Rosters for 2024 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T
Major League Soccer and LIGA MX have announced their 10-player rosters and special guests for the 2024 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T 5G. The Skills Challenge starts at 7:30 pm ET on Tuesday, July 23.
MLS suspends Real Salt Lake forward Arango
Major League Soccer has suspended Real Salt Lake forward Cristian “Chicho” Arango four matches for violating the MLS Anti-Harassment Policy. Arango will miss RSL's next two regular-season games, on July 17 and July 20, the MLS All-Star Game on July 24, and RSL's first Leagues Cup match on August 1.
It’s a season-defining week in the West. Right before we enter the Leagues Cup break, the universe has gifted us with a double-game week packed with playoff previews and standings-shaping games. Maybe we’ll even end the week without a three-way tie on points at the top of the conference. Here’s what’s at stake for everyone involved.
- vs. RSL, Wednesday, 10:45 pm ET - Apple TV - Free, FS1
- @ SEA, Saturday, 10:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
LAFC have to rebound for the first time in a while. It would be fair to be a bit shook after their 5-1 thumping at the hands of the same team that denied them a second straight MLS Cup win. Normally when you end a 10-game unbeaten run, you can just shrug it off and say “well, shucks, guess it couldn’t last forever.” The Columbus loss is the kind of loss that makes you question whether anything in that unbeaten run even happened.
The good news for LAFC is there didn’t seem to be anything fluky about picking up 28 points from the 10 games before Columbus. They were playing excellent and ruthless ball. The Crew were just on another level on Saturday. They should at least still have plenty of confidence going up against non-Columbus sides.
They’ll need it this week. They’ll host RSL on Wednesday and then face a steadily improving Seattle side on Saturday. Normally, now would be the time to talk about what a fascinating matchup the RSL game is, however…
- @ LAFC, Wednesday, 10:45 pm ET - Apple TV - Free, FS1
- @ COL, Saturday, 9:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
RSL were already fighting an uphill battle this week. Now, this all feels a little daunting with the news that Chicho Arango is suspended the next three MLS games for violating the league’s Anti-Harassment Policy.
Arango has 17 goals and 11 assists this season. He leads the Golden Boot race by three goals and is tied for first in MLS in goal contributions. He’s been directly a part of over half of RSL’s Western Conference-best 48 goals this season. They are much, much worse without him.
The only optimistic view for RSL here is that other players have been stepping up a little more often lately. At the start of the year, it felt like Arango needed to make everything happen. Andrés Gómez has come into his own though and is up to 11 goals and nine assists on the season. And Diego Luna has taken another leap forward this year with a career-best output of five goals and 12 assists so far this season. They still have some firepower.
But that firepower didn’t help them much against Portland on Saturday in a 3-0 loss. Arango started that one by the way.
Some cracks were already starting to show with this group. Now, Arango might have made them much more apparent at a critical time.
- vs. COL, Wednesday, 10:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
- vs. POR, Saturday, 10:45 pm ET - Apple TV - Free, FS1
The Galaxy went down to Dallas this weekend and looked lost. They fell 2-0 to a team below the playoff line while creating 0.4 xG. If you’re not a stathead, 0.4 is, uh, real bad. The Galaxy have been one of the best attacks in the league all year though. So what gives?
Well, 0.4 xG is apparently what happens when you take Dejan Joveljic out of the lineup. They had 61 entries into the final third compared to Dallas’ 31. They had 129 passes inside the final third compared to Dallas’ 59. They had eight entries into the penalty area compared to Dallas’ seven. That’s a whole lot of effort to get nowhere near the goal over and over again.
I’m not sure if Joveljic will be back this week or not. But the Galaxy may need to find a solution either way if he’s not 100%. Going up against Colorado and Portland with your attack sputtering won’t end well.
- @ LA, Wednesday, 10:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
- vs. RSL, Saturday, 9:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
Which brings us to a Rapids side set to benefit from their opponents missing their starting striker, right?
…Right?
