Charlotte FC rested nearly every regular starter, played Wednesday night at a 3,684-seat complex in Matthews instead of Bank of America Stadium, and still put six goals past Charlotte Independence in the first official competitive match between the two Charlotte clubs. The U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 match stopped being competitive before halftime.
The final was 6-0. Six different players scored. Two of them were making first-team debuts. Charlotte Independence played with ten men for 67 minutes after goalkeeper Giorgos Tasouris was sent off in the 23rd minute for a collision with Archie Goodwin. Charlotte FC advances to the Round of 16, where they will host Atlanta United at Mecklenburg County Sportsplex at Matthews.
The Rotation and the Derby
Head coach Dean Smith left Pep Biel, Wilfried Zaha, Tim Ream, Ashley Westwood, and Idan Toklomati out of the starting lineup entirely. Tyler Miller started in goal. Andrew Privett and Henry Kessler — making his first-team debut — anchored the center of the back line. Brandt Bronico, Luca de la Torre, and Djibril Diani ran the midfield. Up front, Tyger Smalls and Rodolfo Aloko flanked Goodwin, the lone attacker from the regular rotation.
The Charlotte clubs have scrimmaged half a dozen times since 2022 but had never met in an official match. Bronico, who has appeared in 153 of Charlotte FC's 161 matches across all competitions — more than any other player in club history — played for Charlotte Independence on loan in 2021 while the MLS expansion side prepared for its inaugural season. He is friends with Independence captain Clay Dimick. They attend the same church. On Wednesday he played against his former club for the first time in a match that counted.
Charlotte Independence, competing in the USL Championship, entered with a chance to play spoiler. That possibility lasted 23 minutes.
Tasouris Off, Then Five in the Second Half
Tasouris came off his line to challenge Goodwin and was shown a straight red by referee Matthew Thompson. Independence replaced an outfield player with backup goalkeeper Jack Neeley and dropped to ten men. Charlotte FC controlled 70.4 percent of possession for the match but could not convert until first-half stoppage time, when Goodwin finished to make it 1-0 at the break.
The second half was a different match entirely. Kessler headed home from an Andrew Privett corner kick in the 59th minute for his first Charlotte FC goal. Then came Nimfasha Berchimas. The 18-year-old Charlotte FC academy product — signed to a homegrown contract at 14 years and 268 days old, the sixth-youngest signing in MLS history — had trained at Bayern Munich and scored for Manchester United's under-18 side. He entered as a substitute, scored in the 68th minute, and celebrated with a backflip. It was his first-team debut.
David Schnegg, a left-back, converted a free kick in the 72nd minute. Kerwin Vargas scored in the 86th. Baye Coulibaly made it six two minutes later. Independence managed three shot attempts and zero shots on target across 90 minutes. Charlotte FC had 21 attempts, six on frame.
Six Scorers, Two Debuts, One Depth Chart
The scoreline was expected. Charlotte FC is the MLS side. Charlotte Independence is the USL Championship side. A 6-0 result with a man advantage for most of the match does not require a parade.
What matters is who produced. Kessler and Berchimas both scored on their debuts. Schnegg scored from a dead ball. Vargas and Coulibaly both found the net off the bench. Smith dressed a side that would be unrecognizable to anyone who watched the Nashville loss on April 11, and that side created 21 chances and conceded nothing.
Charlotte FC sits fifth in the MLS Eastern Conference with 11 points from seven league matches — a point out of third. The next league fixture is Saturday at New York City FC. The Open Cup Round of 16 against Atlanta United is scheduled for April 28. The depth chart, apparently, does not have a weak spot.