Really, Matchweek 25 last Wednesday could have supported a full notebook; it was just that good. But it's also been busy around these parts getting ready for the Women's World Cup and Leagues Cup starting later this week.
Plus, if that wasn't enough, All-Star Week is upon us, and The Striker will be there for tomorrow's All-Star Skills Challenge (one of our favorite days on the global soccer calendar).
Oh, and MLS's equivalent of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen — sorry, Sergio Busquets, but you know it's true — celebrated their dual signing on Sunday night in the former Lockhart Stadium. (That plot of land has certainly had a journey in the last five years!)
Seriously, though, we're excited about MLS joining the Messi Era, though initially, we're curious to see if Miami can vault from its current Wooden Spoon status to break through into the playoff mix. We don't think it's going to happen, because the first 2/3 of the season have been cruel like that. It's not just like losing to Saudi Arabia in the first round of a playoff match.
For the record, Messi comes into a squad that's managed a 5-14-3 record and a -14 goal differential, 12 points away from 9th-place D.C. That's a lot of ground to make up.
If the playoffs started today
Cincinnati is now on 51 points, at 2.22 points a game, and need 23 points in the last 33 available to break the MLS points record. 27 points would clinch the Supporters' Shield even if the Revs went perfect the rest of the way and broke their own record in the process. Oh, and is that the Fire in 8th?
In the West, RSL and Seattle make up a tier of top four teams with St. Louis and LAFC. St. Louis held on to the top spot thanks to beating Miami 3-0 on Saturday with only 37 percent possession. Austin heads up a second tier of six teams. While teams can still change positions along the way, this might be what we're looking at heading into the playoffs.
West
- St. Louis
- LAFC
- Salt Lake
- Seattle
- Austin
- San Jose
- Vancouver
- Dallas
- Houston
East
- Cincinnati
- New England
- Philadelphia
- Nashville
- Orlando
- Columbus
- Atlanta
- Chicago
- D.C.
Surprise of the Week
Okay, we figured New England would beat D.C. on Saturday, but 4-0 is a lot, and you want to watch all the highlights just to see a pair of All-Star goalkeepers at their craft ...
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Oh, Tyler Miller. I hope you recover from this match.
Goal of the Week
Good goals happened this week, but nothing like this magic from the Quakes' Miguel Trauco on Wednesday.
Nice from Cristian Espinoza to put it there, and total chef's kiss on the finish.
Quote of the Week
"I said the four-letter F word, which, again, if we're going to give yellow cards for that, I mean, we might as well just cancel the sport because no one would finish a game. So I did. I said, you know the word. That's what I said and I say it all the time and I will continue to say it. ... I was the first yellow card and I maybe started the motions by using a curse word as a 44-year-old man."
That's recently-extended Union head coach Jim Curtin, talking about setting off the extracurriculars between Philly and Nashville on Wednesday, ultimately apparently resulting in this:
That also means that Philly's got entertaining beef with another East team they might meet in the playoffs. The East playoffs this season will be a whole ride.
Number of the Week: 10
I mean, look at all of this hubbub for Messi.
He takes the field (we presume) Friday against Cruz Azul, as counterprogramming to the USWNT's World Cup debut, which is going to make Friday night a multiscreen experience for many. But you can watch his first practice with Miami on Tuesday morning on MLS Season Pass. No, we're serious.
What we’re looking forward to this week
It's a firehose. Tuesday, I go from a plane to a train to (if all works out) All-Star press conferences, a Skills Challenge on Tuesday night, MLS's best against Arsenal on Wednesday night, the Women's World Cup starting Thursday night and then Leagues Cup starting on Friday. As the league goes on pause, so will the MLS Notebook, though we'll do something along these lines for Leagues Cup.
League play resumes Aug. 20, the day after Leagues Cup final. It doesn't stop.
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