Griezmann and Lewandowski Make MLS Debuts as Messi Pauses
Lionel Messi is on pause. Major League Soccer is not.
While Argentina’s captain catches his breath after that bruising World Cup final defeat to Spain, the league he helped supercharge has rolled straight into a new chapter, fronted by two more global heavyweights: Antoine Griezmann and Robert Lewandowski.
Griezmann hits the ground running
On Wednesday, July 22, Griezmann needed just one half of football to announce himself.
Making his MLS debut for Orlando City, the 2018 World Cup winner stepped into a side that looked eager, sharp, and ruthless. Three minutes after the restart against the San Jose Earthquakes, he had his first goal in the league, the spark in a 4-0 dismantling that felt like a statement more than a simple win.
It was the kind of debut that changes the temperature around a club. Orlando didn’t just beat San Jose. They swept them aside, with Griezmann sliding seamlessly into the rhythm of the attack and giving the crowd exactly what they came to see: a star playing like a star.
As Messi rests, Griezmann has wasted no time in grabbing some of that spotlight.
Lewandowski waits for lift-off
Also debuting on July 22, the Chicago Fire’s new striker played 63 minutes in a 3-2 defeat to Inter Miami. No Messi on the field, but Miami still found a way to win. Lewandowski, so often the ruthless finisher in Europe, walked away without a goal.
For Chicago, the frustration will be obvious. You bring in one of the most prolific forwards of his generation and still leave empty-handed. For Lewandowski, the response comes quickly.
On Saturday, July 25, he gets another shot, this time in one of the league’s most distinctive venues. The Fire travel to Yankee Stadium to face New York City FC, and the mission is simple: first MLS goal, first real foothold in this new chapter of his career.
Griezmann, meanwhile, faces a very different kind of test.
Orlando City host Nashville SC, the current leaders in the Supporters’ Shield race. One dazzling debut is one thing. Backing it up against the league’s pace-setters is where reputations in MLS are really built.
A packed Saturday slate
The league’s return from its long summer break comes with a full, busy Saturday on July 25, with every match available on Apple TV:
- Red Bull New York vs. Charlotte FC, 6:30 p.m. ET
- Columbus Crew vs. FC Cincinnati, 7:15 p.m. ET
- D.C. United vs. Toronto FC, 7:30 p.m. ET
- CF Montréal vs. Inter Miami, 7:30 p.m. ET
- New England Revolution vs. Atlanta United, 7:30 p.m. ET
- New York City FC vs. Chicago Fire, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Orlando City SC vs. Nashville SC, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Philadelphia Union vs. Seattle Sounders, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Houston Dynamo vs. Austin FC, 8:30 p.m. ET
- Minnesota United vs. Vancouver Whitecaps, 8:30 p.m. ET
- St. Louis City SC vs. Colorado Rapids, 8:30 p.m. ET
- San Diego FC vs. FC Dallas, 9:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
- Los Angeles FC vs. Sporting Kansas City, 10:30 p.m. ET
- Portland Timbers vs. Real Salt Lake, 10:30 p.m. ET
- San Jose Earthquakes vs. LA Galaxy, 10:30 p.m. ET
It’s a schedule built for channel-hopping, but one rivalry slices straight through the noise.
“Hell is Real” returns
Columbus vs. Cincinnati doesn’t need much selling. “Hell is Real” does the job.
On Saturday night at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus (7:15 p.m. ET, Apple TV), one of MLS’s fiercest rivalries picks up again with the two clubs heading in very different directions.
FC Cincinnati arrive with momentum. They’re fresh off a wild 4-3 victory over the Western Conference leaders, the Vancouver Whitecaps, a result that underlined their attacking punch and their resilience. They’re firmly in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt, and they’re playing like it.
Columbus are not.
For the Crew, 2026 has been a grind. Four wins from 16 league matches tell the story. Henrik Rydström paid the price, dismissed on May 17 after just 14 games in charge. Laurent Courtois has stepped in as interim head coach, but the reset has yet to take hold.
The World Cup break offered a chance to regroup. Instead, the first game back brought more disappointment: a 2-1 home defeat to New York City FC on July 22. The problems that haunted them before the pause were still there after it.
Now comes Cincinnati, their Interstate 71 rival, with confidence high and goals flowing. For Columbus, this isn’t just another fixture on a long schedule. It’s a chance to jolt their season back to life against the one opponent their fans most want them to beat.
Rivalries have a way of ignoring form tables. The Crew need that truth to hold.
Title picture: Messi’s Miami still on top
Step back from the week-to-week chaos, and the bookmakers still see one team above the rest.
According to the latest BetMGM odds, Inter Miami sit as the current favorite to win the 2026 league championship at +333. Even with Messi on a post-World Cup break, the market hasn’t blinked. The supporting cast and the structure around him keep Miami at the front of the line.
Behind them, Los Angeles FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps are both listed at +750, with Nashville SC close at +800. FC Cincinnati, surging on the field and now stepping into a huge rivalry weekend, sit at +1200.
Griezmann has already landed. Lewandowski is still circling the runway. Messi, for now, watches from a distance.
The league he helped transform isn’t waiting for him. It’s hurtling ahead, full stadiums, full schedule, full of questions that will be answered under the lights on Saturday night.
