Charlotte FC came back from a goal deficit to claim a 1-2 away win against last place C.F. Montréal (5-13-6, 21 Points) on Wednesday night. It’s only the second time in five seasons Charlotte have won an MLS match in Quebec.

The match was wet and wild, with a significant downpour during the first half. Former Charlotte FC striker Daniel Ríos struck first for Montréal in the 34th minute, but Charlotte fans didn’t have to wait long for the equalizer: three minutes later, Allan Saint-Maximin connected with Liel Abada for Abada’s fourth goal of the campaign.

In the second half, fullback David Schnegg found Idan Toklomati in the area for the go-ahead goal, and that was all the Crown would need.

Soccer Sheet talked to Schnegg after the match, and he told us he forgot to bring the right boots for the damp pitch:

Though they weathered the weather, the Crown didn’t make it out of Canada unscathed: Schnegg picked up his fifth yellow card and will miss Charlotte’s Saturday fixture in Cincinnati.

Lineups: What You Need to Know

• Fifth place Charlotte FC (11-7-6, 39 Points) travel to Ohio on Saturday, September 12 to face FC Cincinnati (8-8-7, 31 Points). Cincy are currently in seventh place in the East, and have a game in hand over Charlotte. When the teams met in May at Bank of America Stadium, the result was a 2-2 draw.

  • In addition to Schnegg, captain Ashley Westwood will miss his second match in a row for Charlotte due to yellow card accumulation.

    • MLS need to update their rules

  • On the Cincinnati side, Evander will also miss the match due to accumulation. He scored one of Cincinnati’s two goals against Charlotte in May.

    • Obinna Nwobodo will be out for Cincy as well due to a red card.

• The NC Courage (12-8-3, 39 Points, +13 GD) are riding high in third place after a 0-6 win in Chicago powered by an Ashley Sanchez hat trick. They’ll face the fifth place San Diego Wave (12-8-3, 39 Points, +6 GD) at 6:30 PM ET on Saturday, September 12.

  • Sanchez continues to dominate NWSL’s Golden Boot race, adding three goals for a total of 18. Barbara Banda of the Orlando Pride is second with 14 goals; Sophia Wilson is in third with 12; and Sanchez’s teammate Evelyn Ijeh is in fourth with 11.

    • Sanchez now owns the single-season scoring record (18 goals) for an American player in NWSL. She is three goals behind the 21 goal record Temwa Chawinga set in 2024.

    • Yet again, Sanchez earned NWSL Player of the Week honors in addition to winning Player of the Month for August.

  • Sanchez and Ijeh were both named to the Team of the Month for August.

Listen to our conversation with Ashley Sanchez after Saturday’s match below:

• Second place Carolina Ascent FC (3-1-0, 9 Points) got their first USL Super League win at home on Saturday with a 3-0 win over seventh place Fort Lauderdale United FC (1-2-0, 3 Points).

  • Tomorrow, the Ascent travel to Kentucky for a replay of last year’s playoff final against sixth place Lexington SC (1-1-0, 3 Points). Kickoff is at 7:30 PM ET.

  • The Ascent’s B Hylton got another cap in the U-20 Women’s World Cup on Tuesday when she played the full 90’ for the Young Lionesses in England’s 5-1 group stage victory over Tanzania.

    • England will need a result against Brazil on Friday to guarantee a berth in the knockout rounds, though they could still advance with a loss.

• The first place Charlotte Independence (15-5-4, 49 Points, +22 GD) fell to Union Omaha (15-6-4, 49 Points, +16 GD) on Saturday after a Souaibou Marou red card early in the first half led to a 2-0 road loss. Our writeup is here.

  • The Independence, however, have a game in hand over Union Omaha as they come home to American Legion Memorial Stadium on Saturday, September 12 to take on 14th place Westchester SC (6-13-5, 23 Points).

  • While the regular season goal for the Jacks is still first place and the Players’ Shield, they can clinch a playoff appearance with two wins.

    • For the rest of the season, the Jacks only face two more opponents currently above the playoff line: 5th place Boise and 8th place Fort Wayne. Omaha have four matches against tougher opponents, including a decision day away match against third place Madison.

• Crown Legacy FC will host Carolina Core FC on Saturday, September 12 at 7:00 PM at the Matthews Sportsplex.

  • It’s Legacy’s last home match before the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs; Core have been eliminated from postseason play.

  • The Core have glory to play for: if they win in regulation or a shootout, they’ll have bested Legacy in all three matches between the sides this season.

First Half: The Latest Stories from Soccer Sheet

Here are some of our stories from the past week:

Halftime: Soccer Fact of the Week

Australian women’s soccer legend Sam Kerr set the NWSL single-season scoring record in 2019 with 18 goals in a 24 match season. When Malawian footballer Temwa Chawinga set the new record (21 goals) in 2024, she had 26 matches in which to do so.

The NC Courage’s Ashley Sanchez reached 18 goals in 23 matches; this NWSL season, however, will have 30 total matches.

Second Half: Social Media Shares

Some of our most recent content from Instagram:

Postgame: Candid Comments

NC Courage midfielder Erica Meg Parkinson was expected to play in the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland, but was recalled by the Courage due to injury issues.

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After the Charlotte Independence (15-5-4, 49 Points, +22 GD) earned a last minute, 3-2 victory against 13th place Portland Hearts of Pine (5-11-8, 23 Points) on Wednesday, September 2, one can be forgiven for thinking the Jacks would replicate the feat on the road in Omaha last night.

Almost everything was there — the fight, the pressure, and the skill — for the Jacks to steal another three points in the closing minutes of their 0-2 loss to Union Omaha (15-6-4, 49 Points, +16 GD).

What was missing, however, was an 11th player. Independence forward Souaibou Marou had been sent off in the first half, disrupting Charlotte’s game plan and making them fight for survival on the road.

Despite a valiant effort, the Owls snapped a 7-match unbeaten streak for the Jacks — though the Independence still sit atop the table thanks to a superior tiebreaker over Omaha.

Jeffries Named Coach of the Month

In both matches, the Independence demonstrated the resilience and fight that led to head coach Mike Jeffries being named USL League One Coach of the Month for August earlier today.

Jeffries led the club to a 4-0-1 record in August, helping the Jacks claim first place in League One. The Independence return to American Legion Memorial Stadium on Saturday, September 12, to face Westchester SC. Kickoff is set for 7 PM ET, and tickets are available here.

Charlotte 3, Portland 2

Charlotte’s comeback against Portland Hearts of Pine can be summed up in two words: Stéfano Pinho. The forward scored twice in two minutes during stoppage time for the equalizer and the go-ahead goal.

”I’ve talked about the group’s character all year, but just the character — they keep pushing, they keep fighting,” said Independence head coach Mike Jeffries. “You know, it’s obviously nice to be at home, and then to get two goals at the death in stoppage time is unbelievable.”

Jon Bakero got things started early with a 20th minute goal assisted by Independence Captain Clay Dimick in his 200th appearance for the Jacks.

For the rest of the first half, Charlotte seemed in control. The stats also favored the Jacks over the course of the match, with 17 total shots to 9 for the Hearts, 14 shots inside the box to 5 for Portland, and 9 shots on target to 4 for the visitors.

However, a six-minute stretch in the second half changed the game.

First, Matteo Kidd scored for the Hearts in the 59th minute. Then, in the 65th, Charlotte goalkeeper Matt Levy gave up a penalty in the box during a chaotic play. Charlotte’s defense let Portland’s Diego Gonzalez slip through and take a shot that was saved by Levy. While Levy was still on the ground after the save, he challenged Portland’s Ollie Wright for the ball near the right edge of the goal box. Instead of retrieving the ball, Levy’s glove tripped Wright and the official immediately pointed to the spot.

Wright took the penalty he earned and shot the ball on the ground to the right. Levy guessed correctly and saved the ball, but it bounced out of his possession, allowing Portland captain Michel Poon-Angeron to net an easy rebound goal, his first of the season.

The Jacks responded by increasing the pressure on Portland. After Poon-Angeron’s goal, Independence coach Mike Jeffries made a triple change that included Pinho and Javen Ramero. Pinho and Charlotte forward Souaibou Marou took multiple shots in the run-up to stoppage time, but couldn’t get a ball in.

Then, in the 5th minute of stoppage, Charlotte took the ball up the left side and found Ramero in the corner. Ramero sent a great cross into the area, and Pinho pulled off a spinning half bicycle kick to get past Portland goalkeeper Hunter Morse.

“I was waiting for this moment,” said Pinho. “I was trying so hard to get my goal, so today was a gift from God. Nothing is finished yet.”

Just two minutes later, Bakero found Pinho in the area with a long cross straight to the boot, and with a much less acrobatic kick Pinho completed his brace.

”The first goal is a ridiculous finish, right? Pinho, we see that in training, but that’s just a great finish. Javen did ridiculously well to get to the ball and keep it in. And then just to pull off and hit a finish like that is incredible,” said Jeffries. “And then on the second one — again, we felt like, ‘Hey, we’ve got them. Let’s keep pushing.’ And to get the second one was, you know, obviously just a striker — right spot, right time.”

Omaha 2, Charlotte 0

It was a bad foul, but was it a red card?

That’s the question Independence coaching staff and supporters will be asking themselves over the next week as they assess their team’s loss to second place Union Omaha on Saturday night.

In the replay, the Independence cross a ball into the area. Marou is running to catch the high ball, and his leg goes up. Omaha goalkeeper Cole Jensen is coming off his line to challenge. Marou’s left leg is stretched out like a martial arts kick, and his boot and studs go straight into Jensen’s torso.

Omaha players come over to challenge Marou as the Omaha fans boo, loudly. The referee, Amin Hadzic, breaks it up, and shows Marou the yellow. Then, the replay goes up on the stadium video board, and Hadzic consults with an assistant referee.

Hadzic then walks back over to Marou to show him red.

“Obviously, the game turns on the red-card decision,” said Jeffries. “I thought the refereeing crew handled that decision remarkably poorly … I think that was a pretty big frustration for us as we went through the game.”

In response to a question from Soccer Sheet, Jeffries noted what he saw as a process error in how the red card was handled.

“This is a referee decision. He’s very close to the play. He makes the decision to give the yellow card right away,” said Jeffries. “The stadium puts up a replay immediately after that. So, the replay is on the board, yellow card has already been shown to Souaibou. Forget about whether it’s a red card or not … the [assistant referee] calls the referee - after the replay - the AR calls the referee over, and then he issues the red card … the replay should not have been up immediately after.”

Though Charlotte gave a gutsy performance, it was downhill from the red card. The 10-man Jacks conceded in the closing minutes of the first half. Then, after a concerted effort in the second stoppage time, the Jacks conceded a second goal, and that was all she wrote.

Is It too Early to Talk Playoffs?

Charlotte’s next test is back home at American Legion Memorial Stadium on Saturday, September 12 against 14th place Westchester SC (6-13-5, 23 Points).

With only 8 matches left to play, the math is in Charlotte’s favor to make the playoffs. They are guaranteed a spot if they win two more matches (regardless of other results).

In the hunt for the regular season championship, the Independence have more work to do. While the Jacks are the only team averaging over 2 points per match, they play five of their final eight matches on the road.

