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Ladies and gents,
Hope you’re all well! MLS season is in full gear, and the US has two big friendlies coming up. Let’s get to it.
5️⃣ MLS Match Day 5 Recap
🇺🇸 Yanks Abroad
🔢 MLS Stats to Know
🟡 Nashville SC Surging
⚽️ Goal of the Week
😂 Meme of the Week
Free edition this week. Everyone enjoy!
MLS Match Day 5 Recap
The San Jose Earthquakes picked up a massive 1-0 road win against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Beau Leroux scored an absolute stunner for the game-winner. Road wins are hard to come by. Road wins against one of the league’s best teams are even harder. The Quakes have only conceded one goal all year. They’re good.
FC Cincinnati beat CF Montreal 4-3 in dramatic fashion (full highlights here). Kevin Denkey’s 94th-minute winner secured the win after Cincy were reduced to 10 men following Miles Robinson’s red card. They had trailed on three separate occasions on the day but came back to secure the three points. It’s a massive win for Cincinnati following their big loss to New England last weekend and their last-second defeat against Tigres in the CCC Round of 16.
The Texas Derby was a thriller. FC Dallas ousted Houston 4-3. Logan Farrington had a beautiful touch and finish for the first goal. Dallas went up 2-0 before giving up 3 goals before halftime. Petar Musa came in at halftime and was the difference maker as usual, scoring the game-winner after Houston went down a man. Dallas deserves more attention; they’re playing well with the ball and have an elite game-winner. Don’t underestimate them.
The Colorado Rapids picked up their 3rd win in their last 4, this one a 4-1 road beatdown of Sporting KC. Paxten Aaronson had a brace in his best performance for the Rapids. It’s their 3rd multi-goal game this year; they had just four all of last season. Matt Wells has this team playing really good soccer. Up the Pids!
Charlotte FC set a club record for goals and margin of victory in their 6-1 thumping of the NY Red Bulls. The Crown got contributions from everyone, including a set-piece strike from Pep Biel, a header from Idan Toklomati, a brace from Archie Goodwin, and a long-range bullet from Wilfried Zaha.
After starting the season with two wins, the Red Bulls are winless in 3 straight. Next up are games against Cincinnati and Miami.
Yanks Abroad
Christian Pulisic had an assist in AC Milan’s 3-2 win over Torino. That’s his first goal involvement in his last 11 matches and his 11th goal involvement of the season.
Folarin Balogun scored a PK over the weekend, making that 5 goals in his last 5 league games and 7 goals in his last 7 games overall. He’s one of the most in-form strikers in the world, if not the most in-form at the moment. It’s getting harder to imagine anyone else starting up front for our USMNT.
Ricardo Pepi’s deal is once again in jeopardy. Man, this has been a rollercoaster. Reports over the weekend indicate that the deal has fallen through, even after he completed his medical. The medical does appear to be the issue, per Fulham sources. PSV denies any unknown medical issues and is expected to reapproach the move in the summer. It’s a real bummer for Pepi as he’s pushed for the summer move to join USMNT teammate Antonee Robinson at Fulham.
Malik Tillman scored off the volley for Bayern Leverkusen. He has 5 goals in 21 Bundesliga games this season.
MLS Stats to Know
Here’s some fun stats for ya!
0 - The number of goal contributions Inter Miami have gotten from German Berterame in their 7 games in all comps this season. The $15M striker, who many thought would be a Golden Boot favorite, has been a dud so far.
2 - The number of years Antoine Griezmann has signed for with Orlando City. The deal is finally complete after being back and forth for months. Fabrizio Romano reported that it will be a free transfer from Atletico Madrid, and the French star will join Orlando this summer. My goodness do Orlando need him.
5 - The number of losses the Philadelphia Union have to start the year, the worst ever start by a defending Supporters’ Shield winner. They’re one of two MLS teams, Houston being the other, to concede the opening goal in every game this season. They got knocked out of the CCC by Club America mid-week, so they’ll be able to focus all their attention on league play now.
7 - The number of goal contributions Guilherme has in his first four games for the Houston Dynamo, the most for any player in Club history through four games. His assist on Saturday was one of the better passes you’ll see all year 👇️
39 - The number of minutes James Rodriguez has played for Minnesota United so far. He’s been impactful in his short time, consistently breaking through lines with good passes. Here are his highlights from his limited action.
150 - The number of MLS players called up to their National teams for the March break. This includes senior and youth national teams.
450 - The number of minutes LAFC have gone without conceding a goal to start the season, beating the 2012 Vancouver record for the longest to start a season.
Nashville SC is surging
Nashville SC is the best team in MLS. Their 5-0 ass-whooping of Orlando City confirmed it. Not to mention their triumph over Inter Miami in the Round of 16 Concacaf Champions Cup last week. They're now 3 points atop the Eastern Conference and in the early lead for the Supporters Shield.
With the win over Orlando City, they’ve set the club record for most points (13) and goals scored (13) through the first five games of the season. Sam Surridge had a hat-trick and his 7 goals on the season lead MLS. He’s outscored 12 different MLS teams. Christian Espinoza was dangerous all night down the right flank, making key passes into the final third. He’s been the best signing of the offseason. He’s exactly what this team needed. It’s amazing that his arrival happened because of a paperwork error from San Jose. It’s been reported that they literally forgot to trigger the option for his contract, and so he became a free agent.
Besides a potent attack, Nashville allows the second fewest shots per 90 in the league and has the lowest expected goals allowed per 90. Their defense has been stout.
This team has the star power, adequate depth, and one of the league’s best coaches. It’s all coming together. Go on, ‘Yotes!
Goal of the Week
Against Matt Turner nonetheless 👀 👀 👀
Meme of the Week
Officially, official 😂
Quick Hits
Let’s chat again next week. Give us some feedback below. Please and thank you!
Max & Mason
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