It’s on to next year for Charlotte FC after first-round loss

TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Idan Toklomati emerged as one of Charlotte FC's best young players in 2025, opening the door for more growth in 2026 or perhaps a big payday for another club interested in buying his services.

There was a robbery at the Bank last week, a straight-up smash-and-grab. 

With speed on the counter, New York City FC broke into the sealed vault that had been Charlotte FC’s net three times to take the best-of-three series in the first round of the MLS playoffs. Final score 3-1. Now thoughts will move from what could have been to what will be.

The home advantage was there. The Bank of America Stadium was rocking as Dean Smith said it would be. The bottom bowl was full and in full voice. That energy fueled a Charlotte 11 that came out of the gate fast and furious. Here, in the heart of NASCAR country, in the vernacular of Ricky Bobby’s boys, Charlotte FC came after the Pigeons like a spider monkey all jacked up on Mountain Dew. 

In the half-field game, Charlotte dominated on defense, not giving the visitors a decent sniff at the goal for 99% of the first 45. They pressed high and hard, winning the ball time after time on New York’s side of the pitch and snuffing out or minimizing threats the few times they occurred. 

Smith told his team after the match, “You haven't let anybody down today.” In the post-game press conference, he said, “The fans turned up. We turned up. Much better performance. (We were the) better team on the night. But sometimes sports are cruel, you know, and we didn't get the result that we deserved tonight. We didn’t take our chances, but (the) intent to what we were after was there.”

The story of this game and the series for that matter, was finishing. In Games 1 and 3, NYC was far more clinical and ruthless in taking chances presented to them. In three matches, Charlotte scored one goal and won the middle game on a penalty kick tiebreaker. 

Charlotte did take the regular season match at home, finding the net and claiming a clean sheet 2-0, NYC was a bogey team for the Crown this year, halting the incredible nine-game winning streak with their own 2-0 result at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 20.

Chances not taken

The first shots for Charlotte came in the 10th minute. After some crafty buildup, both Wilfried Zaha, on a long give-and-go with Kerwin Vargas, and Ashley Westwood, on the rebound, had good looks blocked by defenders. 

Four minutes later, Djibril Diani, who settled in as a far more consistent player on both sides of the ball this season, had a free header from 12 yards out, just right of the penalty spot on a cross from Nathan Byrne, but he couldn’t put it on frame. Would it have beaten NYC and U.S. National Team goalkeeper Matt Freese? Probably not. But he should have tested him as Idan Toklomati was there to pick up any rebound or spillage. 

Charlotte kept the pressure on, and two minutes later, a good shot from Idan Toklomati was blocked by a defender.

Thirty-five minutes in, the Crown’s best chance came when Brandt Bronico was set up by Toklomati in front of the NYC goal about nine yards out, just right of center. But as he let the ball run across his body, his first touch didn’t give him the position to get properly around and over it. With Freese closing him down, he skied his shot high and wide. 

Already building his rep for being in the right place to score goals, the 21-year-old Toklomati demonstrated the breadth of his promise to the Crown as he took a nice entry pass from Diani at the top of the penalty area, drew two defenders that freed Bronico before laying the ball off. 

Charlotte outshot NYC 15-8 in Game 3 but put only one of them on target. A 2.61-.98 advantage in the metric of expected goals says the Crown should have done better. Other than misses by Diani and Bronico, the most tantalizing of those 15 shots were blocked by NYC defenders before they could threaten the goal.

“I was happy with the game plan,” said Smith. “I was happy with how we executed it at times. I just wasn't happy with the quality in and around the box. And you've got to give credit to them at times, because I thought they defended their box well.”

Daggers

Of the six shots the Pigeons put on frame, half were easily gathered by Kristijan Kahlina. The other three were knives to the heart. 

The first dagger came a minute and a half into three minutes of stoppage time at the end of the first half. Harry Toffolo was taking a long throw-in about seventeen yards out on the left touchline, and Charlotte, who had been dominating, was in a very aggressive position with seven players in the NYC penalty area looking for the go-ahead goal they felt they deserved. Byrne was at the top of the arc with Tim Ream the furthest back on the left side, about fifteen yards across midfield.

