Charlotte FC head coach Dean Smith calls out instructions to his players during his team’s match against Austin on Saturday, March 7, 2026. Charlotte earned a win over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Jonathan Aguallo
For 45 minutes, Charlotte FC looked like a team that had no business being ahead. They had zero shots on goal, but held a 1-0 lead that belonged entirely to a set piece and clutch saves by goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina.
Then, the second half started, and Charlotte FC looked like the best team in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference.
Charlotte FC dismantled the New York Red Bulls, 6-1, in the most complete performance of their young 2026 season, combining a shutdown first half from Kahlina with a ruthless offensive second half to put the game away before most fans had finished their halftime beverages. The result moved Charlotte to eight points through five MLS matches.
The foundation was laid in the 14th minute, before Charlotte had registered a single shot on goal. Kerwin Vargas drew a foul, Pep Biel took a free kick and floated a cross into the center of the box, and Idan Toklomati put it home — a clinical set-piece goal.
Kahlina, the 2024 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, has been the story of Charlotte’s early season, and he confirmed why Saturday. In the final minutes of the first half, with the score still 1-0, he smothered a bending shot from Jorge Ruvalcaba, the deflection nearly setting up Julian Hall for an equalizer before the ball slipped harmlessly wide. Then, Ronald Donkor hit the crossbar and Charlotte FC went into the half with the lead.
The second half was something else entirely. Vargas scored a minute into the second half, controlling a cross in the box, going around goalkeeper Ethan Horvath and finishing.
When Red Bull’s Gustav Berggren was sent off in the 53rd minute for shoving Toklomati into open space, Charlotte was already rolling. Biel’s free kick right outside the penalty box made it 3-0 a minute later.
Wilfried Zaha added a fourth in the 68th, a bullet into the upper corner. Manager Dean Smith said afterward he’d spoken to Zaha during the week about his tendency to get frustrated. Evidently, the conversation landed.
Then came Archie Goodwin. The 21-year-old Australian striker came off the bench and headed home a goal in the 78th minute to make it 5-0. After Hall converted a loose ball off a Kahlina miscue in the 81st — the goalkeeper’s one blemish in an otherwise commanding night — Goodwin settled things with a second goal in stoppage time.
Smith, who turned 55 this past Thursday and received a surprise mariachi serenade from his staff midweek, gave his man-of-the-match nod not to a goal scorer, but to captain Ashley Westwood. “The way he handled the ball, the way he snuffed out danger,” Smith said of the midfielder. “He’s our leader, but he’s also an example.”
On Goodwin: “He came in at the end of last season, the qualities are there for you to see. Works extremely hard in training, and (has) been waiting for the chance, and he got his chance today and took it.”
Charlotte FC returns to Bank of America Stadium on April 4, after the international break.