Home-field hopes dim for Charlotte FC

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Charlotte FC is not making it easy. What looked to be a clear path to a top-four finish in the Eastern Conference and home-field advantage in the playoffs is now muddled. Charlotte has to win its final two games of the regular season, starting Saturday at DC United and at home Oct. 18 against MLS-leading Philadelphia, and get help from two other teams to pull it off.

Also, the team has to win Saturday in Washington without three of their starters: defensive MVP Adilson Malanda, captain Ashley Westwood and spark plug Brandt Bronico, all of whom are serving one-game suspensions. (More on that shortly.)

This is the team that was on the brink of MLS history and a potential 10-game winning streak just two weeks ago. When asked about trying to match the 10-game streak he had at a former Premier League job at Aston Villa, and what it said about him, Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith smiled and said, “I’m streaky.”

Now his team needs to prove he’s not streaky the other way. Charlotte has lost two in a row, in the wonky confines of Yankee Stadium against New York City FC and at home Saturday against last-place Montreal.

“I feel a little bit hard done by, I must admit, with the last two results the way they’ve turned out,” said Smith, using an English term to reference a questionable penalty against Kristijan Kahlina in New York and a red card against Adilson Malanda against Montreal. “I’ve always said moments change games. We’ve had two moments in two games on the spin that have changed the game that we haven’t had an awful lot of control over. So you have to respond to that. I said to the players, ‘I hope it lights the fire underneath you.’”

Center back Tim Ream, who will wear the captain’s band Saturday in place of Westwood, called the two losses a gut check.

“The game has a funny way of humbling you when you feel like you’re riding high and you’re on top of it,” Ream said. “So it’s a good wake-up call. And now we have two games to try to get into the top four.”

Scenarios: Charlotte FC needs to win out and New York City FC needs to lose one of its final two games (in Philadelphia or at home against Seattle) and Orlando City needs to do something less than winning its last three games for Charlotte to finish in the top four. Based on some of the matchups for those opponents, it’s at least doable.

But one false move by Charlotte, and the club goes from fighting for a top-four spot to trying to avoid the wildcard game between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds. Just three points separate Charlotte, 53, in fifth place, from Columbus with 50 points.

“As players, you should look forward to the pressure of trying to put yourselves in positions to win games and make top four and be as far up the league table as possible,” Ream said. “The pressure is a good thing. In a way, it prepares you for the playoffs. It’s almost like we’re in the playoffs already with what these next couple of games mean.”

Charlotte has already clinched a playoff berth, but now is one of four teams battling for the fourth spot in the division, along with New York City FC, Nashville and Orlando. Miami, although tiring down the stretch, has a game in hand — meaning three to play, not like two games most teams have — and is likely to pick up points to add to its 56-point total.

What’s the big deal about top four? Home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs gives you a possible two home games in the best-of-three series. Charlotte FC knows well how important that is, having lost both games in Orlando last year, while winning at home, only to be ousted in the first round.

And Bank of America Stadium is as much an advantage for Charlotte as any home stadium is for a team in MLS. Charlotte is 12-3-1 at home this season, and those 12 home wins lead MLS.

What got them here? Charlotte’s chances for home field took a big hit after last week’s 4-1 loss at home to Montreal, then the last-place team in the Eastern Conference. It was just their third loss at Bank of America Stadium this season.

The result was poor and came at a bad time, but it was at least explainable after Malanda picked up a red card 20 minutes into the game. He made a careless tackle on an attacker who had already slipped past him when he initiated contact. Down to 10 men, Charlotte gave up the tying goal on the perfect free kick, but made the cardinal Smith sin of not stopping the cross on Montreal’s go-ahead goal. Frustration only mounted from there, and before the game was out, both Westwood and Bronico had picked up yellow cards. That cost them the next game based on their yellow-card accumulation for the season.

“We have guys that are plenty capable of stepping in and doing a job and being that next guy up to help the team out,” Ream said. “That’s been the case all year long, especially in the last 10 to 12 weeks with guys going down with little injuries and other guys stepping in.”

Smith has an easy answer to slot in for Malanda at center back against D.C. United with Andrew Privett, and Bill Tuiloma behind him. But what about the midfield? Two-thirds of what’s been the starting midfield is out in Westwood and Bronico.

Pep Biel, who was Charlotte’s most valuable attacking player in the first half of the season, has played just 45 minutes in the past two months, coming off a hamstring injury. He played 31 minutes off the bench in New York, but his knee flared up with tendinitis, forcing him to miss Montreal. Biel returned to practice on Thursday, and Smith said if all went well again on Friday, he would be available off the bench in D.C. But Smith has shown a reluctance in recent weeks to risk Biel injuring himself further and missing the playoffs. The preference would be to give him this week and next week’s international break off to prepare for the stretch run.

“I think Pep probably wouldn’t have put himself forward as quickly if we had the other players available for the game,” said Smith, who said Biel is on a new medication, which has helped.

As for who will start alongside Djibril Diani in the midfield, two inside-the-box options are: Eryk Williamson, a proven attacking player and veteran of seven seasons in Portland, and Nikola Petkovic, who has been with the team the past two years and has put in his practice time. Neither of them has seemed to capture Smith’s confidence this season. Williamson has played in 23 games but made just three starts. And Petkovic has just 23 minutes of MLS game action this season.

The only other midfielder on the roster is recent Crown Legacy callup Baye Coulibaly, who would be making his MLS debut. That’s a lot to ask in a playoff-worthy game.

Another scenario Smith has been toying with this week is moving Wilfried Zaha or Kerwin Vargas from wing to central attacking midfielder to take at least one of the vacant spots. That would get his most dynamic players in the middle and allow him to bring in Liel Abada or Tyger Smalls on the wing. Smith said it’s something they’ve been practicing this week. Don’t be surprised if he goes that route.

The results are in from Fútbol Friday readers two weeks ago, and 65% of those responding said yes, it would be OK for us to refer to Charlotte FC as “the Crown.” There were some vocal no’s, readers who bristle at the Queen City analogies around the club. From this vantage point, that’s an uphill climb. Don’t be surprised to see us take a stab at using it from time to time.

When/Where: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Audi Field, Washington, D.C.

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:

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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