Morning y’all,

MLS All-Star game is tonight, the Olympics start today, and League’s Cup starts on Friday. A ton to cover as usual. Let’s get to it…

• ⏯️ Match Day 27 & 28 Recap

• 🏆️ League’s Cup Preview

• 😞 Sophomore Slump in St. Louis

• 💰️ New Roster Rules

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Meme of the Week

Match Day 27 & 28 Recap

The parity in MLS is insane. It’s what makes this league so fun to watch.

Philly Home Win??

Philly got their first win in 10 games and their first win at home since March 30th after scoring 8 goals last week and beating New England and Nashville. They’ve now scored 15 goals from set pieces this season, the most in MLS.

Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player in Major American Professional Sports History to debut at 14 years 293 days old. The future Man City player broke Freddy Adu’s 20-year record. Let’s hope all the pressure and hype isn’t too much to live up to like it was for Freddy.

Red Bulls Big Win

The NY Red Bulls beat FC Cincinnati 3-1 on Saturday night to get their second win over the Gary’s this season. They’re firmly the 4th best team in the Eastern Conference and will try to add more ammunition this transfer window. With one open DP spot, expect them to spend on a #9 to upgrade over Dante Vanzeir. Memphis Depay rumors have started again after the striker followed the Red Bulls on Instagram 👀 

After destroying Miami 6-1, Cincinnati has lost 3 straight, two of which were at home. The attrition in the backline has proved too much. However, with the League’s Cup break that’s the last MLS game they’ll play without Miles Robinson.

Rocky Mountain Cup

The Rapids beat Salt Lake 3-2 with a late penalty from Cole Basset to take their first Rocky Mountain Cup since 2020. While they’re not a Shield Contender they’ve claimed the #4 spot in the West as theirs. Just look at how much this meant to Chris Armas.

Real Salt Lake are still three points ahead and have a game in hand. But they’re winless on their 3 game road trip against top Western Conference squads (Portland, LAFC, & Colorado). They’ve been able to handle their business against bottom-table teams but still need to prove that they can consistently beat the others at the top. Getting Chicho back will be paramount to that effort.

League’s Cup Preview

The second annual League’s Cup kicks off on Friday. Every team from MLS and Liga MX will face off over the next month to crown a winner of North America’s two premier soccer leagues.

47 teams will compete (18 from Liga MX & 29 from MLS). 45 of those teams are divided into 15 groups of 3 for the group stage. As their respective league winners, Columbus Crew and Club America automatically advance to the round of 32. The top 3 finishers of the tournament will qualify for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup.

There are no ties in the group stage. If teams are tied after 90 minutes, each team will receive a point but they’ll have a penalty shootout where the winner gets an additional point. Any regulation win is 3 points.

Here are a few of the premier matchups we’ll see over the next few weeks:

• LAFC vs Tijuana on July 26th at BMO Stadium in LA

• Tigres vs Inter Miami on August 3rd at NRG Stadium in Houston

• Monterrey vs Pumas on August 4th at Q2 Stadium in Austin

• Chivas Guadalajara vs LA Galaxy on August 4th at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA

Player to Watch: Cade Cowell. The USMNT youngster has 3 goals and an assist in his first 3 games with Chivas Guadalajara including this BANGER from the weekend. It looks like he took the Olympic snub personally.

Sophomore Slump

After becoming the first expansion team in history to win a conference regular season title, St. Louis SC is currently sitting at 13th in the West. It’s been a brutal sophomore year. So what’s gone wrong? A lot…

Last season they were third in MLS with 1.74 goals per 90 min. This year they’re at 1.28. A dull, lifeless attack that lacks any purpose has turned this team from one of the most watchable to least watchable very quickly.

Their expected goal differential is -4.4, while their actual goal differential is -14. A bit unlucky and you can’t blame goalkeeping here. They’ve yet to win a single game on the road after winning 6 last year. Good teams usually grind out results on the road. Not them.

Injuries are another big piece. Joao Klauss never seems to be available and has just 10 goals in his last 33 appearances across all comps. Not acceptable for your DP #9. Eduard Lowen also missed multiple weeks and Celio Pompeu is out for the year with a gruesome leg injury.

They’ll need to reconstruct this roster from the ground up and find a head coach that can develop an identity. The lone bright spot is their fans who’ve been loyal throughout the tough season — CITYPARK is still rocking every game day. Keep at it, Louligans.

Team Building Rule Change

Fans have been clamoring for MLS to loosen up their roster restrictions so teams can spend more to bring in better talent. And they’ve listened. MLS announced 3 major rule changes, designed to improve and grow teams’ abilities to get top talent.

1. Six Prime Roster Spots: Clubs can fully utilize three Designated Player(DP) and three U22 Initiative Player slots, enhancing their ability to sign and retain top talent.

2. Roster Construction Flexibility: Teams can choose between two models:

   • Designated Player Model: Up to three DP and three U22 slots.

   • U22 Initiative Player Model: Up to two DP slots, four U22 slots, and up to $2 million in additional General Allocation Money (GAM).

3. Increased Allocation Money from Transfers: Clubs can now convert up to $3 million of transfer revenues into GAM, up from the previous limit of $1,215,506 per transfer.

Expect the MLS to continue making slight changes in the next 2 years as the World Cup approaches.

Goal of the Week

😮‍💨 

Meme of the Week

“Am I keeping you from your job?” 😂 

Quick Hits

• Ex-NYFC coach Patrick Viera contacted for the USMNT job (Link)

• EPL side Brighton is closing in on signing Diego Gomez from Inter Miami (Link)

• San Diego FC sign North Irish CB Paddy Mcnair (Link)

• Tyler Adams will miss the start of the EPL season after back surgery (Link)

• Atlanta transfers Caleb Wiley to Chelsea FC (Link)

• Barcelona sign Mamadou Fall from LAFC for $4M (Link)

• USMNT will play Mexico in Guadalajara in October (Link)

That’s all for now. Have a great week!