Happy hump day folks,

A bunch of MLS news to get to. Let’s dive right in.

• 2️⃣ 4️⃣ MLS Match Day 24 Update

• 🇺🇸 Gio Reyna Finds a New Home

• 🏆️ MVP Race

• ➡️ Mid-Summer MLS Moves

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet of the Week

MLS Match Day 24 Recap

Charlotte FC captured 6 points from the week, including a 3-2 road win over Atlanta United. Pep Biel was the orchestrator in this one, scoring once and assisting twice, including one to Wilfried Zaha. That’s Charlotte’s third straight win, and now they get Toronto at home. Save for a collapse, they should absolutely be in the playoffs. As for Atlanta, they're winless in their last 7 and don’t seem to have any answers. Here’s an example of how clueless the attack has been.

El Trafico went as El Trafico goes; a full 97-minute affair filled with fights and plenty of goals. The Galaxy came back twice, down 2-0 and 3-1, to tie the game with a stoppage-time header from Maya Yoshida. Gabriel Pec and Denis Bouanga both had a brace, and Eddie Segura got a straight red in the 91st minute after a big scrum broke out. Here’s a wild photo of Segura choking Diego Fagundez. We got everything we asked for out of this rivalry.

FC Dallas ended their 5-game winless skid with a 3-0 victory over St. Louis City. Petar Musa had an assist and a brace and now has the most goals (27) in FC Dallas history for a player in his first two seasons. Lucho Acosta missed the game for personal reasons. We don’t know what’s going on there 🤔.

The Seattle Sounders beat San Jose 3-2 behind Pedro de la Vega’s best performance in a Seattle jersey. For the first time, Brian Schmetzer lined him up on the left wing, his natural position, and it resulted in a goal and an assist. But Seattle lost Jordan Morris in the first half, and he’ll need surgery on his AC joint. He finally got healthy and now this. So brutal.

Gio Reyna Finds a New Home

Alas, Gio Reyna is very close to leaving Borussia Dortmund. Fabrizio Romano has reported that Serie A side Parma has agreed to personal terms with Reyna and is finalizing the transfer with Dortmund. It will be around a $6M fee. The American-owned Parma finished 16th in the Italian first division last season, just 5 points clear of relegation.

Parma have hired former Arsenal assistant Carlos Cuesta as their new manager. At 29, he’ll be the youngest head coach in Europe this season.

There were rumors that LAFC were interested in Reyna, but Tom Bogert refuted those reports, saying there was nothing to it. Rightfully so, Reyna decides to stay in Europe, where he’ll play against better talent and prove that he deserves to be back with one of the continent’s elite teams.

Of course, we hope this move will have the same effect on Reyna as it did on Christian Pulisic. Reyna, who played just 627 minutes last season, needs consistent playing time to continue his development. Those minutes clearly weren’t coming at Dortmund, so a move was necessary, especially with the World Cup on the horizon. We know, without question, that Reyna is one of, if not the most talented players in our USMNT pool. His attacking creativity and playmaking ability are characteristics that are desperately needed for our squad. Let’s hope this move brings back the form we know he has.

The 22-year-old also got married this past weekend to his long-time girlfriend, Chloe. Congrats, Gio!

MVP Race

The MVP race is starting to heat up. We have a couple of usual suspects and a couple of new names leading the ballot. Here’s a breakdown of the four frontrunners.

Lionel Messi 🐐

I was lucky enough to witness Messi’s 6th brace in his last 7 games on Saturday in Harrison, New Jersey. Checking that off the bucket list ✅. With 28 goal contributions in 18 games played, he’s blowing everyone out of the water in contributions per 90’. Every other MVP candidate has played 22 games or more. If this continues, no one will be surprised if he becomes the first player ever to repeat as MVP.

Sam Surridge

With Saturday’s goal, he became the 10th player in league history to score at least 18 goals in his team’s first 24 games of the season. Against the other top 5 teams in the Eastern Conference, Nashville is 3W-2L-1D, the second best behind Inter Miami’s 4W-1L-1D. Surridge has been a revelation, becoming the first player ever to score in 6 games in a row for Nashville.

Evander

The best player on the current Supporters Shield leaders. That’s usually enough to win it. But how about out-dueling Messi in last week’s matchup. He controlled the tempo, dictated play, and added a brace for good measure. With 23 goal contributions and counting, Evander has been the engine behind FC Cincinnati’s surge to the top of the Eastern Conference. He scored in 5 straight games, setting the record for most games in a row with a goal in Cincinnati's history. He’s the second-best player in the league.

Anders Dreyer

Anders Dreyer's first MLS season is pushing record-breaking numbers, and he just won June Player of the Month. He leads the league in assists with 15, and is just behind Messi in overall goal contributions with 25 total. He’s easily one of the best DP signings in the last 5 years.

Funny enough, in the 2020–21 season at FC Midtjylland in Denmark, Anders Dreyer and Evander combined for 31 goal contributions across all competitions, forming a dynamic duo that powered both domestic success and a Champions League run.

Mid-Summer MLS Moves

The summer transfer window officially opens tomorrow.

Inter Miami officially adds another of Messi’s friends. Argentine international Rodrigo de Paul will join Miami from Atletico Madrid for around $15M. Fabrizio Romano reports that he’ll sign a four-year contract. You have to imagine this is Sergio Busquets last year with the team.

Minnesota United has officially transferred Sang Bin Jeong to St. Louis City in a cash trade for $1.6M plus $400k in potential add-ons. Sang Bin fell out of the starting lineup this year and gets a fresh start in St. Louis.

Real Salt Lake is close to signing forward Victor Olatunji from Sparta Prague. The fee will be around $2.5M, and Tom Bogert reports that they’ll likely be able to get it done without giving up a DP spot.

Atlanta United makes several moves in its desperate attempt to right the ship. They’ve agreed to sign midfielder Steven Alzate from Hull City for $2M + add-ons. The 26-year-old Colombian will replace Mateusz Klich, who the team waived on Monday after acquiring him late last year from DC United. Here’s the type of player the five stripes are getting in Alzate 👇️ 

Goal of the Week

FC Cincinnati’s 1.22 expected goals per 90 minutes ranks 27th in MLS. Luca Orellano’s return to wingback will help with that. What a superb strike.

Tweet of the Week

We don’t want to spoil too much, but Jason Sudeikis was spotted on set in a KC Current jersey while shooting season 4 of Ted Lasso. More details here 👀 

Quick Hits

• Portland Timbers unveil the largest TIFO in MLS history (Link)

• Wolfsburg close to signing Josh Sargent from Norwich (Link)

• MLS table predictions based on home/away PPG averages (Link)

• MLS reportedly discussed introducing a division within the conferences (Link)

And we’re done. Thanks for reading, everyone!

Max & Mason