Charlotte FC will try to avoid a second straight loss to a struggling opponent when they visit D.C. United on Saturday in their final away match of the MLS regular season.

Charlotte (17-13-2, 53 points) already has qualified for its third consecutive postseason following a MLS record-tying nine-match league winning streak that stretched from mid-July to mid-September.

But The Crown followed that with a pair of defeats, including a shocking 4-1 loss at home last weekend to already-eliminated CF Montreal.

Charlotte defender Adilson Malanda’s early red card transformed the match in the visitors’ favor. Even so, there’s a feeling that the reduction in numbers alone shouldn’t have led to such a lopsided defeat.

“We were down to 10 men, but it’s a little bit of a wake-up call, that even teams near the bottom can do damage,” Charlotte defender Tim Ream said. “And that’s something that we have to be fully aware of.”

Charlotte is fifth in the Eastern Conference and could mathematically still finish as high as second or as low as ninth depending on its final two results and outcomes elsewhere.

To conclude the regular season on Oct. 18, Charlotte hosts East-leading Philadelphia, the same squad that handed D.C. (5-17-10, 25 points) an embarrassing 6-0 home loss last weekend.

That shellacking ended D.C.’s improved five-game run (1-1-3) to begin incoming manager Rene Weiler’s tenure. The Black-and-Red had earned six points from those games and played to an even goal differential before the Philadelphia loss.

A victory against a playoff-bound opponent in D.C.’s home finale could help assure a skeptical fanbase the club may finally be on the right track after missing a sixth consecutive postseason.

But last weekend’s loss also showed Weiler how much outside help will be needed to improve next year.

“That is always the goal: to win games. It’s not so easy because the opponents are stronger than we are. That’s the reality,” Weiler said. “They are good characters. But it is difficult this season, and that’s our job, next to the field, to bring in what we need to be more competitive next season.”

–Field Level Media