Columbus Crew transfer Degenek to Serbia's Red Star Belgrade
The Columbus Crew have transferred center back Miloš Degenek to Serbian top-flight side Red Star Belgrade for an undisclosed fee. The move, which sees the Australian international defender begin a third stint at Red Star Belgrade, caps a year-and-a-half stay for the 29-year-old in MLS. He played in 40 matches (34 starts) for the Crew from 2022-23, plus featured for Australia at last fall’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
CF Montréal sign Opoku to new contract
CF Montréal have signed forward Kwadwo “Mahala” Opoku to a new contract through the 2026 MLS season with an option for 2027. The deal comes less than three weeks after the Canadian club acquired Opoku from LAFC for $1.75 million in General Allocation Money (GAM).
San Jose Earthquakes give Espinoza contract extension
The San Jose Earthquakes have signed forward Cristian Espinoza to a new contract that keeps him as a Designated Player through the 2025 MLS season with an option for 2026. The Argentine winger has been in the Landon Donovan MLS MVP conversation this year, posting 11 goals and seven assists in 23 regular-season games. That led to Espinoza earning a 2023 MLS All-Star nod, representing the Earthquakes in last week’s midsummer spectacle vs. Premier League side Arsenal FC.
LA Galaxy vs. Club León Leagues Cup match rescheduled for July 26
The Leagues Cup 2023 match between LA Galaxy and Club León, originally scheduled for Tuesday evening, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, July 26 at 10:30 pm ET at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Club León’s preparations for the match were significantly impacted due to a mechanical issue with the charter aircraft scheduled to transport the team to Los Angeles.
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Lionel Messi takes the field again tonight. Rumor is both he and Sergio Busquets will start this one. There are also other very important Leagues Cup games, too. Let’s talk it out.
Inter Miami vs. Atlanta United | 7:30 pm ET
WATCH ON: **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
Plusometer Score: 49/50
Only reason it’s not a 50/50 is because that kind of feels like a jinx at this point. The first game of the Lionel Messi era definitely lived up to the hype, and it seems like we’re asking the universe for a lot to get yet another “Where were you when” moment. Still, this is the first real taste of MLS for Messi and Busquets. Can they truly do it on a humid Tuesday night in Fort Lauderdale???
Uhhh… yeah, yeah they probably can. It’s not even really clear what kind of lineup Atlanta will be trotting out in this one, but it could be a heckuva introduction for Atlanta’s new midfielder Tristan Muyumba. Whoever the Five Stripes put out there, they’ll need to be at their best to slow down the Herons.
Santos Laguna vs. Houston Dynamo | 8:30 pm ET
WATCH ON: **Apple TV - Free**, UniMás, FS1
Plusometer Score: 30/50
The Dynamo were only able to take a point from Orlando in their first game, and the door is wide open for Santos to go ahead and clinch a spot in the knockout round. All they need is two points tonight to advance. The Dynamo are going to have their hands full here. They’ve shown they have the quality to pull out a win, but they just haven’t quite had the consistency.
FC Dallas vs. Necaxa | 9:30 pm ET
WATCH ON: **Apple TV - MLS Season Pass**
Plusometer Score: 25/50
On paper, this feels evenly matched. The pressure is all on Dallas, though, after allowing a late equalizer to Charlotte the other night. They need at least two points to survive.
**Mazatlán vs. Juárez | 9:30 p.m ET
**WATCH ON: **Apple TV - Free**
Plusometer Score: 22/30
I wouldn’t call this a clash of titans, but Austin will still be watching intently after a miserable performance against Mazatlán in game one. A Juárez win in regulation would put Austin in a “win outright or go-home” scenario in their second game.
The transfer window is still open, by the way. And in the midst of Leagues Cup and Messi Madness, some big deals have gone down. I thought we could take a moment right quick to run through some of the bigger news you might have missed:
The Crew have quietly been one of the league’s busiest teams this window. They seem to have a clear understanding that Wilfried Nancy is extremely good at this job and that the team isn’t far from competing for trophies. They’ve been working hard to make sure the right pieces are in place to do just that, and it’s exciting to watch.
Most notably, they sent up to $850k in GAM to Vancouver to grab Julian Gressel. We somehow live in a world where one of the league’s most effective players has been traded for a third time, but I’ll save that rant for later. Gressel immediately makes the Crew a genuine contender to work their way through the East in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and produce a 2020-esque run. It’s easy to see how he’ll fit into Nancy’s system and easy to see a world where he continues to create chances at an elite rate. Basically, Cucho is going to feast.
The Crew also shipped off center back Miloš Degenek yesterday. It seems they expect new center back Yevhen Cheberko, who made his debut against St. Louis on Sunday, to take on a pronounced role.
Over the weekend, LAFC acquired forward Mario González from Portuguese top-flight side Braga. He’s a TAM player, which means we’re still waiting on LAFC to use their open Young DP spot. It’s unclear if they’ll use it right now, but it does seem they’ve found yet another forward who can play either out wide or centrally. We don’t know for sure, but considering LAFC’s track record, you can.expect González to hit and make a big impact soon.
New York City FC have transferred winger Gabriel Pereira to Qatari top-flight side Al-Rayyan SC. This one is… curious. NYCFC have struggled immensely in attack this year, and Pereira has seemed to be, at times, the player most capable of producing. He led the team with six goals on the season. Of course, we can’t see the full picture yet.
"We plan to use the roster flexibility that Gabi’s departure gives us to continue our activity in the summer transfer window and bolster our current squad to help us finish the season strongly as we head towards the playoffs,” NYCFC sporting director David Lee said in a release.
NYCFC will now be able to make their second U22 signing of the window after acquiring Mounsef Bakrar at striker. It might be enough to get the attack headed in the right direction. At the same time, U22s are far from guaranteed successes.
Orlando made yet another highly-competent move in an ever-growing string of highly-competent moves by bringing back midfielder Júnior Urso through the rest of 2023 with an option for 2024. He’s an effective player that adds depth to an already solid central midfield group.
Oh. Yeah. These guys. Almost forgot.
Free agent left back Jordi Alba has joined Inter Miami. If you saw the kind of spaces that right back DeAndre Yedlin got into against Cruz Azul once Lionel Messi entered the game, you can imagine defenses having a hard time defending that on both sides of the field. Just gonna say it: Feels like a good signing.
The Herons also found room to add Paraguayan international midfielder Diego Gómez from Club Libertad. He’s a U22, which, again, is always tough to hit on. But he could help correct the issues with Miami’s most injury-laden group. If he hits and hits immediately, the Herons will not only be extremely dangerous going forward, but they could be solid through the midfield. That might be the difference between grabbing a final playoff spot or waiting until 2024 to truly unleash this revamped Inter Miami roster on the league.
Messi confirmed as Inter Miami CF captain: Lionel Messi will serve as Inter Miami CF’s captain moving forward, head coach Tata Martino confirmed in his matchday-1 press conference as the club prepares for a Leagues Cup showdown Tuesday night against Atlanta United (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
- Joe Lowery looked at what we learned in two big debuts for Inter Miami.
- Inter Miami are forecasting a bigger role for Lionel Messi against Atlanta United.
- In the midst of Messi Mania, Gary Smith wants folks to remember that Hany Mukhtar is pretty good at this too.
Good luck out there. Might as well watch this again.
