Opinion

Along with two thrilling Gold Cup semifinals, Wednesday featured a final midweek MLS matchday before teams take a break from interleague play. New signings across the league hit the ground running as the push for the playoffs begins to approach its thrilling climax in a few months. 

Major League Soccer is preparing to enter a new era following the arrival of the Greatest Of All Time, but the wall-to-wall coverage of Lionel Messi's movements in Miami has been momentarily broken by a seismic shift from America's second division, the USL.

The Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals are upon us Wednesday night, and although it's easy to pencil the United States and Mexico into the final for a third straight time, we shouldn't be so quick to write off Panama or Jamaica.

This feels like a particularly open final four. You could probably make just as convincing of an argument about why the U.S. is the best team remaining as you could one about why they're the worst, and the same goes for El Tri. 

The USMNT is through to the Gold Cup semifinals after a dramatic, back-and-forth penalty shootout victory over rivals Canada. 

The U.S. thought they'd won it in the 88th minute, only for Canada to equalize at 90+3'. Then the dramatics were reversed in extra time as the Canucks went up 2-1 in the 109th-minute before the Americans found a leveler in the 114th. 

In the shootout Matt Turner prevailed as Canada could only convert two of five attempts, and up next for the States is a semifinal against Panama on Wednesday night in San Diego. 

Matchday 24 was critical for many of the cellar dwellers in MLS. Important results took different forms, like Charlotte FC’s draw against Cincinnati or Colorado’s first win at home, so let’s take a look at what these results mean for those clubs stranded at the bottom of the table. 

In front of a sellout crowd at PayPal Park in San Jose, the USWNT battled to a 2-0 victory over Wales in their send-off match before the World Cup thanks to Trinity Rodman's brace off the bench.

The U.S. struggled to breakdown Wales' compact defensive structure in the opening 45 but Rodman's halftime introduction led to the opener in the 76th minute before the 21-year-old added a spectacular second in the 87th.

What’s better than late-night soccer on the Fourth of July? With a few games remaining before the summer break, MLS treated its fans to a midweek smattering of entertaining fixtures for Matchday 23, including one of the league’s great rivalries at one of the nation’s most storied venues. 

The summer transfer window is almost here, and we’re about to see some real changes. There’ll be new faces and some returning aces, but they aren’t allowed to take the field just yet. For now, teams are still struggling with players out on international duty in a stretch that can make or break a team’s season.