Morning folks,

Another Wednesday means your favorite brothers in your inbox with the weeks footy updates. In we go…

• 1️⃣ MLS Playoffs Round 1 Recap

• 🇺🇸 Yanks Abroad

• 🤯 Game of the Year

• 🇺🇸 USMNT November Roster

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet of the Week

MLS Playoffs Round 1 Recap

NYCFC beat Charlotte FC 3-1 on the road to punch their ticket into the Conference Semifinal. It was their new DP, Nico Fernandez, who scored a brace that included this wonderful solo goal. Charlotte actually outplayed NYCFC but conceded all 3 goals off poor transition defense after their own set pieces. Charlotte, who had more wins at home than any other team this season (13), lost both home games in this series. NYCFC will play the Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Messi show continued as Inter Miami easily took care of business with their 4-0 win over Nashville to book a spot in their first-ever Conference Semifinal. No Suarez, no problem. Messi had a brace and an assist (his 400th career assist) to go along with Taleo Allende’s brace. Messi had 5 of Miami’s 8 goals in this series. Part of me still can’t believe he’s playing in our league.

FC Cincinnati defeated their bitter rivals 2-1 behind a brace from Brenner. After his game-winner, he proceeded to completely undress (see below) in a celebration that warranted a yellow 🤣. Cincinnati gets revenge for the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals. And now they host an Inter Miami side that they beat 3-0 in July. This one will be fun.

San Diego FC disposed of the Portland Timbers with their emphatic 4-0 win. They were far and away the better team, just as they showed all season. Amahl Pelligrino and Anders Dreyer each scored a brace. Portland had no answer for Dreyer, who had 3 goals and 2 assists in this series. Pelligrino’s second goal was a perfect example of how good this team is at playing through a high press and turning it into a quick counterattack. San Diego will face Minnesota United, who beat them 3-1 earlier this season.

Yanks Abroad

A quieter week for the fellas abroad as the international window gets started.

After receiving the Champions League Man of the Match with his goal last week, Folarin Balogun won and scored a penalty, then was red-carded 8 minutes later in Monaco’s 4-1 loss. It’s his 3rd goal in his last 4 games for Monaco.

Aidan Morris grabbed an assist in Middlesbrough's 2-1 win over Birmingham City.

Patrick Agyemang got up to score a big header for Derby County. His manager praised his development and adaptation to the Championship after the game.

Game of the Year

Minnesota United and the Seattle Sounders played in the most entertaining game of the year. Stop what you’re doing and watch the full game highlights if you haven’t already. It included a comeback, a red card, a 10-round shootout, and some goalie drama. A little bit of everything.

The Loons ended up prevailing in an incredibly resilient performance. Here’s how it went down…

• Seattle jumped to an early 2-0 lead 8 minutes into the game with goals from Albert Rusnak and Danny Musovski. And like that, it looked like it might get ugly.

• Joaquin Pereyra scored a remarkable free kick for the Loons in the 19th minute to stay in the game.

• Minnesota’s Joseph Rosales got a very stupid straight red card in the 41st minute.

• In typical Minnesota United fashion, Jefferson Diaz scores off a throw-in to tie the game in the 62nd minute.

• And then Minnesota takes the lead off another set piece goal!! This one off the head of Anthony Markanich.

• Seattle, fighting for their lives and up a man, find the equalizer from Jordan Morris equalizes to level it 3-3 in the 88th minute.

• In the 89th minute, Seattle subbed out Stefan Frei for Andrew Thomas in preparation for penalty kicks.

• The game goes to penalties, and in the first kick, Andrew Thomas dislocates his finger, has the trainers wrap it up, goes on to save two penalties, and then misses the final kick. Watch the shootout below. It was marvelous.

In the series, Minnesota was outscored 7-5 on aggregate, lost the expected goal battle 7.21 to 2.89, and created 7 big chances compared to 12 from Seattle. But Loons fans won’t care. It’s how they’ve done it all year. They just find a way to win.

Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer said, “This is the toughest loss I’ve experienced at this club.” That’s gut-wrenching from a guy who’s lost two MLS Cups. It’s just the third time in their 17-year history that they’ve failed to reach the Western Conference Semifinals. Seattle will be back, we know that.

Hats off to Minnesota. What a gutsy performance.

USMNT Roster

Mauricio Pochettino released the roster for our November International window friendlies against Paraguay on Saturday, November 15th in Philadelphia and Uruguay on Tuesday, November 18th in Tampa Bay.

Gio Reyna, Joe Scally, and Ricardo Pepi are all back in the mix. Pepi’s last cap came nearly a year ago in November 2024, while Reyna and Scally haven’t suited up since Nations League play in March. There’s loads of pundit controversy around Gio’s call-up as he hasn’t featured much for any club in over a year, and yet, something about testing Gio feels like the right move. He’s a talented player with top-level experience that can change a game in an instant, and we don’t have many of those.

Christian Pulisic, Chris Richards, Weston McKennie, and Matt Turner were all left off the roster. Their club’s pulling back and wanting to keep players healthy definitely plays into some of these, but Matt Turner seems to be on the outside looking in now. Tyler Adams and Sean Zawadzki have been withdrawn due to injury and replaced by LAFC’s Timothy Tillman.

Both Paraguay (#39 World Ranking) and Uruguay (#15) have already qualified for the World Cup so this will be a fantastic barometer for us in our second to last camp before the big tournament.

Goal of the Week

What did I just watch?!?!

Tweet of the Week

Very on brand for Brenner 😂 

Quick Hits

• NWSL is awarding Atlanta its 17th franchise for a $165M expansion fee (Link)

• Cavan Sullivan scores a cheeky panenka in the U17 World Cup (Link)

• Philadelphia Union finalizing club-record deal for forward Ezekiel Brommapojkarna (Link)

• Bradley Carnell wins Coach of the Year (Link)

• Wilfried Nancy emerges as a candidate for Celtic (Link)

This took us 7 hours to produce. Please give us some feedback below so we can improve for you. Thanks!

Max & Mason