Morning y’all,

It’s Max and Mason reporting for duty as usual. We’ve got over 1,000 words for you today. As always, thanks for reading 🫡 

• 2️⃣ MLS Match Day 2

• 🇺🇸 Yanks Abroad

• 🐍 A Surprising Philadelphia Union Start

• 💭 More MLS Musings

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet of the Week

MLS Match Day 2

The Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas played to a thrilling 3-3 tie. The Rapids got out to a quick 2-0 lead but Dallas swung back to go up 3-2 before conceding the equalizer. Petar Musa had a goal and an assist for the second game in a row and Lucho opened his Dallas account with a nice little give-and-go with Musa. If these two continue to mesh well it might be enough to overcome the defensive deficiencies. Dallas has 4 points through two road games, a point total they’ll be happy with heading into their home opener.

Charlotte FC beat Atlanta United 2-0 in front of 51,002 home fans. New loanee, Wilfried Zaha had a goal and an assist. Atlanta defended him well for the majority of the game, dispossessing him six times, winning 18 of 22 duels, and holding him to just one shot and three touches inside the box. But a player of that quality only needs a moment to change a game. Charlotte is going to be a fun team to watch all year.

Real Salt Lake hasn’t lost a regular season home game against Seattle in 14 years. That streak continued with a 2-0 win on Saturday. Seattle had another uncharacteristic blunder in the back, conceding an own goal in the first 8 minutes. The new star-studded attack failed to produce anything meaningful after looking so good in match day 1 and in the mid-week CCC matchup. They have a packed schedule all season and can’t afford to no-show games like this.

The NY Red Bulls beat Nashville 2-0 in their home opener. Emil Forsberg scored a gorgeous curler for his first of the season. Nashville has yet to score a goal through two games. Our preseason assumptions that this team would struggle seem to be true.

Yanks Abroad

Antonee Robinson and Fulham advanced to the FA Cup quarterfinals after beating Manchester United in PK’s. Robinson’s PK defined composure in a big moment, look at how relaxed this guy is. Complete confidence from the best outside back in the Premier League.

Sergino Dest is expected to return this weekend for PSV after his ACL tear last April. A big player to get back healthy for both PSV and our USMNT.

Ethan Horvath had 7 saves in Cardiff City’s FA Cup 2-0 loss to Aston Villa. He faced 9 shots on goal and was the highest-rated player for Cardiff. This quick reaction save might’ve been his best of the day.

Chris Richards grabbed an assist off a set piece this weekend in Crystal Palace’s FA Cup win. He won 16 duels, had 11 clearances, and had the top Fotmob rating in the game at 8.4. 16 duels won is astonishing, and Richards has cemented himself as the top USMNT center-back at the moment.

Johnny Cardoso just bossed Real Madrid’s midfield and scored his first league goal of the season. He had 7 duels won, 3 clearances, 5 interceptions, 3 tackles, and 1 goal. A defensive center midfield masterpiece that helped get the 2-1 win against Los Blancos. He joined Christian Pulisic as the second American to score against Real Madrid in the last 20 years. And Cardoso landed an 8.3 (per Fotmob), the second-best on the pitch behind his teammate Isco.

A Surprising Union Start

The Philadelphia Union are atop the Shield standings through week two. Not even Doop fans expected this. With a new head coach and several new key players, they’ve begun the Bradley Carnell era with a bang.

They’ve scored 8 goals through two matches to easily beat two of the better teams in the east. The attack is humming right now.

Tai Baribo has five of their eight goals, becoming the 4th player in league history to score five goals through the first two games of a season. It’s clear Carnell believes in Baribo more than the previous skipper Jim Curtain did. He had 16 goals in just over 1,900 minutes in all comps last season and will easily beat that this season if he stays healthy.

Quinn Sullivan is another player who looks like he’s going to have a breakout season. Here is a great breakdown from Matthew Doyle on one of their goals on Saturday that started with Quinn. He’s tied for the league lead in assists with 3 and has some incredible underlying numbers over the past year.

They’ll now go on the road to face a Revolution team still looking for its first win. It may still be too early to tell but if this play continues the Union will prove everyone wrong.

More MLS Musings

A couple more tidbits from week ✌️ 

Inter Miami chose to rest Messi on their road game against Houston. It proved to be the right decision after they easily beat the Dynamo 4-1. But understandably, the fans weren’t happy. When the news came out that Messi wouldn’t play, the Dynamo released a statement that went viral on Twitter. It’s a little odd that a team felt the need to make a statement about something completely out of their control but they’re doing their best to keep their fans happy which you can at least get behind.

Josef Martinez tied Bradley Wright-Phillips for 6th all-time on the MLS scoring list with his 117th goal on Saturday. We’re trying not to overreact to the start from San Jose but WOW it is a night and day difference from last season.

DC United striker Christian Benteke scored the opener against Chicago but then skied a penalty kick in the 85th minute to tie the game. Jacob Murrell saved him with his dramatic 95th-minute bicycle kick equalizer (see below).

Days after signing a contract extension through 2027 Brian White scored the winner against the LA Galaxy. He’s been one of the most underrated players in the league for a while now.

Goal of the Week

🚲️ 🚲️ 🚲️ 🚲️ 

Tweet of the Week

So savage 🤣 

Quick Hits

• 2025 Roster Profiles for every MLS club (Link)

• Serie A in talks to bring regular season matches to the US (Link)

• NYCFC sign Alonso Martinez to a contract extension (Link)

• USMNT international Kevin Paredes is back in training for Wolfsburg (Link)

• Young American players to watch out for on every MLS team (Link)

See you next week :)

Max & Mason