With no seeding to play for, the Union avoided the obvious pitfalls in a 2-0 loss on Decision Day at Charlotte.
It didn’t stop them from conceding goals to Wilfried Zaha in the 24th minute and Kerwin Vargas in the 30th, giving a Charlotte team the fourth-place finish in the East it desired. The Union (20-8-6, 66 points) were locked into first place after clinching the Supporters’ Shield last week.
They managed to get out of Bank of America Stadium without any injuries or red cards, which is more than Zaha, sent off in the 90th minute, can say.
The Union now await the winner of eight-seed Chicago and No. 9 Orlando, who will play a one-game Wild Card Wednesday. The Union will begin a best-of-3 with the survivor of that sometime next week. Charlotte, which has home-field advantage in a best-of-3 with fifth-seeded New York City FC, would be aligned for the Eastern Conference semifinal.
The Union felt hard done on the opener, when it appeared a long pass in the buildup along the touchline near the benches went out of bounds. That momentary shut-off led to a counter in which Zaha scored, his 10th of the season. Vargas doubled the lead six minutes later.
But the Union had a 23-8 edge in shot attempts, forcing five saves from Kristijan Kahlina. Tai Baribo also hit the woodwork late on.
With the loss, the Union missed a chance to surpass the franchise record for points, set at 67 in 2022.
Source: Berkshire mont