Wilfried Zaha will need to be a terror in MLS for Charlotte FC to reach their goals

6 minutes ago

By Brian Maurer

Photo courtesy of Charlotte FC

Charlotte FC’s 2025 season got off to a rocky start in Seattle. They will have the opportunity to right the ship in their home opener this weekend against Southeastern rivals Atlanta United. Charlotte fans will be hoping to see new star winger Wilfried Zaha make his MLS debut this weekend after missing the season opener because his wife was expecting their second child.

The stance from the players, Dean Smith, and the front office headed by Zoran Krneta is clear across the board. This year and next is about winning trophies with the current group. To do that Zaha and fellow Designated Player Liel Abada will have to deliver. This is because statistically over the last three seasons the clubs with the most productive (G+A) and efficient (per appearance) DPs have been the Supporters’ Shield and or MLS Cup winners since 2022.

Here’s a breakdown comparing DP production across the league since 2022 demonstrating how paramount these roster designations are to winning trophies:

Top 6 MLS clubs in goal-production efficiency (G+A/App) from their DPs since 2022*

Team	Appearance	Goals	Assists	G+A	G+A/App
Philadelphia Union	226	97	31	128	0.57
LAFC	188	68	37	105	0.56
Inter Miami	152	48	29	77	0.51
LA Galaxy	250	76	48	124	0.50
FC Cincinnati	247	69	51	120	0.49
Columbus Crew	267	86	43	129	0.48

Since 2022, the Philadelphia Union, LAFC, Inter Miami, LA Galaxy, FC Cincinnati, and the Columbus Crew have had a core of DPs that combine to be the most goal-productive (G+A) and efficient (per appearance). The last three Supporters’ Shields and MLS Cups have all been won by one of these six teams. LAFC won the 2024 US Open Cup, and Miami and the Crew are the first two Leagues Cup champions. In all, these six clubs missed out on only two US Open Cup trophies in the past three years.

This shows how important a core group of DPs who are consistently productive are in this league. Recent trends suggest it's almost impossible to win trophies without those key pieces.

Charlotte’s stated goal for the year is to reach the top four in the Eastern Conference and win trophies. To accomplish these ambitions Zaha and Abada will have to hit. The definition for “hitting” based on recent trophy winners' DPs is around .50 GCs per game. This puts the magic GC number in 2025 for Zaha and Abada to combine to be a true trophy contender 34.

Diving a little deeper into these numbers the pressure will be on one of these two to step up and be a true dominator.

Of the top six teams that were mentioned at the beginning of this section, five won trophies in the last three years. The outlier in that group is the Union. Interestingly, they were the one team without a DP who had truly dominant GC efficiency.

Philadelphia Union's DPs since 2022 ranked by G+A/App

Player	G+A	Appearances	G+A/App
Daniel Gazdag	39	62	.63
Julian Carranza	45	74	.61
Mikael Uhre	44	90	.49

When you look at the five teams who won trophies and are ranked in the top six of GC efficiency (G+A/App) from DPs over the last three years they all have one player who averaged nearly a GC every appearance. A player who was able to dominate.

Most goal-contribution dominant DP at the five MLS clubs who won an MLS Supporters' Shield and/or Cup in the last three seasons

Player	Team	G+A	Appearances	G+A/App
Lionel Messi	Inter Miami	34	25	1.36
Cucho Hernandez	Columbus Crew	63	70	.9
Gabriel Pec	LA Galaxy	28	33	.85
Lucho Acosta	FC Cincinnati	79	94	.84
Denis Bouanga	LAFC	56	70	.8

For Charlotte, this means that not only do Zaha and Abada need to combine for at least 30 GCs, but really what may be more important is that one of them has to rise above and truly dominate in MLS and contribute to a goal nearly every time they step on the field. That is what the recent MLS Supporters’ Shield and Cup winners since 2022 all have in common. Consistent high-level goal-productive performances all season long. Smith called for a “goal grabber” during the winter. The club brought in Zaha. All eyes will be on him to hit these sorts of levels to bring a trophy back to the Carolinas in 2025.

*The data collected for this article is on regular season MLS games only. The stats were from either FBRef or American Soccer Analysis. You can find the methods, sources used to determine DPs, and full statistical rankings here.