In the “good news” column, the Jacks only face two more opponents currently above the playoff line: 5th place Boise and 8th place Fort Wayne.

While nothing is certain, and the Jacks still have a shield and home field advantage to play for, expect to see the Independence in the playoffs this fall.

The big question from Saturday night’s match is a head-scratcher: how — and why — did Charlotte FC captain Ashley Westwood get sent off for dissent?

Up until the 71st minute, the match was roughly even, though the Crown had their chances. Once Westwood left the pitch, however, Charlotte was forced to hunker down and play defense with 10 men.

Charlotte (10-7-6, 36 Points) and Houston Dynamo FC (12-7-4, 40 Points) eventually played to a 0-0 draw, good enough given the circumstances, but perhaps less than what Charlotte would have wanted to get at home.

Additionally, even after a Monday press conference with Charlotte head coach Dean Smith, neither the club nor the press know if Westwood will be suspended for one or two matches.

Prior to the red card, Charlotte had the better chances.

Liel Abada got the shooting started in the 3rd minute, with Pep Biel finding his fellow designated player through traffic. Abada missed, shooting too high in the first of many frustrating opportunities during the stalemate.

As Biel tried to orchestrate opportunities for Charlotte, Mateusz Bogusz did the same for Houston. The Dynamo’s attack sharpened after the first 15 minutes and started to force action from Kahlina, but they never found an opening in the Crown’s compact defense.

In the 35th minute, Abada got the ball from a pretty Allan Saint-Maximin pass. He unselfishly put the ball on Biel’s boot, but Biel’s shot was blocked, neutralizing one of Charlotte’s highest xG opportunities.

Shortly after, Westwood took a shot from the top of the penalty arc that wouldn’t normally be expected to go in, but ended up being inches away from the goal. The 37th minute shot came from a cheeky Pep Biel set piece, giving the skipper the opportunity to take a wide open shot from one of his favorite spots: outside the box.

Sadly, the captain struck the right post, generating a sound that rang throughout the Bank. Aside from a Tim Ream yellow card, it was the last notable event of a sleepy first half.

Both Ream and Smith described the tension of that opening half in similar terms afterward. Ream pointed to a lot of chatter between the two sides as each team tried to get one over on the other, saying it felt like a chess match that neither team ever really broke — a stalemate by the end.

Smith reached for the same word, calling the first half a game of chess that turned into a bit of a stalemate. Neither team ever quite found the decisive move, which might be the best way to describe a half that was more zugzwang than breakthrough.

After the break, Abada kept leading the attack, with Biel continuing to orchestrate, Saint-Maximin showing his superlative quality with the ball, and Will Cleary demonstrating why he has quickly become an essential piece of Charlotte’s attacking puzzle.

With the pressure turned up, it looked like a goal was coming when Abada and Biel forced back-to-back saves out of Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond in the 58th minute. Biel’s shot in particular required Bond to demonstrate his quality; for most of the match, Houston’s defense was blocking shots before they got to the keeper.

Then came the most inexplicable moment of the match.

After Smith’s substitutes came on, Westwood argued over a call with referee Guido Gonzales. Westwood was shown a yellow card, but kept arguing. Gonzales brought the yellow out again so quickly that he dropped it on the pitch, and then pulled the red card out of his back pocket.

The Charlotte bench was also shown a yellow card in the aftermath.

When asked about the cards, Smith was careful with his words after the match.

“Listen, the only thing I’ll say on the referee is he refused to shake my hand at the end of the game, and respect works both ways,” said Smith. “So, you know, that tells me everything about it.”

From there, Houston took over territorially, firing nine of its 18 total shots from the 74th minute onward and finishing with 65.4% possession to Charlotte’s 34.6%.

None of it produced a goal.

Kristijan Kahlina made five saves, including a stoppage-time stop on Agustín Resch in the seventh minute of second-half added time, to secure his second consecutive clean sheet.

Charlotte’s back line of Tim Ream, Henry Kessler, Will Cleary and David Schnegg helped absorb the rest of Houston’s pressure, combining to block nine attempts over the course of the night.

Will Westwood’s absence hurt the Crown going forward?

“I don’t know, I haven’t even thought about it,” Ream said when asked how losing Westwood complicates next week’s trip to Montreal. “The way this game is, it’s just next man up. We have guys who can take over that role, and guys who are ready to do it.”

He added, with a self-aware laugh, that it simply meant “one less over-30 player on the field.”

On the club’s run of back-to-back clean sheets, Ream downplayed the idea that it’s about the defense specifically. “It’s more the form of the team,” he said, pointing to the results — one loss in the last nine matches, and just two losses in the last twelve counting Leagues Cup play — as evidence of a group building real competitiveness heading into the stretch run.

Like Smith, Ream also both had pointed comments about the officiating after the match. Ream said that in his 16 years in the league, he’s never seen referees refuse to shake hands with players — on either team.

What’s Next

Charlotte are unbeaten in their last five MLS matches (three wins, two draws) as they continue to linger in 5th place in the Eastern Conference.

They travel to Quebec to take on last place CF Montreal (5-12-6, 21 Points) tomorrow. Then, on Saturday, they travel to Ohio to take on 6th place FC Cincinnati (8-7-7, 31 Points).

Westwood will serve a suspension for at least the first match this week; the club is waiting on confirmation from the league to see if he will also sit out the Cincinnati match.

The last time Carolina Ascent FC (3-1-0, 9 Points) played Fort Lauderdale United FC (1-2-0, 3 Points), they won 0-3 on the road with a clean sheet after scoring three goals in the second half.

History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. For last night’s 3-0 win at home, they got to work immediately, scoring all three goals in the first 45 minutes.

“I’m glad we scored when we did,” said Carolina Ascent head coach Philip Poole. “All in all, I think we could have scored another two or three in the second half. So I’m quite happy with the performance, but there are parts of it where we’ve got to tighten up.”

With the win, the Ascent improved to second place in the Super League Table with 10 matches left to play in the short season.

The environment was more challenging than normal for the Ascent as only 1,727 fans were in attendance, likely due to both the holiday weekend and the Charlotte FC match scheduled at the same time (by comparison, 5,907 fans attended last week when Charlotte FC were away).

Even with the small crowd, the Ascent got on the board early with a textbook route one goal.

In the 10th minute, Ascent goalkeeper Sydney Martinez started the play by passing the ball to Jenna Butler in the Ascent’s third. Butler had space and all the time in the world, and launched the long ball to Carolina captain Jill Aguilera at the top of Fort Lauderdale’s penalty box. Fort Lauderdale goalkeeper Haley Craig came off her line to try and stop Aguilera, but the captain got a high left boot on the ball, sending a volley into the visitors’ net with one touch.

Despite the scoreline, Fort Lauderdale had a strong attack, and would end the night with more shots than Carolina (12 to 9) and more shots on target (6 to 4).

“With this game, we got the 3-0 win, but we certainly didn’t play as well as we played last weekend,” said Aguilera. “So there are always things that we need to work on.”

The Ascent’s next goal came from a perplexing penalty. In the 29th minute the Ascent were on a good run, attacking Fort Lauderdale’s final third continuously. Tappan, who scored the lone goal for the Ascent in the home opener, sent a long ball across the field to Aguilera, who couldn’t control it, and it was eventually stopped by Craig’s boot at the goal line.

Here’s where it gets interesting: Craig never picks up the ball as she passes it with her foot to Fort Lauderdale center back Ella Simpson. Simpson presumably thinks the ball is dead, and uses her hand to set it up for a goal kick; however, there was no whistle to blow the ball dead, and thanks to Craig’s foot the ball never left play.

That was more than enough for referee Kevin Broadley to blow his whistle and point to the spot. The Ascent’s Mia Corbin would take the penalty and easily slot it in for her 6th goal in three seasons against Fort Lauderdale.

Corbin would further demonstrate her versatility by earning an assist before the half was over. A bad pass from Fort Lauderdale ended up on Corbin’s boot, who found Audrey Coleman through significant traffic.

“I’m just enjoying playing with my team, working hard and getting the results on the field,” said Corbin. “Roles are always changing, so I’m just trying to change with them and take advantage of it.”

Aguilera credited the team’s training and process in a halftime interview.

“All throughout training this entire season and preseason we’ve just been working on finishing our opportunities, and I think we’ve been really dedicated in that,” said Aguilera.

Ten Matches Left

The Ascent were looking for a strong result in their second home match of the short season after a disappointing 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay Sun FC in their home opener. With only 14 matches in the short season, every game matters - and it’s one of the reasons Poole was disappointed with the chaotic, basketball-style play from his side against Fort Lauderdale.

“This match could have been 6-6,” said Poole. “There were moments in attacking transition where we’ve got to be much better. We scored three, and we could have assisted three for them. So, for me, the game was too wide open.”

While it seems like the season just started, Decision Day is only 10 matches away on November 28. The Ascent are well-positioned for a third consecutive playoff appearance, currently sitting in second place with 9 points and the best goal differential in the league (+5). Based on previous results, Soccer Sheet estimates 25 points will be enough for a playoff berth, which puts the Ascent 16 points (5 wins and a draw) away.

”Last week was our best performance of the season,” said Poole. “We were most dominant in possession, most dominant in terms of progression, and we lost. Tonight was a choppy performance, and we won 3-0. So it’s funny. I’m not happy with this performance, but I’ll take the three points.”

The Ascent travel to Kentucky on Friday, September 11 for a rematch of the 2026 USL Super League Final against Lexington SC (1-1-0, 3 Points). The Ascent lost that match 3-1 in extra time, but they may be better prepared for the fixture this month as Lexington will have only played two matches before the rematch.

Hylton Features for England U-20s

England’s Women’s U-20 team played their first match of the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland on Saturday, September 5, earning a 1-1 draw against Canada.

While Canada’s Annabelle Chukwu broke the deadlock with a goal early in the second half, England’s attack sharpened once the Carolina Ascent’s B Hylton came on in the 77th minute. Hylton earned a corner for her side, and after applying continuous pressure on the Canadian side, England’s Rachel Maltby drew a foul in the penalty box.

Maltby would take and convert the penalty, scoring the equalizer in the 89th minute.

The Young Lionesses face Tanzania — who lost 4-1 to Brazil in their first match — on Tuesday.

Y’all Weekly’s Soccer Sheet sat down with none other than Carolina Ascent co-owner and tennis legend Martina Navratilova last year for an exclusive interview we haven’t published … until now.

In town for an event touting the partnership between Charlotte’s professional women’s soccer team and the non-profit Dress for Success, Navratilova shared how she came into sports ownership and what she’s bringing to the table as a former tennis superstar and prominent social activist.

She also tells us about driving around Charlotte as a teenager in the 70s, how soccer was the first sport she played (as well as the cause of her first sports injury), and even gives us a glimpse into her rivalry and friendship with the great Chrissy Evert.

Earlier today, Navratilova announced will be in Charlotte on September 26 to support the Ascent at their match against Sporting JAX.

Martina Navratilova Speaks with Soccer Sheet

You can watch the interview above, or on YouTube below:

Martina Navratilova - Part 1

Martina Navratilova - Part 2

Martina Navratilova: Audio Only

First Half: Dimick Joins the 200 Club

In a major milestone moment, Charlotte Independence captain Clay Dimick, 31, made his 200th appearance for the club last night as the Jacks defeated Portland Hearts of Pine 3-2 in USL League One play.

