CHARLOTTE – Charlotte FC midfielder Ben Bender came on in the 80th minute against Nashville SC and assisted the last two goals to seal all three points for the Crown. It was Bender’s second consecutive time coming off the bench – a change from the starter role he has grown accustomed to this season.
“I've honestly been enjoying these past couple games a lot because the games are very open in the last 30 minutes. And coming off the bench. You know, whatever my role is, I'm going to try and give a spark of energy and try and finish out the game strong and to come on.
“With 10 minutes left against Nashville, it was super fun. Because, you know, I knew that my role was to bring more energy and to press the other team and to try and finish and seal the deal. So the last couple games, yeah, I've enjoyed it. I definitely would rather be starting but you know, it's super important to win these games. So, however we win them is, is awesome.”
Charlotte made leaps these previous 2 weeks by winning their first away match and then following it up with the 4 – 1 win against Nashville. Bender credits interim head coach Christian Lattanzio’s belief in the squad as the primary driver in the Club’s recent good form.
“Yeah, I think just the way we've been playing the belief in keeping the ball and shifting side to side, Christian Lattanzio showed us the goal that we scored, I think it was the second one where Yordy [Reyna] played it to Kaol [Świderski]. And the build-up to that, we had like the most passes in a build-up for a goal in MLS this year.
“And, you know, just him instilling the belief in us to be able to play that way. I think it's clicking for us now so we're going to continue to try and do that.”
It’s important for Charlotte FC to keep this string of results going if they want to separate themselves from the pack of teams all clawing for MLS playoffs. Inter Miami is one of those teams.
“Yeah, the momentum, we want to keep that going for this Inter Miami game. Lattanzio always talks about being ambitious but staying humble. And I think that's, that's our goal this season. We're a very ambitious team.
“So you know, those two wins, were super important for us. And we're going to take that energy, and everything we have and give it our best shot as we go into that game on Saturday. I think the energy is high in the locker room. The camaraderie is great throughout the team. And yeah, I think we're going to do well in Miami on Saturday.”
