MLS Weekend Preview: Griezmann and Lewandowski Make Their Marks
Lionel Messi is catching his breath. Major League Soccer is not.
With the World Cup dust barely settled after Argentina’s defeat to Spain in the final, the league has roared back from its long summer pause and thrown two new global heavyweights straight under the floodlights: Antoine Griezmann in Orlando, Robert Lewandowski in Chicago. Messi rests; the next wave goes to work.
Griezmann wastes no time
If there were any doubts about how quickly Griezmann would adapt, he answered them in three second-half minutes.
Making his MLS debut for Orlando City, the 2018 World Cup winner struck almost immediately after the interval in a 4-0 demolition of the San Jose Earthquakes. One debut, one goal, one statement. Orlando didn’t just ease past San Jose, they dismantled them, and Griezmann walked off the pitch looking every bit like a star ready to own this new stage.
That performance dropped a marker for the weekend ahead. Orlando now steps straight into a test that feels more like a measuring stick than a routine league fixture: Nashville SC, the current pace-setters in the Supporters’ Shield race, arrive in Florida on Saturday night. Griezmann’s first act was eye-catching. His second comes with real stakes.
Lewandowski still waiting
Lewandowski’s introduction to MLS was far more unforgiving.
The Polish striker’s first appearance for the Chicago Fire lasted 63 minutes and produced no goals in a 3-2 defeat to an Inter Miami side missing Messi. For a forward whose career has been built on ruthless efficiency, a scoreless debut in a losing effort will sting, especially with Miami deprived of its talisman.
He doesn’t have long to dwell on it. On Saturday, the Fire travel to Yankee Stadium to face New York City FC, and Lewandowski will chase that first MLS goal in one of the league’s most distinctive, claustrophobic venues. Narrow sightlines, tight spaces, and a team that loves the ball — it’s a very different challenge from his debut, and exactly the kind of setting where a big-name striker can flip the narrative with a single touch.
A stacked Saturday slate
The league’s return has brought with it a full-blooded Saturday program, the kind of night that defines the rhythm of an MLS season. Every match is available on Apple TV, and the schedule runs wall to wall:
- 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 slate packed with subplots: Miami on the road in Montréal without Messi, Vancouver trying to build on a statement win, LAFC lurking as a title favorite. Yet one fixture towers over the rest.
“Hell is Real” returns
Columbus vs. Cincinnati. “Hell is Real.” The rivalry that turned a highway billboard into one of MLS’s most charged derbies.
On Saturday night at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus (7:15 p.m. ET, Apple TV), the two Ohio clubs meet again with their seasons pulling in very different directions.
FC Cincinnati arrive with momentum and credibility. Fresh off a wild 4-3 victory over Western Conference leaders Vancouver Whitecaps, they are firmly in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race. They score, they entertain, and they’ve learned how to win chaotic games — exactly the sort of edge that matters in a derby that rarely stays calm for long.
Columbus, by contrast, are stuck in a year that has never quite started.
Four wins from 16 league matches tell the story of a brutal 2026 so far. The club pulled the plug on Henrik Rydström on May 17 after just 14 games in charge, handing the reins to interim head coach Laurent Courtois. The reset has not yet produced a surge. The Crew returned from the World Cup break only to fall 2-1 to New York City FC on July 22, another narrow defeat in a season full of frustration.
The rivalry doesn’t care about form tables, but the pressure in Columbus is real. Home fans have watched their side stagger through the campaign while their Interstate 71 rivals climb the conference ladder. A win over Cincinnati would not fix 2026, yet it would change the temperature of the room. A loss, in this context, would feel heavier than just three points dropped.
The title picture without Messi
Messi may be away, but the bookmakers still see his team at the center of everything.
According to the latest BetMGM odds, Inter Miami sit as the clear favorite to win the 2026 MLS championship at +333. Behind them, Los Angeles FC and Vancouver Whitecaps are locked at +750, with Nashville SC close at +800 and FC Cincinnati at +1200.
The message is blunt: even with Messi resting, Miami remain the team to beat. LAFC, as ever, lurk as the looming contender. Vancouver’s odds reflect their surge to the top of the West and that 4-3 thriller over Cincinnati. Nashville’s consistency and defensive steel keep them in the conversation. Cincinnati, sitting just behind that leading group, have everything to gain — especially if they can turn “Hell is Real” into another statement night.
Messi will return soon enough. Until then, this weekend belongs to the new arrivals, the old rivalries, and a league that refuses to pause just because its brightest star has stepped off stage for a moment.
