Charlotte FC wants to leave LA with three points in hand

CHARLOTTE FC

Defender Nathan Byrd and his Charlotte FC mates will try to notch their first win of the season Feb. 28 against Los Angeles Galaxy.

Despite taking a point in their first match at St. Louis City last week, Charlotte FC weren’t satisfied with their level of play.

They’re looking for a better performance at Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.

“I think the performance as a whole was pretty average,” said defender Nathan Byrne, “but we'll take the positives. We left over the point and something to improve on.”

His coach agreed.

“We certainly got a few things wrong last week, which resulted in average performance,” Dean Smith said at his weekly media briefing. “I think one of the biggest problems we had last week was on turnover balls and transitions. I thought we were too open, so we’ve actually spoken about that and worked on that this week. We want to look after the ball a little bit better than we did. Our positional play wasn't quite what we was after as well. So, we've done a lot of work on that this week. 

“I think there's a lot of quick fixes to what we got wrong last week. It will be game dependent as well. I think the opposition will play and press a little bit differently, probably than what St Louis did.” 

The game kicks off at 10:30 p.m. at Dignity Health Park Stadium in Carson, California, and will be streamed on AppleTV.

This will only be the fourth meeting all-time between the Crown and the Galaxy. The series is even at 111. Los Angeles were the visitors at Charlotte’s first-ever home match in 2022, which was played before a then-record 74,479 fans at Bank of America Stadium. LA won 1-0. Charlotte won by the same score in Los Angeles the following season, and the teams drew 0-0 in Charlotte in 2024. 

While this is the second match for CLTFC, the Galaxy have already played three games, twice in the CONCACAF Champions League. All have been draws, including their home opener, a 1-1 stalemate against NYCFC. On Wednesday, Galaxy advanced to the CCL Round of 16 after advancing past Panamanian club Sporting San Miguelito with a 0-0 draw. Their away goal in a 1-1 tie in Panama on Feb. 19 was the difference.

Guarding the Galaxy

The primary threats from LA will be the prolific front line of Brazilian striker João Klauss, who moved to California from St. Louis City over the winter, countryman Gabriel Pec, and Ghanaian winger Joseph Paintsil.

Pec and Paintsil combined for 62 MLS goals for LA over the previous two seasons. Pec had 31 in 81 matches, Paintsil 30 in 71 games. The 6-foot-3 Klauss scored 27 goals in 95 matches over three seasons for St. Louis and found the net just three minutes into the opener against New York City.

They are joined by former German national team star Marco Reus, who has nine goals in 39 games over two seasons in LA. Reus was originally a discovery player of Charlotte’s, but the Galaxy acquired his rights for $100,000 in 2024 and $300,000 in 2025. Each MLS team is allowed to claim up to five non-MLS players, securing the first right to negotiate with them.

Charlotte will be more cautious pushing forward. St. Louis caught the Crown with outside backs Byrne and Harry Toffolo, too far up the pitch to help when they countered after taking the ball away in midfield.

“Positioning-wise, I think we can be better,” Smith said. “I think the understanding of where we want people when the ball is in a certain position will be better as well. And I just felt that we were a little bit one paced in the final third. And that's something that has to change as well.”

That doesn’t mean you won’t see Byrne in the offensive third. 

“I think the manager’s never stopped us going forward, to be fair,” he said. “Maybe some games, it'll be more offensive. Sometimes, it’ll be more holding the line and staying on the halfway line. We rarely have a game week to week where we do the exact same thing.”

Primarily a provider when he moves into the attack, Byrne had a good chance at the goal in St. Louis after being able to dribble into the SLC penalty area but it curved wide of the far post. Even though he’s played 103 games across all competitions, scoring his first goal for Charlotte is not something he dwells on. He’s taken 12 shots in 92 MLS games but made 29 crosses.

“I think it’s coming, right? If it comes, it comes,” Byrne said. “If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. If we win games, I really couldn't care less.”

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