What’s next for Charlotte FC? Here’s a look MLS team’s future after academy matches
The first goal scored by Charlotte FC in the team’s city was not scored by a Charlotte FC player. At least, not technically.
An academy player for Charlotte, Samy Kolby, sent a shot whizzing through the legs of an Atlanta United academy defender to sink the ball in the goal in the eighth minute of Saturday’s match between the rival clubs.
Kolby’s goal was the first of multiple scored by Charlotte to lift the U17 club to a 3-2 victory in front of almost 1,800 fans at Bank of America Stadium. That was followed by a U15 match between the same MLS academy teams, which Charlotte lost, 5-3.
The club’s sporting director, Zoran Krneta, called the day “progress.”
“It’s early steps, baby steps still,” Krneta told The Observer. “We’ve just been existing for three or four months as an academy, so it’s not easy, especially playing against an established team like Atlanta.”
Krneta, who is helping build the first team’s roster, said there are a couple of U17 academy players he is already seriously scouting to make the leap to the first team for the club’s inaugural MLS season in 2022.
Those players would join the team’s two announced signings of Sergio Ruiz and Riley McGree, both of whom are playing for international clubs until the start of training with Charlotte FC in 2022. McGree scored his first goal for his temporary ESL club, Birmingham City, the same morning that Charlotte FC’s academy team debuted at Bank of America Stadium.
The roster so far, much like the budding expansion team, is young. McGree just turned 22 and Ruiz will be turning 26 next month. Krneta said he has no problem with recruiting youth. He said he’s even open to looking at the academy’s U15 players to potentially sign for 2022.
“Anything is possible,” Krneta said. “I don’t believe in age. I believe in quality and what you can do on the pitch.”
The rollout of new names could be slow going with the organization responding to the impact of COVID-19. Krneta said the delayed start has given the team more time to methodically develop its roster, but the challenge lies in finding temporary homes for signed players two years out.
“It’s not only about signing a player,” Krneta said. “It’s about signing a player that you have a club ready to take him to play and develop him further, so they come as better players to us.”
The next names announced could likely come from overseas as well. Krneta said the team is focusing on scouting internationally early rather than from within MLS or NCAA programs. He said the idea is to look at talent in the league next season, as that will be a better indicator of player performance closer to Charlotte’s launch.
Major League Soccer’s secondary transfer window closed at the end of October, but international transfer windows remain open. Player news is also expected to come as part of the MLS SuperDraft in January 2022, when Charlotte will receive first round picks as an expansion club.
A head coach announcement is expected to come well before then — in the summer of 2021, Krneta said. He said the club is working through various levels of interviewing, and a technical board consisting of a few leaders in the organization, including himself, will narrow the list of names down to three or four. He said it’s a very “corporate style” of search.
“We’ll choose one hopefully by, I would like to say, the end of summer 2021,” Krneta said.
A homebase for Charlotte FC also remains unclear for now, Krneta said. Team staff continues to work out remotely or out of Bank of America Stadium, but a revised agreement between the team’s ownership group, Tepper Sports and Entertainment, and Charlotte’s City Council indicated that plans for the former Eastland Mall site redevelopment no longer includes the team’s headquarters.
The club’s academy program and second team will eventually be based at the site.
“I think the Eastland development is great,” Krneta said. “I think it will open up various opportunities for the area and the people living in that area.”
He said he also thought it would be a great home for the academy players, who got their first taste of playing in the city as a team over the weekend.
“They’re excited to get on the field, get going and get playing,” academy manager Dan Lock said. “And start building that relationship with the fans. It’s really exciting.”
That much was evident Saturday after Kolby’s first goal was capitalized on with a second goal scored in the first half. Bryce Swinehart, son of former Charlotte Eagles player and Charlotte FC community engagement director Dustin Swinehart, knocked the ball in off his head, then sprinted over to the stands and lifted his arms from the field, to which the crowd erupted.
He then shook the front of his jersey, which housed his Charlotte FC team badge, as if to say, “This one’s for you, Charlotte.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
