Charlotte FC is doing more with less
Pep Biel and Idan Toklomati are making big contributions to help Charlotte into No. 2 position in the Eastern Conference, plus Zaha getting by on limited practice time and advancing Colorado
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Young and outside-the-box signings are giving Charlotte FC depth and a wealth of options; Biel and Toklomati are the latest examples
Idan Toklomati on the ball with Pep Biel watching on in the 4-1 win against San Jose. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Who had Pep Biel leading Charlotte FC in scoring five games into the season? Granted, itâs âonlyâ two goals for the Spanish midfielder, who was an on-the-fly addition last summer and came back to Charlotte this spring on a less-than-designated player deal. And those two goals are the tip of the iceberg. The bummock â as in the underwater part? Bielâs four assists.
Biel has set up goals for four teammates, giving him six goal contributions [goals + assists] through five games, which is tied for the Major League Soccer lead with four other players. Half of those contributions â one goal and two assists â came last Saturday when Charlotte FC romped San Jose 4-1, despite having three starters on international duty. [Patrick Agyemang and Tim Rim were with the U.S., and Liel Abada with Israel.] Superstar Wilfried Zaha managed to play 90 minutes, but he was recovering from an illness and jetlagged.
Biel was crowned âMan of the Match,â and walked away with a sign and a stuffed Sir Minty under his arm. But general manager Zoran Krneta leaned in afterward to say this to 20-year-old Idan Toklomati, who made his first MLS start at striker:
âFor me, you were my man of the match,â he said.
Krneta explained his comment, and how Charlotte has been finding production and talent from unexpected places, in an interview with the Ledger this week.
â[Toklomati] was under pressure in the first start, heâs young, in front of 30,000 people, and heâs been brilliant,â Krneta said. âObviously, Pep is a man of the night because of the statistics. But as for how he played. Idan? Wow.â
Charlotte FC fans got glimpses of Toklomatiâs quickness during the first four games when he was an understudy to Agyemang. His explosive speed set up an own goal in Seattle which tied the game for Charlotte FC in stoppage time and salvaged a point against a tough opponent. In his first start Saturday, Toklomati assisted Ashley Westwoodâs first goal of the season and had two clear scoring chances of his own, including an acrobatic attempt at a bicycle kick.
âAlmost,â Toklomati wrote on social media, posting a highlight video of the attempt.
Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith couldnât help but give Toklomati some grief because he came up cramping after the shot, but that was about his only complaint.
âHe showed us all the facets of his game: his work rate, his touch, the ability heâs got, heâs good in the air as well,â Smith said. âHeâs a really young player, still, for us, but I think we're going to have a really good challenge in the months to come between him and Patrick.â
Sign them young: Charlotte FC working to beat European clubs to U-22 players
Toklomati working up the sideline vs. San Jose to the delight of the Charlotte FC bench. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Front offices and fans alike enjoy making the âDPâ splashes, signing designated players, or stars who can be paid with less regard for the salary cap. Charlotte FC has had some swings and misses with their highest profile options (Kamil Jozwiak and Enzo Copetti come to mind) but the club is showing a knack for uncovering talent where others arenât looking.
One way Charlotte can do that is with its Under-22 initiative, which gives teams flexibility to spend more for young players. Toklomati was signed last August as a U-22 player out of Israel and assigned to Crown Legacy FC, where he scored three goals in five games. [He made one appearance off the bench for Charlotte on Sept. 18 vs. Orlando.]
Toklomati followed winger Kerwin Vargas, Charlotteâs U-22 signing from the second tier in Portugal, and midfielder Nicolas Petkovic, from Serbia. Charlotte FC paid a $3.4 million transfer fee to Maccabi Petach Tikva in Israel for Toklomati, a figure Krneta said was higher than he wanted but with one French club and two Spanish ones âcircling around him,â Charlotte pulled the trigger.
âWe need to be [on players] before anybody else in Europe,â Krneta said. âOnce French, Italian, Spanish, English clubs appear, we have no chance.â
By December, Krneta said, Charlotte had three European teams making loan offers for Toklomati.
âHe would be double the price now,â Krneta said.
