Soccerwise Minutes

November 3, 2026

Now that we have crossed over into the sunless days of the year, well, at least we still have soccer to keep our spirits high. And we have oh so much soccer on the horizon: MLS Decision Day, wild finishes in the USL playoffs, a ton more goals from all our favorite USMNTers abroad, and a USMNT roster drop right around the corner. Sounds just like what the doctor ordered to cure your Daylight Savings blues. 

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🥅 Goal of the Weekend:

20-year-old USMNT prospect Cole Campbell with a stunner for SV Elversberg on Friday night against Mainz. Yes, click, we promise it’s worth it.

🥳 The Best Thing We Saw :

The USMNT kids are alright; how about the link-up between Adri Mehmeti and Julian Hall?

⏪ MLS Weekend Rewind:

This weekend was less about what happened in the games and more about what those games meant. Mostly because a bunch of teams didn’t even have to kick a soccer ball to have something meaningful happen for them this weekend. But here’s what you need to know heading into Decision Day on Saturday.

Perhaps the biggest result, and the most interesting game of the weekend, goes to Nashville SC. Yes on paper they already clinched the Shield, but they are chasing the points record, and boy did they not make it easy. Down 2-0 at home, where they have not lost all season, they somehow found a way, albeit with the benefit of two own goals. It was Sam Surridge in stoppage time, with Cristian Espinoza providing his 100th MLS assist, who gave the boys in Music City the win, tying the points record and giving them a chance to break it on Decision Day. What a moment for Nashville at home, and now all roads to MLS Cup go through GEODIS Park. 

Inter Miami seems to love the drama. In the race for the No. 2 spot out East, New England struck first, but it was Miami who had the last laugh and claimed the 2-1 win, giving them the slightest of leads heading into Decision Day. After Daniel Gazdag put New England ahead, Miami tied it in the 69th minute before Lionel Messi sealed it with the winner in the 83rd minute to give Miami their 10th road win of the season - the most in MLS.  

FC Cincinnati, Columbus Crew SC and Orlando City SC all secured their spots over the weekend. Columbus is red-hot, picking up their fifth straight win after they took care of business with a 3-0 win against D.C. United (plus two more assists from Dylan Chambost, making it five in his last two games). Orlando got trounced by Charlotte 4-0 but backed in the playoffs anyways. FC Cincinnati, the only team to actually get a result in the East to secure their spot, got a 70th-minute winner from sub Ayoub Jabbari to beat Philadelphia 1-0 at home. 

Meanwhile out West things look a lot more murky, but the big winners of the weekend: Portland, the LA Galaxy, and somehow Minnesota United are mathematically not out of it. Off a 3-1 home win against Houston, the Timbers have won three in a row, jumped from 11th to eighth, and had their DPs Kristoffer Velde and David Da Costa scoring in back-to-back games. The Galaxy smacked Austin 4-1 with three assists from Marco Reus and a goal from Chucky Lozano on his return. The Loons went to BMO Stadium and Joaquín Pereyra delivered with a brace in a 3-1 win. Now we head into Decision Day with three spots up for grabs out West and six teams in contention after Colorado, Seattle and Real Salt Lake all slipped up this weekend.

If you want the full breakdown of all the wildness out West, Gass, Tom and Doyle have you covered on Monday’s MLS Soccerwise, as they relive it all and look ahead to what should be an eventful Decision Day on Saturday.

MLS Rapid Fire: Happy trails to one of our own at Soccerwise as Alejandro Bedoya announced he’s retiring at the end of this season…A great goal and a huge win for Charlotte, but a not so private moment as Allan Saint-Maximin grabbed his junk to talk that junk, and now he’s missing Decision Day…The Revs and Inter Miami both secured spots for the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup…Vancouver rolled past Seattle 5-1 and, in the process, became the fourth team in MLS history to record back-to-back 60-point seasons and secured the top spot in the Western Conference…Another one, or another three, bite the dust as Toronto FC, New York City FC and Red Bull New York were all officially eliminated from the playoffs this weekend.

Everything To Play For In The West While Nashville Have A Chance To Make History

By: Cat Bush

The Western Conference will take center stage on Saturday as MLS heads into Decision Day, with six teams in contention for three playoff spots in the west and just one team with something to fight for in the east. With one game remaining against 7th-place FC Cincinnati, Nashville have officially tied the MLS single-season points record set by Inter Miami in 2024. A point on Saturday would break it. The rest of the East, meanwhile, have little to play for beyond seeding battles, with all nine playoff spots already clinched. If you’re looking for a storyline, though, ninth-place Orlando City, with a whopping 78 goals conceded this season, have moved into a second-place tie for the worst defense in league history, behind only this year’s Sporting KC (81). If Orlando concedes four to 3rd-place New England and KC gets a favorable result  against San Diego, it would be enough for the record. It is a banner year for allowing goals apparently, as even just one more allowed in the back of the net for Orlando would move the Lions past the 2024 San Jose Earthquakes. Woof.