At 200 club appearances, Dimick is second only to former Liberian international Joel Johnson Alajarín, who made 220 appearances for the Independence across all competitions.

Earlier this week, Soccer Sheet spoke with Dimick about the milestone:

“Being the captain of the club is a huge honor that I hope I never take for granted,” said Dimick. “Now playing my 200th game on Wednesday, I don’t take a minute for granted. It makes me want to win even more.”

Paid subscribers can watch our entire interview with Dimick here.

Video: Clay Dimick on what makes the Independence Special

Second Half: The Latest from Soccer Sheet

• Fifth place Charlotte FC (10-7-5, 35 Points) won the I-85 Derby on Saturday with a 0-2 win over Atlanta United (6-13-3, 21 Points).

  • On Saturday, September 5 at 7:30 PM, the Crown host the second place team in the West, Houston Dynamo FC (12-7-3, 39 Points).

  • Read our coverage of the win against Atlanta here.

• The sixth place NC Courage (11-8-3, 33 Points) fell 3-2 on the road to KC Current (10-8-4, 34 Points).

  • NC Courage star Ashley Sanchez didn’t need to add any goals to her current season total of 15 to keep the lead in the NWSL’s Golden Boot race. Barbara Banda of the Orlando Pride is second with 13 goals, and the Courage have a game in hand over the Pride.

    • Sanchez finished the month with five goals, including two braces against Boston and Angel City.

  • Evelyn Ijeh scored her third goal for the Courage in August, putting her in 3rd place in the Golden Boot race with 11 total goals on the season.

• Carolina Ascent FC (2-1-0, 6 Points) lost their first match of the short season to Tampa Bay Sun FC (1-1-1, 3 Points).

  • The Ascent have another chance at home this weekend against Fort Lauderdale United FC.

• The first place Charlotte Independence (15-4-4, 49 Points) travel to Omaha this weekend for a massive match against the second place Union Omaha (14-6-4, 46 Points), their main rivals for the USL League One Players’ Shield.

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As a bonus for our paid subscribers, I want to share an exclusive sneak peek of our Soccer Sheet interview with Charlotte Independence Captain Clay Dimick.

Dimick was one centimeter from paralysis when his neck was injured in 2023, but with the help of a great care team and a successful surgery, he became the first person to return to professional soccer after a double artificial disc replacement.

Our half hour discussion covers Clay’s personal history, his professional journey, and where the Charlotte Independence can go from here as the Jacks sit atop the USL League One table and prepare for two important matches this week.

Clay’s Story

Born in Lubbock, Texas, Clay spent his childhood in the Dallas and San Antonio areas and Marietta, Georgia, before attending Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina. He was recruited into professional soccer through the USL 2 (formerly PDL) and eventually signed his first professional contract with the Charlotte Independence in 2019.

In our interview, Dimick emphasizes that his Catholic faith is foundational to his life as a husband, father, and leader, noting that he wants to be known as a good person beyond his professional career.

That faith helped him when he experienced an injury that almost ended his career.

Overcoming Injury

Three years ago, Dimick ended an Independence match knowing that something was wrong in his neck. After he was examined by a doctore, he learned he suffered a severe cervical spine injury that caused tingling, numbness, and a loss of motor function. He was told he’d never play professional soccer again.

Doctors performed a two-level artificial disc replacement, a procedure that was rare for a professional athlete at the time. Despite initial fears that his playing career was over, he underwent extensive spinal and nerve rehabilitation and returned to the field the next spring.

This year, Dimick feels rejuvenated physically and intends to continue playing for as long as he is healthy and motivated, with hopes of signing a new contract to stay in Charlotte.

Captain of the Jacks

In the interview, Clay highlights the family atmosphere of playing for the Independence and the way ownership and staff, such as coach Mike Jeffries, treat players and their families. As a family man himself, it’s one of the reasons why he and others stay with the club.

The Jacks are currently performing well and chasing the Players’ Shield. Dimick attributes this success to a strong roster mix of experienced veterans and confident young players, as well as a group mentality of self-sacrifice.

We talked about how the Independence are a great part of the soccer ecosystem, hiding in plain sight, delivering a high-level of soccer in a family-friendly environment.

The team is focused on winning the remaining games of the season, including a pivotal Saturday away match against Union Omaha, to secure a championship trophy.

We’ll share more about Clay and his journey later this week. Be sure to watch above, or listen to the entire interview below:

Audio Version: Clay Dimick & Soccer Sheet

Charlotte FC (10-7-5, 35 Points) won a one-sided I-85 Derby on Saturday, August 29, leaving Atlanta with a win, a clean sheet, and a streak as they remain undefeated in four straight visits to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Charlotte improved to 5th place in the Eastern Conference, while Atlanta United (6-13-3, 21 Points) sit in 13th.

With the win, Charlotte continue to own the all-time record against Atlanta with 6 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw. The teams drew for the first time ever at Bank of America Stadium in July after Atlanta defeated the Crown 0-2 in April in the Round of 16 of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

When Soccer Sheet spoke to Charlotte FC head coach Dean Smith after the match, he challenged some of the recent assessments of his squad’s performance.

“People question our mentality at times because we’ve conceded a last minute goal in the Leagues Cup, or we’ve conceded a couple of goals from down to ten men, but [if] you look at our form since the start of the World Cup and I think that tells a different story.”

Counting Leagues Cup, Charlotte are 6-2-2 in competitive matches since the World Cup break.

Two Goals Were all Charlotte Needed

Charlotte opened the game with constant pressure, with the front three of Idan Toklomati, Allan Saint-Maximin, and Liel Abada giving Atlanta trouble in the opening stretch. In the first 20 minutes, Charlotte led the shooting 4-0, with two shots on target.

Toklomati got things started for the Crown in the 22nd minute, poking home a true team goal after a series of touches from Charlotte: center back Henry Kessler intercepted a long ball from Atlanta’s Júnior Alonso, traded passes with goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, and sent the ball to fellow center back Tim Ream.

Ream’s pass back to Kahlina came too close to the goal line for comfort, but Kahlina deftly delivered a long strike to fullback David Schnegg, who charged down the field. Schnegg found Maxi in Atlanta’s final third, and Charlotte’s newest designated player showed his quality with exceptional ball control, finding Biel on the six yard line. Biel slid to catch the ball, and with what was either an errant shot or an exceptional pass found Toklomati for a point blank goal.

Three minutes into the second half, Liel Abada made it 2-0, finishing off an Allan Saint-Maximin assist to put real distance between the two sides.

“Playing with players like Abada just makes my life easier,” defender Will Cleary told Soccer Sheet.

From there, it was about protecting the result — and Charlotte did exactly that, with an especially strong defensive contribution from Abada.

A Defensive wall

Atlanta controlled the ball for much of the game, with 57% possession, 11 corners, and wave after wave of pressure once the hosts fell behind.

None of it mattered.

Charlotte’s backline was relentless in front of goal, with Kessler and company stepping in front of shot after shot, blocking 11 of Atlanta’s strikes in total.

Kessler himself finished with a match-high 18 defensive interventions and led the team in completed passes in a workhorse performance. Kahlina did the rest, stopping everything that did get through — including a late point-blank stop on Tomás Jacob as Atlanta’s pressure peaked in the closing minutes. The Croatian keeper only needed to save three shots in total, all in the second half.

It’s the kind of low-possession, high-composure win that suggests Charlotte can control a match without ever controlling the ball.

Missed Opportunities

If there’s a critique to be made, it’s this: Toklomati had multiple one on one chances in front of goal, but was frequently foiled by Atlanta goalkeeper Lucas Hoyos. He led the match with 1.22 expected goals off five shots, but a couple of moments where a simple pass to a better-positioned teammate would have created an even cleaner look instead saw him try to force something himself.

“[Idan] took the goal that mattered, but missed some big chances that could have made the scoreline a lot better,” said Smith. “I think two-nil probably flattered them in the end.”

Charlotte got the result they needed, but a more adroit final ball from Toklomati could have turned a decisive goal into the first of a hat trick.

Meeting Fafà Outside the Presser

Soccer Sheet ran into Atlanta United forward Fabrice Jean-Ian “Fafà” Picault outside the post-match press conference. We talked with him about his jersey exchange with Tim Ream after the match, and about his thoughts on Haiti’s performance in this World Cup.

By the Numbers

• Final: Atlanta United 0, Charlotte FC 2

• Goals: Idan Toklomati 22’ (Assist: Biel), Liel Abada 48’ (Assist: Saint-Maximin)

• Possession: Atlanta 59%, Charlotte 41%

• Shots on target: Charlotte 5, Atlanta 3

• Big chances: Charlotte 2, Atlanta 0

• The Crown have earned 10 points in four matches since Leagues Cup wrapped.

A gritty, composed win on the road — and a fun first away game for your author.

Up Next

Charlotte FC host Houston Dynamo FC (12-7-3, 39 Points) on Saturday, September 5th at Bank of America Stadium. The teams have met twice in MLS play, with a win apiece - though Charlotte notched a win against the Dynamo in the Round of 16 of the 2023 Leagues Cup.

Houston currently sit 2nd in the Western Conference as they travel to the Bank for the first time.

“Find out who you are, and do it on purpose.”

We’d be remiss not to mention the late Dolly Parton, who passed away on August 25 at the age of 80. Atlanta United made sure to honor the late musician and philanthropist: the club asked fans to name their favorite song from Parton’s repertoire, and “Jolene” took it in a landslide.

Bonus: Maxi Gallery

The Sanchez Show Rolls On

Ashley Sanchez set even more NWSL records on Wednesday night, scoring a second brace in as many matches at WakeMed Soccer Park as the North Carolina Courage (11-7-3, 36 Points) comfortably dispatched Angel City FC at home 2–0.

With the additional goals, Sanchez retains first place in the Golden Boot race, raising her season tally to 15 goals and officially shattering the Courage’s single-season scoring record previously held by Lynn Biyendolo. In doing so, Sanchez also tied the NWSL single-season record for most goals by an American player, drawing level with legends Alex Morgan and Crystal Dunn.

Courage 2, Angel City 0

North Carolina broke open a deadlocked match just before halftime when Swedish international Evelyn Ijeh opened up the Angel City backline with a exquisite back heel flick, releasing Sanchez to calmly slot home her 14th goal of the campaign in the 41st minute.

The buckle of the brace arrived in the 82nd minute through an unlikely source of creativity. Courage goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan launched a booming distribution from her own box, allowing Sanchez to outpace three defenders and finish one-on-one with the Angel City keeper. The assist etched Sheridan into league lore as the first and only goalkeeper in NWSL history to record multiple career assists, as well as the only to do so while keeping a clean sheet.

The 2–0 clean-sheet victory vaults the Courage into fifth place on the NWSL table as they ride a blistering five-win stretch over their last six outings. Meanwhile, Angel City’s frustrating night was compounded by an early second-half arm injury to North Carolina’s Maycee Bell—who celebrated her 50th regular-season appearance—as the visitors saw their four-game draw streak unceremoniously snapped.

Up Next: A Trip to the Midwest

The Courage won’t have long to celebrate their new position on the table. They hit the road next, traveling to CPKC Stadium to face the Kansas City Current on Saturday, August 29, 2026.

Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM EDT with live coverage on ION.

Carolina Ascent Come Home in First, and they’re Bringing a Band

Sassy the Sasquatch won’t be the only funky presence during the Carolina Ascent’s short season.

Garinger High School’s Blue Funk Sound Machine will become a fixture at Ascent home matches as the club’s official band. The Blue Funk Sound Machine will make its debut as the Official Band of Carolina Ascent FC at the team’s home opener this Saturday, August 29.

Known for its high-stepping style, big sound and ability to turn a crowd into part of the performance, the Blue Funk Sound Machine will bring its energy to the stadium before, during and after every Carolina Ascent home match.

The band will perform during pregame, halftime and postgame activities and, from a dedicated location in the stadium, use league-approved instruments to help lead Carolina Ascent supporters throughout the match.

Carolina Ascent FC (2-0-0, 6 Points) moved into first place in the USL Super League with a 1-3 win at Dallas Trinity on Saturday. On Saturday, they face Tampa Bay Sun FC (0-1-1, 1 Point) starting at 7:00 PM.

Tickets start at $9.

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MLS NEXT Pro Announce Calendar Shift

Speaking of shortened seasons …

It’s been a long time coming, but MLS NEXT Pro today announced the league is going to join Major League Soccer in moving to the international calendar, necessitating a sprint season in 2027.

Like with Major League Soccer’s calendar change, the 2027 Sprint Season will be a bridge between the current competition calendar and the new Summer-to-Spring format.

Beginning in mid-February 2027, each MLS NEXT Pro club will play 14 regular season matches through late April. In May, teams will compete in the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs. The MLS NEXT Pro Cup is scheduled for late May, followed by an offseason of approximately eight weeks before beginning the 2027-28 season.

Carolina Core FC, recently eliminated from this year’s MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs, see the sprint season as an opportunity.

“The transition to the new competition calendar, aligning with MLS and the rest of global soccer, brings positives in relation to recruitment, the fan experience and a unique opportunity with the Sprint Season,” said Carolina Core FC head coach Jake Davis in a press release. “The Sprint Season is something we can really attack as a club, knowing it is 14 games, seven at home and seven on the road … We want to be deliberate about how we build the roster for the full calendar year. However, we do not want to overlook the Sprint Season and its importance.”

Audio: Will Cleary

Is England the North Carolina team in the 2026 FIFA U-20 World Cup?

You can’t blame us for getting the impression. B Hylton of Carolina Ascent FC and both Erica Meg Parkinson and Lauryn Thompson of the NC Courage will play for the Young Lionesses as they take on 23 of the best Under-20 teams in football.

The biennial competition kicks off September 5th and runs through the 27th. As Hylton told Soccer Sheet, this one is especially important as it takes place in the lead up to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. You can watch our interview with Hylton below, or here on YouTube.

England will face Brazil, Canada, and Tanzania in the group stage, while the United States U-20 squad drew Italy, Japan, and New Zealand. The U.S. squad is not without Tar Heel ties: defenders Aven Alvarez and Hope Munson both play for Carolina, and both midfielder Linda Ullmark and forward Sealey Strawn formerly played in Chapel Hill.

The defending champions are North Korea, who are tied with the U.S. for most championships with 3.

Lineups: What You Need to Know

• Fifth place Charlotte FC (9-7-5, 32 Points) travel to Atlanta for the I-85 Derby on Saturday, August 29. Atlanta United (6-12-3, 21 Points) may be in 12th place, but they’ve won their last three matches.

  • You can read our coverage of their August 24 win over D.C. United here.

• The sixth place NC Courage (10-7-3, 33 Points) continue their homestand tonight against ninth place Angel City FC (7-7-5, 26 Points) after defeating Boston Legacy FC 2-1.

  • NC Courage star Ashley Sanchez took the lead in the NWSL’s Golden Boot race, adding two goals for a total of 13. Barbara Banda of the Orlando Pride is second with 12 goals, and the Courage have a game in hand over the Pride.

    • She also earned NWSL Player of the Week honors.

  • Sanchez also set a new record with the latest goal in regulation in NWSL history at 90+17’, completing her brace and winning the match for the home team.

    • The goal came in officially at 106:50 on the clock.

  • Sanchez got the ball past former NC Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy, who returned to WakeMed Soccer Park for the first time since shipping up to Boston. Watch the historic goal below (video by Sam Spencer):

• Carolina Ascent FC (2-0-0, 6 Points) moved into first place in the USL Super League with a 1-3 win at Dallas Trinity on Saturday.

  • The Ascent play their first home match of the 14-fixture USL Super League Fall Season on Saturday, August 29 at 7:00 PM against Tampa Bay Sun FC (0-1-1, 1 Point).

• The second place Charlotte Independence (13-4-4, 43 Points) earned a point on the road with a 1-1 draw in Wisconsin against USL League One rival Forward Madison.

• Crown Legacy FC clinched a playoff spot, while Carolina Core FC will miss out on the playoffs this year.

  • However, Carolina Core took the “interim” off of Jake Davis’ head coach title, so at least the front office is happy with a new direction since sacking most of their coaching staff in May.

First Half: The Latest from Soccer Sheet

Halftime: Soccer Fact of the Week

While Boston Legacy FC goalkeeper Casey Murphy already made her first visit to North Carolina since leaving, another goalkeeper is coming back tonight: Angel City FC goalkeeper Meagan McClelland, who most recently played for Carolina Ascent FC.

Second Half: Social Media Shares

Some of our most recent content from Instagram:

Postgame: Candid Comments

NC Courage Post-match Presser with Maycee Bell and Erica Meg Parkinson

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“Kids Rule!” night at Bank of America Stadium got exactly the kind of storybook moment it deserved. Charlotte FC (9-7-5, 32 Points) fell behind early against D.C. United (5-7-9, 24 Points), then roared back with three goals in a 13-minute span to win 3-1, with the decisive goal that turned the tide off the head of a young defender — Will Cleary — who was wearing Crown Legacy’s kit not long ago.

The man of the match, however, was never in doubt. Pep Biel’s set pieces created the first goal and assisted the second, and he finished the match by scoring the third himself.

It was Charlotte’s third MLS match in a row in which the Crown scored three goals, a feat they’ll look to replicate in Atlanta this weekend.

A Sleepy First Half

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the first half came from the lineups, as Allan Saint-Maximin got his first start for the club despite Charlotte FC head coach Dean Smith telling media members at a pre-match press conference that the team was still “building up his minutes.”

“I wasn’t going to start him on Wednesday knowing that I was thinking of starting him on Saturday,” Smith told Soccer Sheet’s Jorge Torres at a post-match press conference. “But I’ve seen enough of him to know — and I’ve had enough conversations with him to know — he’s ready. I didn’t expect to get 80 minutes [from Saint-Maximin], I must admit.”

D.C. United dominated the shooting in the first half, with 10 strikes towards Charlotte’s goal. United’s João Peglow and Louis Munteanu, who would eventually combine for a goal in the second half, provided most of those shots, but only one of the team’s shots — taken by Kimito Nono and assisted by Munteanu — required a save from Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina.

For Charlotte, the defenders were dangerous on offense, with both Henry Kessler and Morrison Agyemang sending headers towards the goal, but even with a Biel strike, Charlotte’s offense only produced 3 shots with an xG of .15 in the first half.

D.C. United struck first, and their goal was coming, but it took them until the second half. Munteanu buried a set piece in the 55th minute to put the visitors up 1-0, capping a first half in which D.C. had generated the better volume of chances without ever quite breaking through.

Charlotte wouldn’t respond immediately, but when they did, the goals came quickly.

Eight minutes later, Charlotte won a free kick due to a Andre Dozzell handball. The subsequent set piece would be the first of three straight goals created with the help of Biel.

Biel sent his kick to Morrison Agyemang, who had been dangerous in the first half, but it was David Schnegg who found the equalizer. Schnegg got the goal on the rebound after Morrison Agyemang’s header was saved. It was a goal with extra meaning: D.C. waived Schnegg prior to him signing with the Crown.

Schnegg finished the night with 80 touches and 11 defensive interventions to go with the goal, a complete two-way performance against his former club.

Cleary Clears a Path

Two minutes after Schnegg’s equalizer came Will Cleary’s go-ahead header, changing the tone of the match in this process.

In the 66th minute, Pep Biel swung in a corner and Cleary rose up to head it home from point-blank range for his first-ever MLS goal, putting Charlotte in front 2-1. It came off his only shot of the match, and it made him the third different Charlotte defender to find the net across the club’s last two matches.

This moment for Cleary is another success story for Charlotte’s player development pipeline. Earlier this year he was playing for Crown Legacy FC, the club’s MLS NEXT Pro affiliate, with 10 second team appearances this season. Now, he has an MLS goal. It’s the same path that yielded Patrick Agyemang and Idan Toklomati.

Cleary told Soccer Sheet after the match that playing at this level has been a genuine learning experience: there’s plenty he knows he still needs to work on, but the night proved to him that he belongs on this stage, and he’s committed to continuing to improve. He also credited the club’s veterans for making the transition easier than it could have been, saying they welcomed and accepted him from the moment he first joined the group.

Pep Biel: Man of the Match

Charlotte wasn’t done. A trio of second-half substitutes combined for the clincher in the 77th minute: Brandt Bronico started the break, Liel Abada slid through the final pass, and Biel finished left-footed into the bottom corner for his second goal contribution of the night. Biel finished with a goal and an assist and led the team with three big chances created and a team-high 0.45 expected assists — his 11th goal contribution of the MLS season.

Goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina did his part too, coming up with a string of saves in the minutes right around Charlotte’s go-ahead goal, including two point-blank stops that kept D.C. from snatching the lead back at the worst possible time.

A response like this — refusing to let an early setback snowball — is exactly the kind of composure Charlotte will need down the stretch to hold onto the hope of hosting MLS playoff matches.

By the Numbers

• Final: Charlotte FC 3, D.C. United 1

• Possession: Charlotte 61%, D.C. United 39

• Big Chances: Charlotte 4, D.C. United 0

• Stat Leaders (Active Players):

  • Goals: Pep Biel (11), Idan Toklomati (6), Archie Goodwin (3)

  • Assists: Ashley Westwood & Pep Biel (8), David Schnegg & Liel Abada (5)

  • Goal Contributions: Pep Biel (19), Ashley Westwood (10), Idan Toklomati (9)

• On Thin Ice: David Schnegg and Ashley Westwood are both one yellow card away from a suspension. Schnegg has 4 cards on the season; Westwood has 7.

• The win moved Charlotte into 5th place in the Eastern Conference with 32 points from 21 matches, and marks seven points collected across three MLS matches since the club’s Leagues Cup run wrapped.

Kids Ruled, Mascots Fooled

The match wasn’t the only contest decided at Bank of America Stadium.

“Kids Rule!” night brought a halftime tug-of-war matching every local Charlotte-area mascot — plus D.C. United’s own mascot crashing the party — against a determined group of kids. The mascots didn’t stand a chance. The kids pulled off the win, and if the reaction in the stands was any indication, it may have been the best result of the night not decided by an actual goal.