Well, maybe. Thing is, Colorado will be without Djordje Mihailovic this week. He’s off to the Olympics. Maybe we can call this an even playing field then? Either way, it’s going to be very difficult for the Rapids to generate chances without him during a huge week.
It’s big for mutliple reasons of course. The second most important is the fact Colorado are only five points behind the three teams on 43 points in the West. With this week setting up to be a bloodbath, a couple of wins would likely throw them into the conversation for a first-place spot in the West. It would at least make it plausible coming out of the Leagues Cup break.
The most important though is that the Rocky Mountain Cup is on the line on Saturday. It’s just about the best version of this game I can remember. Or at least it would have been with Arango and Mihailovic, but still. The Rapids took game one this year with a 2-1 road win, but RSL bounced back with a 5-3 victory a couple of months later.
- @ LA, Saturday, 10:45 pm ET - Apple TV - Free, FS1
The Timbers have just one matchup this week, but it’s a big one against LA.
Just a warning, Timbers hype is at a season-high and there may still be time to get on this stock before it hits its peak. A win over the Galaxy might push it a little too high for you to make much in the end.
They’re scoring in bunches right now and they seem to have sorted out some of their defensive issues. At least enough of them to make earning points a consistent thing as of late. For example: Portland just pummeled Real Salt Lake 3-0 over the weekend.
Their likelihood of catching up to the Big Three in the West is still low, but earning a home playoff spot is extremely in play. The Timbers are only two points behind Colorado.
- vs. SKC, Wednesday, 10:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
- vs. HOU, Saturday, 10:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
Meanwhile, Vancouver aren't really part of the whole round-robin deal. They’re standing off to the side of a fight and having a blast taking in all the carnage. It comes at a perfect time too. They’ve worked their way back up to sixth in the West and are just three points out of fourth place with two games in hand on Portland and Colorado.
Unsurprisingly, their resurgence has coincided with Brian White and Ryan Gauld going nuclear. If those two can power the ‘Caps to wins over beatable teams this week, Vancouver could be lined up to challenge for a top-three spot in the West.
- vs. STL, Wednesday, 10:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
- vs. LAFC, Saturday, 10:30 pm ET - **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
It’s a "prove it" week for Seattle. They have just one loss in their last 10 games and are up to seventh place in the standings. A home playoff spot is still in reach. They could take a small step toward grabbing it if they dismiss a bad St. Louis side first. And then they could take a huge step towards grabbing it and resestablshiing themselves as a threat in the West if they can take three points from LAFC with Pedro de la Vega in the starting lineup and contributing. It’s all on the table for them this week. We’ll just have to see where the rest of the West is after the dust clears on Sunday.
Rapids transfer Ilić to Red Star Belgrade: The Colorado Rapids have transferred goalkeeper Marko Ilić to Serbian SuperLiga side Red Star Belgrade. Ilić joined Colorado before the 2023 season from Belgian Pro League side KV Kortrijk, initially on loan before securing a permanent move. The 26-year-old Serbian international departs with two clean sheets in 13 appearances (all in 2023). Recently, he was on loan at Norwegian side Sarpsborg 08 FF.
Charlotte FC's Westwood named Player of the Matchday: Ashley Westwood entered the Charlotte FC record books with a historic performance that earned him MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra honors for Matchday 26. Westwood assisted on all three Charlotte goals in a 3-1 statement victory at Supporters' Shield-leading FC Cincinnati, becoming the first player in club history to record three assists in a single match.
Shaqiri retires from Switzerland national team: Xherdan Shaqiri's historic performance at UEFA Euro 2024 was also his last with Switzerland's national team. The Chicago Fire FC midfielder and Swiss legend, who became the first active MLS player to score at the continental tournament last month, announced his retirement from the Rossocrociati on Monday.
- Atlanta United are taking a little “north of 50 million” into the summer transfer window.
- Here’s your Team of the Matchday presented by Audi.
- Take a look at the best young players from Matchday 26.
- Messi, Shaffelburg and Shaqiri were MLS standouts in international tournaments this summer.
Good luck out there. Always be on target.
