Breaking: Charlotte FC Falls in First Round of Playoffs
New York City FC defeated the Crown two-games-to-one in the best-of-three series, winning the final match at Bank of America Stadium 3-1.
For the second year in a row, Charlotte FC’s season ended in the first round of the playoffs. After losing the first game and winning the second of a three-round series against New York City FC.
Despite a raucous, sell-out crowd of 34,473 fans Crown couldn’t convert a fierce first half attack and a barrage of shots into a season-extending win on Friday night. Instead, New York City FC’s Nicolás Fernández and Alonso Martínez took advantage of the Crown’s disorganization in transition with breakaway goals in both first half stoppage time and the 50th minute of play.
While Charlotte striker Idan Toklomati was able to get one goal back in the second half, it wasn’t enough to send the match to penalty kicks — and that was before a stoppage time goal from New York made the final scoreline 3-1.
First Half Fight Turns into Folly
The Crown came out the gate ready to fight, but couldn’t finish, with none of their seven first-half shots on target. Charlotte consistently applied pressure, but shots from
Shortly after the fourth official announced three minutes of stoppage time, things started to go wrong for Charlotte.
A failed set piece caused Charlotte trouble in transition, and Fernández barrelled down the right side of the pitch towards Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina. He couldn’t have asked for a better shot, sailing from the right side of the six yard box past Kahlina on the right post and into the top left corner following a fast break.
Second Half Starts Haphazardly
Wilfried Zaha came out of the locker room ready to attack, sending two shots towards New York Goalkeeper Matt Freese in the first five minutes. Unfortunately for Charlotte, Zaha’s second of the two shots was blocked, and while still positioned for a setpiece Martínez exploited Charlotte’s position in transition, beating fullback Nathan Byrne to the ball and slotting it past Kahlina in the 50th minute.
After going down 0-2 early in the second half, Charlotte FC needed a miracle to save their 2025 season. In the 61st minute, Smith brought on Australian international Archie Goodwin – a natural striker –- in place of Bronico, who missed one of Charlotte’s best first half opportunities.
In the 78th minute, Smith again tried something else, subbing in Liel Abada – who didn’t see playing time in Charlotte’s win at Yankee Stadium – for winger Kerwin Vargas.
Injury Strikes New York’s Perea
In the 71st minute, both Charlotte defender Adilson Malanda and New York midfielder Andrés Perea went up for an aerial challenge. Perea landed the wrong way on his foot, taking him out of the match.
The injury would bring the number of stoppage time minutes to 12.
In the 81st minute, the Crown found the first half of their miracle, as fullback Harry Toffolo found Goodwin in the middle of the box. Goodwin made a spectacular pass behind his back to Toklomati at point-blank range.
However, Charlotte could not get anything else past Freese, and a second goal from Fernández in the 11th minute of stoppage time sealed Charlotte’s fate.
Charlotte falls to 2-5 in postseason contests with the season-ending loss. New York will travel to Philadelphia in two weeks to meet Philadelphia Union in the Eastern conference Semifinals.