Zaha is 'having a go' with Charlotte FC
What some heated halftime words did for new star winger Wilfried Zaha and Charlotte FC, plus advancing Sunday's Inter Miami game and Crown Legacy FC season
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Zaha voices frustration in locker room before helping Charlotte FC to a two-goal outburst in win over Atlanta United
Wilfried Zaha works between two Atlanta defenders on the way to setting up Pep Biel goal in 2-0 win Saturday at Bank of America Stadium. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Say this about Wilfried Zaha. There’s no pretense. Ask Charlotte FC’s new star winger a direct question, you’ll get a direct answer. Like this one, after he helped turn around a scoreless first half into a 2-0 win over Atlanta United with a goal and a pseudo assist in his debut last Saturday with Charlotte FC.
Q. What do you think you did to help the offense ignite in the second half?
Pause for four seconds and then…
“I had a little go at a few people because I want to win,” said Zaha, forsaking the usual tactical adjustments or coach-speech answer. “I thought, ‘We just need to speed up what we're doing.’ And once we did speed it up, I don't think they could live with us in the second half.”
So much for subtlety. As if the postgame media scrum needed time to digest his answer, the session went on, until Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer came back a few minutes later, asking for clarification. He was smart to do so, given the landmine topic and potential for British-to-English misunderstanding.
“[What I mean] when I say ‘had a go’ is constructive criticism,” he said. “But shouting it.”
The assembled media erupted. Zaha flashed a smile. It’s OK to laugh when your team won and you just helped create two goals in a four-minute span, first setting up Pep Biel with an aggressive move in the box, and secondly finishing a rebound of a Liel Abada shot into the corner for his first MLS goal (and 92nd of his club career).
“I said, ‘We just need to pass the ball faster,’” he continued. “If you take 10 seconds on the ball, by the time you give it to me, there will be a guy standing right here. If you take two seconds, it gives me the opportunity to get the (ball), turn and decide what I'm going to do.”
Zaha is billed as a dynamic dribbler. He didn’t get the chance to do much of that with one, two and three defenders circling him throughout the first half. But he managed to elicit “oohs” and “ahhs” from 51,002 at Bank of America Stadium with one-touch passes. “Oohs and “ahhs” are frowned upon in the press box, but I did let slip a thought, as national soccer writer Tom Bogert can attest as my press box seat-next-over neighbor: “Zaha is playing at a speed nobody else is.”
Sometimes, the first time you see an athlete, you get flashes. Something looks different. It’s hard to explain in words, but the first time I saw former NFL quarterback Michael Vick walking at an Atlanta Falcons practice, the ground looked softer under his feet. The ball came off St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols’ bat louder and faster. Former Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones looked like he was tip-toeing over bases as he rounded them and effortless in all-out sprints in center field.
Zaha brings Charlotte FC a new dimension, or a “little bit of magic” as Coach Dean Smith calls it. Smith believes he can make those around him better.
“I’ve seen that over the years,” Smith said. “It’s like dancing on strawberry fields.”
Zaha getting acquainted with Atlanta’s rookie fullback Matthew Edwards. (Photo by Will Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
In a press conference a couple of weeks ago, Smith said he’d told Zaha when Charlotte first started wooing him that “he won’t get the passes that he wants to receive at times.” I thought I remembered Smith then saying Zaha would need to be patient. But after Saturday’s game and a closer look back at the transcript, Smith’s exact words were actually: “He has to embrace that and help coach and bring his experience into the team to help other players get to the levels that he is at.”
Sounds like a green light to speak his mind to his teammates. And by all accounts after Saturday, they were OK with it.
“You can take it personal and scoff at it or say ‘he’s just complaining,’” defender Tim Ream said. “Or you can take it as constructive criticism. You can take it as, ‘OK, this is what he needs to to feel like he a) belongs and b) can contribute to the team.’ I didn't see or hear anybody taking it personal. When you step across the line, it’s business. It’s about competing. It’s about doing everything you can to win. Once the whistle blows to end the game, then it’s water under the bridge.”
Ream said Zaha’s halftime “criticism” was not directed his way. He and Zaha took care of their “communicating” during the game.