That failed when Andres Perea beat Adilson Malanda to the ball at the corner of the six-yard box, heading it past everyone to the top left corner of the penalty area. Toffolo came out to head it back towards the onrushing Ream, but was bumped hard by Nicolas Fernandez, taking pace off the ball. Fernandez beat Ream to the ball and sprinted upfield with it at his feet. Byrne recovered to match him by the time he got to the Charlotte penalty area, as did Ream to cover Alonso Martinez’s run at the far post. Byrne went to ground in the effort to block a shot, but Fernandez kept his balance and hit a wonderstrike past Kahlina inside the far post.

“It was the last minute of the first half, the long throw was on,” said Smith. “It just bounced to their player, and he's ended up carrying the ball 60, 70 yards, and Nathan ended up going to ground. I mean, it's a great finish, to be fair to the lad, but one will probably look back on and feel that we probably could have made a tactical foul a little bit earlier.”

The second wound came early in the second half, just five minutes after the whistle, when Wilfried Zaha’s shot was blocked by Aiden O’Neill at the top of the box. It fell to Maxi Moralez, who lofted it over the top to Martinez, the antihero of game one, whose quickness beat Byrne in a footrace down the left channel. His left-footed shot just beat Kahlina’s dive to the far post.

A late charge

As Charlotte fought to equalize the match, Perea and Malanda jumped, battling for a high ball in the 71st minute. Coming down, Perea’s right leg buckled underneath. NYCFC announced on Monday that midfielder Andres Perea has undergone surgery to repair a right lower leg fracture. That delay would help add a dozen minutes of added time to the game.

Charlotte pulled one back in the 80th when Zaha found Toffolo inside the left of the penalty area. His bulleted cross into the middle was neatly redirected through the legs of Archie Goodwin to Toklomati, who had to take it down off his thigh before side-footing it past Freese into the net. 

It put the Crown back into the match in dramatic fashion with at least ten minutes to play. It was also a positive look into next season and the choices Smith will have to make about playing Toklomati and Goodwin together up front more often in what could be one of the most exciting tandems in MLS.

The two 21-year-olds are both skillful and mature in their movement with and without the ball, and fearless ball hawks in the goalmouth with the talent to be in the right place at the right time. That alone will be worth the price of admission next season.

The kill shot

With Charlotte pressing to bring the match even, the last dagger came ten minutes into the twelve of added time given. A long clearance out of New York’s defensive end was taken by Hannes Wolf, who won jousts with both Ream and Zaha to maintain possession as Charlotte scrambled back to defend. He laid the ball to Fernandez on the left, who chipped it over Kahlina from a sharp angle to seal the win.

That New York had a plan they were able to execute was no accident. Even with a new coach in Pascal Jansen, this marks the third time in five seasons that NYCFC has reached at least the conference semifinals in the MLS Cup playoffs. They were champions in 2021 and made the East semifinals in 2022 and 2024.

Decisions to be made

No team stays the same year to year. Every team evolves, and not always in the way they want. 

The biggest known loss for next year will be Adilson Malanda, who was sold to English Championship division side Middlesbrough during the summer transfer window with the stipulation that he would remain with Charlotte through the playoffs as warranted. Simply put, as in the case of Patrick Agyemang, an offer was made that they could not refuse. 

If Toklomati and Goodwin continue to improve, perhaps Vargas, just 23 himself, as well, may earn offers on their services as well. That’s just the nature of the game, and MLS is both a buying and selling league, but in the buy low, sell high mantra learned in every business school. 

They will all be back next season, but others may not. The triggers in Pep Biel’s loan deal have opened the door for his move to be permanent. 

Wilfried Zaha's loan deal from Turkish club Galatasaray was initially for one year with an option to extend through June 2026. If his play continues as it has, that will have to be dealt with. Now that the Crown are out of the playoffs, expect the end-of-season roster decisions to come soon.

Wait ‘til next year

Commenting on the achievements of this year, Smith summed it up.

“We’ve had progression again. We’ve got more points. We hold a record now of a winning run in the league, the most home wins we’ve had. So, we’ve made progression as a team, as a club. We haven’t got what we feel that we probably deserve (in Game 3), and that can happen. As I said, sport can be cruel, but we need to keep progressing, because that’s when you can get closer and closer to winning things.”

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