What’s up footy fans,

Copa America kicks off tomorrow and we’re doing a bracket with ya’ll. Like a March Madness bracket but for Copa America. You get it. So go here, click start now, fill out your bracket, and then create an account so it saves. It takes 30 seconds.

We’ll shout out the winner in the newsletter after the tourney. Woop, woop!

• ⏯️ Match Day 20 Recap

• 🇺🇸 Copa America Preview

• 🔢 MLS Analytics Report

• 🌄 Real Salt Lake’s Rise

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet of the Week

Match Day 20 Recap

The Crew Rebound After CCC

The Crew beat NYCFC 3-2 on Friday night in the Bronx to get their fourth straight road win. NYCFC struck first but Mitja Ilenic’s red card in the 38th minute proved too difficult to overcome. Despite the loss, I was impressed with how well New York looked, especially given they were down a man most of the game.

With CCC behind them, expect the Crew to be right there in the Shield race. They have at least two games in hand on the five teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference.

Another Home Loss for The Union

What an appalling loss for the Union. At home, against a Miami team without Messi, Suarez, and Matias Rojas. And a Miami team that got two red cards!! And yet Philly gives up a stoppage-time winner. After only losing one regular season game at home in the previous two seasons, the Union are a 1-5-3 at home this year 🤮 

The 15th pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft assisted the 32nd pick to get the game-winner. If these youngins keep playing well while the stars are on international duty, Miami will be just fine.

The Fire are on… Fire

Chicago are unbeaten in their last 4 and are only 2 points outside the playoff line. They cruised to a 4-1 win over Toronto and are playing much better without Xherdan Shaqiri. Speaking of which, is he the worst DP signing in MLS history? Gotta be up there. He’s said he wants a return to Europe and the Club want the same. It was a marriage that never really worked and needs to end soon.

Los Angeles, the Best Footballing City in America

Both LA teams are good. Like really good. And so fun to watch. LAFC have won 6 straight and are a point behind RSL with a game in hand. They should be the favorites to win the West. Bouanga had a brace and now has 12 goals and 6 assists on the year.

Gabriel Pec had a goal and two assists (one, two) to beat Sporting KC 4-2 and keep the Galaxy undefeated at home. This attack is just too powerful. The pace of Pec and Paintsil on the wings is giving every opposing squad fits. They are absolutely in this Supporter’s Shield race.

Copa America Preview

After an amazing bounce-back performance against Brazil, our hopes of making it deep into Copa America have returned:) Here’s a quick recap of the 1-1 friendly vs Brazil:

• This buildup out of the back was one of the best I’ve seen from our team

• Pulisic slots free-kick goal against the World’s top GK

• Matt Turner redeemed himself with an 11-save performance.

• Joe Scally held his own against Vinicius Jr

• And Tim Ream looked comfortable on the ball again.

Now on to the games that matter. Copa America kicks off on Thursday with Argentina vs Canada at 8pm EST. Again, go fill out a bracket here. It takes 30 seconds. 

Let’s take a look at the final 26-man US squad by the numbers:

3 - The number of MLS players on the squad (Miles Robinson, Sean Johnson, and Shaq Moore)

3 - The number of players with more than 50 caps (Tim Ream, Weston McKennie, and Christian Pulisic). Youth movement coming through!

5 - The USMNT have the 5th best odds to win the tournament behind Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Colombia

9 - Gregg Berhalter ($2.2) is the 9th highest paid coach in Copa America.

15 - The number of US players playing in Europe’s Top 5 Leagues. Canada is the next closest Concacaf nation with 7.

23 - The number of European based players on the US squad. Only Argentina (24) has more. Brazil is third with 22.

Here are the US group stage opponents with their world ranking:

• 🇧🇴 Bolivia (#85) - Sunday, June 23rd at 6pm EST at AT&T Stadium

• 🇵🇦 Panama (#45) - Thursday, June 27th at 6pm EST at Mercedes Benz Stadium

• 🇺🇾 Uruguay (#15) - Monday, July 1st at 9pm EST at Arrowhead Stadium

MLS Analytics Report

The folks at American Soccer Analysis put together their second annual State of MLS Analytics and once again it’s full of good stuff. They polled 24 MLS clubs that have at least one staff member in the analytics department and asked a variety of questions.

It’s impossible to determine how well these teams use analytics to actually gain an advantage but it’s still interesting to see which teams are trying. I thought the biggest surprise is how poorly advanced teams view the Galaxy. You’d think a big market club like them would be putting a lot of resources behind this.

Real Salt Lake’s Rise

When the season began, most ‘experts’ had RSL ending in the middle of the Western Conference. So what is going so well for them?

We all know about MVP frontrunner Chicho Arango. He’s having one of the best first half of a season in MLS history. 16 goals and 9 assists in 18 matches…INSANE.

Without a real #10, Emeki Eneli and Braian Ojeda have stepped up to help control the midfield. They’ve done a really good job, but RSL still need a #10. Chicho is having to drop deeper at times to play make and our heads are spinning at what RSL and Chicho would do with a proper #10.

Looking at stats, RSL is outperforming in expected goals for and goals against by a lot. 36 goals for and 19 goals against, while statistically they were expected to score 29 and allow 22. Their expected goal difference is 7, while their actual goal difference is 17! Maybe a bit of luck involved but they are definitely outperforming expectations.

It would be crazy to see them continue this pace, so expect to see that goal difference drop in the second half of the season.

Goal of the Week

🫣 

Tweet of the Week

HAHAHAH

Quick Hits

• Weston McKennie stars in hilarious Truly commercial (Link)

• USMNT assistant BJ Callaghan is the favorite to be Nashville SC’s head coach (Link)

• Houston Dynamo sign Argentine forward Ezequiel Ponce to a record deal (Link)

• Giorgos Giakoumakis officially transfer to Cruz Azul (Link)

• Antonee Robinson named Fulham’s Player of the Year (Link)

• Feyeenord is finalizing a deal to sign Union forward Julian Carranza (Link)

Alright now get off your email and go watch soccer.