Griezmann and Lewandowski Shine in MLS as Messi Takes a Break

Lionel Messi is on pause. Major League Soccer is not.

As the Argentina captain steps away for a post-World Cup breather after that gutting final defeat to Spain, the league he helped supercharge is rolling straight into a new era of star power. Two of Europe’s most ruthless forwards, Antoine Griezmann and Robert Lewandowski, have walked into the spotlight Messi briefly vacated.

On Wednesday night, one of them hit the ground running. The other is still waiting for ignition.

Griezmann explodes into MLS

Orlando City didn’t just ease Griezmann into American soccer. They lit a fuse.

Facing the San Jose Earthquakes, the 2018 World Cup winner needed only three minutes of the second half to stamp his name on the league. His first MLS goal came in a 4-0 dismantling of San Jose, the kind of debut that tilts heads across the country and reminds everyone that his move wasn’t a semi-retirement tour. It was a statement.

Orlando swarmed the Earthquakes, and Griezmann slipped seamlessly into the tempo, the angles, the spaces. The scoreline said rout. His performance said something more ominous for the rest of the league: he’s ready now, not later.

Lewandowski’s slow burn in Chicago

A few hours earlier, in a different city and a different mood, Lewandowski’s first MLS chapter played out with far less glamour.

The Chicago Fire’s new No. 9 went 63 minutes without a goal in a 3-2 defeat to an Inter Miami side missing Messi. For a striker whose career has been defined by ruthless efficiency, the blank will sting, especially in a game that always felt there for him to grab.

He found minutes, he found touches, but not the moment. Miami, even without their talisman, found enough cutting edge to spoil the debut and leave Chicago with more questions than answers.

Now the calendar turns quickly. On Saturday, July 25, Lewandowski heads to Yankee Stadium with the Fire to face New York City FC, chasing that first MLS goal in one of the league’s more awkward venues for visiting forwards. Tight spaces, odd bounces, little margin for error. It’s the kind of place where great strikers either impose themselves or get swallowed by the geometry.

Griezmann’s first real test: Nashville

While Lewandowski hunts his breakthrough in the Bronx, Griezmann walks straight into a measuring stick game.

Orlando City host Nashville SC, the current leaders in the Supporters’ Shield race, on Saturday night. Beating San Jose is one thing. Doing damage against the league’s most consistent side is another.

Nashville travel as the benchmark: disciplined, organized, relentless. Orlando, buoyed by a star who has already found the net, suddenly look like a team with a higher ceiling than their early-season rhythm suggested. Griezmann’s second MLS appearance won’t be about novelty. It will be about whether his arrival can tilt the balance of power in the East.

Saturday’s slate: a league back at full tilt

The break is over, the schedule is heavy, and Saturday looks like a showcase for a league trying to prove its depth goes beyond one Argentine genius.

All times ET, all games on Apple TV:

• Red Bull New York vs. Charlotte FC, 6:30 p.m.
• Columbus Crew vs. FC Cincinnati, 7:15 p.m.
• D.C. United vs. Toronto FC, 7:30 p.m.
• CF Montréal vs. Inter Miami, 7:30 p.m.
• New England Revolution vs. Atlanta United, 7:30 p.m.
• New York City FC vs. Chicago Fire, 7:30 p.m.
• Orlando City SC vs. Nashville SC, 7:30 p.m.
• Philadelphia Union vs. Seattle Sounders, 7:30 p.m.
• Houston Dynamo vs. Austin FC, 8:30 p.m.
• Minnesota United vs. Vancouver Whitecaps, 8:30 p.m.
• St. Louis City SC vs. Colorado Rapids, 8:30 p.m.
• San Diego FC vs. FC Dallas, 9:30 p.m. (FS1)
• Los Angeles FC vs. Sporting Kansas City, 10:30 p.m.
• Portland Timbers vs. Real Salt Lake, 10:30 p.m.
• San Jose Earthquakes vs. LA Galaxy, 10:30 p.m.

The headline act, though, sits in Ohio.

“Hell is Real” returns with the Crew on the ropes

Columbus vs. Cincinnati rarely needs extra narrative. The “Hell is Real” derby, born out of an interstate rivalry and hardened by playoff stakes and fan culture, already carries its own heat. This time, the temperature is different.

Columbus are struggling. Badly.

Four wins in 16 league matches have turned 2026 into a grind. Henrik Rydström didn’t survive it, dismissed on May 17 after just 14 games in charge. Laurent Courtois now holds the interim title, but the turbulence hasn’t eased. The Crew returned from the World Cup break and promptly lost 2-1 to New York City FC on July 22, another result that felt like a missed step at a time they can’t afford many more.

Across the state, FC Cincinnati arrive with a very different energy. They’re in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race and riding the high of a wild 4-3 win over Western Conference leaders Vancouver Whitecaps. That kind of victory does more than add three points. It hardens belief.

ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus will host it all on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. ET, a rivalry game where one club is fighting to stay on its feet and the other is pushing toward the top.

The title picture: Messi’s Miami still the team to catch

Even with Messi temporarily out of sight, the bookmakers haven’t blinked.

BetMGM’s latest odds for the 2026 MLS championship still lean heavily toward Inter Miami at +333, a nod to the squad’s ceiling when their No. 10 returns. Behind them, Los Angeles FC and Vancouver Whitecaps sit at +750, Nashville SC at +800, and FC Cincinnati at +1200.

It’s a familiar pattern: Miami as the gravitational force, everyone else trying to build something strong enough to withstand the pull.

But this weekend, the league belongs to others. To Griezmann bending games in purple. To Lewandowski chasing that first roar in red. To a derby in Ohio that refuses to shrink, even in a season that’s testing one of its clubs to the limit.

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