In the West, Minnesota, RSL, Seattle, Colorado, Portland, and the LA Galaxy will be vying for one of three remaining spots in what is sure to be a stunning battle of mid. The Sounders enter the gauntlet with the worst form of the bunch, while Minnesota, RSL, and Portland all have three wins in their last five. The elimination scenarios are complex, but it’s essentially do or die for all involved – even the Galaxy wouldn’t be guaranteed a berth with just a draw. Higher up the table, St. Louis CITY will hope to gain some momentum after a five-month unbeaten streak has turned into a winless five-game skid with four losses in a row heading into the final matchday of the season. Meanwhile West winners Vancouver travel to Montreal in a Canadian clash that pits #2 against #29 in the shield rankings. 

With the Golden Boot race and Eastern Conference all but wrapped up, the points record and a Western Conference scrum will command deadline day attention. Nashville’s match kicks off at 4:00 EST/1:00 PST, while the Western Conference slate begins at 7:00 EST/4:00 PST. 

📰 Other Things You Might Have Missed:

• Some of the USMNT’s best attacking options are back on track and maybe finding their form. Christian Pulisic scored in the Milan Derby, his fourth time scoring against Inter. After missing six weeks due to injury, Ricardo Pepi scored off the bench for PSV Eindhoven on Halloween, and Folarin Balogun tallied his first goal of the Ligue 1 season.
• In the EFL Championship, Sebastian Berhalter put together another stellar game with a goal and an assist to keep Middlesbrough top of the league. Not to be outdone, Jack McGlynn added a goal and an assist for Stoke City in a win against Preston North End.
• On NWSL Decision Day, Gotham FC secured their first NWSL Shield with a 2-0 win at Utah. The last playoff spot was up for grabs, and the Seattle Reign entered Sunday in win-and-in mode, scoring a goal from Jordyn Bugg to secure their ninth trip to the postseason with a 1-0 win over Orlando. And a consolation prize for North Carolina’s Ashley Sanchez: no outright record and no playoffs, but she did collect the Golden Boot. The playoff field is now set and the postseason kicks off on Friday.
• In the USL Championship playoffs, the biggest upset of the quarterfinal round came from No. 8 seed Miami FC, which knocked off the Players Shield winners and top-seeded Tampa Bay in pens. The hero: former Columbus Crew and Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room, who saved three pens, one in the 123rd minute of extra time and two in the shootout, to help his squad advance 5-4 with a shootout win.  
• That wasn’t the only upset in the playoffs this weekend; in USL League One, the No. 7 seed Chattanooga Wolves upset the No. 2 seed Union Omaha on the road. The Wolves scored in the first minute, then withstood an onslaught from Omaha before their 40-year-old goalkeeper, Ricardo Jérez, delivered what proved to be the winning penalty to take down the Owls 5-4 in pens.
• The U.S. U17s did their best to keep pace with the two-time defending champs, North Korea, including Avellina Sanders saving a PK, but it was not enough as they fell 3-0 in the quarterfinals at the U-17 Women’s World Cup on Sunday.

Quick Links, Kickback:

• Soccerwise: David Gass and your Kickback family have you covered all things MLS, NWSL and U.S. Soccer.
• First Touch: Your American home for the global game. Join us every week for First Touch Dispatch and First Touch Weekly with Susannah Fuller for the stories and conversations shaping soccer around the world.
• Tom Bogert, The Athletic: No one better to keep you up-to-date on all of the silly season news from MLS!
• Tactics Free Zone: Matt Doyle is your go-to analyst for all MLS action.

Quick Links, Kickback Partners:

• Happy Foot, Sad Foot is your go-to podcast for LAFC. Check out their weekly pod and some pretty sweet merch. 
• Out West, San Diego Futbol has you covered for all things San Diego FC. San Diego’s #1 source for all things soccer.
• Five Stripe Final  has your coverage of Atlanta United. Check out their Substack and listen to their podcast to keep up to date.
• And for our friends on the East Coast, The Blazing Musket covers soccer across New England, from the Revs to Legacy and a whole lot of love for the USL.
• SixOneFive Soccer has you covered as they continue to recap Nashville’s historic run. The Music City men are headed to Toronto midweek and they have you covered.
• Check out Sounder at Heart as they provide all the coverage for the Boys in Rave Green, keeping you up-to-date as Seattle looks to make a playoff push.
• TopBin90 is your main source for Charlotte FC and beyond. Also, with college soccer season now in full swing, they can keep you up to date with College Soccer News.