Hey y'all,

I have a large group going to this game and I'm wanting to give them the "full experience". We were planning on tailgating at the McNinch lot and doing the march.

If the game is at 1, what time would the march be and what time would we need to get to the McNinch lot?

Thanks everyone!

Charlotte Independence just won the player's shield (supporters shield equivalent). I'd be curious to hear if anyone follows this team and what players you think would be cool to try out in Charlotte given our issue at midfield (and depth at other positions)!

Taking our son to his first game today!

⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️

I put together everything Smith said Friday and what he and Westwood said after Wednesday’s 3-1 loss. A few items from it:

• Smith on the performance: “We haven’t had too many of them. It’s very seldom. And I expect a reaction from them.”
• Westwood said the team “just got outworked.”
• Philadelphia has won its last eight games by a combined 28-8 and hasn’t lost in 14.
• Smith explained why the club didn’t add a center forward. He said Doucouré is training and working on his visa, and that Tyger Smalls is Idan Toklomati’s backup for now.

Full piece: https://charlottefooty.substack.com/p/everything-charlotte-fc-said-ahead

Will someone please explain to me why CLTFC bothered signing Abdoulaye Doucouré? I saw in another thread he is not at practice today. Visa troubles typically delay our signings. Then there are the “match shape” and “team chemistry” issues. This short-term signing (rental) seems like a waste of time and effort to me. Maybe even a distraction to the existing coaches and players? What do you think?

Anyone not get additional points for the game rewards contest last night? I got 21st place and that usually gets additional reward points but nothing came through. Did they change the structure?

Lets get this DUB

Rough one in Columbus. Here’s my recap of the biggest storylines.

Final: Columbus 3, Charlotte FC 1

• Charlotte was outshot 33-9 (14-3 on goal)
• 33 shots is a Columbus club record
• At halftime it was already 22-5 in shots (9-3 on goal)

The bright spot: Toklomati’s 12th
Idan Toklomati is 22 and looked totally nonchalant opening the scoring. He won the turnover, found his spot and finished. That ties Pep Biel for the team lead with 12 goals. The confidence is there, and the future looks bright.

Early pressure, then the turnover
Columbus fired off four or five good looks early, mostly up the left side. Kristijan Kahlina was tremendous, including a big save on a rocket from Brais Méndez, and had 8 saves in the first half alone. It could have been much worse.

Then came a very sloppy turnover, and Méndez got the equalizer within 11 minutes of our goal. Tim Ream and the back line looked at each other in disbelief and frustration. That’s happened too often, and it cost Charlotte on the road.

Dean Smith’s halftime statement
Smith said this week that lineup decisions are performance-based, and he followed through with three subs to start the second half:

• Byrne for Cleary
• Aloko for Abada
• de la Torre for Bronico

Moves like this can disrupt a locker room, but I liked it. The poor defending and lack of possession are a long-standing trend, not an isolated incident.

It got uglier
The turnovers kept coming, and Columbus had a 3-1 lead by the 65th minute with two goals in two minutes. It was reminiscent of what Charlotte did to Dallas on Saturday, but being on the receiving end had to be miserable. Anass Zaroury had his way with the defense all night.

What’s next
Smith has a lot of questions to answer about the performance and the subs, with a quick turnaround to fix the leaks before Saturday at Philly. The Union are only 3 points behind Charlotte in the table.

Full instant reactions here: https://charlottefooty.substack.com/p/postgame-instant-reactions-charlotte-237

What did you all think of the halftime changes? Is this a personnel problem or a system problem?

Hello everyone

I found this and wanted to know if this is worth anything.

The coin says 2026

But the box and crown do not have a year on them other than 2022

They were in the box together

The screen does work for a bit

I tried to place it on Google but couldnt find anything on it.

I didn't know if someone would want this or would it just end up in one of my crafts.

We have an affinity for the city and the Oregon coast as my husband worked on a project out there for over a year. We’re making a longer trip out of it and seeing the game next weekend. Curious if any others are making the cross-country trek!

We got our tickets through the club so will be in the away supporters section. Hoping to have some fellow travelers :)

Charlotte trailed Dallas 2-0 in the 64th minute on Saturday and won 3-2. It was the second time this season the club has come back from two goals down, after the 2-2 draw with Cincinnati.

From Monday’s pressers:

• Smith, on the mentality: “Mentality-wise, there’s never been a problem here.”
• Abada, on being down 2-0: “Sometimes in the game you feel like it’s over, but we showed a strong mentality.”
• Smith, on the bench: “We had the tools behind me to go and change it where I needed to.” He also said that losing three or four players, as Charlotte did against Chicago, takes some of those tools away.

Charlotte is fifth at 46 points, level with fourth-place New England, and plays at Columbus on Wednesday.

I wrote this up with more on the subs, Toffolo’s first goal and what Smith said about Doucouré.

Do you think the comeback record holds up when the lineup changes? Curious how people here see the depth.

Well-deserved!

After Zaha left Abada really started to play much better and I wondered if he was going to play his way into an extension. Watching this game and the recent slate of games I wondered if Aloko may be playing Abada out of his spot for next season.

Edit: Don’t mean that Aloko is becoming a DP spot but taking Abada’s starting role eliminating his DP spot on the squad.

Anyone missing a bucket hat? Found it on Mint St walking towards Hopfly after the game. Was going to keep it for myself but saw it was autographed so figure someone may want it.

I live in Ohio and I'm coming down to Columbus for the game. Any other Charlotte fc fans from Ohio going? I'll be in section 236.

Play offs are like Kryptonite to my brain.
I am always confused and don’t know until someone says “Yes! we are in play offs “

Currently out of town and not back until after our last match on the 31st.

I am hoping to catch another (or a few more matches) But didn’t want to get my hopes up.

Would anyone who knows these things share your thoughts/opinions

ThanX #ForTheCrown

Recently I've noticed we've been having a less fans at the game I went to the game against Dallas and I understand that it rained so maybe that's why people couldn't show up but even when I watched the games on Apple TV there's not as many fans as we've had I remember we would have packed stadium and now we barely have 2, 000 3,000 people I know we had a little drought when we were playing as good but now we're back and forth so I don't really understand does anyone know why?

I was at the game last night. It was the one of the most amazing comebacks I’ve ever watched, let alone seen live.

I can’t believe we didn’t get a penalty in the 91st minute when a Dallas defender slid into ASM from behind. That’s a nailed on penalty always. No decision for the referee to even make.

And because of how MLS operates, the incident wasn’t on the Apple TV highlights. Even the broadcast didn’t show a replay. But they showed the replay in the stadium. That’s a penalty every time.

It’s amazing that our boys won the game anyway. It’s more fun to win in open play too.

But what is MLS doing? Why do their referees operate so far outside of the standards for other high level professional leagues? Ask any coach, if you leave your feet in the box, you’re playing with fire. If you go through the ball carrier to get the ball, it’s a penalty.