Can Charlotte Independence Find Its Way?
The team is in free fall, barely maintaining a playoff spot as the season winds down
It wasn’t supposed to be this way for The Jacks in 2025.
After a disappointing first-round exit at Madison in the 2024 playoffs, multiple veterans departed, either in free-agency or in retirement, including Dustin Correa, Miguel Ibarra, Joel Johnson, Tresor Mbuyu, Gabriel Obertan, J.C. Obregón, Austin Pack, and Hugh Roberts.
Obregón in particular was notable, having spent just one season in the Queen City, before signing with Westchester in the off-season. In his lone year in Charlotte, he scored 15 goals, finishing second in the Golden Boot race.
But such is life in professional sports, especially the lower leagues. General Manager and Head Coach Mike Jeffries knows this more than anyone. He set about rebuilding the roster around those who remained, bringing in a solid mix of veterans and young players to replace those who departed.
Luis Álvarez and Alfredo Midence: Early Season Impact
The returnees included star midfielder/winger Luis Álvarez. The 22 year old had been linked to a failed transfer to a Spanish third-division side in the off-season, but returned to Jacks in 2025 without any indication that he was bothered in the slightest.
The club also secured Alfredo Midence on loan from Lexington SC. The then-22 year old was coming off a breakout season with Central Valley Fuego in which he won the 2024 USL League One Young Player of the Year. Álvarez finished second in voting for that league-wide award.
With Álvarez playing in the midfield, in the center or on the left, and Midence rotating between right, left and center, Charlotte started off hot. By late May, the club was sitting at 5-2-2 and had been as high as second in the table. Álvarez racked up three goals and two assists during this time, on track to blow away the career highs he achieved in 2024. Midence exploded for a goal and four assists, the latter of which is still second on the season for Charlotte, despite only seven appearances.
But then came successive bombshells: on May 24th, with Charlotte set to face AV Alta FC that day, Lexington suddenly recalled Midence. Without Midence in the roster, Charlotte would lose that match.
Then on June 6th, at the tail end of a long break, the club announced that Álvarez had been transferred to USL Championship side Tampa Bay Rowdies for a record fee.
Given the stellar performance of both, and the previous transfer attempt of Álvarez, it shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise to anyone.
Indeed, Jeffries appears to have been laying the groundwork with the signings of a lot of players capable of playing Midence and Álvarez’s positions, including Jon Bakero, Juan David Moreno, Rafael Jauregui, and Christopher Jaime.
Then after the transfer, Jeffries also signed Pedro Fonseca, one of the best remaining USL League One midfield free-agents; Tresor Mbuyu, who departed in the off-season but was still in free-agency; and Tumi Moshobane, a recent departure from El Paso Locomotive.
Life After The Departure of the Young Guns
Despite having many options to replace Álvarez and Midence, things haven’t gone according to plan since their departures.
The club has added only three wins in 16 attempts since Midence departed. At the time of this writing, they’re on a four-match losing streak, giving up ten goals during that time. Goal differential has turned negative, something that could come back to haunt the club as playoff spots are finalized.
The fundamental numbers are striking: with Álvarez and Midence, Charlotte scored 16 and conceded 12. Since their departures, the figures have flipped: 21 goals scored, 28 conceded.
The replacements have put up some numbers, but have struggled to match the consistency and ever-present dangers presented by the pair. Moreno leads the pack with three goals and an assist, while veteran Bakero has stepped up and now leads the team with six assists. Jauregui continues to show promise, but at the age of 20, is not quite there yet.
Meanwhile, Jeffries has struggled to utilize Fonseca, who hasn’t appeared on roster since August 15th, and had limited minutes since his signing. It’s just one season since he scored seven regular season goals with South Georgia Tormenta, but his contributions in Charlotte have so far been minimal.
What’s Next for Charlotte Independence?
Charlotte heads into the homestretch of the season sitting precariously at 7th in the table with 31 points. South Georgia Tormenta threatens to make a jump into the top eight, with Texoma having an outside chance of doing the same. Meanwhile, Portland and Omaha are surging and continue to move up the table.
The remainder of the season won’t be easy, either. Charlotte will have a trap match at Richmond this weekend, and must reverse course there against a side that is all but out of the race and struggling. After that, the schedule turns brutal, with all five remaining games against playoff teams. That includes a match each with the top four in the table, Chattanooga, Spokane, Knoxville and Naples.
On paper, the pieces are there. Charlotte features a dual-threat with Christian Chaney and Souaibou Marou, two strikers who are both in the mix for Golden Boot with nine and eight goals respectively. In addition, all six of Bakero’s assists have come after the departure of Álvarez and Midence.
And of course, Matt Levy remains solid in net, despite recent performances. He’s second in the league in saves with 64, and has five clean sheets under his belt.
But the next few weeks will determine if they can turn things around, or if we’re looking at what might end up a development year for some of the young players, with hopes they’ll return and put up better numbers next year.