“When the ball gets switched across, and he’s shouting something my direction, and I’ll shout a little something his direction, that’s just open communication,” Ream said. “There’s never any animosity with that. I prefer him to tell me what he needs and what he wants.”
Quotable: ‘We’re not scared’ of Inter Miami, says Brandt Bronico about Sunday’s matchup in Miami
Bronico:
We’ve played against them a handful of times now, so you know what to expect. Obviously, it’s Lionel Messi. He’s the best player to ever play the game. But we go in as a team and we expect to win the game, like that’s what we’re going to go and do. We’re not scared. We’re not timid. And we're going to go play our game and try to take three points.
Crown Legacy opens regular season tonight
New Crown Legacy FC coach Gary Dickers working the huddle. (Photo courtesy of Crown Legacy FC.)
Crown Legacy FC, Charlotte FC’s feeder team in MLS Next Pro, opens a new season under a new coach tonight at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in Matthews against NYCFC II at 7 p.m. But the team brings both seasoning and hardware from winning a preseason tournament in Croatia, where they played four games in eight days against first and second division opponents under new coach Gary Dicker.
“It was really good for me personally to get to know the players and staff and really good for the young ones coming into the group,” Dicker said, “for them to understand the standards and professionalism that you need.”
Dicker, 38, takes over for Jose Tavares, who left last July to take a position in his native Portugal. Interim coach Kevin Sawchak remains on staff as an assistant. Dicker, an Irishman, played 15 seasons for Irish, English and Scottish clubs, and was coaching in the academy system for Brighton of the English Premier League.
“If you’d have told me this time a year ago I’d be standing here, no chance,” said Dicker, whose agent was approached by Charlotte FC. “Then I came out and saw the facilities and met everyone here, and everyone’s been brilliant. Everyone’s asking, why? I think, why wouldn’t you come here? You see the growth. You see what the club’s trying to do.”
Crown Legacy finished first in the Eastern Conference before losing in the playoffs its inaugural season in 2023 and eighth last year while winning its first ever playoff game, upsetting top-seeded FC Cincinnati 2 before losing the next round.
Standout young winger Nimfasha Berchimas was slated to start for the club, but he is expected to be out for at least 12 weeks following surgery Thursday for a broken bone in his foot. Berchimas, 17, was invited to train with Manchester United’s Academy over the winter.
Dean Smith’s son Jamie, 27, is playing center back and serving what Dickers described as a player/coach role. Other players to watch for Crown Legacy include midfielder Aron John, who tied the MLS Next Pro record with 10 assists last year, first round pick Mikah Thomas, a left back who figures to go back and forth between the first team and Crown Legacy, and Barzee Blama, a 6-1 forward from Mercer.
Crown Legacy games are a great family option with a more intimate atmosphere and tickets priced as low as $10 per game or $5 with season tickets to all 14 home matches.
Up Next: Charlotte FC (1-0-1) at Inter Miami (1-0-1)
When/Where: 4 p.m. Sunday, Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
How to watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Find information about how to subscribe for the season here.
How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.
Notable:
Lionel Messi has sat out Miami’s last two games — Thursday night’s CONCACAF Champions Cup game and last Saturday’s game in Houston — and it’s unclear if he’ll play on Sunday. He is reportedly not injured but was “fatigued” after playing three games in six days. Miami is scheduled for another Champions Cup game next Thursday.
Miami defeated Cavalier SC of Jamaica 2-0 Thursday night in the Champions Cup Round of 16 without Messi. In MLS play, Miami has drawn New York City FC 2-2 and defeated Houston Dynamo 4-1.
Tata Martino stepped down as Miami’s coach to return to his native Argentina after the Supporters’ Shield winners lost to Atlanta United in the first round of the MLS playoffs. He was replaced by Javier Mascherano, a former standout for Liverpool FC, FC Barcelona and the Argentinian national team.
Charlotte FC has played Miami seven times, going 2-3-2, including a win and a loss in 2022 before Messi signed with Miami. Since Charlotte lost 4-0 in Leagues Cup quarterfinals in Miami in 2023, it has taken points in three of the four meetings, including a 1-0 win on the final day of the 2023 regular season to make the playoffs and a 1-1 draw on the last trip to Miami last September.
Striker Patrick Aygemang has one shot in Charlotte FC’s first two games.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fourth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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