3), and crosses (9-3). Both clubs had four shots on target. For CFC to come away with four goals and a 4-1 win demonstrates how effective Head Coach Chris Nugent’s tactics are proving. The Englishman has rotated his options well, adapting his line-ups and formations based on the specifics of each game and has built a team that can win regardless of possession and chances. This is down to the solidity of his (now) three-man defense, led by Sar-Sar, but also the ruthlessness of the attack with multiple wingers and forwards pitching in. Substitute Peter Plougmand came on late in the game and was at the end of a delightful one-touch pass from Minjae Kwak to score his first goal for the club and end the game 4-1.

While Carolina couldn’t profit from its possession and attacking dominance, Head Coach Donovan Ricketts may take some solace from the fact that they held the ball so well despite playing with 10 men for half the game. Apart from that, there’s not many positives for the Foxes gaffer to take from the game.

Referee Josiah Parke had a busy afternoon, dishing out seven yellow cards, not including the two he gave Covi.

This is now Chattanooga’s best start to the season in the club's professional era and since 2016 overall. It now enjoys a three-point cushion over Orlando City B at the top of the Eastern Conference. Carolina Core, meanwhile, remains stuck on five points and in 10th place.

Match Takeaways

We’ve spoken above about how Chris Nugent is changing styles when needed and CFC winning games in different ways. Chattanooga appears to play with more belief and mental strength than they did last year and with their current, unbeaten form, it’s hard to see who in this league can finally take them down.

At various times this season, different players have been stepping up to impress in CFC’s wide attack. Ancelin, Mangarov, and Garvanian have all earned Man-of-the-Match accolades from this website, but today it was the turn of Tate Robertson. CFC’s width has improved since his return, as well as its counter-attacking play and set pieces. This afternoon he chipped in with two goal contributions, effectively putting the game beyond Carolina.

Jacob Evans is easily Carolina Core’s most important player. As well as his assist this afternoon he maintained a 90% passing accuracy (36/40 passes completed). The club needs to find more ways to get him involved in attack and pushing him further forward to play alongside Polanco may help the side convert more of those chances they create.

Box Score

Carolina Core FC - Chattanooga FC

MLS Next Pro

Venue: Truist Point | High Point, NC

Final Score: Carolina Core 1-4 Chattanooga

Attendance: 3,710

Referee: Josiah Parke

Scoring summary:

13': I. Covi (CCFC) - Own Goal
18': D. Polanco (CCFC)
34': F. Sar-Sar (CHA)
53': T. Robertson (CHA)
79’: P. Plougmand (CHA)

Discipline:

11': I. Covi (CCFC) - foul, yellow card
17': JP. Rodríguez (CCFC) - dissent, yellow card
25': N. Mendonca (CHA) - foul, yellow card
45+4': P. Leonardi (CCFC) - foul, yellow card
47': I. Covi (CCFC) - foul, second yellow card, red
62': A. Sutton (CCFC) - poor sportsmanship, yellow card
62': N. Koehler (CHA) - poor sportsmanship, yellow card
72': D. Polanco (CCFC) - foul, yellow card
84': S. Cambindo (CCFC) - foul, yellow card

Man of the Match: Tate Robertson (CHA) - an easy choice for me. Robertson created one and scored one of his own. He is pone of six players in Nugent's squad to have started all seven matches so far this season and his contributions in attack and defense makes him undropable currently.

Line-ups:

Carolina Core FC (5-4-1): Alex Sutton; Jathan Juarez, Juan Pablo Rodríguez, Ibrahim Covi, Daniel Chica, Paul Leonardi (69’ Zion Scarlett); Jacob Evans (C) (78’ Derek Cuevas), Facundo Canete, Drake Hadeed (53’ Glory Nzingo), Alenga Charles (78’ Santiago Cambindo); David Polanco (78’ Josuha Rodriguez)

Subs not used: Andrew Pannenberg, Aryeh Miller, Jonathan Bazaes, Anthony Sumo Jr.

Head Coach: Donovan Ricketts

Chattanooga FC (3-4-3): Eldin Jakupović; Farid Sar-Sar (C), Nathan Koehler (69’ Logan Brown), Ethan Dudley; Tate Robertson (84’ Robert Screen), Nick Mendonca (78’ Steeve Louis Jean), Callum Watson, Milo Garvanian; Daniel Mangarov (69’ Minjae Kwak), Jesus Ibarra (78’ Peter Plougmand), Keegan Ancelin

Subs not used: Michael Barrueta, Darwin Ortiz, Markus Naglestad

Head Coach: Chris Nugent

Next Games

• April 18th, 19:00 (ET): Toronto FC II v Carolina Core FC, York Lions Stadium, North York, ON, Canada (MLS Next Pro)

• April 19th, 19:00 (ET): Chattanooga FC v Crown Legacy FC, Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, TN (MLS Next Pro)