United States named host of expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup is coming to the United States in 2025. The sport's world governing body made the announcement Friday, tabbing the US to host the tournament featuring the top clubs from each confederation. The field will be expanded to 32 teams for the first time that same year. As winners of last year's Concacaf Champions League, the Seattle Sounders will have one of Concacaf’s four spots designated for 2025. An additional spot is given to the host nation, theoretically guaranteeing at least one more MLS team will participate in the competition.
Soccer Saturday
A full slate of MLS tonight, plus the USMNT take on Jamaica in the opening match of the Gold Cup at 9:30 pm ET. Rest up. It’s a big night. Check out the full schedule here.
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LA Galaxy defender Cáceres out 3-5 months with knee injury
The LA Galaxy have lost another key veteran to long-term injury, announcing Friday defender Martín Cáceres will undergo surgery to repair an avulsion fracture in his left knee. The four-time FIFA World Cup veteran with Uruguay suffered the injury during Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Sporting Kansas City. The timeline for Cáceres' return is between "three and five months," according to a club statement.
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A whole lot happening tonight. Here’s a few things to keep an eye on.
This would be a great game at any point this year. However, I feel it’s very important to remind you we’re at the point on the timeline where Lucas Zelarayán and Hany Mukhtar are doing otherworldy stuff on a weekly basis. Not only are we looking at two of the best teams in the league going head to head in a battle to determine whether Pantone code PMS 394 C or Pantone code PMS 107 C is the superior yellow, we’re looking at two Landon Donovan MLS MVP candidates fully prepared to put their team on their back in that battle. One of them, maybe both, assuredly have something special up their sleeve for tonight. Universe willing, we’ll get to see it play out.
Either way, this one should be intriguing. In a “styles make fights” sense, we’re looking at two very contrasting game models here. Gary Smith’s Nashville are just fine not having the ball and brute forcing their way to a goal or two, while Wilfried Nancy’s Crew love to have the ball and try to create something beautiful every time they have it on their way to a goal or four. This one may not have much weight in the overall scheme of things - it’s not like either team is missing the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs - but it should still be an outstanding atmosphere accompanied by the best soccer of the weekend.
FC Cincinnati are invincible at home. We’ve established that by now, I think. I fully expect 17W-0L-0D and I’m not sure I’m kidding about that.
They’re a little more mortal on the road though. Their one loss and four draws on the season have all been on the road, and there’s a chance we could see a similar result tonight. That’s not calling my shot here or anything, it’s just pointing out D.C. United continue to be a lot better than I think a lot of people realize. Their underlying numbers put them right in between New England and Philadelphia. Their three DPs are excellent. They have what it takes to give Cincy a scare here and maybe even come out on top. It should at least be interesting…
Or, ya know, Cincy roll and get one step closer to the near inevitability that they break the points record. That could happen too.
The 10:30 pm ET slot has a little too much to follow. It might be especially difficult to keep up with after most of y’all jump into the second half of these games once the USMNT wrap up. But here’s a quick cheat sheet.
- LAFC are hosting Vancouver and, even though Vancouver are missing Julian Gressel, it will still be another decent data point on the new prevailing hypothesis that LAFC’s CCL hangover only showed up against Houston and they’re probably just fine now. We’ll see what version of LAFC we get tonight and it might tell us a lot.
- Portland and NYCFC seem destined to play to a 0-0 or a 1-0, and that means the game might go entirely off the rails. Either way, both teams could really, really use a boost. Both are… let’s politely call it “underperforming.”
- San Jose welcome St. Louis. The last time these two faced off, St. Louis cruised at home. This time, they’re going into San Jose without Eduard Löwen and João Klauss. It won’t be nearly as easy. It should still be one of the most exciting games of the day, though. These two are still surefire playoff teams.
- Seattle-Orlando is the rare cross-conference matchup of playoff teams that doesn’t actually honestly feel all that exciting. Orlando are quietly playing some of their best soccer in a while though, and that’s bad news for a Seattle team that’s in a weird slump. The Sounders aren’t getting results, but they are putting up some excellent underlying numbers. Even with them missing a few key players to the Gold Cup, it feels like the Sounders are due for something good.
We skipped over the 9:30 pm ET slot and I felt bad about it. You’ve got Austin and Houston plus RSL and Minnesota. Houston are, no joke, a win and some luck away from taking the second spot in the West. It’s time to pay attention.
Meanwhile, RSL are… well, also technically a win and some luck from being tied on points for the second spot in the West. The West is kind of a mess right now. Both Houston and RSL are definitely trending up though. And Austin and Minnesota are both trying to work their way back into that mess. Houston and RSL don’t have it easy at all tonight.
- The USMNT are beginning their quest for another trophy against Jamaica.
- Charles Boehm picked out the MLS players that may capitalize on their Gold Cup opportunity.
- Philadelphia Union's José Martínez won the AT&T 5G Goal of the Matchday because of course he did. Did you see that thing?
- Casey Dunau has what you need to know for and how to watch today’s games on MLS Season Pass.
- The good folks at Extratime discussed whether Chucky Lozana could eventually arrive in MLS and talked about adjusting expectations for St. Louis this season.
- Travis Clark took a look at this year’s MLS NEXT Cup finalists.
- Columbus Crew keeper Eloy Room already won the race to swap jerseys with Lionel Messi.
- Larry Henry Jr. picked out 10 MLS homegrowns excelling in MLS NEXT Pro in 2023.
- Take a look here at how you can compete for a spot in the 2023 eMLS All-Star Challenge.
Good luck out there. Once more. With feeling.
