WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- White House, Jill Biden host MLS youth clinic: The South Lawn transformed into a youth soccer clinic Monday afternoon and early evening, a celebration of MLS All-Star Week arriving in the nation's capital. The White House event, hosted by First Lady Jill Biden, welcomed local children and their families as a reminder of how sports can unite communities and empower young people.
- Skills Challenge tonight: Major League Soccer's All-Stars and Arsenal FC will compete in the 2023 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T 5G tonight. Check out the rosters and events here.
- NYCFC sign Norwegian defender Risa: New York City FC have signed defender Birk Risa from Norwegian top-flight side Molde FK through the 2025 MLS season with an option for 2026. Risa, 25, predominantly plays center back and left back. The former Norwegian youth international has made more than 180 first-team appearances throughout his professional career, spanning Eliteserien sides Molde and Odds BK, as well as German Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln.
CHARTING A PATH TO AN MLS VICTORY IN THE SKILLS CHALLENGE
Happy Skills Challenge day to all who celebrate. Which, if you're reading this newsletter, includes you. It's how you were raised.
Anyway, MLS is taking on a team with a dinosaur mascot for some reason in five different events. Let's go through each event and do our best to pick a player or two who might make the difference in D.C. tonight.
MLS All-Star Shooting Challenge presented by AT&T 5G
Christian Benteke, Dénis Bouanga, Jesús Ferreira
It's great to see Bouanga and Ferreira here in a competition predicated on finishing skill when both have somewhat notably been chastised by dudes on the internet for not being good at finishing. First and foremost: Finishing is only barely a thing. Success is far more about what positions you're getting in to take shots rather than how good you are taking them. There's pretty much only one guy in history who has outrun his expected goals numbers consistently due to his incredible finishing skill and he happens to play for Inter Miami now.
However, in this case, it's probably important to note that Ferreira is outperforming his xG by 3.4 goals on the season. That's 10 goals from 6.6 xG. Bouanga is almost identical with 12 goals from 8.4 xG. Does that mean they're "good" at finishing? Nope! Probably means they've been a little lucky. But they're definitely not "bad" at finishing either.
All that to say, I'm taking Benteke to get the most points, he's just built different. Plus he's actually underperforming his xG this year. He's the only one that's due!
MLS All-Star Touch Challenge presented by Dawn
Thiago Almada, Héctor Herrera, Hany Mukhtar
Here we have an interesting collection of a young player, an older player and a going-to-win-the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award-for-a-second-year-in-a-row player. I'm not sure I have any real science to put behind this one, but I will say that Almada is the only prototypical 10 here. His free kick ability has shown us he knows how to manipulate a ball better than anyone else in the league. Feels like a safe pick to lean Almada here.
MLS All-Star Cross & Volley Challenge presented by AT&T 5G
Christian Benteke, Dénis Bouanga, Jesús Ferreira, Héctor Herrera, Roman Bürki, Hany Mukhtar, Riqui Puig, Tyler Miller
Big cast here. You could go a number of ways to pick out the most impactful player. To me though, the answer is obvious. Roman Bürki has been the most productive keeper in the league this season. Per FBref's post-shot xG measure, he's kept out a little over six more goals than the average keeper this season. That's the best mark in MLS, right ahead of Djordje Petrovic and well ahead of third-place Brad Stuver. There's a good argument to make that St. Louis aren't in first place in the West without Burki. He's been unreal. And if anyone is going to make a major impact in this challenge, it feels like it will be him.
MLS All-Star Passing Challenge presented by Bounty
Luciano Acosta, Thiago Almada, Riqui Puig
Everyone here is an incredible passer, but… come on, it's Puig. I can tell you that the passing stats for Puig and Almada are virtually the same and that Puig's numbers are a little better overall, or you can just trust me on this. It's Puig. Come on, y'all, you watch the games. You know.
MLS All-Star Crossbar Challenge presented by GilletteLabs
Luciano Acosta, Christian Benteke, Dénis Bouanga, Roman Bürki, Héctor Herrera, Tyler Miller, Hany Mukhtar
There can only be one. Just one person to hit the crossbar and seal a win over the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup champions. And it's going to be…
Lucho Acosta. This is Cincy's year. Haven't you figured that out by now?
AND OTHER THINGS
THE READING RAINBOW
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Good luck out there. Show some loyalty.
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