Suspended for next match, Charlotte FC’s Dean Smith has eye on a bigger prize
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- Charlotte FC seeks a ninth straight win to tie an MLS record Saturday.
- Coach Dean Smith suspended for Inter Miami match due to third yellow card.
- Goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina rebounded after benching, fueling win streak.
Charlotte FC is hot. Scalding hot.
So hot it has won eight straight games and will look to tie a Major League Soccer record Saturday night with a ninth consecutive victory.
So hot that its Bank of America Stadium roommate, the Carolina Panthers, has to be a little bit jealous. Charlotte FC is the roommate with a great job, a lot of friends and the world on a string. The Panthers are the roommate that stays home eating Doritos and playing Fortnite all day.
In only its fourth season, Charlotte FC is a realistic contender for an MLS championship this year and a shoo-in for the playoffs. A huge home game looms Saturday night, as Charlotte FC hosts Inter Miami and, presumably, Lionel Messi.
There’s just one problem about this clash Saturday night: Charlotte FC’s head coach, Dean Smith, won’t be on the sideline with his team.
One of the biggest factors in Charlotte FC’s ascendance, Smith has accumulated three yellow cards over the course of the season. When a coach gets a third yellow card, by MLS rules he’s automatically suspended for one game. There is no appeal process, which irks Smith.
Smith plans to watch the game from a suite at Bank of America Stadium. He also said with a gleam in his eye that he will go up to that suite “after I’ve done the Poznan with the fans,” referring to the Charlotte FC fans’ adopted tradition of turning their backs, linking arms and jumping together in unison as the match begins.
Will Smith actually do this, among the fans? It’s hard to say for sure, but he’s thinking about it, and it speaks to the feisty personality that Smith doesn’t mind showcasing at times. Regardless of whether he does the Poznan or not, he will be able to watch the match, give some instructions to his assistants, return to talk to his players in postgame and do his postgame media availability.
But should the Englishman really have been issued that third yellow card Aug. 30, in Charlotte FC’s most recent match? I asked the coach while we sat down for an interview in his office Wednesday in Charlotte. Smith certainly didn’t think so.
“I asked the referee what it was for after the game, because I didn’t know what it was for,” Smith said, smiling slightly. “And he said it was for shouting onto the pitch. I don’t know how I’m meant to coach if I can’t shout on the pitch. So I’ll be watching all MLS games now, just to make sure there’s consistency of yellow cards: For coaches shouting.”
Certainly, Charlotte FC can win without Smith. (Miami has a significant suspension too. One of its stars, Luis Suarez, is serving a three-game MLS suspension for spitting on a member of the Seattle Sounders staff following the Leagues Cup final on Aug. 31).
But regardless of how Saturday turns out, Charlotte FC and Smith have their eyes on a larger prize. This team actually has a shot to win an MLS title.
“We certainly could go and compete for a championship,” Smith said. “Whoever we come up against, we would fancy ourselves. We’ve beaten most teams this season already. So I don’t see any reason why, if our run of form continues, why we couldn’t.”
Charlotte FC currently sits tied for third place in the Eastern Conference. You’d think an eight-game win streak would push you even higher than that, but the team had a serious dry spell in midseason. Or, as Smith put it in that delightful accent: “The season’s gone in three little bits.”
The short version: Good, then bad and now good again.
When I asked Smith to name a player who had contributed heavily to this eight-game winning streak, the first one he mentioned was goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina. The MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2024, Kahlina had a poor stretch earlier this season that coincided with a five-game Charlotte FC losing streak. It was at that point Smith made the difficult decision to bench the first and still the only Charlotte FC player to earn an individual year-end award from the league. He sat Kahlina down for two games.
“He had just allowed a few too many goals in there you would expect him to save,” Smith said. “And so when we played Toronto and then Philadelphia, he had a rest. And then I brought him back after that, and he’s been brilliant. And he took it really well. He’s a really good top pro, and he’s always team-first. He understood the decision. Didn’t like it, but understood it.”
There have been other standouts. Attacking midfielder Pep Biel is Charlotte’s leading scorer, a 137-pound dynamo who should return Saturday night from injury. Idan Toklomati, the Israeli forward, has recorded a goal contribution in six consecutive MLS matches. Designated player Wilfried Zaha oozes charisma and talent. Ashley Westwood, the captain and defensive midfielder, is a model of consistency.
The defense has been strong throughout this win streak. And the team has survived the loss of forward Patrick Agyemang, permanently transferred to an English team in July, with no real issues.
Now in his second season with Charlotte FC, Smith is well aware that being named “Dean Smith” in North Carolina carries its own set of challenges. He has been aware of Smith ever since he was a youngster, Googling himself in England and realizing someone much more famous had the same name in America.
As for whether his impact on this state’s sports scene will ever rival the former North Carolina basketball coach who won 879 games with the Tar Heels, Charlotte FC’s Dean Smith said: “No, definitely not. They are big boots to fill. I’ve recently read his book, which is an incredible book. There are some incredible stories from his former players that played under him. The way they speak about him? The legacy he left behind? Listen, if I ever have even two stories about me like that, I’ll be happy.”
About that current eight-game MLS win streak and where it ranks — it has a few caveats. It is the second-longest, single-season win streak in MLS history (excluding the shootout era). It only trails the 2018 Seattle Sounders, who won nine straight.
But still — eight straight wins?!
What the Panthers, who haven’t made the NFL playoffs since 2017, would give to win even three games in a row.
As for the overlap between those teams: David Tepper owns both of them. Those who say Tepper could never own a winning team conveniently are forgetting about Charlotte FC, which also won a game in the MLS playoffs in 2024.
Tepper and Smith talk “once or twice a week,” Smith said.
“He’s really interested in things and how they run,” Smith said of Tepper. “And he’ll be the first to admit he’s still learning about the game. He asks really good questions and has good opinions. It’s a really healthy relationship.”
Tepper will likely be in attendance Saturday night for the Charlotte FC game, then hop on a plane Sunday morning to travel to the Panthers game at Arizona (4:05 p.m. kickoff). He hopes to see a couple of wins, of course.
But based strictly on past performance, even with Smith suspended for the night, you’ve got to know that Charlotte FC — the higher-achieving roommate — has a better chance.
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This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
