Latest issue 06 Oct 2026

Soccerwise Minutes

October 6, 2026

Are we having fun yet? I think so! The USMNT is 3-0 this window, featuring tons of goals, teenagers, and a massive win over Mexico with one game left against Canada. And the fun continues as the USWNT takes on Spain, plus MLS is back this weekend! Let's catch you up real quick before you settle in:

📰 Headlines:

😛 Cavan Sullivan is him. And now he’s the youngest goal scorer in USMNT history at 17 years and 5 days. Gass, Tom and Doyle break it all down on Monday’s Soccerwise.
🇺🇲 And not to be outdone, Julian Hall made it three goals in three games. He’s the third USMNT player to score three goals in his first three games, joining Eddie Johnson and Alex Rae (who we all know, of course, from the 1930s).
Between the sticks, it was the first career start of Diego Kochen in goal for the USMNT. The Barcelona loanee helped the USMNT keep a clean sheet against Mexico.
Last but certainly not least, let's stoke this US-Canada rivalry a bit more. Jesse Marsch is talking again; grass is green, sky is blue, etc. Does he just love the sound of his own voice?
🇨🇦 Everyone’s favorite mullet-loving MLS Canadian Jacob Shaffelburg scored a brace for Canada in a 2-0 win against Peru. But can we talk about this anthem disaster instead?
Ahead of Tuesday, Mauricio Pochettino says the USMNT is “exhausted,” and Canada is dropping like flies. Cyle Larin and Tajon Buchanan are out for Tuesday; Minnesota United’s Marcus Caldeira and Toronto FC’s Theo Corbeanu are in.
The USWNT’s international window is officially open, and Naomi Girma is out (injured again), and so is Sam Coffey. It’s a first-time USWNT call-up for Utah’s Kate Del Fava at 28 years old, and Gotham FC’s Jaelin Howell is also back in the fold.
🥲 384 days later, Savannah DeMelo is back with Racing Louisville. The USWNT and Louisville midfielder collapsed last September and saw her first minutes since then on Saturday.
🏆 Louisville City FC became the first USL team to win every major trophy available to them with a 1-0 win against Hartford Athletic, this time hoisting the USL Cup.
It’s clinching season! New Mexico United locked down their postseason spot this weekend in the USL Championship while Athletic Club Boise qualified for the playoffs in their USL League One debut season.

🇺🇲 Julian Hall Keeps Making The Most Of His Opportunities

By: Cat Bush

The first takeaway from the USMNT’s “tres-a-cero” win against Mexico on Saturday is that Mexico is really bad. Two of the U.S. goals came off catastrophic defensive errors by El Tri, with Cavan Sullivan and Malik Tillman terrorizing the Mexican backline with a simple press. The second takeaway is that Julian Hall is really, really good. The 18-year-old now has three goals in three games, and although it’s the newly-17 Cavan that has stolen all the headlines, Hall is making a case for himself as the breakout star of this international window.

For those watching MLS this season, the ascendance is hardly a surprise. Hall has ten goals through 26 matches for Red Bull New York this season, up from one goal in the same number of games last season. This isn’t noise, either; Hall is underperforming his xG — which ranks just behind Robert Lewandowski, Antoine Griezmann, and Luis Suarez on a per-96-minute basis — thanks to some bad luck on good chances. As a teenager with proven goalscoring talent and room to improve, Hall is a scary prospect and could be the next man to challenge for a spot in the USMNT’s #9 rotation.

Hall’s trajectory is eerily similar to Pepi’s — the two strikers had breakout MLS seasons with 10+ goals for their hometown clubs. Like Hall, Pepi scored in his USMNT debut, and went on to register a brace in his second match. Within months, Pepi had been sold to Augsburg for over $20 million, a fee that isn’t hard to imagine for Hall as well. At the beginning of this year, the Red Bull striker was worth just $1.1 million. Now, according to Transfermarkt, he’s worth $9 million, and with three international goals under his belt, that value will only appreciate.

Predicting Hall’s path forward is difficult, given his age. Red Bull may want to capitalize on his momentum and ship him to Europe, or hold onto the striker in the hope he keeps getting better — the club signed Hall to a contract extension in August. For Mauricio Pochettino, however, there’s little to debate. After Hall’s performance against Mexico, he can’t be ignored. The future is now, and Hall is making a bid to be a defining part of it.

⏪ NWSL Weekend Rewind:

No MLS this past weekend, but we’ve got you covered as the NWSL regular season hits the home stretch. Two teams have clinched a playoff spot while nine are still in contention for the last six spots.

Here come the San Diego Wave! They became the second team to book their ticket to the NWSL playoffs this weekend with a 2-1 win over the Orlando Pride on Friday night. That’s now four straight wins for the Wave, who are now up to second place, just four points behind Gotham FC with three games to go.
Two teams fighting for their playoff lives went toe-to-toe Friday night at Lumen Field. Entering the game, Seattle was clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot just a point ahead of the North Carolina Courage. But it was the Courage who prevailed thanks to Gianna Paul’s first-ever NWSL goal, giving the Courage a 1-0 win and pushing them two points clear of the Reign into the final playoff spot.
Don’t look now, but the Kansas City Current might have gotten their mojo back. A 5-1 demolition of Bay FC sees the reigning NWSL Shield winners catapult themselves to fifth in the table. They went down early 1-0, but scored five unanswered thanks to a Debinha hat trick and Temwa Chawinga just being Temwa.
In a battle of East vs. West, we got some late-game heroics from Angel City in their road match against Gotham FC. Jaedyn Shaw’s 66th-minute goal looked to be the game-winner for Gotham, until super sub Taylor Suarez notched a 91st-minute equalizer for the visitors, who are now unbeaten in their last seven games.
To wrap up the weekend, the Washington Spirit surrendered two leads against the Dash, but still found a road win. Miljana Ivanovic tried to play spoiler for Houston with her first career brace, but it was Clara Luvanga scoring the game-winner for the Spirit in the 84th minute that helped keep the Spirit locked into a top-three spot. For the first-ever Tanzanian player in NWSL history, the game-winner marked Luvanga’s first career goal.

📺 Midweek Watchlist:

Time to break out the multi-view or dual screen feature this week because we’ve got USMNT on Tuesday against Canada (8 p.m. ET on TNT) and MLS at almost the same time (see more below). Here are a couple of other suggestions for you soccer sickos out there craving the midweek action.

Chicago Fire vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC, MLS (Tues, Oct. 6, 8:30 p.m. ET, Apple TV)This one is rescheduled from back in July due to wildfire smoke. It’s a showdown between Robert Lewandowski and Tomas Müller. A win for Vancouver means they open up their lead out West, while one for Chicago would see them move back into the top four in the Eastern Conference.

Corpus Christi FC vs. Fort Wayne FC, USL League One (Wed., Oct. 7, 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+)And for the aforementioned sickos, both of these teams are fighting for their playoff lives in USL League One. Fort Wayne is clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot with Corpus Christi hot on their tails in ninth and three points off the pace. Plus, it’s got Simon Becher’s little brother, Ryan, who likes scoring goals for Fort Wayne.

Cal Baptist vs. No. 21 Oregon State, NCAA Men’s (Wed., Oct. 7, 10 p.m. ET, ESPNU)And in the land of NCAA, we head out West for a showdown in the new Pac-12. Cal Baptist currently occupies the No. 1 spot in the conference standings and is riding a six-game winning streak as the preseason favorite comes to town, led by graduate transfer forward Wyatt Borso.

🥅 Goal of the Weekend:

Goalkeeper equalizer. Enough said.

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.