Hartford Head to North Carolina for Friday Night Clash with North Carolina FC
The Latics roll into Cary looking to extend their hot start to the 2024 season.
For the first time since 2019, Hartford Athletic head south to Cary, North Carolina for a visit to 2023 USL League One Champions North Carolina FC.
The Latics are looking to build on a great start to 2024, which sees them with six points from two games for the first time since 2021, and two clean sheets to start the season for the first time in club history. Last time out, Michee Ngalina’s first Hartford goal and some late-game heroics in goal from Paul Walters (which earned him a Team of the Week nod and a Save of the Week nomination) ensured that the Latics took all three points from Birmingham Legion.
Through two games, Hartford has been developing a clear tactical identity; an aggressive press that aims to turn the ball over and quickly transition into scoring opportunities. In Saturday’s win over Birmingham, this was incredibly effective in the first half, as time after time, the Latics were able to win possession and progress into a good position with 35 touches inside the opposition box. After halftime, Birmingham were able to work back into the game; manager Brendan Burke noted that “we didn’t assert ourselves in the same way” in the second half, and Friday will be another test of his players’ ability to maintain a “high-octane” style of play for 90 minutes.
North Carolina FC last played in the Championship in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season; they self-relegated to USL League One for the last three seasons, a sojourn that culminated in a league title in 2023. Key players from that campaign, such as Oalex Anderson and Rafa Mentzingen — who combined to score 30 goals — return, and the addition of Championship veterans like Evan Conway, Rodrigo Da Costa and Collin Martin make for a potentially dangerous attack. At the back, the defense is anchored by five-time USL All-League selection Paco Craig, and NCFC have a healthy mixture of returning players and Championship veterans up and down the roster.
NCFC come into Friday’s matchup with two points from three games, although they are playing rather better than that record suggests. A creditable draw against defending Easterm Conference champions Charleston Battery in their first game was followed by a disappointing loss to Loudoun United in which NCFC will likely feel they deserved more from the game. Last time out, they were able to salvage a draw vs. Tampa Bay, although their domination of the game — limiting Rowdies to a mere three shots — makes the single point a little bit of a let-down.
Three games is a small sample size, but so far this season, North Carolina have kept chances at a premium for their opponents, giving up both the second-fewest shots and the second-fewest expected goals in the league on a per-game basis. Two games is an even smaller sample size for Hartford, but Saturday’s explosion against Birmingham lands the Latics at the top of the league table in both shots per game and expected goals per game. It’s far too early in the season to call this a true case of the immovable object and the unstoppable force, but the pre-game narrative is clear: North Carolina has the makings of a great defense, Hartford has the makings of a lethal attack, and both teams will be looking to build on the foundations they have laid in the early weeks of the season.
It’s nearly five years since a Hartford team last travelled to North Carolina.The result that day was a 4-1 victory for NCFC, the last in a string of eight consecutive losses to start life in the Championship for the Latics. Tomorrow night, Brendan Burke’s team will be looking to deliver a better result in what promises to be a clash between two teams with major ambitions for the 2024 season.