All-Star break? What All-Star break?<\/p>\n
After the fun and festivities in Charlotte, Matchday 19 rolled in with a bang, reminding everyone across MLS that the stretch run is approaching and nothing can be taken for granted.<\/p>\n
With the final crop of FIFA World Cup<\/a> participants returning to the pitch, new signings finding their feet and several teams clambering back into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs reckoning, it\u2019s all kicking off around the league.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you need to know about the weekend’s soccer smorgasbord.<\/p>\n Lewandowski finds breakthrough<\/p>\n After two understated appearances last month, Robert Lewandowski<\/a> introduced himself to the Windy City in earnest on Saturday night, opening his MLS account on his home debut with a match-winning brace<\/a> in Chicago Fire FC<\/a>\u2019s 2-1 defeat<\/a> of Charlotte FC<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe sees the game and reads the game very well. Most importantly, in the box, he’s an absolute killer,\u201d marveled head coach Gregg Berhalter. \u201cThis is hopefully the beginning of a lot of goals.\u201d<\/p>\n The very best Designated Players have a knack for not only shining in their own right, but also lifting the levels of those around them, and there were signs of that here.<\/p>\n When Charlotte hosted the 2026 MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime, Chicago winger Philip Zinckernagel<\/a> revealed that CLTFC head coach Dean Smith had joked about playing him all 90 minutes in order to tire him out ahead of this match.<\/p>\n Imagine what Smith was thinking, then, as \u2018Zinck\u2019 balled out of his mind here, producing an absurd, game-high nine chances created, including a key role in the buildup to both Fire goals after Pep Biel<\/a>‘s early banger.<\/p>\n World, meet Mijahir Jim\u00e9nez<\/p>\n Orlando City<\/a>\u2019s dramatic renaissance under the influence of Antoine Griezmann<\/a> was always going to hit a speed bump sooner or later. Still, who thought it would arrive at the hands of a young, inconsistent Red Bull New York<\/a> side \u2013 with the coup de grace applied by an unheralded teenager?<\/p>\n From MLS NEXT Pro<\/a> and a short-term contract with the first team to brace-bagging hero \u2013 that\u2019s the weekend Mijahir Jim\u00e9nez<\/a> had against Griezmann & Co.<\/p>\n The Panamanian striker scored twice in his first MLS start to pace RBNY’s 3-2 win<\/a> over the Lions at Sports Illustrated Stadium, vindicating the admirable faith invested in him by first-year head coach Michael Bradley and the club\u2019s \u2018Play Your Kids\u2019 ethos.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really happy for Mijahir,\u201d said Bradley, \u201cand it\u2019s also the reason that we as a club believe so strongly in the pathway and connection between the first team and the second team and the academy.\u201d<\/p>\n Su\u00e1rez, 39, would also assist on Miami\u2019s second goal, a Noah Allen<\/a> header from near the penalty spot. Yet the Crew have gotten much harder to beat under interim boss Laurent Courtois, and twice they rallied to draw level, the second arriving late in the evening via a clever cross-shot free kick from their new Designated Player Brais M\u00e9ndez<\/a>, a promising start to MLS life for the Spaniard.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a game that slipped away from us in the closing moments,\u201d said IMCF head coach Guillermo Hoyos afterwards.<\/p>\n Still, the Herons are 6W-0L-1D in their last seven, with only two league losses on the year, and have duly climbed up to second place in both the Eastern Conference and Supporters\u2019 Shield standings.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t know how he does it. It’s like a video game for him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever he decides to bless you with one assist, you get it.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s maybe nothing I can write about Evander<\/a> and his performance in FC Cincinnati<\/a>\u2019s wild, weather-delayed 4-2 win<\/a> over San Jose<\/a> that sums up the Brazilian\u2019s excellence as well as the words of his awestruck teammates.