Frequent flying, limited practice, for Zaha
Zaha has missed nearly a full week of practice leading up to two of the past four Charlotte FC games. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Wilfried Zaha missed the first game of the season and has played with a minimal amount of practice time prior to two of the past four games, while juggling travel to England to see his newborn daughter.
He left after Charlotteâs win over Cincinnati on March 22 to fly to England to see 3-week-old Zuri. Zaha then returned to Charlotte Wednesday night only to come down with the flu and miss practice Thursday. A light practice Friday was his only training session all week, and he still played 90 minutes Saturday night against San Jose.
Krneta said itâs not standard practice for players to miss significant practice time in the middle of the season, but this was a special circumstance given that Zaha had such a short turnaround after Zuri was born Feb. 27, just two days before he debuted with Charlotte. Complicating the travel situation, Krneta said, is that Zahaâs family lives in Ipswich, a three-hour drive from the airport in London.
âThe baby was born at 6 oâclock in the morning,â Krneta said. âHe literally held the baby for 30 minutes and left. This is why he came to us and asked if he could spend a couple of days with his newborn. We said, âOf course.ââ
Westwood dabbling in coaching; fan marking Antarctica as Charlotte FC territory
Coach Ashley Westwood? Charlotte FC midfielder and captain Ashley Westwood is getting a taste of the coaching ranks. He was decked out in black coachesâ warmups Wednesday night on the sideline for the Crown Legacy FC game at the Matthews Sportsplex as a guest of Coach Gary Dicker.
Westwood, 34, has done some work speaking and coaching with Charlotte FCâs Academy players as well. âRetirement is around the corner,â said Westwood. âBefore you know it, you are old. Every ex-player I speak to says to get [coaching] hours.â
Mint City Collective member Sam Youngcourt repped the crown while on a cruise to Argentina, Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and Brazil. (Photo courtesy of Sam Youngcourt)
Charlotte FC fan reaches Antarctica: Charlotte FC fans have earned a reputation for traveling around the country, but how about to the White Continent? Sam Youngcourt, a new member of Mint City Collective, proudly held up a Charlotte FC scarf as she posed for a picture on the deck of a cruise ship passing through the frozen landscape of Paradise Bay, Antarctica. She went on a 14-day cruise starting in Ushuaia, Argentina, that stopped in the Falkland Islands and sailed along the shores of Paradise Bay before returning to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
âOne of my favorite pastimes is finding travel deals to anywhere I havenât been before, especially when nature is involved,â said Youngcourt, who said in Paradise Bay, âseas were like glass and the wildlife was abundant,â including humpback whales, penguins, seals and orcas.
Quotable
Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith when asked about his relationship with owners David and Nicole Tepper:
âI always remind Nicole of the first conversation we had when she said âIf he gives you [expletive] give it [to] him back.â
Up Next: Charlotte FC (3-1-1) at Colorado Rapids (2-1-2)
When/Where: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dickâs Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colo.
How to watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Find information about how to subscribe for the season here.
How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.
Notable:
Charlotte FC leaves town on a club-record six-game home winning streak, dating back to last season, with a club-record 10 points in its first five games (wins over Atlanta, Cincinnati and San Jose, with a draw vs. Seattle).
Charlotte has yet to win on the road this season, though, after drawing in an otherwise poor showing in Seattle and losing 1-0 despite a man advantage in Miami.
This is a first time for a Dean Smith-coached Charlotte FC team to play at altitude. Charlotte drew Colorado 1-1 in its last trip there in 2022.
Center back Andrew Privett is serving a one-game suspension for his red card against San Jose. Ream is the likely candidate to replace him as he returns from international duty, though he did miss some practice time this week with a fever. Ream has been playing left back since late last season but is a natural center back.
Souleyman Doumbia is coming off a standout debut at left back for Charlotte FC against San Jose. He played the full 90 minutes, despite returning at midnight the previous night from Ottawa where he was able to secure a visa from the French embassy. Doumbia was also fasting for Ramadan, which he broke with a banana just before the start of the game.
Liel Abada played 61 minutes for Israel on Tuesday vs. Norway but Smith said he messaged multiple Charlotte FC staffers saying he would be ready to play Saturday.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fourth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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