FC Cincinnati sign DP forward Boupendza
FC Cincinnati have acquired Gabon international forward Aaron Boupendza from Saudi Pro League side Al-Shabab FC. His deal runs through the 2025 MLS season, with options for 2026 and 2027. The 26-year-old will join the Orange & Blue as a Designated Player alongside defensive midfielder Obinna Nwobodo and attacking midfielder Luciano Acosta. He'll be eligible for selection when the MLS Secondary Transfer window opens on July 5, potentially making their July 8 trip to Charlotte FC a debut date (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
LAFC look for revenge against Houston
It’s LAFC-Houston tonight. Again. On Saturday, that went pretty well for Houston as the Dynamo rolled to a 4-0 win. We’ll see if things go the same way in LA. Kickoff is set for 10:30 pm ET on .
Nations League begins tomorrow
Canada squares off against Panama at 7 pm ET. The USMNT faces El Tri at 10 pm ET. Winners go to the Nations League final on Sunday.
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We didn’t get a chance to really talk about it, considering everything that’s happened, but All-Star Voting is open…checking\]...ok, wait, actually, that’s technically still true. [But today is the very last day you can cast vote for the 2023 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target. You should do that. And if you’ll allow me to present my case, maybe I can sway some last-minute votes.
These are my picks for The People’s All-Star team of 2023. Basically, we’re looking at the players who likely won’t start the actual game, but it sure would be really, really fun if they did. We’re thinking goals first, everything else a distant second here. Even if we lose, I want the world to be making jokes about Arsenal’s back line. Mostly though, I want to make sure folks who have been putting on a show this year get their due, and that you, dear reader, are fully entertained.
Tactical guide: Bradley Carnell - St. Louis CITY SC
Yes, technically Wayne Rooney is the manager for the MLS All-Star team. But for our people’s team, we’re calling Carnell to set the tactical philosophy for the team. In this case, the game model is: “If we have the ball, try and score. If we don’t have the ball, get it back, so we can try and score.”
It’s beautiful. And it might give us some insight into how to run the “trick the opposing team into passing directly to your striker” play.
Benteke is starting at striker for this group in part because we want to give the hometown folks a protagonist and in part because he’s a blast to watch. I’m not sure I even realized to what extent that was true until D.C. came through Atlanta this week. I found myself fully focused on him and Miles Robinson battling for position and working to outsmart and out-physical each other any time D.C. had the ball. It ruled. Benteke rules. He’ll probably do something wildly acrobatic for a guy his size.
He’s also pretty deserving of being at this game anyway. He has eight goals and two assists on the season.
We’ve talked about Espinoza plenty this year, and I will actually dedicate a whole newsletter to him if he somehow doesn’t get added to the actual team. But for now, he’s an obvious addition to our People’s All-Star team thanks to his ability to win 1-v-1s out wide and turn small moments into end product. He has eight goals and five assists on the season and is on pace to outdo an outstanding 2022 season where he had seven goals and 14 assists.
Morris has been dealing with an injury lately, but should definitely be good to start come All-Star week. His overall numbers this year are a tiny bit inflated by his early season destruction of Sporting KC, but, still, how are we gonna keep the guy with a four-goal game out of this thing? He’ll get in behind and crash the box and do all of the work it takes to cause havoc on the wing. It’ll be awesome, just trust me.
I had a really tough time picking out a 10 because it felt like any of Thiago Almada, Lucho Acosta and Zelarayán are set to start in D.C., but I settled on stealing Zelarayán for the People’s team. What’s more “for the people” than a player who can break out a game-winning goal from midfield in stoppage time? Everyone who’s ever had a ball at their feet has thought about doing something similar. He’s living out our dreams for us.
He’s good at pretty much everything. No joke. Like, everything. His FBref.com chart comparing his statistics to other midfielders has him in the 85th percentile or higher in everything from goal-scoring to chance creation to tackles. Pretty much the only statistic that isn’t excellent is pass completion percentage. Amazingly, he’s in the 5th percentile there. He’s constantly in full “Sure, I could check down…but what if I threw it deep?” mode, and I love him for it.
I dunno where we’re actually going to put him, but we’re basically going to just let him run around until he pops up on the right wing and plays (not a bit) the single greatest cross you will ever see in your life. Also, it would be objectively funny to finally see the Gressel-to-Benteke connection D.C. United decided they didn’t need for some reason.
We do in fact need to get the ball from Arsenal so we can go score. That’s where Obi comes in and wrecks shop. Among midfielders this season, he’s in the 88th percentile in tackles, the 98th percentile in interceptions, the 81st percentile in blocked shots and the 94th percentile in clearances. He’s a major part of why FC Cincinnati have been good enough defensively to be on a record-setting points-per-game pace. He’ll have a lot of work to do here, but it’s ok if Arsenal score a few times. We just can’t have it happen every time.
For better or worse, Gallagher is outscoring everyone in Austin right now. Maybe not ideal for your versatile kind of, sort of full back to be the guy guiding the attack, but there’s no denying Gallagher has been a ton of fun this year. He’s scored five times, and he’ll be given full freedom to bomb forward in our setup.
Another D.C. guy is in for hometown purposes and for the fact he leads all center backs in goals. He’s also just generally been pretty solid.
He hasn’t been the full chaos merchant we saw last year, but he’s still giving back lines a ton of headaches. He has three goals and five assists on the season and, like everyone else on the team, will be given full freedom to get forward.
Rounding out the team is someone who just isn’t getting enough credit right now. His shot-stopping numbers so far have been some of the best in the league, and he’s playing a key role in FC Cincinnati’s success. Winning one-goal games doesn’t come easy. Celentano is getting the job done for the league’s best team and we should acknowledge how impressive he’s been for a guy who entered the league last year expecting to be a backup. He’s been The Guy in Cincy ever since he got his chance to start and hasn’t let go.
Sipić signs first homegrown deal in Nashville history: Nashville SC made history Tuesday, announcing forward Adem Sipić as their first-ever homegrown player signing. Sipić will formally join Nashville’s first team during the 2024 MLS season, with his deal lasting through 2027 (with a club option for 2028). The 17-year-old Kentucky native will continue to compete with Huntsville City FC, the club’s new MLS NEXT Pro team, during the 2023 season.
- Play Proud is creating LGBTQ+ allyship leaders in MLS and beyond.
- Joe Lowery has your MLS midseason superlatives.
- With Miami needing something like a miracle, Charles Boehm looked at MLS’ history of star players coming to the rescue.
- If you’re new around here, take a look at what trophies Lionel Messi could win if he arrives in Miami.
- Power Rankings.
Good luck out there. Be at your best when everyone is watching.
