Wilfried Zaha: Charlotte FC star backs up words with results | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Superstars: Sometimes they really are just like us.

“I use my Snapchat as a place to vent from time to time,” Wilfried Zaha explained to MLS Season Pass analyst and fellow London expat Bradley Wright-Phillips in a one-on-one interview earlier this summer.

“I get it off my chest. People take it how they like, but I've said what I've said, and I move forward.”

Charlotte FC’s centerpiece Designated Player hears the chatter and reads some of the mean social media posts about him, particularly when he’s perceived to have fallen short of his best on the pitch, and doesn’t hesitate to admit it.

“Typical. We lost a game and somehow it's Zaha's fault,” he said after an April loss to the New England Revolution. “I usually wouldn't reply to this stupid sh*t, but I'm not a scapegoat for people to waffle about in at clubs anymore.

“Zaha, this Zaha that but we had the best start ever and been first in the league. So please stop chapping, especially my name.”

Settling in

The English-Ivorian winger was one of last winter’s biggest signings, turning heads around the world with his arrival on loan from Turkish giants Galatasaray. He was given a hero’s welcome by Charlotte supporters, hoping he could be the capstone of their slow build towards trophy contender status since entering the league in 2022, the twinkle-toed assassin to elevate a pedestrian attack to another level.

All that excitement looked justified when he scored one goal and orchestrated the other in The Crown’s 2-0 home-opening win over near-neighbors Atlanta United. Yet the usual rigors of the MLS learning curve, and a transcontinental move late in preseason, were further complicated by his wife Paige giving birth to their daughter Zuri in the midst of his transition to the United States.

“It’s a tough league to get to grips with,” said Charlotte defender Tim Ream, who navigated a similar adjustment after returning to the United States a year ago following a lengthy stint in England. “It’s a physical league. It takes time to get comfortable and do the things you want to do.

“It’s understanding what he can and can’t do, what will be called and won’t be called, and what type of impact he can have.”

It all imposed a slower burn on his full adaptation to life at CLTFC. And therein arose a few of the negative Nancys who eventually drew his ire.

“I said after that first game against Atlanta, when he scores and gets an assist, that don't expect that every game, because that doesn't come that quickly,” head coach Dean Smith told reporters last week. “And I could see other people saying, ‘Oh yeah, that's what he's going to do.’ But I think that's disrespectful to the league to expect somebody to come and do that.

"Not even Lionel Messi does that.”

Straight shooter

Charlotte’s wholehearted embrace of their club has made it one of the league’s most vibrant markets, both around town and in the stands at Bank of America Stadium. That’s also driven up expectations around the biggest name on their roster, not only in terms of his productivity but even in scrutiny of subtler points like his body language and interactions with teammates.

More than a decade in the pressure cooker of the English Premier League got Zaha quite familiar with all that. He still expects those around him to recognize the context.

He’s not here to collect a check, or check a box, or go gently into that good night.

“I could be frustrated at my game, I could be frustrated at the referee, I could be frustrated at so much things, and that's how it comes out,” Zaha told BWP.

“I'll speak to my teammates and I'll be like, I'll be real with you: If I moan at you, it’s because I expect better from you, and I know you can do better. If I just don't say a word, and am just quiet, just know that I don't even rate you at all.

“I come in, I'm respectful to everyone or whatever. But once we step on a pitch, I demand a certain level, because we're trying to win things.”

Was that a ‘rant,’ or just a public service announcement? Or maybe even part of his core responsibilities as ‘the face of the franchise’?

"I'm not a social media guy, so I have no idea what's going on out there, and don't want to know, if I'm honest," said Smith with a grin. "But you know, I like the fact Wilf has an opinion, and he's happy to stand up for his opinion as well and voice it."

