MLS Anyone?

[Boone]

Any Major League Soccer fans among us?

My brother lives in downtown Charlotte and 2 years ago bought season tickets for Charlotte Football Club. Our seats are at the end of the last row in the lower bowl right at mid-field. They are awesome seats with concessions and bathrooms a couple hundred feet away. Charlotte has a great fanbase - it is not uncommon for them to have 50-60,000 fans in attendance for openers and big matchups. Last season, they hosted and won their first home playoff game in the franchises 3 year history. They brought in a really good coach last year, whose name ironically is Dean Smith. He's much more aggressive than our previous coach and is also bringing in better talent. The most recent example is the addition of Wilfried Zaha, a super talented striker who scored Saturday in his very first match in Charlotte.

CLTFC plays in Bank of America Stadium (the Panthers stadium) and the atmosphere is incredible. They have already established a number of fan traditions and are at the top of MLS in terms of attendance. It's really cool to be a fan from the outset of a franchise's beginnings.

Anyone else have an allegiance to an MLS team?

 

[iheartskins]

My younger son does youth programming with Red Bulls and NYCFC. So I guess we're fans of those (rival) teams....! MLS has gotten much, much better in recent years. Not quite like watching EPL but it's gaining ground quickly IMHO.

 

[Boone]

My Charlotte FC team played a stinker yesterday. Playing in Miami, with Messi injured, held them scoreless in the first half and Miami played 3/4ths of the game a man down due to a red card. Gave up a goal in the 1st minute of the 2nd half and couldn't muster a legit shot on goal in the 2nd half. Real missed opportunity.

 

[Boone]

It's been a really weird 2025 season so far for Charlotte FC. We started the season on fire, with tons of goals and wins putting us at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. Then we hit a recent stretch where we cannot put the ball in the net to save our lives and lose 5 straight. Last night, they came out super aggressive at home against the Columbus Crew (a very capable squad) and pulled out an incredibly needed 3-2 win.
Of course, this is the match my brother and I decided to watch from home. But it was still fun to watch. They will now spend over a month on the road - a weird thing MLS does that I will never understand. We have traditionally been a better 2nd half of the season team, so I am hoping this last match is a better indicator of what we'll see as the season goes forward.

 

[Boone]

Watched my Charlotte FC team dominate Miami and Messi last night, one of our young forwards Toklamati with the hat trick. Highlight of the match was our goalkeeper Kahlina stopping a Messi penalty kick. Charlotte tied the MLS record for longest winning streak with their 9th straight. A chance to break that record next weekend. Unbelievable effort and match.

 

[Donpablo12]

Can I rant about my team, Manchester United, being horrendous lol.

I don't pay too much attention to the MLS. What happened with DC United? I've heard that the owners are terrible, and fans want them to sell the team. They conducted an interview stating that they plan to spend this year improving the club.

 

[Boone]

DC United had a bad season. I don't follow them closely enough to be able to tell you why.

Was at the Charlotte FC season finale last night. We beat the MLS #1 team Philadelphia Union 2-0 and secured home field advantage for the opening playoff series against New York.

 

[Boone]

Tuesday night I will be at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte watching my Charlotte Football Club play in their first home playoff game - ever. Very excited.

 

[Boone]

After sitting in a cold stadium watching my MLS team give a very sad lackluster performance vs. a squad they should have been able to put away, today they play for their season in New York. Win and they get another chance to close it out at home and move on in the MLS playoffs. Lose and the season is done.

 

[Boone]

Charlotte FC pulls out a win in a penalty kick shootout that took 13 shots to settle. Now back to our home stadium next Friday to see if we can move on.

 

[Boone]

Went to Charlotte to watch my team play the 3rd of 3 playoff match against New York. We dominated the action, had like 10 shots in the first half but could find the back of the net. New York scored and took us out in the 2nd half. I felt so bad - a dad and his 10 year old were sitting next to us and the boy just cried and cried when the game was over. I gave him a hug and told him that this was part of loving a team and that one day he would see them win big.

But man, that broke my heart seeing him hurting.

It really is a bitch being a die-hard sports fan sometimes.

 

[Chris]

Considering the improbable odds of ending any sport season with joy and happiness, being a rabid sports fan is a type of practiced masochism.

As opposed to self-flagellation, rabid fans resort to plain ‘ol flagellation and frequently trip over themselves in a hurry to blame, criticize, and deride those that they deem responsible for not meeting their expectations.

Luckily they are not generally treated as such in their own lives and careers.

 

[Boone]

Yep. The only thing worse than experiencing brutal failure of a sports team you love is what seeing what follows it from a large portion of a fanbase.