Miami (AFP) – Wilfried Zaha scored on his debut for Charlotte FC, and Israeli Tai Baribo scored a hat-trick for the Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer on Saturday. Former Crystal Palace winger Zaha, signed by Charlotte manager Dean Smith on loan from Turkish club Galatasaray, made his first start in front of a crowd of 51,002 against rivals Atlanta United.
Zaha set up the opening goal for Pep Biel, pounding on the edge of the box and forcing the ball to the Spaniard who made no mistake. Four minutes later, Israeli Liel Abada’s drive was parried out by Atlanta keeper Brad Guzan, but Zaha showed great technique to steer the rebound home. Zaha, who made two appearances for England before switching his national allegiance to the Ivory Coast, made an instant impact for the North Carolina club with his skill and directness.
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“I think it’s a statement,” Zaha told MLS Season Pass. “Me coming here to score goals, the whole team are working hard and we’re just taking opportunities as well, so that shows to every other team in the league that we mean business this season.” Zaha missed the week one 2-2 draw at Seattle as he was in London to be with his wife for the birth of his daughter and only got back to Charlotte on Thursday.
Smith said he was sure that Zaha would prove to be a fine addition to his squad. “He’s the type of player we were missing last season for sure. We’ve seen in one performance today he can produce moments of magic,” said the former Aston Villa manager. “We know what he can do with the ball. He can score goals like that. He can make runs like he did for the first goal. But the defensive side of the game was really good from him as well,” he added.
The Philadelphia Union, disappointing last season when they missed out on the playoffs, have made an emphatic start to the season under new coach Bradley Carnell of South Africa. After a 4-2 win at Orlando last week, the Union made it eight goals in two games with a 4-1 thumping of Cincinnati, thanks to their Israeli forward.
Baribo opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a first-time finish at the near post and made it 2-0 in the 30th minute, tapping in after good work from Hungarian Daniel Gazdag. The pair combined again for Baribo’s third in the 52nd minute, another close-range finish, and after Brazilian Evander pulled a goal back for Cincinnati with a fine left foot drive, Philly wrapped up the win through Bruno Damiani’s stoppage time goal.
Last year’s beaten MLS Cup finalists, New York Red Bulls, enjoyed a 2-0 win over Nashville with a goal from Mohammed Safo and a beautiful curling finish from Swede Emil Forsberg. Belgian forward Hugo Cuypers scored both goals for the Chicago Fire in their 2-2 draw at home to D.C. United. D.C went ahead in the fourth minute with a side-footed finish from their own Belgian striker Christian Benteke before twice bundling in from close range. Benteke missed a penalty in stoppage time before a sensational bicycle kick from Jacob Murrell earned D.C a point.
Ryan Hollingshead fired in an 86th-minute winner as Los Angeles FC beat New York City FC 1-0 in California. MLS’s newest club, San Diego FC, who beat champions Los Angeles Galaxy in week one, made their home debut in front of a sell-out crowd of 34,506 but were held to a goalless draw by St. Louis City. David Da Costa’s 89th-minute free-kick earned Phil Neville’s Portland Timbers a 1-0 win over Austin.
On Sunday, Inter Miami take on the Houston Dynamo in Texas but without Lionel Messi, who is being rested for the game. Champions LA Galaxy travel to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
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