Young striker's star is rising
Toklomati is emerging as a centerpiece to Charlotte's attack; Malanda begins goodbyes; former radio analyst Charman on TV call Saturday; Charlotte takes 7-game win streak to New England
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Departure of Agyemang? Injury to Pep Biel? Charlotte FC is still winning, in part because of the dynamic play of 21-year-old striker Idan Toklomati
Idan Toklomati has either scored or assisted a Charlotte FC goal in 10 of his 13 starts this season. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
If there’s one reason Charlotte FC didn’t panic after Patrick Agyemang packed up for England, overspend on a veteran striker or flinch at a C+ grade for their summer transfer window from a national MLS writer, it boils down to two words: Idan Toklomati.
The 21-year-old Israeli striker has quietly, but surely, made his presence known in the center of Charlotte FC’s attack during a club record seven-game winning streak. How can you tell? There are a couple of ways:
First, it’s the goal contributions. Toklomati has had either a goal or an assist in five straight games. He has seven goals and four assists on the season now, which is tied with Wilfried Zaha (seven goals, nine assists) for second most behind team leader Pep Biel (10). And Toklomati has started half as many games as Zaha (13 vs. 25).
Put another way, Toklomati has had either a goal or an assist in 10 of the 13 games he’s started this season. He’s scored six goals and assisted two more in 11 games in the starting lineup after Agyemang’s departure for the U.S. Men’s National team and later Derby County.
Charlotte FC general manager Zoran Krneta was talking to reporters this week about the sale of Adilson Malanda when he gave an indication of how important Toklomati has become to this team.
Krneta was talking about the provision in the deal that Malanda be loaned back to Charlotte for the rest of this season and using it to make the point that Charlotte FC is still aiming to win despite the recent sales of Agyemang and Malanda. In that context, Krneta said he had also turned down overtures from clubs about two other Charlotte FC players. Jorge Gonzalez of TopBin90 asked if one of them was Toklomati.
“Toklomati is not for sale,” Krneta responded. “It wasn't Toklomati, and it wasn't even discussed, and it would not be discussed for the foreseeable future. It would take an MLS records sale, ever, to move Toklomati, and even that would not be now.”
(Gonzalez later reported that one of the sought-after players was winger Kerwin Vargas, who had generated interest from multiple first-division teams in Portugal.)
Krneta made a couple of other points during his early-week press conference that reinforce what Toklomati has come to mean to Charlotte FC in a short time. He explained that Charlotte preferred taking a bigger risk on 20-year-old Australian striker Archie Goodwin than a proven veteran commodity because the team wanted someone to push Toklomati, not overshadow him.
“Once we gave a chance to Idan and he took it as he did, then why would we kill the talent [by taking away playing time],” said Krneta.
With Toklomati’s emergence, Charlotte recalibrated its roster to skew younger. As opposed to having three designated players, star players with less regard to the salary cap, and three Under 22s (players under age 22 who can be signed with more salary cap leeway) they stayed with two DPs (Zaha and Liel Abada) and four U-22 players in Toklomati, Vargas, midfielder Nikola Petkovic and midfielder Baye Coulibaly who was just called up to the first team from Crown Legacy.
“You have to be careful,” Krneta said. “Once you have too many big-name players, too many stars, that sometimes has an opposite effect. We wanted to create a team that plays like musketeers — one for all, all for one — rather than a bunch of overpaid stars who don't get on with each other. This is a really good group. They get on well, they go out, they play golf together. It’s a really good changing room.”
To imagine Charlotte FC rebounding from a brutal May to a seven-game win streak, without Agyemang and with Pep Biel sidelined with a hamstring injury, comes down to contributions of Toklomati up front and Zaha in the buildup. What Agyemang had in physical gifts and the ability to overpower defenders, Toklomati makes up for in his technical play. Krneta said he’s more versatile than Agyemang, whom Charlotte sold for a club record transfer fee of $8 million plus $2 million in bonuses.
“This team right now, the way we play, [Idan] fits better,” Krneta said. “Pat is a physical beast, and he loves going forward in new space. Once he gets 1-on-1, you have no chance against that. Idan is more of a connector. He connects really well with Pep, with Wilf, with Abada, with Westwood, way more than necessarily Pat would. So that's just the different profiles. But I think how we play as a team, this connectivity is a little bit better with Idan.”
Malanda goodbyes begin
Center back Adilson Malanda becomes the first departing Charlotte FC player to get a chance to say public goodbyes to the fanbase before leaving for another club. He’s on loan with Charlotte FC for the remainder of the season before joining Middlesbrough F.C. (Interestingly enough, the first team on Middlesbrough’s schedule after Malanda can officially join their roster Jan. 1 is against Derby County, Agyemang’s new team.)
