Hey friends,

How’s everyone doing? Another great week of footy so let’s get right to it.

• 🎱 Match Day 8 Recap

• 🇺🇸 USMNT Update

• 🏆️ Concacaf Champions Cup Madness

• 🟡 The Crew Make a Big Move

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet of the Week

A quick note from Pathway.

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MLS Match Day 8 Recap

My goodness do the Vancouver Whitecaps look good. They thumped Austin FC 5-1, led by 4 goals from Brian White. He has 10 goals in 13 games across all comps this season and is making an easy case that he should be a part of the Gold Cup squad. We really can’t emphasize enough just how well Vancouver is playing right now. Austin led the league with the fewest goals allowed coming into the match (3), but it didn’t matter at all. The Caps are now 3 points clear atop the Shield standings.

The Portland Timbers beat Sporting KC 4-2 to go five straight matches unbeaten, and now they get Jonathan Rodriguez back from injury. Phil Neville sang the praises of young midfielder David Ayala and his two goal contributions, “He’s the best midfield player in MLS — the kid has got everything, on the ball, tackling, desire, discipline, and aerial ability.” That claim is a bit of a stretch, but Ayala has been an incredible complement to Diego Chara.

The New England Revolution beat Atlanta United 1-0 on Saturday. And while they’re still searching for their first open-play goal of the season, they’ll happily take the 3 points on the road. Caleb Porter’s switch to a 3-5-2 seems to have made the difference. As for Atlanta, they’re off to their worst start in club history with just 9 points through 8 matches. On paper they have a much better team, but Ronny Deila has yet to get this team to mesh.

The Chicago Fire tied Inter Miami 0-0 in front of a club record 62,358 fans. Chris Brady was the star of this one, consistently making huge saves to save a point for the Fire. He’s conceded one or fewer goals in 5 of his last 6 games and his distribution is improving as he hasn’t missed a short or medium rang pass all year. It could be a time for a Gold Cup call-up for the young shot stopper.

USMNT Update

The USMNT learned its opponents for this summer's Gold Cup. We’ll play in Group D (full groups here) with Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was invited by Concacaf to play in the 2025 and 2027 Gold Cups as the country prepares to host the 2034 World Cup.

Now let’s check how some of our guys performed this weekend.

Malik Tillman scored another! He now has 2 goals in 2 games since returning from injury. He missed 8 games, and is still tied for 8th in goals in the Eredivisie with 9 goals this season.

Tyler Adams went the full 90 minutes in Bournemouth’s 1-0 against Antonee Robinson’s Fulham, winning 9/13 duels and completing 2 tackles, not including this game-stopping tackle that we’ve come to love from him.

Joshua Wynder made his Benfica first team debut, becoming the 4th American to ever debut for them. The 19-year-old center-back played 3 years in the USL with Louisville City FC before joining Benfica in 2023.

Gio Reyna has reportedly been told he can find another club. He’s been an unused sub in each of the last five Budesliga games for Dortmund. He desperartly needs to find a good landing spot before the World Cup.

Christian Pulisic had another assist off a corner. He leads Serie A in assists (10) and chances (59) created this season.

Chris Richards scored a header off a corner kick vs Man City, giving Crystal Palace the 2-0 lead before City came storming back to win.

Cameron Carter Vickers had an insane blast from 30 yards out. The reactions of his teammates are incredible.

Concacaf Champions Cup Madness

For the fourth straight year, we’re guaranteed an MLS vs Liga MX Concacaf Champions Cup final. The Vancouver Whitecaps and Inter Miami prevailed in a wild quarterfinals to face off in the semis. Cruz Azul and Tigres will play on the other side of the bracket. Here’s how the quarters went down for our MLS sides.

Vancouver came into the match tied on aggregate 1-1, with Pumas having the critical away goal. Sebastian Berhalter opened the scoring with a sick in-the-air behind-the-back volley. Pumas came back and went up 2-1. But in the 93rd minute, Triston Blackmon scored the equalizer to send the Caps through on away goals. Before this season, they had never beaten a Liga MX side in Concacaf play, and now they’ve downed two straight with Pumas and Monterrey.

The Inter Miami vs LAFC game was completely drunk. It had a bit of everything, an improbable comeback, a questionable offside call, a crazy scrum, and of course plenty of Messi magic.

Miami went down 1-0 (2-0 on aggregate) from an early Aaron Long Goal. Messi then scored a gorgeous goal (below) to start the comeback. He added an assist and a PK before things got very chippy at the end. A scrum broke out that could’ve easily resulted in a few red cards but Miami escaped with the win in typical Miami fashion.

LAFC can only blame themselves. They had all the chances to win this game but couldn’t make it happen. It’s been a consistent theme for this team in recent big games.

Vancouver and Miami will face off in the first leg on April 24th at BC Place.

The Crew Make a Move

The Columbus Crew acquired attacking midfielder Daniel Gazdag from the Philadelphia Union in a cash trade for $4M plus $500k in add-ons. It’s a massive trade for the Crew who are already undefeated and now add one of the leagues best attackers.

Gazdag, 29, has had at least 14 goals in three straight seasons. He’ll fit perfectly in the attack next to Diego Rossi and is already used to being a part of a high pressing team. While Gazdag isn’t the traditional striker many thought the Crew would go after to replace Cucho, he’s another chess piece that Wilfried Nancy will have no issue using. Gazdag’s under contract through 2025 with a team option for 2026 and they’re expected to work on an extension soon.

The Crew are still in the market to add another DP, although that likely won’t happen till the summer.

Now, for the Union. I feel for the DOOP fans out there. After starting 3-0 they’ve won just one of their last five games and now their best player and all-time leading goal scorer is shipped off to a conference rival.

Gazdag said about the trade, “I can’t imagine this would have happened if Jim (Curtain) was still coach. I think he would have fight for me a lot more.” And then he took a bit of a shot at the Union at his introductory press conference, “It makes me very happy that I’m playing for a club that is actually playing for titles.” It’s hard to believe in the direction the Union are headed.

Goal of the Week

Fagundez joins Lucho Acosta (172) as the second active player to reach 150 goal contributions.

Tweet of the Week

This is so MLS 🐭 

Quick Hits

• MLS will not adopt a calendar change in 2026 to align with the rest of the world (Link)

• Messi and Inter Miami nearing contract extension through 2026 (Link)

• Buffalo plans to build a pro soccer stadium (Link)

• FIFA releases new tickets for the Club World Cup (Link)

That’s a wrap. See ya next week 🤘 

Max & Mason