Soccer Scuttlebutt - Join Our Discord

The Soccer Sheet group chat was ablaze with comments on Archie Goodwin’s new doo, seemingly inspired by Brandt Bronico’s mayoral mohawk.

Got FOMO? Join us on Discord to find out what we said.

Gallery: Allan Saint-Maximin

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Sam Spencer contributed to this story.

Charlotte FC and the Charlotte Independence are separated by a couple of divisions, and their home fields of Bank of America Stadium and American Legion Memorial Stadium are separated by I-277, but both teams achieved similar feats on Saturday, August 15: 3-1 home wins with goals in the opening seconds of play.

At the Bank, Charlotte FC midfielder (and former Independence player) Brandt Bronico barreled though the Columbus Crew’s defense to score in the first 29 seconds of play, for the third-quickest goal in Charlotte FC history.

Soccer Sheet’s Jorge Torres spoke with Bronico on Monday about his personal record for quickest goal.

At Memorial Stadium, it took Souaibou Marou less than 120 seconds to score his first match for the Independence. Marou currently leads USL League One in goals with 11, and head coach Mike Jeffries’ side is second in the league with a game in hand.

“I don’t think we could have started any better than that. A goal two minutes in, three in the first 15, and I thought we played really, really well for that stretch,” said Jeffries. “The rest of it was a little bit of managing the game, and I felt like we let them kind of get back into it. Credit to them. Three-nothing down 15 minutes in, and they kept fighting and kept pushing, so you’ve got to give them a lot of credit for that. But the way we started the game, I just thought we were really, really sharp. The ball moved, and the goals were all really nice goals.”

Carolina Ascent Start Sprint Season Strong

A familiar face stepped up for the Carolina Ascent in their first match of the 2026 Super League Fall Season to secure a 0-1 away win against DC Power. Mia Corbin, the all-time leading scorer for the club, scored the decisive strike from point blank range off of a parabolic long ball from Addisyn Merrick.

“It definitely feels good to get the first 3 points on the road,” said Corbin. “Going in, our plan was just to earn it tonight. DC is always a tough opponent, so to secure the win is huge for us to get the momentum going this fall. I’m happy I was able to do my job tonight to help my team win.”

The Ascent end the first matchday of the Fall Season in second place, sitting one place below last year’s champions, Lexington SC. They’ll play 13 more matches — including their home opener against Tampa Bay Sun at 7:00 PM on August 29 — before the four team, two round Super League playoff starts December 5th.

NC Courage Set Record Despite Loss

Video Courtesy NC Courage

The NC Courage fell 2-3 to the Houston Dash on Sunday, August 16, but breakout Swedish star Evelyn Ijeh set a record in the process: she (10) and Ashley Sanchez (11) are just the third pair of teammates in NWSL history to both hit double-digit goals in the regular season. The previous two were Lynn Biyendolo and Jess McDonald for Western New York Flash in 2016 and Diana Ordóñez and Debinha for the Courage in 2022.

Despite the loss, the Courage are still in playoff position, sitting in sixth place as of this writing.

Crown Legacy Can Clinch Playoffs Tonight

If first place Crown Legacy FC take home one or more points in their match against independent Connecticut United FC tonight, they’ll clinch a spot in the MLS NEXT Pro playoffs.

The match starts at 7:00 PM at the Matthews Sportsplex.

Coming Up This Week

• Fifth place Charlotte FC (8-7-4, 28 Points) travel to Canada tonight (August 19) to face 12th place Toronto FC (4-7-8, 20 Points). The match kicks off at 7:30 PM ET.

  • Soccer Sheet’s Jorge Torres asked Charlotte head coach Dean Smith about facing his former player, Josh Sargent, who Smith had coached at Norwich City F.C.

  • Soccer Sheet’s Sam Spencer appeared in TFC Republic this week for their scouting report feature on Charlotte FC. You can listen here (paywall).

  • On Saturday, August 22 the Crown return home to host DC United at Bank of America Stadium at 7:30 PM, then travel to Atlanta for the I-85 Derby on Saturday, August 29.

• The sixth place NC Courage (9-7-3, 30 Points) continue their homestand, hosting 14th place Boston Legacy (5-10-5, 20 Points) for the first time in Cary.

  • On April 29, the Courage came back from a 2-0 deficit in Boston to come home with a point thanks to second half goals from Dani Weatherholt and Ashley Sanchez.

  • The match will be a homecoming of sorts for USWNT goalkeeper Casey Murphy, who spent five seasons with the Courage, appearing in 108 matches, including every minute of the 2024 season.

• The second place Carolina Ascent (1-0-0, 3 Points) travel to Texas to face fourth place Dallas Trinity (0-0-1, 1 Point) on Saturday, August 22 at 8:30 PM.

  • The Trinity are now the westernmost team in the USL Super League after Spokane Zephyr folded earlier this year.

  • With a new local broadcast deal in place, you can watch this match locally on WCCB if you don’t have a Peacock subscription.

• The second place Charlotte Independence (13-4-3, 42 Points) fly to Wisconsin to face third place Forward Madison (12-5-3, 39 Points) on Saturday, August 22 at 8:00 PM ET.

• You only have two more opportunities to catch Carolina Core FC at home this year, including this Saturday, August 22 at 7:30 PM.

  • The Foxes are in 14th place, but have not been eliminated from playoff contention just yet. They face 15th place FC Cincinnati II, who have been eliminated.

  • They’ll be in Matthews on September 12 for the final derby of the season against Crown Legacy FC - one of five games they’d have to win to secure a playoff spot.

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Sam Spencer contributed to this story.

Fans of cup soccer in the Queen City experienced three rough nights this week.

First, on Tuesday, August 11, Charlotte FC had a chance to advance to the knockout rounds of the Leagues Cup for the first time since 2023, but lost 0-1 at home to Liga MX side C.F. Pachuca. The loss didn’t eliminate Charlotte from contention, but made their prospects bleak.

Then, on Wednesday, the Charlotte Independence hosted Hartford Athletic at the Matthews Sportsplex for the quarterfinals of the USL Cup. The Jacks couldn’t replicate their previous success this year against higher-division USL Championship clubs, and fell 2-4 after attempting a courageous comeback from a 0-4 deficit.

Finally, on Thursday, the results from the final “Phase One” matches in the Leagues Cup failed to go Charlotte’s way, and the Crown were officially eliminated from the tournament.

With those results, both Charlotte FC and the Independence are eliminated from cup competitions for the rest of the season (not counting league playoffs).

Looking Back on Charlotte FC’s Leagues Cup Run: The Highs, the Letdown, and What It Means Going Forward

Now that the dust has settled from the Pachuca loss, it’s worth taking a step back and looking at what this Leagues Cup run actually told us about this Charlotte FC team. Two wins to open the group stage had this club looking like a real threat to make a deep run. It didn’t happen. But there’s plenty to take from these three games either way — including a weather subplot that, at this point, deserves its own highlight reel. The rain followed this tournament with relentless persistence, leading to late starts and light crowds.

Bright Spots

A handful of players used this tournament to make real statements. Luca de la Torre got a rare start over Brandt Bronico in the finale and delivered, shifting Ashley Westwood into a more central role and controlling the right side of midfield with a tidy, high-volume passing performance. Dean Smith singled him out afterward as one of Charlotte’s better players on the field — high praise, and deserved.

Westwood himself, despite being one of the older bodies in this squad, showed no signs of slowing down. He covered a ton of ground pressing Pachuca’s back line and finished with more touches than anyone else in a Charlotte shirt — the kind of performance you want from your captain in the biggest match of the group stage.

No player left a bigger mark on this tournament than Tyger Smalls, though. He found the net in back-to-back matches — the penalty against Pumas and the empty-netter against Atlas — building a case as one of the genuine breakout stories of Charlotte’s summer. Two goals and an assist across three group games from a player working with limited minutes is the kind of production that’s hard to ignore, whatever his role looks like going forward.

And then there’s Tyler Miller, who quietly turned this tournament into a personal showcase. He faced a heavy volume of shots in the Pachuca match alone and came up with save after save to keep Charlotte in it, several of them the diving variety. Across all three group games, Miller made a real case that this club’s goalkeeping depth behind Kristijan Kahlina is no longer a question mark.

Beyond individual performances, this tournament did real work for Charlotte’s depth. Rodolfo Aloko kept flashing the kind of quality that suggests he’s got a bigger role in him. Nathan Richmond and Allan Saint-Maximin both got their first taste of Charlotte FC action — Maxi’s long-awaited debut against Pachuca, in particular, was one of the more encouraging sights of the whole tournament, drawing a penalty and looking dangerous in just 22 minutes despite visible match rust. Henry Kessler and Will Cleary banked valuable minutes on the back line, with Kessler in particular using the tournament to get up to speed after coming back from injury.

Tactically, Dean Smith used the three games to experiment — rotating between a double pivot and a flat-three midfield shape, with Pep Biel’s starts out wide freeing up different combinations of Bronico, Djibril Diani, de la Torre, and Westwood through the middle. Both setups had their moments, and Smith now heads back into MLS play with real options to lean on.

Where it Went Wrong

Until Tuesday, Charlotte controlled their own destiny. Two wins to open the group stage put this club in position to advance with a chance to control its own fate in the finale, and the moments that mattered simply didn’t go Charlotte’s way. Tim Ream’s return to the lineup after a rest didn’t help — a loose pass out of the back fell to Pachuca’s Alan Bautista, and a slow recovery let him turn and finish before the defense could close him down. It’s the kind of moment that raises a fair question about how much rotation this backline can absorb without it costing points.

The strikers had a quiet night too. Neither Idan Toklomati nor his second-half replacement Archie Goodwin created much in the final third, and Goodwin’s missed penalty — after Allan Saint-Maximin had done the hard work to draw the foul — ended up being the moment that got away.

Charlotte was also missing a key piece in the middle of the park for that finale. Pep Biel sat out serving his suspension from the red card he picked up after the final whistle against Atlas, and his absence was felt. Without him, a lot of Charlotte’s buildup leaned on center backs stepping into midfield to force possession out wide, and the ball movement through the center never quite found its usual rhythm. It’s hard to say the result hinges entirely on one missing player, but Biel’s presence had clearly become more valuable to this midfield than it might have looked from the outside.

We asked captain Ashley Westwood afterward how he plans to help Goodwin bounce back from a miss that came at such a pivotal moment. His response was refreshingly matter-of-fact: even Lionel Messi misses penalties. Westwood said Goodwin’s already talking about wanting to get back out there and take the next one — exactly the kind of response you want to hear from a young striker after a moment like that, and exactly the kind of perspective a captain like Westwood is there to provide.

The Bigger Picture

There’s also a real question about depth heading into the final stretch of the MLS season. Smith has been candid that the club still needs reinforcements to close that gap before the season’s final stretch.

For now, Charlotte sit seventh in the Eastern Conference, four points behind Chicago Fire with a game in hand still to play. The schedule ahead looks favorable, which makes the next several weeks a real opportunity to turn the good habits from this tournament into results that matter — and to make sure this Leagues Cup exit ends up as a footnote rather than a storyline that follows this club into the fall.

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Charlotte FC (2-0-0, 6 points) won their third Leagues Cup match in a row on Friday, and they enter their Tuesday match against Liga MX side C.F. Pachuca with the wind in their sails. Thanks to a goal differential of +5, Charlotte would advance to the knockout stage of the tournament if the league phase ended today.

