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Teenage takeover in the Big Apple with New York’s ‘Baby Bulls,’ but what about Charlotte FC’s Berchimas?
When will Charlotte FC make its next move with Nimfasha Berchimas? (Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC.)
The New York Red Bulls come to Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium on Saturday with a youth movement in full effect. Three players aged 17 or younger have started their first four games under new coach Michael Bradley, led by 17-year-old Julian Hall with three goals.
So what about Charlotte FC’s teenage wonder? Isn’t this as good a time as any to ask about Charlotte FC’s promising teenager, too: Nimfasha Berchimas?
The recently-turned 18-year-old, who has drawn international interest from Manchester United and Bayern Munich while playing 27 matches for the U.S. Youth national teams, is beginning his third season with Crown Legacy, Charlotte FC’s feeder team in MLS Next Pro. He’s off to a hot start with a hot team this season. He has scored three goals and assisted another in his first three games with Crown Legacy this season.
As one writer, Logan McGuire of Youth Soccer Central, wrote this week: “A perfect start to goal scoring in MLS Next Pro for Nimfasha Berchimas. What more does Nimfasha have to do to receive first team opportunities, one of the best players in MLS Next Pro already this season…”
The primary problem, it seems for Berchimas, is the fact that designated player and Premier League veteran Wilifred Zaha plays his position, left wing. At the other wing is another designated player, albeit inconsistent lately, Liel Abada, and along with him is Kerwin Vargas, who is paid more as an Under-22 Initiative player.
When asked how much of Berchimas’ lack of movement has to do with who’s playing, Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith said:
I think it’s a lot about [who’s] playing in front of him. … Them sort of positions can become congested sometimes for young players, especially in this league, because you’ll find that most designated players are at the top of the pitch. It then makes it really difficult for young players to come through within this league.
Berchimas, who grew up in High Point, was 14 when he signed a homegrown contract with Charlotte FC in November of 2022. He was the sixth-youngest player to sign an MLS contract at 14 years and 268 days old. Two years later, at 16, he made his MLS debut in Smith’s first game as Charlotte’s head coach. He came off the bench for three games. That’s about the time, Smith recalls, he had “a bit of a dip in form,” and was sent back to Crown Legacy.
Then last season, after Charlotte FC brought in Zaha on loan, Berchimas broke a bone in his leg during the preseason. He underwent surgery on March 6. The club announced the acquisition of Abada the following day. Even when Abada has been inconsistent, Smith has winger Kerwin Vargas.
When asked about Berchimas this preseason, Charlotte FC general manager Zoran Krneta said:
It’s difficult because he’s just turned 18 [Feb. 22] and ahead of him is Zaha, Vargas, Abada, experienced players. If we put him with the first team and he’s not playing, it’ll have a worse psychological effect on him. He’ll get frustrated. We wanted to play him in a B team and see when he’s ready.
What’s the point of him watching from the side of the pitch? There’s no benefit to the young player. He’s already been in the first team environment. He’s been through three seasons with us. He knows all the first team players, he trains with all the first team players. The next level is playing games for the first team. Right now, we don’t see him playing games except for [a few] minutes.
The way the season has started, though, Charlotte’s offense has struggled. Outside of a 3-1 win over Austin FC, the Crown has scored one goal in its three games combined. That includes last week’s 0-0 tie against Inter Miami, which rested Lionel Messi and seven other starters in preparation for the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16.
Zaha, who has one assist and no goals so far, is one yellow card away from having to serve a one-game suspension. Abada has been “inconsistent,” as Smith explained Saturday, when his breakaway scoring chance missed the mark.
When asked Thursday about young players he had his eye on, Smith first mentioned Rodolf Aloko, the 19-year-old forward Charlotte FC signed last fall. The native of Benin has five goals and two assists in Crown Legacy’s first three games and leads MLS NEXT Pro with seven goal contributions. Both he and Berchimas have been among the Crown Legacy players Smith invites to practice with the first team twice a week.
“Rodolfo is doing really well,” Smith said. “Nimf is doing well as well at the moment. So we’ve got some players who are doing well at that level at the moment, and their job is, whenever they’re amongst us, to show that they can be better than the players we’ve got with us.”
The Baby Bulls:
Bradley, a former captain for the U.S. national team and son of former U.S.M.N.T. coach Bob Bradley, set an MLS record by penciling in three starters 17 or younger in his MLS coaching debut. He brought in another off the bench. Hall scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Orlando City SC and a third against New England. Two of his goals were assisted by 16-year-old midfielder Adri Mehmeti. The third is 17-year-old Matthew Dos Santos, who’s starting at left back.
Bradley himself made his MLS debut at age 17, starting for the MetroStars, precursor to the Red Bulls, in 2005.
Ream readies for U.S.M.N.T. call-up
Center back Tim Ream got his well-anticipated call-up to March camp for the U.S. Men’s National team, like he has since arriving in Charlotte late in the 2024 season. The difference now? This camp is the last one before the start of the 2026 World Cup. Ream, who will depart after Saturday’s game against New York, is gunning for a return to the World Cup. He started all four games for the U.S. in Qatar in 2022.