<\/p>\n The above quotes<\/a> are from Tom Barlow<\/a> and Obinna Nwobodo<\/a>, who each linked up with him for one of Cincy\u2019s four goals, three of them assisted by the No. 10, the other scored by him\u2026 and goodness gracious, what a thunderbolt it was:<\/p>\n Evander actually apologized to head coach Pat Noonan for taking this shot, if you can believe it, recognizing that it was not the textbook correct decision in that situation.<\/p>\n Those sorts of conventions don\u2019t necessarily apply to a wizard like him, though. The maestro just became the fifth-fastest player in MLS history to reach 100 career goal contributions, behind only Messi, Sebastian Giovinco, Robbie Keane and Carlos Vela \u2013 all icons who led their sides to multiple major trophies.<\/p>\n Things were even weirder at Subaru Park.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where the Philadelphia Union<\/a> \u2013 who won one single, solitary league match before MLS\u2019s World Cup pause \u2013 extended their winning streak to three games with a last-gasp comeback from 2-0 down to 3-2 winners<\/a> over Atlanta United<\/a> thanks to injury-time goals from teenage homegrown Neil Pierre<\/a> and previously snakebit newcomer Ezequiel Alladoh<\/a>, both via pinpoint crosses from recent returnee Kai Wagner<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope at least that the guys believe in each other,\u201d said interim coach Ryan Richter<\/a>, who\u2019s gotten every call right since taking over from Bradley Carnell in May. \u201cThis part of the game is still the most important: that fighting spirit, the never quit, the push to the last minute.\u201d<\/p>\n \n The most dangerous lead\u2026<\/p>\n Drama also reigned in Washington and Montr\u00e9al, where that old truism about the perils of taking a 2-0 advantage reared its grizzled head yet again.<\/p>\n Trailing league leaders Nashville SC<\/a> by two goals is not where anyone wants to be. So D.C. United<\/a> deserve enormous credit for storming back to snatch a share of the points in a 2-2 draw<\/a> before a sell-out Audi Field crowd, thanks to tallies from Silvan Hefti<\/a> and Tai Baribo<\/a>, the latter arriving from one of the most resourceful assists you\u2019ll see this year, Louis Munteanu<\/a> pulling off a sort of scorpion kick from a prone position:<\/p>\n If you\u2019re into expected goals, this game\u2019s xG numbers are a pretty hilarious read \u2013 the Revolution nearly tripled MTL\u2019s total, yet walked away with just one point, and Vera\u2019s golazo is a big reason why.<\/p>\n \n Around the grounds<\/p>\n Another game that thumbed its nose at xG totals was Vancouver<\/a>–LAFC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The host Whitecaps absolutely dominated this top-of-the-table clash between Western Conference heavyweights in every statistical category as well as the eye test, only to be held to a 1-1 deadlock<\/a> thanks to Son Heung-Min<\/a>‘s fourth goal in four games that vindicated the Californians\u2019 bunkering approach.<\/p>\n Questions remain, however, as to whether this is a formula that can power LAFC to MLS Cup glory.<\/p>\n While Puget Sound basks in glorious peak summer weather, it\u2019s gotten quite dark around the Seattle Sounders<\/a>. The Rave Green let an early lead over bitter rivals Portland Timbers<\/a>\u00a0slip away at Providence Park and fell 2-1<\/a> via a late Brandon Bye<\/a> winner in Saturday\u2019s nightcap, a Cascadia Cup clash that opened with a simply jaw-dropping tifo<\/a> from the Timbers Army.<\/p>\n That\u2019s Seattle\u2019s sixth straight loss, the first skid of such magnitude in the entirety of the Sounders\u2019 existence across multiple leagues over the past five decades. Conversely, the Timbers are undefeated (3W-0L-1D) under interim coach Jack Cassidy and have hauled themselves back above the West’s playoff line.<\/p>\n Colorado<\/a>\u2019s 1-0 win<\/a> over Austin<\/a> got overshadowed by news that the Rapids are reportedly close to completing a massive sale of their teenage phenom defender Lucas Herrington<\/a>, one of the youngest players<\/a> at this summer\u2019s FIFA World Cup, to English Premier League outfit Hull City for one of the biggest fees in MLS history, somewhere around $23 million, massively more than what they paid Australian side Brisbane Roar for him.<\/p>\n Assuming it gets done and dusted, that\u2019s a landmark transfer, one I suspect we\u2019ll be analyzing for quite some time to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All-Star break? What All-Star break? 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