{"id":267112,"date":"2025-11-02T15:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T15:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/267112\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T15:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T15:24:12","slug":"charlotte-fc-flip-the-script-with-kristijan-kahlinas-pk-heroics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/267112\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte FC flip the script with Kristijan Kahlina\u2019s PK heroics\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlotte FC<\/a> have yet to score against New York City FC<\/a> through two matches of their Round One Best-of-3 Series. And still, momentum is on their side ahead of Friday\u2019s decisive Game 3.<\/p>\n

They largely have Kristijan Kahlina<\/a> to thank for it.<\/p>\n

The veteran goalkeeper made a season-saving stop to clinch a 7-6 penalty shootout win<\/a> following a scoreless draw on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, forcing the series back to Bank of America Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re back home, and we will go to win,\u201d Kahlina said in a post-match interview with Apple TV.<\/p>\n

\n Job done<\/p>\n

Kahlina, who made five saves in regulation time to go along with his PK denial of Agust\u00edn Ojeda<\/a>, refused to take sole credit for the result that keeps Charlotte\u2019s Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs dream alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t put everything on myself because my teammates score lots of goals,\u201d said the 2024 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. \u201cI just had one save\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say that it was just my shine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goals have yet to come in the series for Charlotte, but not for lack of opportunities.<\/p>\n

CLTFC hit the woodwork twice in the first half \u2013 on efforts from Brandt Bronico<\/a> and captain Ashley Westwood<\/a> \u2013 and got a boost with the return of Designated Player Wilfried Zaha<\/a>. After missing Game 1 due to a red-card suspension, the Crystal Palace legend led all players with three shots.<\/p>\n

“Our performance was better,” head coach Dean Smith said of Saturday’s outing, which followed a 1-0 series-opening defeat<\/a> at home.<\/p>\n

“… We’ve had some good chances.”<\/p>\n

\n All to play for<\/p>\n

Now it’s on to a winner-take-all Game 3 next Friday to determine who will advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals and face the Supporters\u2019 Shield-winning Philadelphia Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For Charlotte, who had the most home wins (13) in MLS this year, it doesn’t get much better than playing for their season in front of their fans.<\/p>\n

“Now we take them back to The Bank,” Smith said. “… It’s a proper elimination game.”<\/p>\n

Even after their surprise Game 1 loss, The Crown feel emboldened to get things right in their return home \u2013 as Kahlina reminded NYCFC supporters before exiting the Yankee Stadium pitch.<\/p>\n

“Just wave to them, like, ‘Ok, we\u2019ll be back at Bank of America,'” Kahlina said. “You are done with home games, and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charlotte FC have yet to score against New York City FC through two matches of their Round One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[10926,143259,6864,130554,143258,6868,403,99],"class_list":["post-267112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-charlotte-fc","tag-kristijan-kahlina","tag-match-reaction","tag-mls-cup-playoffs","tag-nycvsclt-11-01-2025","tag-sendtonews","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}