Ream acknowledged as he started this season with Charlotte FC that at age 38 and with the World Cup on home soil this time, this season was all the more important.
“Strangely, 17th year as a professional, it's probably the biggest one, which sounds really strange rolling off the tongue, but it's important, it's huge,” he said. “It's everything as players you work towards. To have an opportunity to have a good season to potentially be a part of a World Cup in your home country is probably more than you really can wrap your head around.”
Ream is among 27 players U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino called in for this month’s camp, along with former Charlotte FC striker Patrick Agyemang, who has scored 10 goals in the English Championship this season with Derby County. The U.S. travels to Atlanta for exhibitions against Belgium (March 28) and Portugal (March 31) at Atlanta United‘s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The U.S. kicks off the World Cup against Paraguay on June 12.
Ream has said after 15 years in international play, he knows it’s no given he’s a part of the roster. But for Smith, who said Ream was one of Charlotte’s top performers in the Miami game, thinks he’s rounding into form at the right time.
“I like what I’m seeing with him,” Smith said. “[There were] a lot of question marks after the first couple of games, not just on him, but our back four in general. I think the last couple of games have hopefully put the doubters to bed a little bit.”
Bronico is club’s first to 150 games
Bronico on the ball in his club-best 150th game for Charlotte FC last week against Miami. (Photo by Robert Taylor/The 5 and 2 Project.)
Brandt Bronico, one of just two players left from the original 2022 roster, became the first Charlotte FC player to reach 150 appearances with the club last Saturday against Miami. The UNC Charlotte graduate and High Point native and goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina are the only two left off the Charlotte team that opened the 2022 season.
“I’m just super grateful to be a part of this club, and I never take a day for granted,” Bronico said afterward. “I always try to give my best for the club, the community and my family, and I’ll continue to do so, and look forward to many, many more appearances for the club.”
Bronico did not appear in Charlotte FC’s first game of the season and came on in the second half against L.A. Galaxy, with the team trailing 3-0. He has started each of the last two games as Smith looked for the kind of security, and energy, that Bronico provides.
“He’s a Duracell battery,” Smith said. “He goes on and on, and he keeps on running. And his attitude, his application is excellent. That’s why he ends up getting into a team. That’s why he ends up playing so many games as he does, and that’s why every coach that works with him loves him.”
MLS maps out what 2027 ‘sprint season’ will look like
Major League Soccer announced this week how it is going to bridge the gap from its current spring-to-fall schedule to a new summer-to-spring one that aligns with the international soccer calendar. The format for what MLS is calling its “sprint season” in 2027 is pretty straightforward. Here’s a breakdown:
During a regular season lasting February through April, each team will play 14 games, one against each of its 14 conference opponents.
Each team will play seven home games and seven away games.
The top eight teams from each conference will qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs.
16 playoff teams will play four rounds of a single-elimination bracket to determine the MLS Cup champion.
Five Concacaf Champions Cup berths will be determined by the season results, and 18 teams (nine from each conference) will qualify for Leagues Cup.
The 2027-28 MLS regular season will kick off in July 2027 and end with the MLS Cup playoffs in May 2028.
Up Next: Charlotte FC (1-1-2) vs. New York Red Bulls (2-1-1)
When/Where: 7:30 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium
How to watch: Apple TV.
How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.
Notable:
This is Charlotte FC’s third straight game at Bank of America Stadium, where it beat Austin FC 3-1 and then tied defending MLS Cup Champion Miami 0-0, while Messi and seven other starters rested for the Concacaf Champions Cup.
The next yellow card for Wilfried Zaha will earn him a one-game suspension. He picked up one yellow card in each of Charlotte FC’s first four games.
Dean Smith joked that he’ll keep growing his new beard in solidarity with Zaha until he can go a game without getting a yellow card. (In actuality, the new facial hair was inspired by his wife Nicola, as Smith explained: “The wife said, ‘Give it a go.’ Happy wife, happy life.”)
Midfielder Luca De La Torre is eligible to play Saturday after missing the Miami game in concussion protocol.
New center back Henry Kessler, who has been out since preseason with a hamstring injury, is slated to play in a closed-door scrimmage during next week’s international break and is gearing up to return April 4 against Philadelphia.
Charlotte FC, which had only two ties in 34 games last season, has a pair of draws already, in the first four games, against Miami and 1-1 in St. Louis.
The Red Bulls are retooling after missing the MLS playoffs last year for the first time in 15 years. They won their first two games against Orlando and New England before losing 3-0 to Montreal and tying Toronto 1-1.
The Red Bulls have never won in four games at Bank of America Stadium, going 0-2-2.
Fullback Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, who spent last season with Charlotte FC, has started all four games for the Red Bulls since they acquired him via trade from Montreal.
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!