Griezmann and Lewandowski Make Their Mark in MLS

Lionel Messi is catching his breath. Major League Soccer is not.

While Argentina’s captain takes a post-World Cup break after that bruising final defeat to Spain, the league he briefly turned into a traveling circus has rolled on without him—and straight into a new era of imported star power. The billboards now belong to Antoine Griezmann and Robert Lewandowski.

Griezmann wastes no time

On Wednesday, Orlando got the first real glimpse of what its new French marquee can do.

Griezmann, a World Cup winner with France in 2018, stepped into MLS and immediately bent the narrative his way. Three minutes into the second half of his debut, with Orlando City already in control against the San Jose Earthquakes, he found his first MLS goal in a 4-0 rout that felt like a statement as much as a scoreline.

It was brisk, ruthless, and exactly what you expect from a player who has spent the last decade at the sharp end of European football. One chance, one clean finish, and suddenly Orlando’s season feels bigger, bolder, more ambitious.

San Jose, overwhelmed, were reduced to extras in someone else’s unveiling.

Lewandowski still waiting

A few hours earlier, Lewandowski’s first taste of MLS had been far more complicated.

The Polish striker, one of the most prolific scorers of his generation, started for the Chicago Fire in a 3-2 defeat to an Inter Miami side missing Messi. He played 63 minutes, worked the channels, searched for pockets of space, but left without a goal.

For a player whose career has been measured in relentless numbers, that blank will sting. Not because it defines anything, but because of what’s expected of him. He has not come to the United States to play a supporting role.

Now the clock ticks toward Saturday, July 25, and a different kind of stage: Yankee Stadium, under the lights, against New York City FC. A baseball venue turned football cauldron, tight sightlines, awkward angles, and a chance for Lewandowski to open his MLS account in one of the league’s most distinctive settings.

Chicago need him to. The Fire cannot afford a long bedding-in period, not in a season where margins are thin and the table is unforgiving.

Orlando’s next test: the leaders

Griezmann’s reward for a dream debut? Nashville SC.

On Saturday night, Orlando City host the current leaders in the Supporters’ Shield race, a team built on structure, resilience, and a habit of suffocating opponents’ rhythm. Nashville rarely hand out the kind of space San Jose allowed. They grind, they frustrate, and they punish lapses.

This is where the novelty of a new signing gives way to the grind of a long MLS season. Griezmann has already shown the sparkle. Now comes the test of whether he can tilt games against the league’s best.

A packed Saturday slate

Messi may be resting, but Saturday’s schedule reads like a league leaning fully into its summer rhythm. Every game is on Apple TV, with one match—San Diego FC vs. FC Dallas—also carried on FS1.

Kickoff comes in waves:

• 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

From early evening on the East Coast to late-night kickoffs in the West, it’s a full-throttle reminder that the league’s center of gravity no longer rests on a single No. 10 in pink.

Hell is Real, and Columbus is hurting

The standout fixture, though, doesn’t feature a new superstar. It features a grudge.

At 7:15 p.m. ET, the latest chapter of “Hell is Real” unfolds at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, where the Crew host FC Cincinnati in one of MLS’s fiercest rivalries.

Cincinnati arrive with their confidence spiking after a wild 4-3 victory over Western Conference leaders Vancouver Whitecaps. They are firmly in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt, a team that has learned how to win chaotic games as well as controlled ones.

Columbus, by contrast, are in trouble.

The 2026 season has been brutal: just four wins in 16 league matches. The club already pulled the trigger on a coaching change, dismissing Henrik Rydström on May 17 after only 14 games in charge. Laurent Courtois now steers the side as interim head coach, trying to steady a listing ship in the middle of a storm.

The World Cup break offered a chance to reset. Instead, the Crew returned with another setback, a 2-1 defeat to New York City FC on July 22. The questions around direction, identity, and belief have not gone away.

So the stakes on Saturday go beyond three points. For Cincinnati, it’s a chance to deepen their rivals’ misery and strengthen their own position in the East. For Columbus, it’s an opportunity to change the tone of an entire season in 90 fraught minutes against the one opponent they most want to beat.

Miami still the team to chase

Step back from the individual storylines, and the bigger picture comes into focus: this remains a league orbiting around Inter Miami’s gravitational pull.

According to the latest BetMGM odds, the Messi-led club—when he returns—is still the favorite to win the 2026 championship at +333. Behind them, Los Angeles FC and Vancouver Whitecaps sit at +750, Nashville SC at +800, and FC Cincinnati at +1200.

The bookmakers are clear. Miami set the standard. Everyone else is chasing, adjusting, importing stars, and rewriting plans to keep pace.

Saturday’s schedule offers a snapshot of that race. Griezmann trying to turn Orlando into a contender. Lewandowski hunting his first goal in Chicago colors. Cincinnati walking into a rivalry cauldron with genuine title aspirations. Nashville defending their place at the summit.

Messi will be back soon enough. The real question is this: by the time he returns, how much will the landscape around him have changed?