Hey friends,

Hope everyone’s enjoying their summer. A full 1,384 words coming at you. Buckle up.

• 📰 MLS Match Day 20 & 21 Recap

• 🇺🇸 Gold Cup Update

• 😮‍💨 Inter Miami Exit

• 🌎️ Club World Cup Upsets

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Meme of the Week

MLS Match Day 20 & 21 Recap

San Diego FC has won four straight and has only one loss in its last 10 games. They started last week by beating the Whitecaps 5-3 to overtake the top spot in the west. New signing Milan Iloski scored four goals in 12 minutes. Then they beat Dallas 3-2 with goals from Anders Dreyer and Chucky Lozano. While most teams struggle to hit on their DP signings, San Diego has absolutely nailed both of theirs, and it’s led them four points clear atop the West. What a remarkable inaugural season.

FC Cincinnati won both their road games last week, fueled by a brace from Evander in each game. His best goal of the week was this free kick that he snuck into the near post. He’s now the only player in MLS to register 25 goals and 25 assists since the start of the 2024 season. He’s my pick for MVP if the season ended today. Cincinnati’s next three are against Chicago, Columbus, and Miami, all at home. This three-game stretch may make or break their Shield aspirations.

The New England Revolution came back from 3 goals down to salvage a point against Colorado. The Rapids have no one to blame but themselves; this was a disgraceful result, albeit without their three best players. Carles Gil was phenomenal in this one, contributing to all the goals. The Revs only took one point from their three-game home stand and now will have three of the next four on the road.

Minnesota United snatched 4 points from the week. A 3-1 win over Houston and a 2-2 draw at the New York Red Bulls. Do yourself a favor and watch this assist from Julian Gressel. They should’ve beaten the Red Bulls, but Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting found the equalizer in the 90th minute. This season, from the 75th minute onwards, the Loons have a -5 goal differential. If they want to truly be one of the MLS elites they have to learn how to finish games. As for the Red Bulls, Sandro Schwarz will miss the next game after he got a red card for running at the referee after he ended the game as the Red Bulls were springing on a counter-attack. I’d be kind of pissed too.

Gold Cup Update

It’s been a fun tournament full of upsets and epic games. Let’s start with the 106th-ranked team in the world, Guatemala.

They pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Gold Cup history, beating Canada (#30 World ranking) in penalties. Jacob Schaffelburg’s red card put Canada down a man with a whole half before Guatemala found an equalizer and then won in a dramatic penalty shootout. For the first time since 1996, they’ll return to the Gold Cup semifinal. And this time they’ll face yours truly.

The USMNT advanced to the Gold Cup semifinal in a wild penalty shootout win over Costa Rica. Phew, this one was a nail-biter. Here’s how it went down…

Max Arfsten gave up an early penalty that Costa Rica slotted home. The US settled in and controlled most of the ball before Malik Tillman was fouled in the box, and a penalty was awarded. Tillman proceeded to miss the PK, but Diego Luna scored his first USMNT goal shortly after. Don’t let his missed penalty fool you, Malik Tillman was easily the best player on the field. The US dominated the first part of the second half, consistently threatening with dangerous attacks but failing to put the game away with a third goal. Then, in the 71st minute, Alonso Martinez scored the equalizer against his club teammate. 15 minutes later, Martinez was an inch away from putting home the winner. And so we go to PKs.

There was no one better to have in goal than the man who says, “Penalties are my thing.” Yes, they are, Matt, yes, they are. Freese saved not one, not two, but three penalties in the shootout. A massive performance after his error in the last game. Matty Ice showed up when it mattered most and continued his penalty kick dominance, telling reporters after the game, "I actually did a very long research project in college about penalty kicks…to be able to rely on that type of thing and deal with a lot of statistics and stuff like that, read the game, read their hips, and things like that, is massive." Freese’s heroics saved us from another disaster early exit and a week full of media backlash directed at Pochettino. And for that, I’m thankful.

We take on Guatemala tonight (Wednesday) at 7 pm EST at Energizer Park in St. Louis with a chance to book another trip to the Gold Cup final.

Inter Miami Exit

Inter Miami’s tournament came to an end at the hands of arguably the world’s best soccer team. PSG will advance to face Bayern Munich after their 4-0 win.

Miami gave up the first goal in the 6th minute off a set piece. Joao Neves was left unmarked at the back post and headed home an easy one. If Miami were to ever have a chance, you simply can’t let a 5’9” player score an unmarked header off a set piece in the first 10 minutes. The game unraveled from there. PSG scored two more before half and Tomas Aviles conceded an own goal (goal highlights below).

This is a PSG team that beat Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League Final and Atletico Madrid 4-0 just days earlier. Miami winning would have been a miracle. We all knew this was the likely outcome.

While this tournament is proof that MLS is still far off from the world’s best teams, it shows we’ve made progress. The Sounders lost respectable games, and Miami beat FC Porto. This is progress, folks. Sure, it’s not what we want. And yes, the league may not be improving at the pace we’d all like. But this takes time.

I’m looking forward to watching MLS teams in future Club World Cups. This tournament has been incredibly fun to watch.

Club World Cup Double Upset

Inter Milan and Manchester City walked into the Club World Cup like giants, and Fluminense and Al Hilal handed them their boots on the way out.

Brazilian side Fluminense sent Champions League Finalists Inter Milan packing with a 2-0 win. Fluminese sat deep, stayed incredibly disciplined in the defensive half, and defended like their lives depended on it. Inter had chances but wasted every look they got. Fluminense’s 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio turned into prime Buffon down the stretch, making big save after big save. Credit to Renato Gaucho, a tactical masterclass by the Fluminense manager. The scenes after Fluminense scored the second goal in stoppage time were insane. Look at what it means to these players and fans.

In the battle of big oil money, Al Hilal pulled off one of the biggest shocks in recent memory, beating Manchester City 4-3 in extra time. Here’s an awesome thread summarizing the whole game with video.

The game was largely controlled by City, but they looked like a team trying to pass the ball into the net rather than score at any time. They weren’t clinical, and Al Hilal was ruthless in the final third, converting 4 out of the 6 shots on goal. Al Hilal Goalie Bono played out of his mind, making 10 saves, including this beauty.

Goal of the Week

About as good of a solo goal as you’ll see.

Meme of the Week

That’s too good 😂 

Quick Hits

• The most Concacaf video you’ll ever see (Link)

• 2025 MLS All-Star roster (Link)

• LAFC and Olivier Giroud mutually agree to part ways (Link)

• Malik Tillman bought by Bayern Leverkusen for €35/40 million (Link)

• Tim Weah rejected a move to EPL side Nottingham Forrest (Link)

• Toronto FC terminates contracts of Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi (Link)

• Jimmy Haslem sells 10% stake in Columbus Crew, valuing the club at $900M (Link)

We’ll be back in your inbox next week. Thank you all!

Max & Mason