The 2025 regular season concluded with Decision Day, and stars delivered drama to earn their spot in the Matchday 39 Team of the Matchday presented by Audi.<\/p>\n
\n Full team (3-4-3, left to right)<\/p>\n
Starters: Kristijan Kahlina (CLT) – Osaze Urhoghide (DAL), Jackson Ragen (SEA), Andr\u00e9s Herrera (CLB) – Kerwin Vargas (CLT), Evander (CIN), Djordje Mihailovic (TOR), Amahl Pellegrino (SD) – Anders Dreyer (SD), Victor Olatunji (RSL), Lionel Messi (MIA)<\/p>\n
Bench: Michael Collodi (DAL), Kaick (DAL), Jonathan Osorio (TOR), D\u00e1niel Gazdag (CLB), Niko Tsakiris (SJ), Miguel Almir\u00f3n (ATL), Andrew Moran (LAFC), Philip Zinckernagel (CHI), Joseph Paintsil (LA)<\/p>\n
\n Team highlights<\/p>\n
Lionel Messi<\/a> locked up his first MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi<\/a> with a hat trick as Inter Miami CF<\/a> cruised to a 5-2 victory<\/a> at Nashville SC<\/a>. The Herons\u2019 captain added an assist to finish atop the MLS goal contribution charts (48), falling one shy of Carlos Vela\u2019s single-season record (49).<\/p>\n Not far behind, Anders Dreyer<\/a> (38 goal contributions) put the finishing touches on his brilliant campaign, as he and Amahl Pellegrino<\/a> each netted two goals and an assist to lead San Diego FC<\/a> to a 4-0 win<\/a> at the Portland Timbers<\/a>. With the result, the expansion side clinched the Western Conference No. 1 seed<\/a> in the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n Knocking Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/a> off that top spot in the West, Osaze Urhoghide<\/a> headed home the opening goal en route to a 2-1 victory<\/a> for FC Dallas<\/a> at BC Place. Eric Quill\u2019s side secured a seventh-place finish during his first season at the helm, getting a direct berth into a Round One Best-of-3 Series.<\/p>\n Another defender, Andr\u00e9s Herrera<\/a>, helped secure the Columbus Crew<\/a>‘s seventh-place finish in the Eastern Conference by scoring the equalizer in their 3-1 triumph<\/a> over the New York Red Bulls<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keeping the chaos rolling, Real Salt Lake<\/a> booked a Wild Card spot by finishing ninth in the West with a 2-2 draw<\/a> at St. Louis CITY SC<\/a> courtesy of Victor Olatunji<\/a>\u2019s first MLS brace.<\/p>\n FC Cincinnati<\/a> guaranteed their Eastern Conference second-place finish with a 3-0 victory<\/a> over CF Montr\u00e9al<\/a> behind Evander<\/a>\u2019s goal and assist. In turn, the Brazilian maestro became the third player in MLS history to record multiple seasons of at least 15g\/15a.<\/p>\n Similarly, Kerwin Vargas<\/a> scored and assisted for Charlotte FC<\/a> in their 2-0 win<\/a> over the Philadelphia Union<\/a>. Reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Kristijan Kahlina<\/a> made six saves to deny the Supporters\u2019 Shield winners, who racked up 2.1 expected goals (xG).<\/p>\n Djordje Mihailovic<\/a> sent Toronto FC<\/a> fans home happy to end the season with a 4-2 victory<\/a> over Orlando City<\/a>, highlighting his 2g\/1a performance with an impressive free kick.<\/p>\n Finally, Jackson Ragen<\/a> delivered a late, game-winning goal for Seattle Sounders FC<\/a> with a thumping header to defeat New York City FC<\/a>, 2-1<\/a>, at Citi Field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 regular season concluded with Decision Day, and stars delivered drama to earn their spot in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[11384,11383,12810,12793,12815,12794,12795,12796,12817,12797,12813,12812,12818,11444,12820,12809,12811,12807,12798,12409,12799,12800,12801,12808,6534,11445,74,1254,76,75,12816,6532,12802,12803,12804,12792,12819,12805,12806,12814],"class_list":["post-14490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-amahl-pellegrino","tag-anders-dreyer","tag-andres-herrera","tag-atlvsdc-10-18-2025","tag-charlotte-fc","tag-cinvsmtl-10-18-2025","tag-clbvsrbny-10-18-2025","tag-cltvsphi-10-18-2025","tag-columbus-crew","tag-colvslafc-10-18-2025","tag-djordje-mihailovic","tag-evander","tag-fc-cincinnati","tag-fc-dallas","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-jackson-ragen","tag-kerwin-vargas","tag-kristijan-kahlina","tag-lavsmin-10-18-2025","tag-lionel-messi","tag-nevschi-10-18-2025","tag-nshvsmia-10-18-2025","tag-nycvssea-10-18-2025","tag-osaze-urhoghide","tag-porvssd-10-18-2025","tag-real-salt-lake","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-fc","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-seattle-sounders-fc","tag-sendtonews","tag-sjvsatx-10-18-2025","tag-skcvshou-10-18-2025","tag-stlvsrsl-10-18-2025","tag-team-of-the-matchday","tag-toronto-fc","tag-torvsorl-10-18-2025","tag-vanvsdal-10-18-2025","tag-victor-olatunji"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}