CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Wilfried Zaha and Kerwin Vargas scored six-minutes apart in the first half, Kristijan Kahlina recorded his 12th clean sheet of the season, and Charlotte FC beat the Philadelphia Union 2-0 on Saturday night to clinch a top four seed in the playoffs for the first time in club history.
Charlotte (19-13-2) became the 11th team in MLS history to win at least 13 home games in a single season, excluding the shootout era.
Zaha is the fifth first-year player since 2020 — joining Anders Dreyer and Philip Zinckernagel this season — to score at least 10 goals and record at least 10 assists.
Philadelphia (20-8-6), one of the league’s top defenses, allowed multiple goals for just the second time since May 24.
Union goalkeeper Andre Blake entered with the third-most clean sheets in the Eastern Conference this season with nine.
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