Charlotte FC takes first win of 2026 in home opener despite chaotic first half
Welcome home, Charlotte FC.
And welcome back to the win column.
The Queen City’s MLS franchise didn’t earn a ton of style points in its home-opening 3-1 victory against Austin FC on Saturday. At times, in fact, Saturday was downright ugly.
But Pep Biel’s two goals and Idan Toklomati’s one score were enough to leave the crowd of 35,611 people in Bank of America Stadium smiling. And that’s something the fan base hadn’t been able to do after watching the team’s season-opening draw to a rebuilding St. Louis squad and then a 3-0 loss to LA Galaxy a week later.
Charlotte FC has now won three consecutive home-openers. All three of them have come under head coach Dean Smith. When confronted with this stat, captain and midfielder Ashley Westwood cracked a joke.
“I didn’t know that, but let’s not put all the praise on the gaffer,” Westwood said with a smile. “Let’s put it on the fans. When this place is electric, it’s a unique stadium. ...
“But I’ve said it from Day One. He’s the right man for the job. Now we just need to go and win something. Then you’ll see the real Dean Smith of soccer.”
Smith agreed when it comes to the crowd. After all, it was a “sell out” of the lower bowl — the upper bowl won’t be open at all for MLS events this season, according to the club. That’s a product of trying to enhance the atmosphere for the fans within the stadium at the largest events, the team said.
How else did Smith agree with his captain? He thought that there were plenty of positives for the team against the first two contests of 2026.
“I think it’ll give them a lot of confidence,” Smith said. “I’ve questioned individual performances for the first two games. I can’t question today. I thought they showed great teamwork and togetherness, and patience as well. Sometimes you have to have that. I think Austin is a good team. And there will be a lot of good teams this season. So to be as composed as we were, in terms of how much we had control, it was really pleasing.”
Charlotte FC reacted well to hectic first half
But again, it wasn’t all sunshine.
Consider this span of 14 minutes in the first half:
- 25th minute: Guilherme Biro was awarded an immediate red card for a hard foul, tugging on the arm of Toklomati in the open field and thereafter appearing to step on his leg. Biro’s send-off prompted a quick Austin FC substitution of Jon Bell for Jayden Nelson — a forward for a defender, a signal of Austin’s strategy for the rest of the half at least.
- 29th minute: That strategy didn’t pan out immediately. Wilfried Zaha, Charlotte FC’s self-assured star and the standard-bearer of quality in his first season of MLS a year ago, lingered in the box and then fired a beautiful cross. The pass found the feet of Toklomati and resulted in a Charlotte FC goal. (MLS didn’t credit Zaha with an assist because his cross touched a defender before finding Toklomati’s feet — but he was the creator.)
- 31st minute: And then, right afterward, there was a Charlotte FC own goal. A long ball from an Austin FC defender was mishandled by center back Morrison Ageymang — and the 21-year-old defender who was making his MLS starting debut tried to head it back to goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina and instead headed into the net.
So yes: A red card. A Charlotte FC goal. And an own goal. All in 14 minutes. And that didn’t include the multiple (if mild) scuffles in between this ruckus.
Said Ageymang of the own goal: “My teammates, they kept me going after everything happened. It’s a game. Just keep pushing.”
It’s true the second half was prettier. There was cohesion in the midfield. The back line — still reeling from the departure of center back Adilson Malanda this offseason — shored up its mistakes and stood tall. There were opportunities in the attacking third. None were more notable than Biel’s 68th-minute goal off a slithering cross from Liel Abada, and then Biel’s stoppage-time goal to seal it.
And of course, Charlotte FC dominated in pretty much every stat on Saturday: shots on target (12-1), shots (25-5), passing accuracy percentage (91-77.3) and possession percentage (63.6-36.4).
But there were still mistakes. Yellow cards. Stalls for timing — many of which were initiated by Austin FC, which played with 10 men for most of the game.
And most of all: A lot of close calls.
One of those opportunities occurred in the 57th minute. Biel, who played so well in 2025 Charlotte FC brought him back on permanent transfer in 2026, received a pass from Ashley Westwood on a set play and fired a shot into the back of the net. The goal, however, was later reviewed and disallowed because, while airborne, the ball grazed the forearm of Charlotte FC player Brandt Bronico.
Said Smith on the play: ”If we’re disallowing goals for that, the game’s gone. I mean, the VAR guy (video assistant referee) must have a major in physics because I haven’t seen any deviation. If you’re ruling goals out for that, then you should get rid of VAR. Nobody wants to see that disallowed.”
‘Next, we have Miami’
There were more missed opportunities, too.
One from Zaha early on in the second, a right-footed shot just outside the box curling just over the crossbar. Another from substitution defender Luca de la Torre in the 73rd minute. There was also a miscommunication in the box that saw Tim Ream let a ball go instead of attacking it; there was also a rare bad touch by Biel diluting his chance at a clear 1-on-1 with the Austin FC goalkeeper.
But come the end Saturday, Charlotte FC’s home opener will be remembered for what it was rather than what it wasn’t. There were fireworks and fandom and goals — and most importantly, style points notwithstanding, a win.
And to Smith, there’s no use in Charlotte getting ahead of itself — particularly with Lionel Messi coming to town next week.
“We’ve got one win of three,” Smith said. “First win at home, and next we have Miami. So we’ll be working on that.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2026 at 10:05 PM.
