MLS Rivalry Week concludes with a bang highlighted by Ohio Derby

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

Editor’s Note: MLS Footnotes takes you inside the major talking points around the league and across American soccer.

Last week in Footnotes, we highlighted an MLS player who could earn an invite to the U.S. Men’s National Team‘s final pre-World Cup camp despite not appearing in qualifying. 

Here’s another: FC Cincinnati striker Brandon Vázquez.

Vázquez is a long shot to be on Gregg Berhalter’s roster for Qatar 2022 when the coach names his 26-man squad in November, same as Portland Timbers midfielder Eryk Williamson. The fact that Vázquez is uncapped probably makes his odds even longer than Williamson’s.

But Berhalter said that Vázquez, a 23-year-old U.S. youth national team alum, was “close” to earning an invite in June. And with two goals in Cincy’s past two games heading into Sunday’s Ohio Derby against the Columbus Crew (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX Sports app), Vázquez continues to do his part to stay in the conversation for the wide-open center forward spot behind FC Dallas’ Jesús Ferreira.

There’s another reason why Berhalter might consider extending Vázquez an invite for the September friendlies against Japan and Saudi Arabia: Earlier this week, the Californian told FOX Sports radio that he would consider representing Mexico if El Tri boss Tata Martino, Vázquez’s former coach with Atlanta United, came calling. 

“I’m open to two national teams,” he said in Spanish.

The USMNT’s track record of retaining dual citizens under Berhalter, general manager Brian McBride and U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart is excellent, with Ferreira, Sergiño Dest and Yunus Musah — all likely starters in Qatar — among the successful recruits. The three MLS players who chose Mexico over the U.S. over the past two years (LA Galaxy pair Efraín Álvarez and Julián Araujo and Real Salt Lake‘s David Ochoa) have been afterthoughts for Martino since joining El Tri. All three were courted by Berhalter before committing.

With the World Cup just a few months away, form will ultimately be the deciding factor. Any European-based striker who starts the new season hot will get a long look. If Vázquez keeps filling the net in MLS, though, he definitely has a shot.

MLS FOOTNOTES

1. Crew taking flight

Columbus has quietly taken off over the past five weeks following a slow start. The arrival of Colombian goalscorer Chucho Hernández has given the Crew, currently unbeaten in seven games, the belief that they can climb into playoff position after missing out as defending MLS Cup champions last year.

The 23-year-old Hernández, signed from England’s Watford for a club-record transfer fee, already has three goals in just 73 minutes as a sub. Columbus remains a point outside of the postseason picture but has played one fewer match than Charlotte FC, Cincinnati and Orlando City, the three teams directly above them in the Eastern Conference.

2. Cincinnati also on the rise …

FCC enter Sunday’s contest unbeaten in six. Five of those were ties, granted, but Pat Noonan’s side has also gone 5W-2L-5T over their past dozen outings — the fifth-best record in MLS during that span.

If the season ended today, Noonan, in his maiden season as a head coach, would surely be a finalist for the Sigi Schmid MLS coach of the year award along with LAFC‘s Steve Cherundolo and Austin‘s Josh Wolff.

3. … But Austin is the hottest of them all

Undefeated in eight, Austin FC continue to look like an MLS Cup contender in just their second season in the league. They’re definitely the best team in Texas. And after smashing Houston 3-1 on Wednesday — their second victory over the Dynamo this season — they’ll get another chance to prove it on Saturday at FC Dallas.

The two sides played to a 2-2 draw on June 26. With 40 points from 20 games, Austin leads the Supporters Shield race by a single point over LAFC, although Cherundolo’s side does have a game in hand. Austin beat LAFC on the road in May. 

The pair will meet for the final time this year on Aug. 26, by which time Austin could be even better than they are now: The club is reportedly on the verge of adding Argentinean winger Emiliano Rigoni as a designated player from Brazil’s São Paulo FC.

4. Don’t sleep on Nashville

League points-per-game leader LAFC will face one of their sternest tests yet in Tennessee on Sunday. As good as Carlos Vela & Co. have been this season even before adding Wales captain and five-time UEFA Champions League winner Gareth Bale (who could make his debut this weekend), Nashville has earned a reputation as perhaps the toughest MLS team to play against.

After Sporting Kansas City snapped Nashville’s nearly two-year-long home unbeaten streak last month, Gary Smith’s team got right back to their winning ways at Geodis Park Wednesday with a 1-0 triumph over the FIFA Club World Cup-bound Seattle Sounders.

The winner was scored by — who else? — Hany Mukhtar, who is probably the frontrunner to win the MLS MVP award right now.

But it’s the workhorses, led by USMNT center back Walker Zimmerman, behind the magical Mukhtar who make Nashville such a tough out. No matter where they finish in the West, Nashville look like a battle-tested bunch that will have a legitimate chance to win it all this fall. 

5. Rivalry Week concludes with a bang

Columbus-Cincy and Dallas-Austin aren’t the only local grudge matches this weekend.

The tail end of Rivalry Week has just as much intrigue as last weekend’s offerings, with Atlanta-Orlando, Montreal–Toronto, and the Hudson River Derby between the New York Red Bulls and defending league champ New York City FC all on tap.

6. Shakeup continues in D.C.

New D.C. United manager Wayne Rooney wasted no time shaking up his roster after arriving back in the nation’s capital, where he played from 2018-19. On Friday, United sent winger Julian Gressel to Vancouver, according to the Washington Post’s Steve Goff. 

Goff also reported that the club is close to a designated player deal for Jamaican attacker Ravel Morrison, who worked under Rooney when Rooney managed English second tier side Derby County.

In the meantime, The Athletic’s Pablo Maurer reported that DCU are in negotiations with England national team forward Jesse Lingard. Lingard, who would occupy the club’s other open DP slot, is a former teammate of Rooney’s at Manchester United.

One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN.