With the Decision Day dust settled, Charlotte FC have procured a historic accomplishment.
Saturday's 1-0 victory over a Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami CF in front of 66,101 fans at Bank of America Stadium officially punched Charlotte's ticket to the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs after they missed out on postseason play in their expansion campaign last season.
Charlotte (No. 9 seed) now await a Wild Card matchup at No. 8-seed New York Red Bulls on Wednesday evening (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), a milestone head coach Christian Lattanzio described as a just reward for his team's hard work.
"We are very pleased to be in the playoffs and to be alive," Latanzio said at his postgame press conference. "Whatever team we need to take, we will take. It would have been great to host, but it doesn't matter. It's important we are in the playoffs. This is the most important thing.
"And then after we have to be ready for Red Bull. We know that they are a strong team with history behind them, but I think today we played against, in my opinion, one of the best teams in the league in terms of quality, in terms of tactically, many things. They're a real force in MLS."
Signature moment
The result was clinched thanks to some season-saving plays from Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, bucking a season-long trend of the club conceding result-changing goals late in matches.
With his team nursing a 1-0 lead in second-half stoppage time, the Croatian's sprawling denial of a snap-header from Leonardo Campana was a no-doubt MLS Save of the Year presented by Allstate candidate. And the stakes couldn't have been higher, with Campana's shot representing the difference between Charlotte finishing above the playoff line or seeing their season come to an end.
"The last two to three months, we really work on this [in training]," Kahlina explained. "It's specific that most of the crosses from there [that] come to the striker will go in the second post. It's very difficult to keep the patience that you don't go on the first post because the ball attracts you to step right, and you need to keep the legs in the middle and wait for a reaction.
"And this, it helped me today that I saw this ball and I know how we work all together on this and it's really difficult. Maybe it looks a little bit easier than it is."
Added Latanzio: "Kahlina came with the goods at the end. Everybody I think saw the header in and he made an unbelievable save. But we know that in those circumstances Kristijan is one of the best goalkeepers in this league, in my opinion."
"A step forward"
With their spot now secure, Charlotte face an RBNY side riding similarly positive momentum after clinching their spot with a last-second penalty-kick goal from John Tolkin in their Decision Day matchup (1-0 win) at Nashville SC.
For the moment, Kahlina said he's focused on appreciating the journey to Saturday's dramatic finish, noting the postseason qualification is a mark of progress for a club still navigating their early days in MLS.
"It's really a special moment because all season, I can say for me, we struggled," Kahlina said. "A lot of draws, a lot of [conceding late goals]. We put all effort, but still we don't have this quality that we kill someone with 2-3 goal [victories], that it's easier for us in defense that in the last 10 minutes you are not nervous and one goal can change all the game.
"For us, this is a really good step forward. Something [is off] our back, and even I don't know how we made this. I can say for my side, not that I didn't believe, I work hard, but for me it was like 'How can we do this?' I was looking like 17 games we had like two wins before all these good results. It's difficult to put in your head to believe in this. But if you have a strong head to put work in, not just believe, but for me it's like work hard and then something can come back to you."
