Matchday 21: New York City vs Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium

It's Matchday 21, and New York City FC are in The Queen City to play Charlotte FC on a hot night in July. Here is your NYCFC vs Charlotte preview.

This marks the start of the four-game roadtrip for New York City, the sixth four-game journey in club history. NYCFC hasn't fared particularly well on these extended road jaunts, logging just five wins out of their 20 games played so far — the last of those wins came against LA Galaxy on May 11, 2019.

This road trip looks particularly tough according to Hudson River Blue's recently-created Roadtrip Misery Index, rating 🥵🥵🥵🥵 out of 🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵. It doesn't help that New York City has just one win in the nine MLS away games played so far this season.

Charlotte FC, though, has its own troubles. The team got off to a white-hot start but has stumbled in recent weeks, and now sits in 10th Place in the Eastern Conference after losing three of the last four games played. Patrick Agyemang might not be in today's lineup now that the striker is being linked to an $8 million transfer to Derby County, depriving the team of its most consistent attacker.

Still, Charlotte has Pep Biel, and Wilfried Zaha is finally producing, with three goals and three assists in the last ten games played. Can they be contained by a full-strength New York City defense that now has Matt Freese back in goal after his star turn as USMNT starter? Will an attack featuring Alonso Martínez and in-form Hannes Wolf find a way to score at Bank of America Stadium, a place where NYCFC have just two goals in three games?

New York City Nation is feeling good after a convincing 3-1 win over Toronto at home last week, and after the news broke yesterday that the club is adding a new Designted Player in attacking midfielder Nico Fernández. But neither of those things will factor on the field tonight – Fernández will officially join the roster on July 24 when the summer transfer window opens – when NYCFC will play in the swampy North Carolina heat and look to win a first game ever in Charlotte.

Will NYCFC survive July?

Where does New York City FC’s upcoming four-game roadtrip rank among the 6 in club history? Introducing the Roadtrip Misery Index, which is totally scientific.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

New York City vs Charlotte H2H

Charlotte is relatively new to MLS but they've quickly become one of New York City's bogey teams, wining the three first matchups between the two clubs and dominating the head-to-head.

The tide turned somewhat recently, with NYCFC beating Charlotte for the first time last April at Yankee Stadium when Alonso Martínez scored a 93rd-minute game-winner.

New York City does remain a miserable 0W-0D-3L at Bank of America Stadium, where the team scored only twice. Their most recent trip to the Tar Heel State featured an unsightly performance on the first Matchday of the 2024 season, when Nick Cushing's team conceded a set-piece goal, couldn't create anything offensively, and would have lost by a wider margin if not for some heroics from Matt Freese in goal.

NYCFC signs Nico Fernández to Designated Player contract

Nicolás Fernández is signed through 2029 — here’s what we know about NYCFC’s 9th and newest Designated Player.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

New York City Scouting Report

• Player Availability: Keaton Parks (foot), Malachi Jones (leg), and Máximo Carrizo (leg) are out. Tayvon Gray is back from his one-match yellow card suspension.
• Will Kevin O'Toole get his first start since April 26 at Toronto FC? An injury kept him sidelined for nearly two months, but he scored the third goal in last week's home win over Toronto after entering as a sub. The player he came on for, Birk Risa, is being linked heavily with a transfer back to Norway and his old club, Molde FK. O'Toole's importance to Pascal Jansen might be set to expand, maybe beginning in Charlotte.
• Agustín Ojeda started on the wing in four straight games and finally got his first goal contribution of the season, an assist on Mitja Ilenič's second goal, during the win over Toronto. Will that get the young Argentine going? He's still yet to register a shot on target this season now with 21 appearances under his belt, and he's only attempted two shots over his last 12 appearances in all competitions.
• The race to double-digit goals is on between Hannes Wolf (nine) and Alonso Martínez (eight), but the co-leaders of NYCFC's attack have put up very different peripheral numbers while scoring their goals. Martínez is third among MLS players with 12.2 expected goals (xG), but his goals minus expected goals (G-xG) number is second-lowest in MLS, underwater at -4.2, meaning the advanced stats think he should have scored four more times. Wolf is at the complete opposite end of this same spectrum, with only 4.7 expected goals but with the eighth-highest G-xG number in MLS at +4.3, so we wait to see if either attacker's luck changes, for better or worse, in Charlotte.
• New York City only has the one road win in 2025, but they're not even close to the worst road team in MLS. Charlotte, for example, is rock-bottom in the league after suffering nine away losses from their 12 away trips. Six MLS teams have picked up fewer points per road match than NYCFC's 0.78 and 11 teams have worse goal differentials on the road than New York City's -4 ratio. While they've struggled during their travels, they're not in league-worst territory by a long shot.

Charlotte Scouting Report

• To learn more about Charlotte, be sure to read Oppo Research: 5 Things about Charlotte FC. Charlotte have just one win the last five played, but Jorge Gonzales of Topbin90 tells Matthew Mangam why a team that could be without Agyemang is still dangerous at home.

Oppo Research: 5 Things about Charlotte FC

Patrick Agyemang is on his way out but Pep Biel is sticking around: Jorge Gonzales of Topbin90 tells us why this up-and-down Charlotte FC can still win games.

Hudson River BlueMatthew Mangam