Howdy folks,

The excitement around the World Cup is finally starting to build around our country. I can feel it. What a time to be a footy fan!! Let’s dig in.

• 1️⃣ 2️⃣ MLS Match Day 12 Recap

• 🇺🇸 Yanks Abroad

• 🌎️ World Cup Updates

• 🫤 CCC Disappointment

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Meme of the Week

MLS Match Day 12 Recap

The Houston Dynamo got their biggest win of the season, beating LAFC 4-1 on the road. It’s their fourth win in their last five games. Jack McGlynn put on a show while USMNT assistant coach Jesus Perez was in the crowd watching. He scored a brace, including this worldie first-time banger. He’s making a late push for a spot on next month’s squad, and this is exactly the type of performance that can get him in. LAFC were understandably hungover from their mid-week CCC loss to Toluca. They get a pass for now.

NYCFC finally gets back on track with a 3-0 win over the Columbus Crew. It’s their first league win since March 14th. Hannes Wolf scored his first career MLS hat-trick. These two teams will face off again next week in the US Open Cup quarterfinals.

FC Dallas beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 for a big conference win. Dallas only had 27% of possession, but were potent on counterattacks against a Salt Lake defense that was missing several starters. Dallas’s defense is improving, too. They’re 7th in MLS in expected goals conceded with 13.3.

The NY RedBulls beat the Chicago Fire 3-1 for just their second win of the year. Jorge Ruvalcaba scored a banger to open the scoring as the Fire easily let the RedBulls pass their way into the 18-yard box. You can tell these RedBulls are still figuring themselves out under Michael Bradley, especially given the youth on the field. The Fire laid an egg, and Berhalter wasn’t happy about it, saying afterward, “We have to defend with our lives. We have to defend to make it very difficult for the opponent to score.”

The Portland Timbers smacked Sporting KC 6-0 for their largest margin of victory in club history. Kristoffer Velde opened the scoring in the 6th minute with an absolute GOLAZO, and Portland never looked back. It’s an awesome “get right” win for them, but don’t read too much into it, Timbers fans. At this point, playing KC is the equivalent of free points. They’re that bad. They’re allowed 32 goals in 11 games and are on pace to concede 97 goals, which would shatter San Jose’s record of 78 from 2024. Their expected goal difference is -20.4, dead last in MLS; the next closest team is Orlando at -12.9. They’ve hit rock bottom, and the Wooden Spoon is all but a guarantee.

The New England Revolution keep finding ways to win late. Luca Langoni scored a beautiful curler to tie the game. He’s really come into form under Marko Mitrovic. Then, for the second straight week, Carles Gil scored the winner to extend the Revs’ unbeaten streak to seven games. The 2-1 win over Philadelphia keeps their club record 6-game win streak to start the season alive. All of a sudden, they're in second place in the East. Next up is a top-of-the-table clash with Nashville. Go on, Revs!

Yanks Abroad

Johnny Cardoso will miss the World Cup after suffering a right ankle injury in training that requires surgery. It’s an absolutely devastating loss for a player who was likely going to be on the World Cup squad. Our hearts break for Johnny 💔 

Gio Reyna scored his first goal for Borussia Mönchengladbach in their 3-1 loss to Augsburg. In 32 minutes, he created 6 chances, won 3 duels, and had 2 successful dribbles. A really good half hour for our most creative midfielder, who is fighting for a spot next month.

Christian Pulisic hasn’t scored for AC Milan since the final game of 2025, and now he has a muscle injury. Ugh (thankfully, it doesn’t seem serious). He has zero goals and one assist in 17 Serie A matches this year. It’s the longest goal drought of his club career. He also hasn’t scored for the USMNT since November of 2024. Captain America donned the cover of TIME Magazine last week, but his form is not where we want it to be heading into the big dance.

Alejandro Zendejas scored a brace and grabbed an assist in Club America’s wild 3-3 draw against Pumas in the Liga MX semifinals. He’s doing everything he can to impress Pochettino. Unfortunately, the one-man Zendejas show wasn’t enough as Pumas advanced on aggregate score.

Ricardo Pepi scored another header, this time assisted by USMNT teammate Sergino Dest. He has 5 goals in his last 4 games for PSV and has been a monster in the air lately.

World Cup Updates

Folks, we’re 30 days away from the World Cup. Here are a couple of updates for you. Each week, we’ll be giving you more.

Tickets

Unsurprisingly, the ticketing process is still a shit show. Nobody really knows what’s going on. Due to high prices, thousands of tickets still remain unsold. FIFA had its second unexpected “last-minute” sales window on May 7th, where fans, including myself, waited for hours in line, only to see outrageous prices and a glitchy website. On secondary markets, prices have started to decrease. As of Monday, the average price of a group stage game decreased by 22% over the last 30 days, according to TicketData. Some are predicting a large drop similar to what happened last summer at the Club World Cup. Regardless, expect the get-in price to remain in the low hundreds of dollars for most games.

Now, there are reports that FIFA has failed to pay some resellers thousands of dollars after tickets were sold through FIFA’s resale platform. 🙄 

Ads

Yes, World Cup ads! Brands are starting to release their big World Cup commercials, and they're fun to watch. Here are some notable ones so far:

Fox Sports “Do you Believe” - Starring Christian Pulisic and other USMNT stars beating Brazil in the World Cup final 😏 

Michelob Ultra’s ad ‘One Lobby. Too Many Legends’ featuring Messi and Pulisic, among others.

Brahma, the national beer of Brazil, released a fun ad with Ronaldo.

Adidas released a short film called Backyard Legends with some big-time celebrities.

CCC Disappointment

Both LAFC and Nashville were bounced from the Concacaf Champions Cup last week. Nashville lost 1-0 to Tigres (2-0 aggregate), and LAFC got pummeled by Toluca 4-0 (5-2 on aggregate).

Once again, the depth of MLS squads was put to the test, and it failed against some of the better teams on the continent. The reality is, these LigaMX teams each have 5-7 DP-quality players because their league allows them to spend on them. If MLS is ever to achieve its goal of being one of the best in the world, it will have to loosen its spending restrictions.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been improvement. An MLS team has been a CCC finalist in 5 of the last 7 years and 8 times over the last 25 years. The league has also won 3 of the 7 Campeones Cups and all the Leagues Cup, albeit not as prestigious of a tournament.

Improvement is there, but it’s incremental and slow. Last week’s results were more proof. I hope the league finally lets owners open their wallets. It’s the only way forward.

Goal of the Week

That’ll do.

Meme of the Week

PSA!

Quick Hits

• HBO debuts new USMNT documentary ‘U.S. Against the World’ (Link)

• MLS player salaries revealed (Link)

• Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center Unveiled (Link)

• FIFA is set to pay clubs $11k per day for every player released for the World Cup (Link)

• Soccer participation in the US reaches a record high (Link)

• Loving this Graham Zusi Ask Me Anything (Link)

Thanks for reading, everyone! Give us some feedback below if you can. Much love 🫶 

Max & Mason