Major League Soccer

Seven teams can secure a playoff spot this weekend, joining four other teams that already have tickets: Inter Miami CF, Cincinnati, Columbus (Eastern) and LA Galaxy (Western).

Victory on Saturday depends on the other results of Orlando, the Red Bulls, Vancouver, Houston and Real Salt Lake.

But LAFC (against Dallas) and Colorado (against Toronto) will be there if they win.

• Golden Shoe: Philadelphia and DC United face each other on Saturday, featuring two of the league’s top five scorers.

Top 5 scorers
19g Christian Benteke (DC United) in Philadelphia
17 g Chickpea Arango (Real Salt Lake) against Portland
17g Denis Bouanga (LAFC) in Dallas
17g Luis Suarez (Inter Miami) at NYCFC
15g Daniel Gazdagi (Philadelphia) vs DC United

📺 SATURDAY Games:

APPLE TV/MLS SEASON PASS
NYCFC vs Miami, 2:00 p.m.
Charlotte vs. New England, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m.
Montreal vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m.
NYRB vs Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.
Austin vs. Houston, 8:30 p.m.
Dallas vs. LAFC, 8:30 p.m.
Kansas City vs. Minnesota 8:30 p.m.
Nashville vs. Cincinnati, 8:30 p.m.
Colorado vs. Toronto, 9:30 p.m.
Real Salt Lake vs Portland, 9:30 p.m.
LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver 10:30 p.m.
San Jose vs. St. Louis, 10:30 p.m.
All times ET.

📺 SUNDAY Game:

APPLE TV/MLS SEASON PASS
Philadelphia-DC United, 6:15 p.m
* Also on FX1 and Fox Deportes.
Time ET.

National Women’s Football League

Racing Louisville, just three points behind the playoff zone, managed its first comeback win last weekend with a 2-1 win over Angel City. Perhaps a useful momentum ahead of its home game against North Carolina, which Louisville has beaten in its last eight games of the regular season.

If Ji So-Yun Points for Seattle against Houston Dash will match the performances of the former Reign players Megan Rapinoe And Kim Klein three away games in a row. The Houston Dash have lost six games in a row.

A late push for the playoffs by the San Diego Waves became more realistic again when they defeated Portland 3-2 in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup after ending their 12-game winless streak in the NWSL last weekend in Utah.

📺 SATURDAY Games:

ION
Racing Louisville vs. NC Courage, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago – San Diego, 9:30 p.m.
NWSL+
Houston vs. Seattle, 8:30 p.m.
All times ET.

📺 SUNDAY Game:

ESPN2/ESPN SPORTS/ESPN+
Gotham FC vs Utah, 1:00 p.m.
Time ET.

USL Championship

New Mexico United, Louisville City and Charleston Battery have secured the playoff spots; FC Miami is the only team that has already been eliminated.

A meeting between recent USL Championship winners San Antonio (2022) and Phoenix Rising (2023) has playoff implications. Only two points separate 10th-place San Antonio from 7th-place Phoenix, which has one game less.

Orange County can defend its 8th place, the lowest in the playoff zone, with a win over Monterey Bay, which is winless in its last nine games.

📺 SATURDAY Games:

ESPN+
Hartford vs. Oakland, 7 p.m.
North Carolina vs. Indy, 7:30 p.m.
Charleston vs. Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m.
El Paso vs. Colorado, 9 p.m.
Monterey Bay vs. Orange County, 10 p.m.
Las Vegas vs. Sacramento 10:30 p.m.

📺 SUNDAY Games:

ESPN+
New Mexico vs. Loudoun, 4 p.m.
Birmingham vs Miami, 5:00 p.m.
All times ET.

Americans Abroad

What’s next for Weston McKennie?

Juventus coach Thiago Motta was apparently keen to get rid of the US midfielder before the start of the season, leaving him on the bench for the first two Serie A games. But after 23 minutes of playing time in four matches, McKennie started Juve’s Champions League opener against PSV, where he won 3-1, scoring goals and organizing the midfield well.

Motta responded with lukewarm praise for the 26-year-old, who has already worked his way back from the fringes at Juve. After two goalless games, Juve are aiming for their third victory in Serie A on Saturday against Napoli.

• American Encounter: Leeds United, currently in ninth place, have suffered their first defeat in five games. Brenden Aaronson has two goals and three consecutive starts ahead of their match against Cardiff City, who are bottom of the 24-team league. Ethan Horvath conceded ten goals in four appearances and was on the bench for the 1-0 defeat to Derby last weekend.

📺 SATURDAY Games:

English Premier League
NBC/TELEMUNDO
Crystal Palace (Chris Richards, Matt Turner) vs Manchester United, 12:30pm.
PEACOCK
Fulham (Antonee Robinson) vs Newcastle, 10am.

English Championship League
MONITORING+
Norwich City (Josh Sargent) vs Watford, 7:30am.
Sunderland vs Middlesbrough (Aidan Morris) 7:30am.
Cardiff City (Ethan Horvath) vs Leeds United (Brenden Aaronson), 10am.

French D1 Arkema
DAZN USA
Montpellier – PSG (Korbin Albert, Eva Gaetino) 3:00 p.m.

German Bundesliga
ESPN+
Union Berlin (Jordan Pefok) – Hoffenheim, 9:20 a.m.
A. Frankfurt vs. Borussia M’Gladbach (Joe Scally) 12:20 p.m.

Italian Serie A
PARAMOUNT+/FOX SPORTS
Juventus (Weston McKennie, Tim Weah) vs. Napoli, 12:00.

Mexican League MX
UNIVISION
Necaxa vs. America (Alex Zendejas) 9pm.
All times ET.

📺 SUNDAY Games:

Dutch Eredivisie
ESPN+
Fortuna Sittard – PSV (Richard Ledezma, Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman) 10:40 a.m.

English Women’s Super League
ESPN+
Arsenal (Emily Fox) vs Manchester City, 7:30am.

French Ligue 1
BeIN SPORTS/BeIN SPORTS in ESPANOL
Monaco (Folarin Balogun) vs. Le Havre (Emmanuel Sabbi) 9am.
Brest vs. Toulouse (Mark McKenzie) 11am.
Lyon (Tanner Tessmann) – Marseille, 2:45 p.m.

Italian Serie A
PARAMOUNT+/FOX SPORTS
Inter Milan vs AC Milan (Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah) 2:45 p.m.

Scottish League Cup
MONITORING+
Celtic (Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty) v Falkirk, 10am.

Spanish La Liga
ESPN SPORTS/ESPN+
Athletic Club vs Celta de Vigo (Luca de la Torre) 10:15 am.
All times ET.

Saturday morning: What we read

1. FIFA organizes Club World Cup 2025 – a major undertaking full of uncertainty By Henry Bushnell (Yahoo Sports)

2. Mexico: Female footballers, muscular and sweaty, are a new kind of influencer By Lorena Rios and Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas (WashingtonPost)

3. Fulham “protected” players from Mohamed Al Fayed By Laura Scott (BBC Sports)