The Major League Soccer season is beginning to get into a real rhythm as all clubs involved find their feet and start to build some momentum. There are plenty of reasons to believe this could be the best MLS campaign yet, with teams across North America getting better and better. Today, we’ll be taking a look at what should be a fascinating encounter between New York City FC and Charlotte FC.
New York Form GuideAfter years of trying, New York City finally climbed to the top of the mountain back in 2021 and won the MLS Cup. In the present day, though, they seem to have taken their foot off the gas ever so slightly. At this point, their aim is to get back to a point of prominence at the elite level - but we still believe it’s going to take a bit of time for them to get there, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
New York have been pretty inconsistent, to say the least, in recent times. They defeated Toronto 2-1, then suffered a 1-0 loss to Cincinnati. They proceeded to draw 1-1 with Miami and Atlanta before rattling off two nice wins over New England and DC United.
Charlotte Form GuideAs an expansion team, it’s hard for fans to expect all too much from Charlotte in their first few years of existence. It’s all about establishing themselves and when you consider that they probably don’t have the same kind of financial platform as other newcomers to the league, it becomes clear why they’re struggling. Still, they aren’t the worst team in the East, and they can often be enjoyable to watch.
Charlotte are a tough side to predict and that’s us putting it lightly. They lost to Nashville, then beat Columbus. They drew to Cincinnati, then lost to New England. Then, they defeated Toronto 3-2, before losing 3-0 to Minnesota just one week later.
Match PredictionNeither of these sides have been able to fully get off the ground just yet, but they’ve shown enough to imply that they could be in for positive campaigns if they can sort their structure out. In terms of an official prediction, we’re going to push for under 2.5 goals scored.