Charlotte’s best Leagues Cup run since 2023 is not without its headwinds. As of August 10, 6 MLS squads have all 6 points from their first two league phase matches, but only four teams will advance.

Worth mentioning: Austin FC had an impressive night on August 9th with a 3-0 victory over Puebla featuring a first half hat trick from Myrto Uzuni, launching them above Charlotte in the table due to fair play points; the clubs are tied in points and goal differential.

The reason Austin leads in fair play points? Pep Biel’s surprising, post-match red card on August 7th against Atlas F.C.

The loss of Biel, a designated player, is a major blow to Charlotte’s chances. Soccer Sheet spoke with Charlotte FC head coach Dean Smith after the match, and he was as confused as anyone else about the sanction.

The good news for Charlotte FC: should they win against Pachuca — who were eliminated after losing to FC Cincinnati and Columbus Crew — three of their five fellow undefeated MLS squads face tough matchups.

Austin will face Club América, the table leader in both the Liga MX Apertura and the Leagues Cup. FC Dallas face Toluca, who are still alive in the tournament and have everything to play for. Chicago Fire will face Cruz Azul, currently 3rd in the Liga MX Leagues Cup table.

With Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati both facing two-loss opponents defeated by Charlotte FC, Charlotte probably need at least a penalty shootout win and a total of 8 points to advance to the knockout round, but if other MLS sides stay strong in the tournament, the Crown may need to win out with a decisive number of goals to advance.

Read More About Charlotte FC’s Leagues Cup Win:

Independence Notch Derby Win; Look Forward to Cup Tie

On the other side of I-277, the Charlotte Independence (12-4-3, 39 points) pulled out a win against Greenville Triumph in the I-85 Derby on Saturday, August 9 — despite a delay due to severe weather. Talismanic striker Souaibou Marou scored his league-leading 10th goal of the season to give the Jacks their third win in a row, solidifying their second-place spot on the USL League One table.

“I think we went into it knowing that even though they’re further down the table than us, they’re a hard team to play against,” said Charlotte Independence captain Clay Dimick after the match. “They’re going to come here with a chip on their shoulders. So for us to attack it with the same mentality we attack a team in the top four or five in the table was a big mentality test, and we did that … The rivalry always feels better when you’re on the winning side of it, and it adds a little extra edge to the game.”

The Independence will host Hartford Athletic on Wednesday, August 12 at 7:00 PM in the quarterfinals of the USL Cup, also known as the Prinx Tires USL Cup for sponsorship reasons.

Because the match is a recent addition to the Independence’s calendar, they will play at the Sportsplex in Matthews. Tickets are $10.

Buy Tickets

NC Courage Win Three in a Row; Ijeh Is on Fire

It’s been a great couple of weeks for Courage Country.

The North Carolina Courage (9-6-3, 30 points) have clawed their way back into the playoff position this summet, winning 7 of their last 10 matches including the last three against the Orlando Pride, Denver Summit, and second place Washington Spirit, respectively.

The 6th place Courage scored 12 goals in their last 4 matches, and half of them have come from Swedish international Evelyn Ijeh. With those six goals, including a hat trick against Orlando and a brace against the Spirit, Ijeh has not only helped propel her team up the table; she’s also entered the race for the NWSL Golden Boot, and is currently tied for third place with 9 goals, right behind her teammate Ashley Sanchez (11).

For her efforts, Ijeh was named NWSL Player of the Week on August 4th.

The Courage next face 13th place Houston Dash at home on Sunday, August 16 at 7:00 PM. The theme of the match is Black Excellence; it’s appropriate timing given Ijeh’s excellent form. Tickets start at $25.

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North Carolina’s MLS NEXT Pro Teams Build Winning Streaks

Crown Legacy FC (12-3-6-4, 46 points) made it a four-match winning streak with their 2-0 victory over Inter Miami CF on Friday, August 7, eliminating Miami from playoff contention in the process.

Of note: Tyger Smalls’ younger brother, Magic Smalls, recorded an assist in the match while Tyger made his two goal contributions against Atlas.

With the win, the Legacy are first in the Eastern Conference, and have the second-best record in all of NEXT Pro after Austin FC II.

Legacy players continue to feature for Charlotte FC; most recently forward Nathan Richmond made his debut for the first team in the Leagues Cup match against Pumas.

13th place Carolina Core FC (5-10-8-3, 26 points) still have a lot of work to do to make the playoffs, but since sacking USMNT legend Eddie Pope, the club’s former chief sporting officer, and head coach Donovan Ricketts as part of a major reorganization in May, the Core have picked up points in 8 of 12 matches.

Now in their third year of existence, the Foxes have five matches left to make a run for the playoffs; last year, they exited in the first round with a 5-1 loss to NY Red Bulls II.

Carolina Ascent Are Back!

In their first year, the Carolina Ascent won the Players’ Shield and the best record in the Inaugural Season of the USL Super League.

In their second year, they made the Super League final and took the lead early thanks to a Mia Corbin goal, but Lexington SC were able to equalize and take the match to extra time, eventually beating the Ascent 3-1.

Now in their third year, the Ascent will play in a 14-match sprint season that starts this Saturday, August 15 with an away match against DC Power. After this short season, the USL Super League will move to a calendar year season similar to the NWSL.

Fans can kick off the season with a watch party at Hopfly Brewing Company.

Gallery: Charlotte FC Continues Solid Leagues Cup Run

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After the second match of group stage play last year, Charlotte FC were mathematically eliminated from the Leagues Cup.

Just one year later, they’re atop the table — in no small part thanks to English international Tyger Smalls, who now has three goals and four goal contributions in his last three Leagues Cup matches, and super substitute Liel Abada, who scored the decisive first goal off of Smalls’ assist last night and returned the favor with an assist

The pair of second-half goals from the Jokers — in German, a substitute who makes a big impact off the bench — sent Atlas home with a 2-0 loss Friday night, a result that officially eliminated the Liga MX side from the knockout phase and pushed Charlotte to the doorstep of the quarterfinals.

Charlotte FC are undefeated in the first two of three group stage matches, and the team — which so far has leaned on rotation players — is beginning to feel like a genuine threat. However, a post-match predicament led to a red card for Charlotte designated player Pep Biel, taking him out of Tuesday’s final, decisive group stage match against C.F. Pachuca.

A Tight Fixture Until the Jokers Went Wild

Atlas were a fitting matchup since, for most of the first half, Charlotte looked like they needed a map just to find the back of the net.

Atlas led the attack early, forcing a save from Charlotte goalkeeper Tyler Miller in the 7th minute. In the 15th minute, the visitors thought they’d broken through first with José Martín curling home a left-footed finish, but a VAR check reversed the goal, finding Atlas forward Ryan Mmaee in an offside position before receiving the ball that enabled him to make the assist.

Miller made sure it stayed level, coming up with a one-handed stop right at the end of first-half stoppage time to deny the visitors a legitimate lead heading into the break.

The second half settled into the kind of grinding, low-event soccer that had everyone half-bracing for this thing to go all the way to penalties before it was through — Atlas goalkeeper and Colombia international Camilo Vargas was excellent, and the visitors packed things in defensively, giving Charlotte almost nothing easy through the run of play.

Vargas’ adroit play prevented two Charlotte goals early in the second half; first, in the 68th minute, he diffused a Liel Abada breakaway created by Pep Biel by running out and attacking the Charlotte striker high in the box, making himself big and making the save.

Then, during a Charlotte set piece, Luca de la Torre dribbled through multiple Atlas defenders and found Andrew Privett at point blank range in front of goal. Privett sent a powerful ball at Atlas’ goal from 6 yards away, but Vargas blocked the shot and kept things level.

Charlotte’s breakthrough finally arrived in the 77th minute when Smalls threaded a pass through to Abada, who finished coolly to make it 1-0.

In a post-match interview with Soccer Sheet’s Jorge Torres, Atlas head coach Hernán Crespo called the play an “unforced error” that “changed the energy of the game.”

“The opponent must be respected,” Crespo said, speaking in Spanish. “[Charlotte’s goal came during] a moment of development in the game when we were being very dangerous.”

Then, while Atlas transitioned back to defense after calling Vargas out of the net for a last-ditch stoppage time set piece, Abada returned the favor, passing the ball to Smalls who closed the book on the match with an easy, open net goal.

With the win, Charlotte moved from second to first in the MLS table with 6 points and a goal differential of 5. The top four teams from each league will advance to the quarterfinals, to be played during the final week of August.

Smalls Builds a Case

Speaking of Smalls — it’s worth shining a light on what he’s accomplished this tournament: two appearances off the bench, three goal contributions, three goals in a row in Leagues Cup play (going back to Charlotte’s consolation win over Monterrey last year), and now the record-holder as Charlotte’s all-time top scorer in the tournament.

“I think after the last two years it’s been good to now get two wins,” said Smalls. “We still got a lot of a job to do on Tuesday night … and we’re going into that with confidence.”

Westwood: “All-in” for the Club that’s Become Home

Captain Ashley Westwood picked up a second-half yellow card grinding through the match, and afterward he made it clear exactly what this club means to him.

He said he’s willing to push his body to its limits and give everything he has for a club that’s welcomed him and his family and become their home over these past few years — the kind of statement that lands differently coming from someone who’s clearly all in.

“[Dean] said it, we wanna go and do well in [Leagues Cup],” said Westwood. “He was disappointed the last couple of seasons, we haven’t started very well. I thought, the other night, we were outstanding. Tonight we’ve shown a different performance … that we can fight.”

A Red Card, a Language Barrier, and a Coach who Wants Answers

The story that will linger is what happened after the final whistle.

Pep Biel was shown a red card once the match had already ended, and Dean Smith didn’t hide his frustration about it postgame. Smith said he went looking for an explanation from the referee about why the card was issued, and was told it had to do with something Pep said.

When Smith pressed for specifics on what exactly was said, the explanation came back in Spanish — and, according to Smith, the referee wouldn’t translate it into English for him.

Westwood didn’t mince words either, calling the red card nothing short of a terrible officiating decision to end the night on.

By the Numbers

• Final: Charlotte FC 2, Atlas 0

• Scorers: Liel Abada (78’, assist Tyger Smalls), Tyger Smalls (90’+)

• Charlotte FC Player of the Match: Liel Abada.

• Yellow Cards (Charlotte): Morrison Agyemang, Ashley Westwood, Rodolfo Aloko

• Red Card (Charlotte): Pep Biel, after the final whistle

• Charlotte improve to 2-0 in Phase One group play and sits one result away from a perfect group stage.

• The win stretched Charlotte’s home unbeaten run to five straight

• Atlas are eliminated from knockout contention, having scored just one goal while conceding five across its two matches.

Looking Ahead

Charlotte closes out group play Aug. 11 against Pachuca, with a chance to finish Phase One unbeaten and lock in a statement start to this Leagues Cup run.

Sam Spencer contributed to this piece.

Lightning, rain, a severe weather delay, a shelter-in-place order, and a late kickoff couldn’t stop the Crown on the first night of Leagues Cup play.

Once the players reached the pitch, the delay barely mattered. Charlotte FC delivered their most complete performance of the summer, routing Liga MX side Pumas UNAM of Mexico City by a score of 3-0.

