Streaking Nashville SC Welcomes High-Scoring St. Louis CITY SC to GEODIS Park
Unbeaten across their last nine, Nashville SC will look to continue their ascent up the Supporters’ Shield standings as they welcome St. Louis CITY SC and one of the league’s top scoring offenses to GEODIS Park on Saturday night (8:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass).
Premiere offensive threats Hany Mukhtar of Nashville SC (10 goals, seven assists) and Eduard Löwen of St. Louis CITY SC (five goals, six assists) are two of just seven players in MLS with at least five goals and five assists this season and each player has led their club up their respective conference tables. Two of the most well-rounded teams in MLS action, Nashville and St. Louis rank second and fifth, respectively, in the Supporters’ Shield standings and are the top two ranking clubs in goal differential in 2023, with CITY SC (plus-16) at the top followed by Nashville (plus-13).
Löwen has scored in three of his last four matches and St. Louis is 5-0-0 in the matches in which the German midfielder scores. For Nashville, Mukhtar leads the league with 17 goal contributions and has 79 combined goals and assists since the start of the 2021 season, the most in MLS and 22 more than the next closest player (Lucho Acosta, 57).
With just 12 teams in action across the league on Saturday night, both clubs will look to gain ground in the standings and will turn to their scoring stars to be the difference makers.
A Look into Leagues Cup 2023
With just under 40 days to go until the start of play, Leagues Cup 2023 is set to make history as the first competition in the world to involve two leagues and be sanctioned by their confederation. All 47 MLS and LIGA MX clubs will pause league play to compete in the month-long March-Madness-meets-World-Cup tournament for a chance at Concacaf Champions Cup qualification for the winning team.
The Group Stage of the inaugural Leagues Cup will kick off on Friday, July 21, with 15 regionalized groups comprised of three teams each competing for a place in the Round of 32. During the Group Stage, regulation wins will be worth three points and matches tied after 90 minutes will proceed to a penalty shootout with the winner receiving two points and loser one point.
The top two teams in each group advance to the Round of 32, joining 2022 MLS Cup winner Los Angeles Football Club and Pachuca, who accumulated the most combined points across the Clausura and Apertura seasons in the 2022 calendar year, who earned byes into the single-leg knockout rounds.
A final and third-place match will be held on Saturday, August 19, with the two finalists and third-place team earning berths in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup. The winner of Leagues Cup will earn automatic qualification to the Round of 16 of the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup.
Among the tantalizing Group Stage fixtures are a pair of historic MLS-LIGA MX rematches. New York City FC will host Atlas FC in a rematch of the 2022 Campeones Cup on Sunday, July 23, before Real Salt Lake goes toe-to-toe with CF Monterrey on Wednesday, July 26, for the first time since they faced off in the 2011 Concacaf Champions League final.
Other marquee matchups include an opening day Group Stage clash of champions between reigning Concacaf Champions Leagues winner Club León and Canadian Championship holders Vancouver Whitecaps FC on July 21 (10:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass).
The MLS Player Pathway Meets Father’s Day
A number of father-son duos have competed in MLS over the past decade and the 2023 season saw the first pair of brothers along with their father to score in the league (Josh, Owen, and Tyler Wolff). With Father’s Day on Sunday, June 18, several sons look to join their famous fathers in MLS by completing the player pathway.
One of the talented young players with a famous MLS family is the LA Galaxy U-17’s Nicolas Barros Schelotto. A familiar name to MLS fans, his father, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, was the league MVP and MLS Cup MVP in 2008 for the Columbus Crew. Nicolas has impressed for the Galaxy’s academy team, scoring in the 2023 Generation adidas Cup and helping the club reach this week’s MLS NEXT Cup Playoffs in Dallas-Fort Worth. The 16-year-old midfielder also made his debut in MLS NEXT Pro this season.
Another trio with family ties to MLS is the Bunbury’s. Father, Alex, won MLS Cup in 2000 with the Kansas City Wizards; eldest son, Teal, has played in over 350 games and is currently starting for Nashville SC; while 17-year-old Mataeo is starting to make a name for himself with Columbus Crew 2 of MLS NEXT Pro. Mataeo has scored twice for Crew 2 this season while on loan from Birmingham Legion FC.
The list of notable families reaching MLS will only continue to grow as many of the top prospects in MLS NEXT and MLS NEXT Pro graduate to the first-team level.
New England Revolution Players Collaborative Fund Nearing $200,000 in Grant Awards
In July 2021, the New England Revolution and Kraft family launched the Players Collaborative Fund (PCF), a bimonthly $20,000 grant to support organizations working to create meaningful change in the New England community.
Nearly two years later, the fund, which has awarded nearly $200,000 to grassroots organizations, continues to be a key pillar of the club’s C.H.A.N.G.E. platform. C.H.A.N.G.E. stands for Converse, Help, Amplify, Nurture, Galvanize, and Educate and seeks to support and uplift organizations and community leaders who are working to combat inequity and racial injustice.
Fund recipients are selected by a coalition of Revolution players, including several members of Black Players for Change, an independent organization consisting of over 170 Black players, coaches, and staff of MLS working to bridge societal racial equality gaps. In 2022, the fund donated a bimonthly grant to the North Shore Juneteenth Association (NSJA). The NSJA is comprised of a group of community leaders seeking to create awareness about the Juneteenth holiday, through ongoing events and programming.
Juneteenth is an American holiday that commemorates June 19, 1865, the date that more than 250,000 enslaved Black Americans of Galveston, Texas, learned that President Abraham Lincoln had freed enslaved people in rebel states, more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Other beneficiaries of the grant include Dress for Success Providence, Bottom Line Boston, Inner City Weightlifting, the Center for Health & Justice Transformation, New England Culinary Arts Training (NECAT), the Emerging Adult Court of Hope (EACH), The Theater Offensive, Breakthrough Greater Boston, Chica Project, and Women of Color Entrepreneurs.
The club plans to announce June’s Player’s Collaborative Fund grant recipients later this week ahead of the Juneteenth holiday.
Philadelphia Union II Welcomes Wrexham AFC to Subaru Park on July 28
National League champion Wrexham AFC will conclude their 2023 summer tour of the United States with a friendly against Philadelphia Union II of MLS NEXT Pro. Union II will host the club made famous by the hit show “Welcome to Wrexham” at Subaru Park on Friday, July 28.
Wrexham AFC’s time in co-owner Rob McElhenney’s hometown of Philadelphia will mark the club’s final of four matches in the U.S. Over the course of 10 days this July, Wrexham will compete in Chapel Hill, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Philadelphia.
Another member of MLS NEXT Pro, LA Galaxy II, will also play host to the National League winners during the tour. LA Galaxy II will face Wrexham at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday, July 22.
Tap-Ins: Matchday 19
A look at other headlines and activity around Major League Soccer ahead of Matchday 19:
- June international window: Which MLS players were called up? (MLSsoccer.com)
- USMNT Gold Cup roster: MLS veterans, U-20 World Cup stars called up (FOX Sports)
- Atlanta United, AIS announce unique educational partnership (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Sharks’ Marleau, Quakes’ Wondolowski headline San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023 (Chico Enterprise-Record)
- MLS taps Chris McGowan to lead new club performance group (Sports Business Journal)
MLS Season Pass Broadcast Schedule: Matchday 19
Below is the MLS Season Pass broadcast schedule for Matchday 19, including English-language commentators for each match with the play-by-play talent listed first, followed by the match analyst.
