Good morning my fellow footy friends,

Our lord and savior Mauricio Pochettino has officially been announced as head coach of the USMNT. New beginnings are upon us. And we’re freaking FIRED UP about it. LFG!!

• ⏯️ Match Day 31 Recap

• 🇺🇸 USMNT Friendlies

• 💰️ Does spending = winning?

• 🎲 Trivia Question

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Meme of the Week

Match Day 31 Recap

Seattle Sounders 4 - 0 Columbus Crew

Not the scoreline you were expecting huh? This was a wild one. The Crew came into the match with only one keeper on the game-day roster — Abraham Romero. First choices Schulte and Hagen were both on international duty. Two keepers from their Next Pro team, Lapkes and Johnson, had each been called up their max 4 times. So the Crew requested an emergency consideration from the league but were denied.

When Romero got a red card in first-half stoppage time midfielder Sean Zawadzki was forced to play goalie. And with that, the Supporters Shield race was finalized. The Crew had to win out to challenge Miami. The league probably regrets denying them a keeper as it would have kept the Shield race going.

Sporting KC 1 - 1 NY Red Bulls

The Red Bulls didn’t take full advantage of a nearly dead Sporting KC team at home. 16 year-old Julian Halls equalizer in the 89th minute saved the point. The Red Bulls just have 2 wins in their last 12 games but are still holding on to the the final home playoff spot in the East.

I’m not sure what else to say about Sporting KC. It hasn’t been their year.

DC United 2 - 1 Chicago Fire

Christian Benteke scored his 18th and league-leading goal of the season. DC have won 4 out of their last 5 in MLS play and have inched themselves past Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the East.

The Fire have not made the playoffs since 2017 and it’s very unlikely that will change.

New England Revolution 2 - 2 St. Louis City SC

Two bottom-of-the-table teams scrapping for points. Luca Langoni scored his second goal in three games since joining the Revs and Henry Kessler scored against his old team.

Caleb Porter was HEATED after the game because of a potential penalty that was not called even after a VAR review. The Revs are the only team in MLS not to receive a penalty call this year. Porter has been fined $20k and suspended one game for these comments.

USMNT September Friendlies

Mauricio Pochettino was officially announced as head coach. He’s inheriting a team that just had one of its worst summers ever and desperately needs direction. He’s got his work cut out for him. A full-on culture change is needed.

Canada 2 - 1 USA

The USMNT lost to Canada on home soil for the first time since 1957. The summer of lackluster performances continued. Johnny Cardoso and Tim Ream coughed up easy turnovers that led to both goals. Canada had 31 tackles to the US’s 12. The -19 difference was the worst for the US in 67 games, showing we lacked any mentality. Patrick Schulte was the only bright spot on the day, making a few incredible saves that kept this one close. He’s making his case to be the #1 option for the future.

Luca de la Torre’s first goal for his country gave life to the US in the second half but it was too little too late. We were outplayed by Canada throughout.

New Zealand 1 - 1 USA

After getting criticism for their mentality and work ethic the guys responded with more energy. But we still lacked any direction in the attack. The killer pass in the final third was rarely there. Marlon Fossey got the start at right back and provided good runs down the line. Aidan Morris was another bright spot. He’s provided such good depth at the #6 spot. Pulisic gave us the lead only for us to let in unlucky goal and end in a tie.

A very disappointing September window ends with hopes for a bright future. Center stage is all yours, Poch.

Does Spending = Winning?

Like any league in the world, there are teams that have money and teams that don’t. Fans of the latter tend to get annoyed when those big-spending teams win.

But the reality is, that spending doesn’t always lead to winning.

Here are the top 10 teams in total guaranteed salary for 2024 and their current Supporters Shield standings.

1. Inter Miami ($41.68M) - 1st in Shield Race

2. Toronto FC ($31.41M) - 19th

3. Chicago Fire ($25.13M) - 27th

4. Nashville SC ($21.4M) - 28th

5. FC Cincinnati ($18.71M) - 3rd

6. Austin FC ($18.41M) - 18th

7. New England Revolution ($18.32M) - 25th

8. LA Galaxy ($17.93M) - 2nd

9. NY Red Bulls ($17.11M) - 9th

10. Houston Dynamo ($16.77M) - 11th

Conclusion? It’s all about how you spend. There are the good spenders — Cincinnati. And there are the bad spenders — Chicago Fire (cough cough Shaqiri).

It’s also possible to spend very little like the Crew (21st in spending) and Real Salt Lake (27th) and still perform well. Hopefully, as MLS continues to loosen it's spending rules and the money keeps flowing into the league, teams will be able to spend much more, even the small market ones.

Trivia

A little trivia for you. Have at it!

Goal of the Week

That’ll do.

Meme of the Week

It all happened so fast.

Quick Hits

• NYCFC reveals new badge (Link)

• Portland Timbers reject $9M bid for Evander from Qatari club (Link)

• Inter Miami release details of their new stadium (Link)

• Colorado Rapids sign Reggie Cannon (Link)

Let us know below how you liked this week’s edition. We appreciate your feedback!

-Max & Mason