As Charlotte midfielder Brandt Bronico remarked after the match, “It wasn’t too much different; it was just business as usual.”

Leagues Cup Primer

With the decisive win, Charlotte sit atop the 18-club MLS table after their first group stage match of the Leagues Cup, an annual competition between MLS and Mexican Liga MX sides.

The rules of the competition have changed about as often as North Carolina legislators redistrict political boundaries, so for this year’s competition here’s what you need to know:

Leagues Cup Format

• All 18 Liga MX clubs as well as the 18 MLS clubs that qualified for the 2025 MLS Playoffs are competing for the 2026 Leagues Cup trophy.

• Each MLS club will play 3 group stage matches against Liga MX opponents, and vice versa.

• Group stage points work like MLS NEXT Pro competitions: 3 points for a win, 2 points for a shootout win, 1 point for a draw/shootout loss.

• The top 4 clubs from each league, based on their group stage performance, will reach the knockout stages, and with three matches each the maximum number of points possible per club is 9.

  • After points, the first tiebreaker is goal differential. Charlotte FC’s 3-0 victory last night gave them the best goal differential of any MLS club, so they currently lead the MLS table.

  • Charlotte’s next two Leagues Cup matches are against Atlas and Pachuca, both of which lost 3-1 to Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati, respectively, in last night’s games.

Charlotte FC’s Leagues Cup History

• Leagues Cup started in 2019, and Charlotte FC has competed in every edition since 2023.

• Charlotte’s best run so far was in 2023, when the Crown survived the group stage and beating both Cruz Azul and Houston Dynamo in the knockout rounds. The team would eventually lose 4-0 in the quarterfinal to Inter Miami CF in Lionel Messi’s first appearance opposite Charlotte.

  • That run remains Charlotte’s best-ever performance in a knockout tournament, including Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and MLS Playoff appearances.

• Young players like Patrick Agyemang have gotten a chance to shine in the competition. During last year’s 2-0 win over Monterrey, Tyger Smalls scored his first Leagues Cup goal for Charlotte FC.

• Charlotte FC has not advanced out of the group stages of Leagues Cup under head coach Dean Smith.

  • Last year, Smith missed much of the preparation for the competition due to bereavement leave.

Charlotte FC Defeat Pumas UNAM 3-0

Fast Start, Slow Clock

Even with the late start, Charlotte came out swinging.

Legendary Pumas keeper Keylor Navas was busy early, called into action for diving saves twice before the 10-minute mark by on target shots from Djibril Diani and Pep Biel. Charlotte came agonizingly close to breaking through minutes later when a Henry Kessler shot rang off the woodwork.

On the other end, Pumas got their best chance of the half when Uriel Antuna forced a strong stop out of Charlotte goalkeeper Tyler Miller to keep things level. Pumas, however, would not be able to steal a goal against the run of play.

Charlotte’s breakthrough came in the 27th minute: Will Cleary’s cross created a scramble in front of goal, Archie Goodwin got a touch on it, the ball bounced off a Pumas player, and Brandt Bronico finished it off from close range to make it 1-0. Bronico’s right place, right time effort was enough to earn him the club’s Man of the Match honors for the night.

Goodwin Doubles It, Smalls Seals It

Charlotte came out of the delay-lengthened halftime break and didn’t lose a step. Early in the second half, Rodolfo Aloko found David Schnegg, who worked his way past a pair of defenders on the left and picked out Goodwin in the box, who rose up to head it in.

Goodwin — who set up the first goal of the night, but was deprived an assist — was now on the scoresheet himself, making it 2-0 just five minutes after the restart.

In addition to the hockey assist, Aloko challenged Pumas all night, but couldn’t find the net. Navas kept Biel off the board with another save from distance in the 68th minute.

In the 75th minute, Miller took advantage of a lapse of concentration in transition. After saving a set piece attempt to his left, he made a long throw to the opposite side of the field to find a streaking Tyger Smalls in the right lane. Pumas’ Sebastián Córdova made the professional foul on Smalls to prevent an attempt on goal, but waited too long and took him down in the penalty box.

After consulting with captain and fellow Englishman Ashley Westwood, Smalls buried his penalty attempt in the 78th minute to cement the 3-0 victory.

Photo Gallery: Tyger’s Penalty Kick

Dean Smith’s Streak Keeps Rolling

It’s officially a brand new day for Charlotte FC — or at least it was by the time post-match interviews were over. The club has now gone 4-1-1 in their last six competitive matches, and this one was the most convincing of the bunch.

Smith made it clear afterward that home field is exactly the edge this club wants to lean on: “We can be really good at home,” he said postgame, pointing to Charlotte’s stretch of three home games to open the tournament as a real opportunity to push through to the quarterfinals.

With the group stage sitting right there for the taking, Smith’s side look like a legitimate threat to advance, and maybe do some damage in the knockout rounds.

Off-Field Core Memories

Not everything worth writing about happened between the lines. After making his MLS debut, 22-year-old MLS NEXT Pro star Nathan Richmond stepped up for his first-ever Charlotte FC media interview, and fellow young academy player Isaac Walker made a point to stand right there to photograph the life changing moment for support.

By the Numbers

• Final: Charlotte FC 3, Pumas UNAM 0

• Scorers:

  • Brandt Bronico 27’
    Archie Goodwin 50’ (Assist: Schengg)
    Tyger Smalls 78’ (P)

• Man of the Match: Brandt Bronico

• Weather delay: 1 hour, 22 minutes — kickoff moved to 9:20 p.m.

• Yellow card: Will Cleary (Charlotte)

• The 3-0 result is tied for Charlotte largest margin of victory ever against a Liga MX opponent in Leagues Cup play, the other being the 4-1 win over Necaxa in 2023. Bronico scored in both matches.

• The result is Smith’s second Leagues Cup win in regulation, but last year’s win came after Charlotte had already been eliminated Counting penalty shootouts, the victory is the club’s fifth win over Liga MX competition in the tournament’s history.

• Bronico and Smalls both scored their first goals of the season; Goodwin’s tally was his fifth of the year. Smalls previously scored for the Crown in last year’s Leagues Cup win over Monterrey.

Looking Ahead

Charlotte is right back at it on Friday, Aug. 7 as they face Atlas FC in the second group stage match of Leagues Cup Play before closing out the group stage against CF Pachuca on Aug. 11.

Rain or shine, Charlotte are off to the start they needed.

Sam Spencer contributed to this piece.

All-Star week in Charlotte saved its best for last. A capacity crowd of 35,197 packed Bank of America Stadium Wednesday night to watch the MLS All-Stars outlast the LIGA MX All-Stars 4-3 in the 2026 MLS All-Star Game — and somehow the soccer almost wasn’t even the headline of the night.

Son’s Night, Twice Over

LAFC forward Son Heung-Min wrote the story on the field, scoring twice in the first half to earn MLS All-Star Game MVP honors and become the first player in LAFC history to take home the award.

However, LIGA MX struck first, with Tigres’ Juan Brunetta setting up Chivas’ Luis Gabriel Rey for a header off a set piece in the 9th minute.

The MLS All-Stars responded quickly: Carles Gil found Son with a ball over the top in the 20th minute for the equalizer, and just three minutes later, Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar and Gil combined to feed Son again, who volleyed home his second of the night to put MLS in front for good.

Chicago Fire’s Philip Zinckernagel doubled the lead right before the break with a first-time finish off a loose ball in the box, making it 3-1 at halftime.

The Princess Is Here …

And speaking of halftime — let’s talk about the MVP of the intermission. Grammy Award winner Ciara headlined the MLS All-Star Halftime Show and absolutely brought it, closing with “Level Up” in a performance that had the whole stadium on its feet.

LIGA MX Don’t Go Quietly

The second half stayed lively. Pachuca’s Salomón Rondón pulled one back for LIGA MX in the 50th minute off a clever backheel assist from Cruz Azul’s Carlos Rodríguez, but FC Cincinnati’s Evander answered eight minutes later, curling home a beautiful finish off a slick Nashville SC combination from Sam Surridge and Andy Najar to make it 4-2. LIGA MX got one more in stoppage time — Cruz Azul’s José Paradela burying a cross from América’s Israel Reyes into the top corner — but it wasn’t enough, and MLS held on for the 4-3 win. That moves MLS to 4-1 all-time against LIGA MX in the All-Star Game.

Tim Ream’s 15-Year Wait

Charlotte FC fans had extra reason to pay attention. USMNT captain Tim Ream suited up as an All-Star for the first time since 2011, when he was a young player with the New York Red Bulls — a 15-year gap that’s the longest between All-Star selections in league history, edging out fellow USMNT captain Tim Howard’s 14-year gap between 2003 and 2017. Ream spent 13 years in England before landing back in MLS with Charlotte FC, so seeing him back on an All-Star roster, in his own city no less, was a nice full-circle moment for the home crowd.

“I’ve been an All-Star twice, both times in my home market,” said Ream during a post-match interview. “I know what the Charlotte market is about, and the soccer culture here, so to show it off for the guys [in the locker room] has been [fun].”

Ream said that winning an All-Star skills challenge, and having his family in attendance both stuck out to him as moments that meant a lot.

More Numbers Worth Knowing

• The game featured 15 players who competed at the FIFA World Cup 2026 — 10 on the MLS side, 5 on the LIGA MX side.

• Orlando City’s Maxime Crépeau made six saves for the MLS All-Stars, the most in the event since Edwin van der Sar’s 10-save performance for Manchester United back in 2010.

• Colorado’s Lucas Herrington became just the fifth teenager ever named an MLS All-Star in his first MLS season, joining a list that includes Landon Donovan and Freddy Adu.

• Houston’s Guilherme has had a hand in nearly 70% of his team’s goals this season — the second-highest single-season rate in league history behind Sebastien Le Toux’s 2010 campaign with Philadelphia.

• Real Salt Lake’s Zavier Gozo has racked up 3,249 minutes and 18 goal contributions before turning 20 — a mark only eight other players in MLS history have hit that young.

Bonus: We Asked the Coach About an Avenger

While we had him, we couldn’t resist asking MLS All-Stars head coach Dean Smith what it was like having a Marvel actor on his sideline for the week, between Danny Ramirez’s Skills Challenge cameo and general presence around the squad.

Smith seemed to genuinely enjoy the experience, but when we asked if a Marvel cameo of his own might be in the cards, he laughed it off — sounds like coaching is a one-and-done deal for him. As much as he’s enjoyed the ride this week, he told us what he really wants is to go out on a win in these All-Star Games.

All-Star week is officially in the books, and Charlotte showed out for every bit of it — rain delays, record-setting shooting, and a halftime show we’re still talking about.

Catch Up on All of Our MLS All-Star Coverage:

Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified Zavier Gozo as a Charlotte FC player. He plays for Real Salt Lake.

Somewhere, Alanis Morissette is taking notes, because Tuesday night at Truist Field had “Ironic” written all over it — an outdoor skills showcase interrupted by a weather delay felt like a plot twist nobody ordered.

Give Charlotte credit, however: the fans stuck it out, the players kept giving it their all between downpours, and by the time it was over the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge still delivered a night full of celebrities, record-setting shooting, and a hometown champion. The Skills Challenge rolled through Truist Field with five events, a stacked LIGA MX contingent, and a couple of surprise names in the mix — soggy skies included.

