WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: CHARLOTTE FC
Sir Minty > Veridisimo
Welcome back to What You Need To Know, a match preview for Austin FC fans to check in on their next opponent.
Austin FC head coach Nico Estevez. Photo courtesy of Dante Valencia (dyvmedia)
Opponent: Charlotte FC
Kick Off time: 7:39 PM US Eastern Time
Location: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina
History vs. Austin FC:
Austin FC is 1-1-0 (W-D-L) against Charlotte FC all-time, including a win in the Queen City in 2022 thanks to a goal from Venezuelan midfielder, Dani Pereira.
Recent Matches:
Charlotte FC is 0-1-1 on the season, drawing against St Louis CITY and losing 3-0 to the LA Galaxy last weekend.
The Apple TV Inteligentsia had a variety of opinions on them entering the season:
Players to Watch:
Wilifred Zaha, The 33 year old former Crystal Palace striker, is still in Charlotte on loan (at least through June) from Turkish club Galatasaray. He had 15 goal involvements last year and is one of the league leaders in drawing fouls (a skill he’s always possessed). Charlotte’s GM Zoran Krneta is looking for more from him:
Tim Ream, the USMNT starter and former Captain came to Charlotte in the middle of the 2024 season and has stabilized their defense. Unfortunately, as I mentioned last week, Father Time is undefeated, and the 38-year-old was routinely beaten with pace last week against the LA Galaxy. While Austin seems hesitant to utilize this tactic, they have the pace to stretch a defense vertically, and Ream is one of the players they should target.
Henry Kesler, I’m going to be brutally honest here. I’m highlighting Henry Kesler because he once did this in a CONCACAF Champions League Match and more people need to know about this. This is genius and thinking on another level.
Keys to the Match:
On the Road Again. This is Austin’s first road match of the season after a strong 2025 away mark (6-1-10), with 6 wins ties them with LAFC for the 3rd most road wins in the West. Only one Western Conference team, San Diego FC, had more away wins than home wins last year. This is Charlotte’s home opener after a dominant 13-1-3 record at home in 2025, having the 4th best GD in the league (+17). They have won 22 of their last 34 home matches.
Conference Clash. After defeating DC United 1-0 at Q2 last weekend, Austin plays another Eastern Conference team this week. Thusfar in this young season, Eastern teams are 0-4-10 against Western Teams. The West had a down season last year. Austin’s 47 points were good for 6th in the West but would have been six short of the play-in game in the East, and looks to bounce back this season to either be the more dominant conference or at least be more even.
Going for it. Last week, Coach Nico Estevez did something that we at Suffering From Joy have been advocating ever since all of us became aware as soccer fans: When you need a goal, keep throwing on attackers until it happens.
Nico’s sub patterns (or, in many cases, lack of sub patterns) have been an issue for much of his tenure, including not using all of his subs in the first game of the season. Against DC United, a match that was crying out for more attacking verve, Nico finally did it. He threw on Christian Ramirez to go to a dual striker 4-2-2-2 set up. Having a player of Ramirez’s quality to bring off the bench is something Austin FC has not regularly had, someone who can change games. His goal on his debut, which, as Moontower Soccer mentioned, is a normal thing for him, hopefully reminds everyone that subs are meant to change what’s happening on the field. Now, if only we could get Nico to put Joseph Rosales on the left side for more than 5 minutes.
Prediction:
Austin FC: 1
Charlotte FC: 2
WRITTEN BY SCOTT SPECHT
