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.
MLS Regular Season
Matchday 24
Charlotte FC vs. Houston Dynamo FC
September 5, 2026
Bank of America Stadium
Final Score
Charlotte FC 0 - 0 Houston Dynamo FC
Red Card
Ashley Westwood 71’
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.
