Major League Soccer opens up MLS Matchday 23 with a full schedule of fourteen games across two days. The featured Friday night game will the MLS feature the amazing Yankee Stadium backdrop in the place “so nice they named it twice” – New York, New York.
The real fun gets underway on Saturday evening as more than 10 games will be played all around North America from Montreal to Southern California. The stars of MLS will start to make their journey back from international duty, so look for bench players to seize the playing time in front of them before taking a back seat once again.
Mid-Table Clash in Orlando on MLS Matchday 23
Orlando City (5W-8L-6D) will look to put themselves back into the Eastern Conference playoff position with a road win against 6th-seeded New York City (9W-8L-2D) in the lone action on Friday night in MLS Matchday 23. Led by 24-year-old striker Santiago Rodriguez, NYC FC looks to keep pace with Columbus and the NY Red Bulls in the East after MLS Matchday 23.
Meanwhile, Orlando City SC is coming off a 4-2 win over Chicago this past weekend. Midfielder Facundo Torres has stepped up recently with three goals over the last two contests to bring his season total to six goals on the season. Forward Duncan McGuire leads Orlando in scores with six but has found the net only once in his last seven games. McGuire will be looking to get on the scoresheet under the bright Yankee stadium floodlights tonight.
LA FC Looks For 9th Straight Unbeaten Match
LA FC has racked up the standings points out in the Western Conference like they are frequent flier miles. With a record of 7W-0L-1D over their last eight matches, LA FC has surged to the top of the table in the West. Real Salt Lake joins both Los Angeles-based soccer clubs in first place with 37 points. French forward Denis Boanga has been impressive for LA FC with 3 goals and 2 assists over his last three outings.
Already buried enough in this paragraph, 4th-seeded Colorado Rapids (9W-4L-7D) will not be a pushover opponent for LA FC. The Rapids have won three starting MLS Matchdays with two clean sheets against Austin and St. Louis before conceding a goal against Montreal last weekend. Colorado will be looking to stifle the high-powered LA attack on Saturday night.
For a look at the official MLS Matchday 23 schedule, click here.
Secondary Window Closing in for MLS Clubs
The secondary transfer window allows MLS clubs to bolster their rosters or sell off some assets within the global football economy. Given the international and complex nature of these transfers, agreements are often made well in advance with an agreed-upon starting date based on the league(s) involved.
For example, England’s Premier League opened its transfer window two weeks ago on June 14 allowing transactions within the league to occur immediately. However, deals are established with other major soccer clubs around the world, like Spain’s La Liga, and are designated with a July 1st commencement date for the deal.
In Major League Soccer, the wait for the transfer window is even a little bit longer than the rest of the world. A few weeks following MLS Matchday 23, MLS will allow transfers between 07/18/2024-08/14/2024. The end date is two weeks shorter than the rest of the soccer world which allows transfers until August 30. Once the calendar flips to September, the transfer window slams shut with any agreed-upon deals waiting until January 2025.
There are several pending moves already such as AC Milan forward Oliver Giroud‘s transfer from Italy to Southern California to LA FC. While Giroud is the most high-profile to transfer into the MLS, there is a full Transfer Tracker available from Major League Soccer for all your transfer viewing needs.
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