Charlotte FC’s young center backs have grown into leaders. It showed against D.C. United

Despite controlling a large portion of the game, Charlotte FC endured more and more pressure in the final minutes of Saturday’s match against D.C. United as it attempted to preserve a one-goal lead.

The Queen City side gave away a late free kick and saw a swath of players, including goalkeeper Alex Bono, lining up in the penalty box. The service into the area evaded all of them, and Charlotte FC celebrated its sixth one-goal victory of the year seconds later.

Thanks to another solid defensive performance that’s become commonplace under first-year coach Dean Smith, Charlotte FC topped D.C. United, 1-0, at Bank of America Stadium.

After taking the lead in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time via a Kerwin Vargas header, Charlotte FC limited a D.C. United team that led the league with 2.09 expected goals per match entering Saturday’s contest to just one shot on target.

Its defense, led by a young centerback pairing of 22-year-old Adilson Malanda and 23-year-old Andrew Privett, kept its league-best eighth clean sheet in the victory.

“We’ve just become a real tough team to play against,” Smith said after Saturday’s victory. “The one thing I said when I first came in is we need to stop giving big chances away. We started that in preseason, I think we’ve carried that on.”

That centerback duo of Malanda and Privett has anchored Charlotte’s backline since the second half of last season and has vastly improved on last year’s defensive record. Charlotte has conceded just 18 goals in 18 games this season, which is good for the third-best defensive record in the league. The third-year team gave up 52 goals in 34 games last season.

“This year, the way that we play helps us have defensive shape as a team, but also as a back four and then with Andrew,” Malanda said on Wednesday.

“I remember a lot of things [from last season] that we don’t want to reproduce this year.”

The unlikely centerback partners took very different paths to the Queen City.

Privett was drafted 69th in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft by Charlotte FC after a four-year collegiate career at Penn State. He eventually dropped back to centerback with Charlotte after largely operating in midfield for the Nittany Lions, contributing 14 goals and 13 assists during his collegiate career.

Privett signed a new contract with the club in May through 2028 with an option for 2029 and has continued to play alongside Malanda, who was acquired in August 2022 from Rodez AF, a second-division team in France.

The young Frenchman has continued to improve throughout his time at Charlotte and has thrived in its stingy backline this season. He delivered another resolute performance aside from a few misplaced passes on Saturday.

Even as D.C. United threw players forward late in search of a late equalizer, the 6-foot-1 centerback and his fellow defenders remained largely composed and secured a crucial three points.

“I’ve not seen a better center back (in MLS) than Adilson yet,” Smith said at a press conference on Thursday. “He’s got a lot of characteristics to be a top, top defender. Yes, he’s making mistakes, but I don’t think the mistakes affect him, and that’s the sign of a top player for me.”

Charlotte FC is expecting to field offers for the French centerback this summer but have no interest in letting him leave this season, The Athletic reported in May.

“I’m just working to focus on my season. I want to perform really hard and really high with the team,” Malanda said on Wednesday. “After that, yeah, we’ll see what happens on my future, but I think it’s not the principal thing for the moment.

“We have dreams, and one of mine is to go back to Europe to play in biggest competition. I don’t hide this, but we’ll receive a good moment to do it.”

The club will hope to keep a young centerback duo that’s quickly adapted and thrived in Smith’s defensive system intact. Despite limited attacking success — Charlotte has scored just 19 times in 18 games — its defense has continued to deliver crucial performances like Saturday’s that see Charlotte sit fifth in the Eastern Conference at just past the halfway point of the regular season.

“We complement each other really well. Obviously Andrew and Adi, they’re really critical there in the middle,” fullback Jere Uronen said. “Like again today, going against a world class player and they’re doing their job. … If we can really keep on improving like this, it’s gonna be good rest of the season.”