Morning everyone,

Coming at you a day late this week. We’ve had hundreds of new readers join us recently so it’s time for a refresher. We’re Max and Mason, two brothers who love American soccer. We write this for 3,423 of you each week. It’s a labor of love and we appreciate you all being here❤️

Now let’s get to it…

• 🤑 Free Agency Frenzy

• 🇺🇸 Yanks Abroad Update

• 📉 MLS Cup Viewership Crash

• 🏆️ NCAA College Championship

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Meme of the Week

Free Agency Frenzy

Alright let’s be real, it’s not much of a frenzy. MLS free agency doesn’t compare to the other major sports leagues. It’s rare that franchise-altering players ever become true “free agents”. But teams can still find good players to plug holes in their rosters and build out depth.

Any player who is at least 24 years old with five years of MLS experience and either has their option declined or is out of a contract is an eligible free agent. Here’s the full list of free-agent players.

The most notable move so far is the Chicago Fire signing Jack Elliott from the Philadelphia Union. The 29-year old center back was the best free agent available. He led all center backs in 2024 in American Soccer Analysis’s Goals Added metric. With 270 appearances and a Supporters Shield to his name, this is exactly the type of move Gregg Berhalter needs to sure up his back line.

Other MLS Moves:

The NY Red Bulls have signed Eric-Maxim Chuopo-Moting as a designated player. The 35-year old striker left Bayern Munich this summer after winning three league titles, one German Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup with them. I love this move to add a more experienced striker in front of Forsberg.

Orlando City officially sell Facundo Torres to Palmeiras for $14M. Orlando originally signed Torres for a club record fee of $7.5M and now they’ll flip him for almost twice that. Good business if you ask us.

The Seattle Sounders are trying to poach two FC Dallas stars. Multiple reports saying that both Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola could be on their way to the Emerald City. It’s no surprise Seattle are trying to bolster their attack.

San Diego FC acquired Jose Reyes from the NY Red Bulls for $800k of general allocation money. The 25-year old Colombian has a ton of MLS experience and will be an immediate starter as part of the core roster for the expansion club.

Yanks Abroad Update

America’s biggest stars were busy this week.

Antonee Robinson has been the best fullback in the Premier League this season. He has 12 Premier League assists since the start of last season, the most of any defender in that time, and with 6 this season, only Bukayo Saka and Mohamed Salah have more. There’s a good chance he gets plucked by a big club this summer with many needing a left-back like him.

Gio Reyna started midweek in the Champions League against Barcelona (his full highlights). Then on Saturday he starts and scores his first goal (see below) for Dortmund since May 13th, 2023. It’s his 14th Bundesliga goal, beating Christian Pulisic for the most by a USMNT player in the top 5 European Leagues before turning 23. It’s a joy to see Gio back in a starting lineup and contributing.

Alex Zendejas is a back-to-back Liga MX Champion. Zendejas had a goal and two assists in the two-leg final Brandon Vanzquez’s Monterrey side. No player had more goal contributions in the playoffs than Zendejas with five.

After Christian Pulisic’s stellar season, AC Milan are closing in on signing him to a contract extension through 2028. He’ll make around €4-5M per year as one of their highest-paid players.

Ricardo Pepi got just his 6th start of the year and scored a brace (one, two) in PSV’s 8-0 win in the Dutch Cup. That’s now 13 goals in all competitions for the boy they call El Tren.

Two of America’s finest contributed to the fall of Manchester City last week. Tim Weah’s assist to Weston McKennnie was the first time an American assisted another American in the Champions League. There have now been 51 appearances by US Internationals in this season’s Champions League, the most ever in a single season.

MLS Cup’s Poor Viewership

The 2024 MLS Cup averaged 468k viewers on Fox and Fox Deportes, down 47% from last years final. Of course, many were watching on Apple TV but those numbers were reportedly down too (Apple doesn’t release streaming numbers). Over the past year we’ve always tried to highlight how much MLS has grown but seeing reports like this makes you think twice.

With two big market clubs and one of the most exciting and well attended seasons ever, you’d expect viewership to be much better. So why was it piss poor?

An easy answer is the competition. The MLS Cup took place the same time as the Georgia/Texas SEC Championship game which peaked at 19.7M viewers and was the most watched college football game of the year. This is yet another reason why MLS execs are considering a change to the European schedule. Competing with college and NFL football is tough.

But many people are using this as another data point to criticize the TV deal with Apple. We’re now two years into the 10 year $2.5B partnership. And because Apple doesn’t release streaming numbers we have no idea if this deal was the right one.

This will continue to be a big talking point over the next few years as MLS goes through growing pains. The league has reportedly acknowledged some of it’s shortcomings and are already planning to make changes for 2025.

NCAA College Championship

Vermont Mens Soccer won it’s first ever National Championship on Monday beating #2 seed Marshall 2-1 in sudden death. The Catamounts became the first unseeded team since 2006 to win the Cup. And they’re the first non-ski team to win a National Championship at Vermont.

Maximilian Kissel, a junior from Wiesbaden, Germany scored the winner in dramatic fashion. It was his fourth game winner of the NCAA tournament. The scenes in the locker room after the win were electric. And the crowds back in Burlington, Vermont celebrated too. This is easily one of the best soccer stories of the year.

Multiple players in this game are eligible for the the 2025 MLS SuperDraft which takes place on Friday. You can see the full draft order here.

Goal of the Week

GIO IS BACK!

Meme of the Week

The San Diego FC branding team continues to underwhelm 😂 . But hey… they broke the record for most jerseys sold in 24 hours for an expansion club.

Quick Hits

• The Vancouver Whitecaps are for sale at a $470M valuation (Link)

• Wilfried Nancy linked to AS Saint-Etienne of Ligue 1(Link)

• Pictures of Cavan Sullivan visiting Manchester City (Link)

• Atlanta United hire Chris Henderson as Chief Soccer Officer (Link)

• Belgian Pro League side RSC Anderlecht are interested in signing John Tolkin (Link)

• A new Messi animated series to appear on Disney Channel (Link)

Give us some love (or feedback) below and have a great week!

Max & Mason