Charlotte FC needs some home cooking against Austin FC

TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST

After a draw and loss on the road to start the season, Charlotte FC is looking to break into the win column in their home debut Saturday against Austin FC.

After two games with less-than-optimal performances to begin the 2026 MLS season, Charlotte FC is home for five straight matches at Bank of America Stadium.

“Historically, we’ve played very, very well at home with our fans behind us, and that’s what we're after again this weekend,” said head coach Dean Smith. Charlotte started the season with a draw at St. Louis and a loss at LA Galaxy.

Saturday’s game against Austin FC kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on Apple TV.

If there’s been a constant to Smith’s two-year reign in Charlotte, it’s been that his teams improve. 

They started both seasons with 1-1-1 records, and a win at home on Saturday would bring them back to that starting point. Through March 2024, the Crown were 2-2-2. In the first six matches of 2025, they were 3-2-1. Two matches into the new season, they are 0-1-1.

Smith’s first season in 2024 brought a 14-11-9 record, an improvement of four wins and eight points from the 2023 campaign (10-11-13, 43 points), The minus-7 goal differential in the club’s second season grew to plus-9 in 2025, as the team scored just one more (46) but gave up 15 fewer goals (52 to 37). 

Last year brought further improvement as Charlotte (19-13-2, 59 points) moved into the top four of the Eastern Conference after finishing fifth by one point in 2024. 

The most glaring issue two games in has been transition defense, with three of the four goals conceded coming from losing the ball and having players out of position to respond quickly.

“We know that we haven't dealt with counterattacks very well over the first two games,” said Smith, “and that's something that we have to be better at.”

The attack has to gain traction as well. A 73rd-minute equalizer by Pep Biel gained a point in St. Louis, but the Crown were outgunned 22-8 on shots, 11-3 on target. It was worse in Los Angeles, with the Galaxy putting 12 of 14 shots on frame to only 1 of 4 for Charlotte.

“I don’t think we've played anywhere near our levels that we can, and I’ve said that to the players. If I look at the two games, with the exception of the first game, where I probably give Callie (Kahlina) an 8 out of 10, I don’t think anybody else has got over a six. And if you don’t get more than a 6 out of 10, you're not going to win games at any level. That's the thing that spoke to the players about. We need to up our levels individually.”

The most fouled player in the league last season, Wilfried Zaha is still being targeted by opposing teams with nine fouls suffered in the two matches. The rest of the team combined has been fouled 11 times. 

About Austin

Austin comes in with one win and a draw in their first two matches, both of which have been at home, a 2-2 draw against Minnesota United in the opener and a 1-0 win over DC United last weekend.
AFC are still without striker Brandon Vasquez, who is still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury last year. Owen Wolff, who had seven goals and eight assists last year, is out with a hernia injury. Robert Taylor, the Finnish forward who came from Inter Miami last season, was injured in the opener and won’t play. 

There’s a Florida flavor to the Texas team’s offense, which Charlotte will have to smother. Previously with Orlando City from 2022 to 2024, Facundo Torres scored five goals against the Crown and passed for two more. The 25-year-old Uruguayan took a Brazilian holiday last season, playing for Palmeiras in Sao Paulo, where he scored 10 goals across 61 appearances, which included the FIFA Club World Cup. 

Playing in front of Torres will be Myrto Uzuni, a 30-year-old Albanian, who had nine goals in 34 games for Austin last season after moving over from Spanish club Granada.

Goalkeeper Brad Stuver has only made four saves in the two matches, which suggests the defense in front of him is limiting opportunities, compared to Kristijan Kahlina, who has 19 saves in two matches.
“They’ve got some really good players within their team as well, good structure,” said Smith. “But again, for me, it's about concentrating on what we do. If we turn up and play well, then there's not many teams that can beat us.”

Leagues Cup returns to Charlotte

MLS has announced the format for the 2026 Leagues Cup, which features MLS teams competing against LIGA MX teams. Charlotte will host Pumas UNAM, Atlas FC, and CF Pachuca in the now annual in-season tournament,

The Leagues Cup will feature 36 clubs - all 18 LIGA MX teams and 18 qualified MLS clubs. It will follow the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be played in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico from June 11-July 19. It begins on Aug. 4 and continues through Sept. 6.

For the first time, matches will also be played in Mexico, with the three top-ranked LIGA MX clubs hosting games. The fourth edition of the Concacaf-sanctioned tournament will qualify three clubs for the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup, with the winner earning a direct berth to the Round of 16. 

Charlotte will host Pumas on Aug. 4, Atlas on Aug. 7, and Pachuca on Aug.11.

It will be Pachuca’s second trip to the Queen City but first match against CLTFC. They lost to Real Madrid 3-1 in front of over 70,000 fans at Bank of America Stadium during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
Some of the Mexican players will get an earlier run in Bank of America Stadium as Charlotte will host the 2026 MLS All-Star Game, where the roster of MLS All-Stars will face the Liga MX All-Stars on July 29.

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