Natural-born competitor

There’s an element of risk in any professional athlete putting their critics on blast. A more traditional approach is to deny naysayers the satisfaction of even acknowledging their existence, let alone their lines of argument. Zaha, however, like Kevin Durant and other notably vocal pros, came of age in the crucible of online media. And he considers honesty, in multiple forms, central to his sense of self.

“I think it's the ruthless mentality. This is what the team needs,” he said after a frustrating shootout loss to Chivas Guadalajara in Leagues Cup earlier this month. “I can walk around like a bot and not care about football or care about the team, but I just care in general, and that's me. When I came here, people knew before that Wilfried Zaha is passionate. So do you want passionate Wilfried Zaha, or do you want the Wilfried Zaha that just walks around and doesn't care?

“People got to decide which one you want. I'm still going to be me, but people can decide what they want.”

This is the product of hard lessons from a breakthrough that turned out to be the low point of his glittering 15-year career: A massive, much-hyped but ultimately unsuccessful move from Crystal Palace to Manchester United in 2013.

“When I went to Man United, when I was young, at the time I wasn't playing,” he revealed to BWP. “I was told the reason why I wasn't playing was because ‘the manager needed to trust me more.’ But then I was thinking to myself, but I got here because of what I used to do. Do you know what I mean? So imagine at that age, thinking, ‘so what do I do?’

“But then once I went back on loan to Palace, I thought, ‘I’m me. I'm not gonna let nothing change me.’ So much things that you go through in life build you … If you don't have confidence in yourself, then no one else will.”

Back to his best

It’s fair to say he’s been vindicated. Zaha just ran off a streak of goal contributions in nine straight matches, running his season totals to 7g/9a in 24 league games and powering the six-game winning streak Charlotte ride into their Matchday 30 clash with the New York Red Bulls on Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire (7 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+).

In front of goal, he’s been an exemplary model of that ruthless mentality he spoke of, while adapting in the bigger picture to the particular terrain of North America, both in soccer and life.

“I think he's more accepting and receptive of his teammates now,” said Smith. “It's hard when you come from where he's come from, and I said to him right from the start: The quality that you have within a squad here is on such a range that he won't have been used to before. But he's actually embraced the city, the States, and the club, and the supporters, and it's good to see. And he's a big part of it.”

The coach added that he and Zaha had just dropped in on CLTFC’s business staff the day before, to gift a few boxes of donuts and express thanks for their efforts. Whatever annoyances Zaha’s suffered online are far eclipsed by the warmth of North Carolina hospitality he’s experienced in real life.

“It's beautiful. This is a proper family-oriented place. It's actually refreshing how respectful and welcoming people are,” Zaha said earlier this summer. “I was weirded out at times by how nice people were. Like, you go into the lift [elevator], usually it's just an awkward silence ‘til you get to your floor. But here it's just like, ‘oh yeah, how's your day?’ When they get out, ‘have a good day.’

“I was like, does he want something? But this is just how everyone is here. So when I speak to friends and other football players about how it is here, it's just like, it’s pleasant. It's pleasantly surprising. It's really nice, the weather's lovely – I don't know what more you can ask for.”

Playoff push

The Crown have now pushed up to seventh in the Eastern Conference standings, and aim to secure a top-four finish by regular season’s end, to maximize their hefty home-field advantage during the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. They’re one of only two teams in MLS – RBNY are the other – to win 10 games at home (10W-2L-1D), and they'll play four of their final seven at BofA.

Zaha & Co. will aim to confirm their heavyweight status by dispatching last year’s East champions this weekend.

“I'm happy I’m adjusting to the league,” he told MLS Season Pass after his match-winning strike in Charlotte’s upset of FC Cincinnati. “It took a bit of time, there was obviously doubters, but I know what I can do and it’s obviously showing out on the pitch. And it just goes to show what I was saying before: I know that we’ve got more in the team.

"We’ve got the quality and the wins keep on coming. We just need to keep on showing that we can do it.”

Wilfried Zaha: Is Charlotte FC star misunderstood?