Charlotte FC in a funk

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Charlotte FC is at a crossroads.

Not to sound overly dramatic, but for those who were at Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday night — and the myriad who weren’t — didn’t something feel different? Something felt off.

For starters, it was the scene. Attendance was announced at 23,903, which means there were considerably fewer people actually in seats. We’re getting used to seeing lots of blue empty seats, and yes, it was a midweek game. But a quick check on FBref.com confirmed it was the lowest attended MLS game in Charlotte’s history. (There were two Leagues Cup matches with fewer fans, but those games in a separate tournament are later additions to the schedule.)

Then there was the lackluster result, a 1-0 loss to New York City FC in which there “was nothing in the game,” as Coach Dean Smith aptly described. Goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina gave up a miscue for a goal, which happens, but not much else did.

Charlotte FC managed only two shots on target. Smith pointed out that New York only had one. This is true. It’s also true that these two teams probably know each other too well to come up with much unpredictability. And yes, captain Ashley Westwood was serving a yellow card suspension and sat in the stands next to an injured left back, Harry Toffolo. There have been reasons for things lately. Perhaps what’s troubling is they’re not usually the same.

Different things go wrong on different nights: defensive lapses, and backline injuries showing up, winger Wilfried Zaha getting frustrated over a lack of touches, Idan Toklomati disappearing for stretches, attempts to gain offensive ground with midfielder Luca De La Torre have opened gaps on defense. Two recent games against Nashville, the class of MLS right now, haven’t helped either.

But just six weeks ago, Charlotte was third in the Eastern Conference after defeating Philadelphia 2-1. Since then, Charlotte has played seven MLS games and won one of them — at New York City FC on April 18. After Wednesday’s loss in a rematch with New York, Charlotte fell to ninth in the Eastern Conference, just above the wild card playoff line.

So is this just a funk or something more? Are these games revealing more fundamental problems with Charlotte FC? At the moment, there does seem to be a disconnect between what Coach Dean Smith is asking of his players and what they are providing: “We've got to make more of them runs in around the box, because you have to unsettle defenders. If you just stand in front of them, then defenders are happy,” Smith said Wednesday night.

There’s also a disconnect between what some of the players are making and what they are providing. The Major League Players Association released its spring salary totals this week, and based on annual compensation, Charlotte FC is paying winger Liel Abada $2.648M to do next to nothing. New center back Henry Kessler is making $965,525 and has yet to see the field in an MLS game because of injuries.

Even the home magic at Bank of America Stadium hasn’t helped. Charlotte, now 3-2-2 at The Bank this season, has lost or tied more home games than it’s won.

“It's so easy to look at what comes next, and the hardest thing is to look at what's right there in front of you,” said center back Tim Ream, who filled in for Westwood Wednesday night both as captain and post-game analyst. “I think that probably tends to happen with us. We look (at the schedule and say), ‘Who's the next game? Oh, the next game is at home. We'll be OK.’ But in reality, that's when you start to lose focus.”

Charlotte, which was hoping to use four games at Bank of America before the World Cup break to get back on track, has only salvaged one point with two second-half goals in a 2-2 draw with Cincinnati so far. Now Charlotte has games against Toronto and New England to do something about it.

“You just have to put your head down and grind through it, and go through video and try to put things right as quickly as possible, because you definitely don't want to be going into the break on a bad streak,” Ream said. “We have two more games now to put things right.”

After that, Charlotte FC doesn’t play again until July 22. The front office will have more than two months to re-evaluate and retool. They’ll have to decide if the roster and Smith’s system are aligning. They’ll make a final determination on Zaha, whose contract is up at the end of June. They’ll surely try to unload Abada and add one, or possibly two, new designated players.

This much is certain: they need to make a splash, if they want to turn the season back around and get fans back in seats.

Ashley Westwood made the most of his suspension for yellow card accumulation on Wednesday night, joining fans in the Charlotte FC supporters’ section for the traditional pre-game Poznan celebration, where fans turn their backs to the field and jump up and down to the song “Pepas” right before kickoff.

The 36-year-old Englishman, who has a club option left on his contract after this season, made this prediction afterward, via text message: “I can see myself in there a lot in the future.”

Westwood and his family have made Charlotte their permanent home. He has said he’s interested in coaching, perhaps in the Charlotte FC system, when he retires from playing.

He has a while to work on his technique. Let’s just say the captain looked like he was conserving energy for Saturday’s game against Toronto. (C’mon, Westy, you’re supposed to jump!) But his hair was immaculate, as always, and the smile said it all.

“When you are my age and over 600 games, I have to do a warmup for everything,” he said. “I didn’t want to pull my calf.”

He will be back in the lineup against Toronto this weekend.

Westwood becomes the first known Charlotte FC player to join in for the pregame festivities. He followed in the footsteps of Smith, who linked arms with owner David Tepper and technical director Tommy Wilson to do the Poznan in a luxury suite before kickoff against Miami last season while he was serving a yellow card suspension.

Edge goes to Smith, though, because Charlotte beat Miami 3-0 that day to tie Seattle for the longest MLS win streak at nine games. Westwood sat helpless while Charlotte lost to NYCFC 1-0.

Local fans and media can help determine which players convene in Charlotte for the 2026 MLS All-Star game at Bank of America Stadium on July 29. Online voting began on Wednesday and will continue through midnight on Thursday, May 21. Charlotte FC has never had a player selected for the All-Star game, which this year features the best of MLS against all-stars from Mexico’s Liga MX.

Eleven players will be voted on by MLS players, fans and media, and 13 players will be chosen by Smith, who as head coach of host Charlotte FC will coach the MLS All-Stars. An additional two players will be chosen by Commissioner Don Garber.

To be eligible for the ballot, players must have appeared in at least 50% of their club’s matches as of May 13. Unqualified players can still be named by Smith or Garber.

When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Bank of America Stadium

How to watch: Apple TV. Find information about how to subscribe for the season here.

How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.

Notable

Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fifth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!