Charlotte FC aim to take another step forward as they welcome Nashville SC to Bank of America Stadium in one of MLS Matchday 7’s showcase fixtures on Saturday afternoon (2:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), and Patrick Agyemang might hold the key.
With 15 goal contributions for CLTFC in 2024, three goals in his first four US men’s national team caps and overseas transfer interest spiking, the big striker’s profile has grown dramatically over the past few months. Yet substantial upside remains to be mined, according to head coach Dean Smith, who provided a window into the process behind that in a Thursday media availability ahead of Nashville’s arrival.
“Patrick obviously will need a lot more coaching, and we're working with him,” said Smith, a distinguished center back in his own playing days in England.
“Patrick comes straight from college. So we're still coaching Patrick, and he's very coachable, wants to learn, wants to get better. I give him little tidbits that I wouldn't have liked to play against, what I wouldn't have wanted [as a defender].”
Work in progress
A late bloomer who began his college career at the non-scholarship NCAA Division III level before rocketing up the ranks as he exited his teens, Agyemang possesses a rare blend of size, speed and on-ball flair. CLT’s technical staff believe he can use his physical traits to even greater effect in more subtle ways that will round out his skill set.
“When we go longer and the ball’s coming up to him, don't get in a position where the center back’s touching you, holding you, feeling you; you can come off the side at times when you need to. So there's little things that we've been working with Patrick to make him better,” said Smith, who noted that he sees young Israeli Idan Toklomati as CLT’s primary competitor for minutes at the No. 9 spot and hopes the duo push one another all season.
“I've no doubts of Patrick's ability,” added Smith, praising Agyemang’s outing in an overall disappointing 2-0 loss at Colorado last week. “He scored again for the US team, and he’ll score a lot more for us.”
In fact, Agyemang has scored more for the USMNT than his club in 2025. He’s still scored just once for The Crown in their first six matches, and adding to that number figures to be integral to his team’s ambitions to climb into the upper reaches of the Eastern Conference standings.
Unsurprisingly, Agyemang’s visibility has also grown among opposing defenders. In Smith’s view, the increasingly muscular tactics to slow down his No. 9 deserve closer attention from officiating crews.
“We all know Patrick's physical attributes, and I think he gets punished at times for being that size,” said the coach. “He's only one year as a starter, really, into his MLS career. I think they [referees] will get to know him. There was some decisions that went against him last week that shouldn't have. There was one in the first half where I could only describe it as a rugby tackle from behind that went unpunished. And there was plenty of others where they're just trying to stop Patrick getting to the ball. So I think he's been very, very unfortunate.”
"Dynamic" threat
Smith & Co. are waiting for their front four of Agyemang, Wilfried Zaha, Pep Biel and Liel Abada to truly catch fire, with Zaha in particular still shifting “into rhythm,” in Smith’s words, following his headline winter arrival on loan from Galatasaray.
That said, with 10 total goals so far, The Crown’s attack is already on a markedly quicker pace than a year ago, and Nashville boss B.J. Callaghan believes that the attack’s pace in transition is already bolstering Charlotte’s sturdy defensive structure.
“Committed defensively, but man, dynamic, dynamic players on the counter as well. So I think that threat also helps their defense,” Callaghan said in a matchday-2 media availability on Thursday. “Because you have to be a little bit cautious, knowing that if you turn the ball over, they have the ability to beat you very quickly, I would say with speed and with quality.”
Nashville's moment
The potentially rugged battle between Agyemang and NSH's usual central defensive duo of Walker Zimmerman and Jack Maher bears watching. Just ahead of them, Edvard Tagseth and Patrick Yazbek have been quietly influential in the Coyotes’ engine room as Callaghan’s group found their feet with three wins in their last four games, arriving in North Carolina with an identical record and points haul as their MD7 hosts even with modest contributions so far from their forward duo of Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge.
Like the rest of their community, NSH players, staff and families had to weather deadly storms that unleashed hail, tornadoes and heavy flooding across Tennessee this week, an extra wrinkle in their buildup to this match.
“Dealing with some of the weather here through the Nashville area, but guys have responded well, the staff responded well, so we’ve been able to get the exact preparation in that we need,” said Callaghan. “Going to Charlotte is a great challenge and opportunity for us … It's a very difficult place to play.
"They have great crowd support in the stadium, so we expect a great crowd [and] Charlotte’s a team that is very hard to find weaknesses, in all phases of the game.”
