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• 3️⃣ 2️⃣ MLS Match Day 32

• 🇺🇸 The State of the USMNT

• 🌎️ How to Get World Cup Tickets

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet of the Week

MLS Match Day 32

The LA Galaxy salvaged a point with Lucas Sanabria’s last-minute header in their 1-1 draw at the Houston Dynamo. The Galaxy’s lone bright spot this season was last week’s third-place win over Orlando City that secured them a spot in next year’s Concacaf Champions Cup. They’re two points behind St. Louis for the Wooden Spoon but have a game in hand. As for Houston, they needed to win this game. They’re on the outside looking in for the last playoff spot in the West.

The Chicago Fire put the New England Revolution’s playoff hopes to bed with their 3-2 win. After a 15-pass build-up, Jonathan Bamba started the scoring 90 seconds in, Philip Zinkernagel added his 25th goal contribution (second most in Fire history), and Hugo Cuypers would add the third. Chicago is in the driver's seat for the last playoff spot in the East for their third postseason birth since 2010.

Austin FC beat Sporting KC 2-1 on the road for their first come-from-behind win of the season. Owen Wolff scored a great goal (see below), and CJ Fodrey scored the winner with his first MLS goal. They’ve now jumped ahead of Portland for the 6th spot in the West. They’re averaging 1.91 PPG since June 1st, second best in the Western Conference during that span.

St. Louis City fans will be disappointed after drawing FC Dallas 1-1 at home. Dallas went down a man in the 16th minute after goalkeeper Michael Collodi got a straight red. Celio Pompeu scored a banger from outside the box, and St. Louis peppered Dallas with 43 shots (43!) with 15 on goal. They had 3.45 xG compared to just .36 against, but Dallas’s backup keeper made 11 saves and prevented 2.42 goals, per FotMob. It’s just been that kind of season for St. Louis.

The State of the USMNT

The USMNT played two friendlies this week against World Cup-level opponents. The first of which led US fans to yet another dreary outlook on the state of the national team. The second lifted our hopes slightly.

USA (#15 World Ranking) 0 - 2 South Korea (#23)

This was our 5th straight loss against an opponent ranked in the top 25 of FIFA World rankings, with the goal margin in those games being 11-1. While the US had nice bouts of possession in the first half, they failed to be clinical in front of the goal. Heung Min Son opened the scoring against his former boss after catching the back line sleeping.

Josh Sargent once again could not transfer his stellar club form over to the national team and failed to make any impact. Sargent had 1 touch in the opposition box and 0 shots on target in 62 minutes. Balogun then came in and had 22 touches in the opposition box and 3 shots on goal. Alex Zendejas created our best chance of the night, one Balogun should’ve put away. Christian Roldan also made a positive impact coming off the bench.

But overall, it was yet another lackluster performance under Pochettino. There was no cohesion in the team. Everything looked broken, and several players looked like they didn’t belong.

After the loss, the USMNT’s Elo Ratings dropped to 1680, the lowest it’s been since 1997. More importantly, the fanbase that just a year ago was ecstatic about Pochettino’s hiring now has no confidence in his ability to lead this team. Look at the lack of US fans at the game. Simon has a good point. It seems our fanbase is uninterested, less than a year out from the biggest competition in our country’s history. That has to change.

USA 2 - 0 Japan (#17)

The US responded to the onslaught of negative press with arguably the best win of the Pochettino era (although that’s not saying much). Pochettino made one big change, moving to a back three centered by Chris Richards. Watch this sequence of possession, and you’ll see that the move seemed to help with our build-out of the back. Alex Zendejas scored a great volley off a superb cross from Max Arfsten for the game’s first goal. The US controlled the game from there.

In the second half, Christian Pulisic played a through ball to Balogun, who found the back post for our second goal. Sergino Dest, Damion Downs, and Jack McGlynn each had tremendous chances that could’ve made this a route. Overall, it was a much better performance that will take some of the heat off this team.

No, I’m still not confident we’re headed in the right direction. But I’m holding out hope. Pochettino needs to be done with the experimentation. Our best players must be playing together as often as possible.

How to Get World Cup Tickets

Get your calendars out, folks. We’re 274 days away from the start of the World Cup, and the process to get tickets starts today. You need the lowdown on how to navigate the madness, so we’ve got you covered. Friend of the newsletter, Kyle Sheldon, wrote a great post detailing everything that we’ll summarize here.

Here are the key dates to know:

• Sept 10-19th (Today!) - Visa Presale Draw Application window opens

• Sept 29th - Visa Presale selection date

• October 1st - First ticket sales begin for those Visa card selections

• October 27th - Non-Visa lottery opens

• December 5th - World Cup Draw (teams/matchups decided)

Phase 1: Visa Presale

If you are a Visa card (credit or debit) holder, first create a FIFA ID account. Go to FIFA, click the person icon in the top right, then Sign up. Then, register your interest for tickets here. The application window for this ends on September 19th. There is no advantage to applying early. If you’re selected, you’ll get a time slot in October to buy tickets.

Phase 2: General Lottery

This process is the same as the Visa presale, but you won’t need to be a Visa cardholder; it’s open to everyone. If selected, the purchase slots will be in November and December.

Phase 3: Post Draw Sales

This will be after the December 5th draw of matchups and locations. It’s another lottery for specific games.

Phase 4: First Come First Serve (Spring 2026)

This is the final chance at purchasing the remaining tickets. There is no lottery, as tickets will go on sale like a normal sporting event.

More Important Details:

• FIFA will use dynamic pricing, with tickets starting as low as $60 for the cheapest group stage games. But that will change based on demand.

• You won’t get to pick your specific seat, but will choose categories (upper deck/lower deck)

• Tickets will be delivered to you on a later date, not immediately after purchase

• Resale is allowed through FIFA’s official platform

We highly recommend snagging tickets as early as possible. Demand will only increase once the casual fans get involved. Hope this is helpful!

Goal of the Week

The assist. The first touch. The call. Beautiful.

Tweet of the Week

Sigh 😒 

Quick Hits

• Luis Suarez suspended 3 games by MLS and 6 games by Leagues Cup (Link)

• USMNT set to take on Portugal in March friendly (Link)

• FC Cincinnati to make Miles Robinson highest highest-paid center back in MLS (Link)

We’re out ✌️ 

Max & Mason