Malanda got a head start interacting with Charlotte fans during a Man of the Match presentation at the base of the supporters’ section in Bank of America Stadium following Sunday’s 1-0 win over the New York Red Bulls. He also met with the media Wednesday to address his three years in Charlotte and his impending move.
“I grew up as a man, as a player,” he said. “I spent three incredible years here with the people, with the club, with the players that I played with. We kept improving. We had hard times, as everyone does, but I really enjoyed my time here.”
Coach Dean Smith said the biggest improvement he’s seen in Malanda in his two years at the helm is Malanda’s leadership.
“It's no coincidence that at the end of last season, he won the players’ player of the year award [from his teammates], which was some doing considering the [MLS Goalkeeper of the year] season that [Kristijan] Kahlina had as well.”
Former Charlotte radio broadcaster Charman on Saturday broadcast for Apple
Former Charlotte FC radio color analyst Jessica Charman has covered MLS games this season in Atlanta and Chicago and will be in New England for Charlotte FC’s game Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Charman.)
Charlotte FC fans will hear a familiar voice — and see a familiar face — Saturday night when former radio analyst Jessica Charman calls TV play-by-play of Charlotte’s game in New England for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Charman left last winter after three seasons as the radio voice of Charlotte FC to pursue TV broadcasting, predominantly in women’s professional soccer. But in addition to a full schedule for the NWSL, women’s Super League and a weekly soccer talk show for Sirius XM, she has been mixing in MLS games as well. By the end of the season, she will have done 13, including the Sept. 27 game in Charlotte against Montreal.
She also broadcast six group stage games for the FIFA Club World Cup.
“The goal was to get back into men's football and do both men’s and women’s soccer,” Charman said. “But in my head, it was a timeline of two, three years to get better, do reps, continue to grow. It’s knocked me off the face of the planet, how quickly it’s happened.”
After being one of perhaps two women on MLS radio broadcasts, she’s in more company on the TV side. The challenge, she said, is being up to the task.
“Sometimes, you fit a profile that the league is looking to expand in,” Charman said. “I do think they want to diversify their voices, and I think that’s a good thing to benefit someone like me that has a unique voice and a unique presence. But once you get that chance, you’ve got to be ready. But once you get that first look, it’s your commitment, it’s your preparation, it’s everything else that gets you through there.”
The transition to play-by-play from color was part of the lure. The challenge Saturday will be to stay neutral in her delivery. She spoke with former Charlotte FC-centric broadcasters Lloyd Sam and Eric Krakauer for advice.
“I owe it to New England Revolution fans watching that I don’t allow myself to fall into any biases,” she said.
Charman admitted, though, that she’s excited about the prospect of her first-ever Charlotte FC goal call as a play-by-play announcer. In team radio broadcasts, she was strictly a color analyst.
“I’m also excited to see some familiar faces,” she said.
Up Next: Charlotte FC (15-11-2) at New England Revolution (8-12-7)
When/Where: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.
How to watch: MLS Season Pass on 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:
Charlotte FC has won a club record seven games in a row to give them a club record 15 wins on the season. Five of those seven wins have come at home. The lone road wins were in Atlanta and Cincinnati. New England is 3-8-2 at home.
The last time Charlotte played New England, it lost 1-0 at Bank of America Stadium on a goal Smith thought was offside. He drew a fine for calling officials “incompetent” afterward. That loss, on April 26, started a five-game losing streak.
New left back Harry Toffolo injured his hamstring in his MLS debut for Charlotte on Sunday against the New York Red Bulls. Smith said he will be out for at least two to three weeks before the club re-evaluates his progress.
Pep Biel, who’s been out with a hamstring injury, is progressing and still eyeing Miami on Sept. 13 for his return.
Center back Tim Ream will leave after the game to rejoin the U.S. Men’s national team. This time, his departure will be on an international break, when the U.S. plays Sept. 6 against South Korea and Sept. 9 against Japan. Fullback Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty has been called up to play for Canada.
Defender Bill Tuiloma and forward Tyger Smalls are both back in practice from hamstring injuries. Midfielder Baye Coulibaly has been called up from Crown Legacy and is available.
Goalkeeper George Marks, who was waived last week by Charlotte FC to make roster room for Drake Callender, was picked up by the Philadelphia Union. There, he rejoins former Charlotte FC teammate Ben Bender.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fourth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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We have found our striker! Krneta knows what he's found. I love how fierce he comes across in his comments about Toklomati. (He have a nickname? "Toke" seems inappropriate.)
Two more players have led our rebound. Kahlina has been dynamite beginning with the NYFC shutout. And Vargas is playing better than ever (also beginning at NYFC?) on both sides of the ball. His header back into 6yd box last night was so so good, and he had a couple of important takeaways.