Hey friends,

Welcome to the 173 of you who have joined us since last week. Enough with the election talk — we’re just here for the footy. Enjoy!

• 🏆️ MLS Playoff Update

• 🟥 Down go the Crew

• 🇺🇸 Americans Abroad Update

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Meme of the Week

Playoff Update

I’m still skeptical of this playoff structure. Too many PK shootouts for my liking and teams that sweep their opponents now wait 22 days till their next game. But of course we’ll still watch it.

The LA Galaxy are the favorites to represent the Western Conference in the MLS Cup. Riqui Puig scored his second straight brace to easily dispose of the Rapids. Will the three-week wait to face Minnesota cool off this attacking form? I doubt it.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium was in its peak 2018 form with 68k people in attendance to witness Xande Silva score a banger in stoppage time to send this series back to Miami for the third game.

More heroics from Kristijan Kahlina. What else is new? He made two saves in the penalty shootouts to give Charlotte their first playoff win in club history.

NYCFC kept their hopes alive beating FC Cincinnati 3-1. Now they’ll go back to Cincy where they are 0-3 this year. Their road woes aren’t just in Ohio though as they only have four road wins all year. The winner of game 3 will face the NY Red Bulls.

The Loons won their second consecutive penalty shootout against Salt Lake to advance past round one for the first time since 2020. They’ve conceded just two goals in their last seven games but will now face the high-powered Galaxy attack in the Conference Semis.

As for Salt Lake, they never had it in them. Andre Gomez’s departure and Chicho’s disappearance down the stretch was too much to overcome.

This Vancouver Whitecaps team has a ton of fight in them. In two elimination games this playoffs, they’ve outscored their opponents 8-0. They beat LAFC 3-0 on Sunday — it didn’t look like the Black and Gold wanted any part of this game. Super-signing Olivier Giroud hasn’t clicked yet and is still looking for his first MLS goal. We may see another Cup favorite ousted in the first round.

Houston’s season came to a disgraceful end on Sunday. For the second consecutive game one of their best players was red-carded and the team lost in PKs. This time Hector Herrera received a yellow for a pointless tackle and then proceeded to spit in the direction of the ref after he turned his back.

Seattle won’t be happy with their performances in this series but they advance to face either LAFC or Vancouver.

Down Go the Crew

The 7th seed NY Red Bulls have swept the Columbus Crew in the first round of the playoffs. It’s one of the biggest upsets in MLS history. They became the third team since 2005 to eliminate a team in the playoffs that had 19 or more points than them during the regular season.

It’s shocking for a few reasons. Mainly because this Crew team was one of the best in league history over the last two seasons. But also because the Red Bulls came hobbling into the playoffs having won just twice in their last fourteen games, one of which was a Decision Day loss to none other than the Crew. Since the midway point of the season their 1.06 PPG was the worst of all playoff teams. So yeah… that’s why we and many others gave this squad no chance against the Crew. And that’s why they play the damn games.

They stole game one on the road and then dueled to a 2-2 draw in game two. The Crew went up 3-1 in the penalty shootout (full shootout highlights) then Carlos Coronel made 3 saves get get the Red Bulls back in it. Daniel Edelman, the homegrown talent who grew up just 30 miles from Red Bull Arena slotted home the winner to finish the upset.

One major takeaway is that this Red Bulls team is completely different with Emil Forsberg in the lineup (duh!). He had 4 goals and 3 assists in the 6 matches since his injury.

After 5 straight seasons of first-round exits the Red Bulls will wait 3 weeks to face either NYCFC or FC Cincinnati in the Conference Semi’s. Congrats, Red Bull fans. After countless seasons of playoff heartbreak, you deserve this.

Americans Abroad

Yesterday was a record day as 9 Americans featured in Champions League matches. Plus a few more highlights from other yanks.

Brenden Aaronson scored in Leeds's 3-0 win. He’s always in the right place, cleaning up a rebound in this case to secure the win for Leeds. He has 4 goals and 1 assist in 13 games played.

Matt Turner had an incredible game after finally getting his Crystal Palace debut with 8 saves. He helped hold Aston Villa to 1 goal a big upset across the pond. We need a keeper to get consistent minutes and Turner snatched up his opportunity this weekend.

Tim Weah and Weston McKennie are having so much fun with Juventus. Weah assisted McKennie’s goal with a perfect cross to McKennie’s head. Weah followed up later in the game with a goal of his own, making it back-to-back games with goals for Weah.

Antonee Robinson continues to move up the rankings for best left back in the world as he put in another Man of the Match performance. Robinson had a game-winning assist against rival Brentford. He now has 10 career Premier League assists, passing Christian Pulisic and Brian McBride for the second most by an American. Clint Dempsey is first with 19.

Malik Tillman and PSV are red-hot! Tillman had a goal and two assists in their Champions League game against Girona yesterday. He’s the first American with three goal contributions in a Champions League match. He’s got 8 goal contributions in his last 15 games for PSV.

Christian Pulisic grabs another corner kick assist in Milan’s 3-1 Champions League win against Real Madrid. He has 3 goal contributions in his 4 Champs League games this season.

Goal of the Week

Luca only scores bangers.

Meme of the Week

More upsets in our future?

Quick Hits

• Ex-MLS player to become Premier League referee (Link)

• Landon Donovan and Tim Howard launch podcast together (Link)

• St. Louis SC stadium to be named Energizer Park (Link)

• LAFC are reportedly interested in Brazilian legend Marcelo (Link)

That’s all, folks. We’ll be back in your inbox next week.

Max & Mason