Liel Abada was, on any honest reading of Tuesday night's scoreline, the best player on the pitch for Charlotte FC. He scored, he ran at Atlanta United's defence all evening, and he still didn't see out the 90 minutes — hauled off in the 63rd minute of a match his side led twice before somehow only drawing.
Charlotte had raced into a 2-0 lead at home in their first match back from the World Cup break, Kerwin Vargas opening the scoring before Abada doubled it, rising to head in a Pep Biel cross from the back post just before half-time. Atlanta United then clawed the game back, with a goal from Elías Báez and a Miguel Almirón strike in the 76th minute completing a 2-2 comeback. By then, ONE notes, Abada was already back on the bench — substituted with more than 25 minutes still to play despite being, in the outlet's words, the most prominent player on the pitch.
It is, according to ONE, a pattern rather than an anomaly. The Israeli outlet reports that since August 2025 the winger has started just seven league matches for Charlotte, accumulating only 624 minutes across that stretch. This season, ONE says, he has made ten appearances and started five of them — and been substituted before full time in every single one.
The numbers ONE lays out for his time in North Carolina overall are stark: across 78 appearances in Charlotte colours, Abada has been permitted to complete a full 90 minutes on only eight occasions.
Charlotte head coach Dean Smith has himself acknowledged the scrutiny around Abada. "I was really pleased for Liel last night because there's been some questions about him," Smith said after the Atlanta draw, according to The Charlotte Ledger, pointing to a spell in which Abada had not scored in league play since August 3, 2025 before Tuesday's header ended the drought.
That same report notes that clubs in England's Championship have been credited with interest in the 24-year-old designated player, and that Charlotte view a sale as realistic enough that it would free up a coveted DP slot for the club to reinvest elsewhere this summer.
ONE frames the underlying story as one of a talented player repeatedly caught in circumstances beyond his footballing control. It recalls that Abada's departure from Celtic was accelerated by the furore around Palestinian flags displayed by sections of the Celtic support, pushing him toward an unplanned move to MLS in 2024 rather than a more conventional European step up.
The outlet also reports that a move to a major German club broke down at a late stage after players in that squad objected to signing an Israeli international — one more instance, in ONE's telling, of Abada's career being shaped by forces well outside the width of a football pitch.
His Charlotte contract runs through December, with the club holding an option into 2027, according to Spotrac — meaning the club, not just suitors abroad, will have a say in how soon this chapter closes.
For now, the header against Atlanta was a reminder of why Charlotte paid a club-record fee to sign him in the first place. Whether it is enough to change how he is used, rather than simply how he is remembered, is the question ONE leaves hanging over the Israeli winger's American spell.
