Howdy folks,

A full 1,363 words coming at you. Enjoy, y’all.

• 💭 Decision Day Drama

• 🇺🇸 Yanks Abroad

• 🏆️ Playoff Prediction

• 🤔 MLS Musings

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Meme of the Week

Decision Day Drama

It wasn’t as dramatic a decision day as we’ve had in previous years, but 51 goals were scored across 15 matches. Of the 18 teams in the dance, only 7 have ever lifted an MLS Cup. MLS and AppleTV have dropped the Season Pass requirement to watch playoff matches so if you have AppleTV you can watch for free. Here’s what went down on Decision Day…

FC Dallas secured the 7th seed in the west with their 2-1 win over Vancouver. It was a remarkable run to end the season, losing just once in their last 10 league games, all after letting their best player go. Eric Quill has built a resilient team. Without Peta Musa or Logan Farrington, they went on the road to beat the best in the west, albeit with the Whitecaps going down to 10 men in the 11th minute. Michael Collodi was phenomenal in goal, making a huge save in the second half to preserve the lead.

Orlando City SC fell to the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference after losing to Toronto 4-2. They’ll play Chicago in the wild card game later tonight. The East was brutal this season. Orlando’s 53-point total would have been a 4th seed last season.

The Portland Timbers ended the season winning just 1 of their last 10, including a 4-0 loss on Decision Day to San Diego that saw them slide into the wild card round. Since match day 2, they’ve played 16 playoff teams and have just one win. They’ll play Real Salt Lake tonight to earn a date with San Diego in the next round.

The Columbus Crew beat the NY RedBulls 3-1 to secure the last non play-in spot in the East and book themselves a Hell is Real playoff matchup with FC Cincinnati. They had one of their old Crew-like sequences which Daniel Gazdag finished off to take the lead. This is going to be an incredible first round series 🍿 

Yanks Abroad

A light week for our boys across the pond…

Christian Pulisic suffered a hamstring injury against Australia that will unfortunately keep him out for 3-4 weeks. AC Milan is upset over the decision to play Pulisic in the US friendly. His ankle was supposedly already banged up and needing rest.

Malik Tillman suffered a thigh injury over the international break and will be out for at least 2 weeks.

Chris Richards and Tyler Adams faced off in a draw that ended 3-3. Both Crystal Palace and Bournemouth are having some of the best seasons in their clubs’ history, with Bournemouth currently sitting 3rd in the table and Palace in 8th.

Ricardo Pepi scored a goal and had an assist off the bench against Napoli in PSV’s 6-2 Champions League win.

Folarin Balogun scored a blast from close range in his first game back after scoring during the International break with the US. He came on as a sub in the 62nd minute, and it only took him 10 minutes to find the back of the net for an important equalizer for Monaco.

MLS Awards

Here’s our crack at this season’s MLS Awards. Some picks were easy, others were tough. Feel free to email and rip us a new one if you don’t like them.

MVP: Lionel Messi, Inter Miami

This was one of the easy ones. Lionel Messi capped off one of the greatest seasons in MLS history with a hat-trick and an assist in Miami’s 5-2 win over Nashville. He’s responsible for 28% of all of Nashville’s goals conceded at home this season. He ended the regular season with 29 goals and 19 assists (watch all 29 goals here). The 48 goal contributions are the second most in MLS history behind Carlos Vela’s 49, and are more than 13 MLS teams’ goal tallies this season. He’s also the fastest player in MLS history to reach 50 goals, doing so in just 53 games, 1 less than Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It will likely be close to a unanimous vote and he’ll become the first player ever to win two straight MVPs.

Coach of the Year: Mikey Varas, San Diego FC

This was such a difficult choice between Varas, Vancouver’s Jasper Sorenson, and Philadelphia’s Bradley Carnell. But taking an expansion team to the top of their conference in their first year seals the deal for us. He lost his top goal scorer/forward early on in the season and persisted, grabbing 63 points in the club’s first year, an expansion record. You can make very easy arguments for those other two, however.

Defender of the Year: Jakob Glesnes, Philadelphia Union

Back to his 2022 form after a down year, Glesnes anchored the stingiest defense in MLS (35 goals allowed) while Andre Blake battled injuries. He wins everything in the air, and is the most rock-solid defender in a really good back line.

Goalkeeper of the Year: Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United

Dayne St. Clair was superb this season. He had a 79.9% save percentage and the lowest goals against per 90 for a goalie with more than 30 games played. Minnesota gave up the 3rd fewest goals in MLS, and he was responsible for saving about 10 more goals than expected, which was best in MLS.

Newcomer of the Year: Anders Dreyer, San Diego FC

Maybe the easiest award to give. 19 goals and 19 assists on a brand new expansion team. In most years, he would’ve won MVP. He’s one of the best DP signings of the past 10 years.

Young Player of the Year: Alex Freeman, Orlando City SC

Alex Freeman has been so good that the club has completely changed the way they plays based on his skill set. He’s one of the best attacking defenders in the league, with 6 goals and 4 assists this season. He’ll likely be on the World Cup squad next summer and still has so much room for growth.

More MLS Musings

For many teams, the long offseason has just begun. Here are a few notable tidbits from the league’s bottom dwellers.

Just 10 months after hiring Rony Deila, Atlanta United has relieved him of his duties after the worst season in club history. After splurging over $40M on 3 attacking players, Atlanta United ended with just 5 wins and the league’s 3rd worst goal differential. It’s easily one of the most disappointing seasons in MLS history.

DC United secured the Wooden Spoon (the award for the worst team in MLS) for the second time in four seasons. In the past six seasons, they have not finished higher than 16th place in the Shield rankings. They only scored 30 goals in 34 games this year, while Messi scored 29 in 28 games. Rene Weiler has his work cut out for him, to say the least.

The Colorado Rapids narrowly missed out on the playoffs with their draw to LAFC on decision day. Head Coach Chris Armas, who is out of contract, was asked in the post-game press conference about his tenure with the club and the possibility of coming back. He responded in a snarky and understandably frustrated manner. He’s since apologized to the reporter. We’ll find out soon about changes coming to Colorado.

Goal of the Week

Owen Wolff put together a stellar regular season, leading Austin in goals scored with 7 goals and adding 8 assists in 31 starts. He’s one of the best young attackers in the league.

Meme of the Week

Zaha with yet another dumb move (watch here). He’ll be suspended for Charlotte’s first round one game against NYCFC.

Quick Hits

• US, Mexico, Jamaica, and Costa Rica submit bid to co-host 2031 Women’s World Cup (Link)

• US Soccer proposes big changes for college soccer, including pro/rel (Link)

• Roman Burki signed a contract extension and will be a DP next year (Link)

• Benjamin Cremaschi wins the Golden Boot at the U-20 World Cup (Link)

• La Liga calls off plans to hold Barcelona vs Villarreal game in Miami (Link)

Have a good one folks ✌️ 

Max & Mason