Soccer Sheet spoke with one of the competitors, New York City FC goalkeeper and United States Men’s National Team star Matt Freese, after the competition.

“It was fun,” said Freese. “Super enjoyable experience to spend the time with these guys, out there doing the skills challenge, and then obviously the build up to the [All-Star] game tomorrow, the trainings and stuff like that has been great.”

FaZe Rug Crashes the Party before the Pros Take Over

Leave it to a YouTube legend to open the night with a flex.

FaZe Rug stepped up for the Shooting Challenge and dropped a 22-point round — respectable enough that, for about five minutes, it looked like it could hold up against actual professional soccer players.

It didn’t. Then things got serious.

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Thomas Müller blitzed his way to 79 points, an all-time record for the event. LIGA MX All-Stars Juan Brunetta and José Paradela both put up real numbers (47 and 59, respectively) trying to chase him down, but it was FC Cincinnati’s Evander — the previous record holder — who had the answer. Needing a near-perfect final round to catch Müller, Evander delivered exactly that, nailing the moving target and matching the record at 79 with his very last shot.

Two record-setting rounds, same night, same number. You can’t script that.

Tim Ream Takes the Passing Challenge

Tim Ream — Charlotte FC defender and USMNT captain — won the Passing Challenge in front of his home crowd, defeating a stacked bracket that included the likes of Carles Gil and Son Heung-min.

Ream opened by knocking off LIGA MX’s Elías Montiel, then watched from the other side as LAFC’s Son held off actor Danny Ramirez — of Marvel fame — in the opening round. Charlotte had a real-life Avenger on the field Tuesday night, and he acquitted himself just fine against a genuine MLS (and Premier League) All-Star.

In the semis, Ream obliterated Son and set a new Passing Challenge record in the process, using only 7 touches to hit 5 targets. Meanwhile, New England Revolution captain Carles Gil beat LIGA MX’s Carlos Rodríguez to reach the final, setting up a Ream-Gil championship that Ream won to claim the title on home turf.

Not a bad souvenir from an All-Star week in your own city.

Crépeau and Ruiz add More Hardware

Orlando City and Canadian national team goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau took the Goalie Wars presented by Old Spice, beating World Cup veteran Matt Freese along the way before outlasting Houston Dynamo 2’s Pedro Cruz in the final, 3-1. Cruz’s run to get there wasn’t easy either — he needed a golden goal to get past Pachuca’s Carlos Moreno in the semis.

Over in the Crossbar Challenge presented by Gillette, Necaxa’s Javier Ruiz took the title, and the bracket had maybe the most random matchup of the night: Evander (fresh off his Shooting Challenge heroics) squaring off against NFL legend Chad Ochocinco. The former Bengals wideout gave it a real go, but Evander advanced and Ruiz eventually took the whole thing down, beating Real Salt Lake’s Zavier Gozo in the final.

LIGA MX Take the Inaugural Relay Challenge

The night wrapped with something brand new: the first-ever MLS vs. LIGA MX Relay Challenge.

LIGA MX’s squad — Fernando Gorriarán, Elías Montiel, Javier Ruiz, Federico Pereira, Carlos Moreno, Carlos Rodríguez, José Paradela, and Juan Brunetta — got the better of MLS’s team of Evander, Zavier Gozo, Matt Freese, Petar Musa, Thomas Müller, Carles Gil, and Tim Ream, crossing the line in 1:34 to claim bragging rights in the event’s debut.

The Wrap-Up

• Shooting Challenge: Evander (tied Thomas Müller’s record, 79 points)

• Passing Challenge: Tim Ream (Charlotte FC)

• Goalie Wars: Maxime Crépeau (Orlando City SC)

• Crossbar Challenge: Javier Ruiz (Necaxa)

• Relay Challenge: LIGA MX All-Stars

If anything, the weather made it clear how much Charlotte wanted to be there. Fans stayed in their seats, players kept competing between stoppages, and the city proved once again that a little rain isn’t enough to wash out a good soccer night.

A good reminder that All-Star Week is about more than goals and glory.

Skills Challenge Photo Gallery Part 1

Skills Challenge Photo Gallery Part 2

Sam Spencer contributed to this story.

If you were hoping for a nail-biter from the MLS NEXT All-Star Game at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex on Monday night, well ... we hope you at least enjoyed the red moon early.

The East All-Stars put on an absolute clinic in the fifth edition of the academy league’s All-Star Game, prevailing 6-1 over the West All-Stars, making it five All-Star wins in a row for the East side.

The East All-Stars were led by Charlotte FC Academy U18 head coach Jordan Melia, who guided the U18 squad to a runner-up finish in their conference during the 2025–26 regular season. As a bonus for the hometown fans, a Charlotte FC Academy kid — 15-year-old Daniel Brown — got to steal a little bit of the show with the only second half goal for the East.

Here’s how it went down.

East Come out Swinging

Essentially, the match was decided in the first 12 minutes.

D.C. United Academy homegrown forward Oscar Avilez opened things up in the 6th minute, and before the West could even catch its breath, Columbus Crew Academy’s Jamil Danjaji — also a U.S. Youth National Team regular — got in behind and slotted home a right-footed finish. Chicago Fire Academy’s Christopher Morales then picked out Nashville SC Academy’s Liam Stribling with a gorgeous long ball in the 12th minute, and just like that, it was 3-0 before many fans had found their seats.

The East kept its foot down the rest of the half. Metropolitan Oval Academy’s Marcus Singleton II made it four in the 30th minute, and the West’s goalkeeper had to make a genuinely impressive save in the 37th minute just to keep the score from getting even more embarrassing.

It didn’t matter much — Avilez struck again a minute later, his second of the night, for a 5-0 halftime lead that felt more like a final score.

Give the West some credit for a couple of moments, though: there was a scramble off a corner where the West keeper came flying all the way out of his box to clear the ball (offside no-call and all), and forward Danny Carmona rattled the post late in the half for arguably West’s best chance of the game.

A Moment Bigger than the Match

Before the second half kicked off, both sidelines paused for something that mattered more than the score — a halftime tribute honoring the recently deceased Dr. Victor D. Kidd. Kidd, a licensed psychotherapist and former senior advisor on player care and wellness in MLS, was represented by his family and children at the halftime event.

A good reminder that these All-Star showcases are about more than just goals.

Charlotte’s Moment, West Get on the Board

The West came out of the break with both more life and possession, and the affair got a bit chippier with yellow cards for both sides. The East weathered the attack and settled back into control of the ball as the half wore on.

The moment the home crowd came for arrived 33 minutes into the second half: Charlotte FC Academy product Daniel Brown, playing in front of his hometown fans, uncorked a rocket from outside the box to make it 6-0 and send the Sportsplex into a frenzy. You couldn’t have scripted it better for the kid.

Easton Wilson finally got the West on the board late, sneaking a near-post finish past the East keeper to make the final 6-1 — a respectable scoreline dressing up what was, by any measure, a one-sided night.

MVP honors go to Avilez

Oscar Avilez’s two-goal night earned him MLS NEXT All-Star Game MVP, becoming the first player in D.C. United’s history to win the award.

Not a bad line to add to the résumé.

Box Score

East 5 – 1 (6 Total) West 0 – 1 (1 Total)

• EAST — Oscar Avilez (D.C. United), 6’

• EAST — Jamil Danjaji (Columbus Crew), 8’

• EAST — Liam Stribling (Nashville SC), 12’

• EAST — Marcus Singleton II (Metropolitan Oval Academy), 30’

• EAST — Oscar Avilez (D.C. United), 38’

• EAST — Daniel Brown (Charlotte FC), 78’

• WEST — Easton Wilson (Real Salt Lake), 82’

MVP: Oscar Avilez (D.C. United)

Gallery: Daniel Brown

Tonight at 6:30 PM, Asheville City SC will face defending USL 2 champions Vermont Green FC in a rematch of sorts: both clubs’ women’s squads met in the semifinals of the USL W League playoffs, with Vermont victorious in the 1-0 win.

The Green Women lost in the final, however, so for both clubs this is a last chance for a trophy until the pre-professional leagues return next year.

When we asked Asheville City SC club director Tim Blekicki about playing the Green twice in one year, he had this to say:

“Maple syrup still isn’t a personality trait.”

Sounds like the start of a beautiful derby. You can stream tonight’s Eastern Conference championship for free at 6:30 PM ET.

Watch the Match

Asheville City SC is North Carolina’s Last Team Standing in the USL 2 Playoffs

Asheville City SC’s path to the Eastern Conference championship started in unfamiliar territory: USL 2’s South Atlantic Division. Asheville had previously played in the South Central Division, which they had won three years in a row, including in 2024, when they won the Eastern Conference and made it to the national semifinals.

Of course, another thing was different this year: Asheville SC finished the regular season in second place, as Charlotte Independence 2 won the division. Appalachian FC, the third place team, also qualified for the playoffs.

Though they finished second in a harder, new division, the Blues weren’t deterred.

“The players and staff have fully deserved this after all the effort and perseverance,” Asheville City SC Men’s head coach Carl Reynolds told Soccer Sheet. “We have had a tough schedule and managed to find results throughout them all whilst staying true to our identity.”

Because of the second place finish, Asheville had to win a qualifier against Virginia Beach United to make the tournament proper. Appalachian FC also won their play-in match, and drew Charlotte Independence 2 in the first round of the playoffs.

Asheville needed extra time to defeat Lionsbridge FC in the first round of the playoffs, 2-3 (a.e.t.), while Appalachian FC stunned Charlotte Independence 2 with a 0-2 win.

Charlotte Independence 2 head coach Nick Fusco talked to Soccer Sheet after the loss.

“We are definitely frustrated with the way our season ended, felt like we had potential to make a run with the group we had left this season but it just didn’t happen,” said Fusco. “At the end of the day, we have to finish our chances and just didn’t do that against a team that defended very well and put away the couple chances they had. I think overall this shows how strong our conference is as a whole, 3 teams from the same conference making up this round with 2 of them facing each other in the round of 16. We’ve had a great season and plan on taking another step forward next year with a lot of guys planning on returning.”

The upset set up a Sunday showdown between Asheville and the Boys from Boone. The Blues got off to a strong start, and led 3-0 at halftime, but App responded in the second half with quick goals in the 54th and 60th minutes.

Then, in the 69th minute, Mitch Picksley got his second goal of the match for the Blues, and his brace would be decisive in Asheville’s 4-2 victory.

“I’m personally delighted to have the opportunity to play in a second conference final in 2 years,” said Reynolds.

Appalachian FC head coach Tom Gillette praised Asheville’s performance when he spoke to Soccer Sheet after the match.

“Proud of the performance, we played with courage and aggression,” said Gillette. “Asheville were very efficient with their chances in the first half [and] that put us in a difficult position at half time but our response in the first fifteen in the second half was incredible, unfortunately we weren’t able to get back on level terms but it was a performance of a strong team.”

Blekicki was equally complementary towards App after the match.

“Great season by Appalachian FC and impressive they were able to succeed after making the jump from NPSL,” said Blekicki. “Not everyone does that. Proud of Carl and the boys but the job isn’t done yet.”

For Asheville, the job continues tonight.