Midnight Madness at the Bank as Charlotte FC Kick off Leagues Cup With a Win
Rain, a 9:22 Kickoff, and a Brand New Day: Charlotte FC Blitz Pumas 3-0 to Open Leagues Cup
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
Group Stage Match 1
August 4, 2026
Bank of America Stadium
Charlotte, NC
Charlotte FC 3 - 0 Pumas UNAM
Charlotte FC Goals
Brandt Bronico - 27’
Archie Goodwin - 50’ (Assist: Schnegg)
Tyger Smalls - 78’ (P)
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.
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.
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