When 3 = 9: Charlotte FC aims for record vs. Inter Miami 

TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith will be relegated to stadium seating for Saturday's match against Inter Miami in which the Crown can set a new MLS record for consecutive wins.

Which is greater, nine or three? 

In the case of Charlotte FC on Saturday, the arithmetic will have them equal. The three points that come with a win over Inter Miami would also deliver a record-tying ninth straight victory, equaling the MLS mark set by the Seattle Sounders in 2018. Can’t have one without the other.

After a two-week break, Charlotte FC returns to MLS play against Inter Miami FC, a club that instigates so much drama the rest of the league need not apply. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium and will be televised on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass.

The club reported on Thursday that the match, which will not open upper deck seating, is sold out, stating “it will be the largest lower-bowl-only crowd in Club history.” 

Charlotte coach Dean Smith will have to find somewhere else to sit as he’s been banished from the bench after receiving a third yellow card on the season. Smith says he understands the suspension but not why he received the third card, which came at the end of the Crown’s last match against New England. According to Smith, it was because he questioned why an opposing forward was allowed to jump into Adilson Malanda but not to win the ball. 

“I genuinely said to the referee, ‘Are you OK with me saying to the press that I have been cautioned for shouting onto the pitch?’ Yeah (the referee replied).”

Smith said the only real limitation during the match is direct contact with players, but he may communicate with his staff as need be. 

“I'll probably sit in the box with [club owner David] Tepper, if he'll allow me in there with him,” he said. 

Smith has no worries about associate head coach Miles Joseph, assistant coach Christian Fuchs, and goalkeeping coach Aron Hyde covering for him.

MLS math

While three points is by far the best-case scenario for the Crown, any result that takes points off Miami will be good for Charlotte and cheered by most of the MLS East playoff contenders.

The top nine teams are separated by 15 points, while that margin in the West is 21. The disparity in games played is also much more of a wild card in the East. Charlotte has five games left. Miami has nine.

The top four teams this side of the Mississippi – Philadelphia (57 points), Cincinnati (52), Charlotte (50), and Nashville (50) – heading into this weekend’s matches have all played 29 matches. That’s where it gets interesting/confusing/annoying. Fifth-place Orlando (47) has played 28, the same as seventh-place Columbus (46). NYCFC (44), in eighth, has played 27 games.

And then there’s Inter Miami in sixth (46), which has a whopping four games and a potential 12 points in hand, due to their participation in the Concacaf and FIFA Club World Cup competitions. Their 1.84 points per game is second only to the Union’s 1.97 PPG, so every team above them has a rooting interest in the match.

As the Crown rolls

The roller coaster ride of a season that Charlotte FC have been surfing is on a roll in the best of ways. The form guide on mlssoccer.com [https://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/form-guide/?year=2025] has the longest string of Ws on it in the past seven years. 

That pride hasn’t come without pain. 

At the end of matchday nine, with a 3-0 home win over San Diego, Charlotte were top of the table, the first and only time that the club has occupied that rare air. A week later, after losing to New England at home, they were fourth. Five successive losses later, they were eighth. After losing in Chicago on June 28, they were 10th in the East and out of the playoff picture. 

Then came a draw at home against Orlando, and they haven’t lost since, ascending to third in the East, two points behind second-place Cincinnati, and seven behind Philadelphia. 

A win by CLTFC and a win or draw by Nashville against Cincinnati would push the Crown into second. Even if Philadelphia falls on the road in Vancouver, they will remain at the top.

The critical tiebreaker for Charlotte is their win total, where they have only two draws and 11 losses. The 16 wins have them equal with Cincinnati and just behind Philadelphia and San Diego. That’s what has them  in third over Nashville.

A win and a loss by New York Red Bulls would also lock in a playoff spot for Charlotte for the third consecutive season in the team’s four-year history.

Series history

Saturday's match against Inter Miami CF will be the eighth regular season meeting of the two clubs. Miami leads the series 3-2-2 after taking a 1-0 win in Fort Lauderdale on March 9, just the third game of the season. The Herons also beat the Crown 4-0 in a 2023 Leagues Cup quarterfinal.

Charlotte has won two of the three previous at the Bank, though Miami took the most recent match, 2-1, in Charlotte last July. 

Not making the trip for Miami will be striker Luis Suarez, who received an additional three-match suspension for his postgame transgressions, primarily spitting on a Seattle Sounders staff member, after the Leagues Cup final. Coincidentally, that includes the Herons' next match against Seattle on Sept.17. He was previously hit with a six-game Leagues Cup ban on future games in that competition. 

Still available are Sergio Busquets and Tomás Avilés, who also faced Leagues Cup sanctions, getting two-game and three-game bans, respectively, for their actions. They received no additional punishment from MLS despite video evidence of them physically striking Seattle players and staff.

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