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Explore GOAL | Tom Hindle | Jul 16, 2026 07:20+08:00
When will Lionel Messi return to Inter Miami? Can Robert Lewandowski transform Chicago Fire? Five questions as MLS returns from its World Cup break
FEATURES | Inter Miami CF | Chicago Fire FC | L. Messi | R. Lewandowski
MLS returns from its World Cup break with Lionel Messi facing an uncertain timeline, Robert Lewandowski and Antoine Griezmann arriving, and Nashville SC setting the pace.
We remember you, MLS. Yes, the league had to step aside during the World Cup. American soccer’s top flight may be firmly in the mainstream these days, but the World Cup is still king.
Well, the big one is almost over. With both World Cup semis decided - and the final looming - one eye can move back to MLS. It was quite an excellent season before the World Cup break. San Jose Earthquakes and Vancouver Whitecaps were excellent out west. Nashville and Inter Miami were compelling in the East. Now, we have two global megastars - Antoine Griezmann and Robert Lewandowski - joining an already star-studded league (and there are supposedly more on the way). Piece it all together, and it should be an intriguing final few months of the season. GOAL looks at the five biggest questions as MLS gets started again...
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Will Lionel Messi return to action?
Well, Lionel Messi broke just about every record possible in MLS last season. It was the greatest individual campaign this league has ever seen, bar none. He has hardly slowed down in 2026, either, producing 12 goals and eight assists in 14 appearances for the Herons. He has been incredible at the World Cup, too, leading the Golden Boot race with eight goals while adding four assists.
The question now is when Miami will see him again. Argentina’s semifinal victory over England means Messi will play in another World Cup final, extending an already demanding summer to its absolute limit. Clubs typically give players several weeks - and sometimes up to a month - to recover after a tournament of this magnitude, particularly veterans who have carried such a substantial workload.
That could leave Miami without their most important player for a significant portion of the MLS stretch run. It has already been an uneven season in South Florida, with Javier Mascherano stepping down less than two months into the campaign and Guillermo Hoyos brought in to replace him. Hoyos has close ties to Messi but remains relatively unheralded as a manager.
Still, Miami sit second in the Eastern Conference and remain well positioned to contend. Everything, though, revolves around Messi. Miami must survive his absence, give him enough time to recover, and resist the temptation to rush him back. If he returns healthy and refreshed, the Herons should be among the MLS Cup favorites. If the World Cup takes a lasting physical or emotional toll, the remainder of Miami’s season could become far more complicated.
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How will Antoine Griezmann adjust?
Antoine Griezmann has wanted to play in MLS for years. Rarely are footballers so honest about their future career ambitions, but Griezmann's love for the U.S. is well-chronicled, and in signing with Orlando City, he got his wish. He bagged in his first friendly for the club, and seems to be having a jolly old time thus far.
But there is a difference between friendlies and the real thing. And the fact of the matter remains that Orlando City are historically bad this year. Still, with the reported signing of Daryl Dike sewn up, it seems that times could be changing in Florida. The question is: can Griezmann hit the ground running?
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Can Robert Lewandowski bang the goals in?
Chicago Fire’s pursuit of Robert Lewandowski lasted for months. Once it became clear that the veteran striker would not be offered a new contract by Barcelona, the Fire set about convincing the big Pole that MLS - and Chicago - should be his next destination.
The numbers suggest there should still be plenty left in the tank. Lewandowski finished his Barcelona career with 119 goals in 191 appearances, including 42 in 52 games during the 2024-25 campaign and another 18 in his final season. He also leaves Europe as the third-highest scorer in Champions League history, with 109 goals, and with more than 700 for club and country. He was still scoring at the highest level until the very end.
Now comes the slightly trickier part. Lewandowski has spent recent weeks training in Europe but has not played a competitive match in a couple of months. Even if he remains well above the technical level required for MLS, there is no guarantee that he will settle immediately. No one is ever really a sure thing in this league. The travel is demanding, the games can be chaotic, and, at 37, it may take him some time to rediscover his sharpness.
Still, this move should work off the field before Lewandowski even scores a goal. Chicago has one of the biggest Polish communities outside Poland, and the arrival of the country’s greatest-ever player should put plenty of butts in seats at Soldier Field. For a club still attempting to reestablish itself as one of the city’s major sporting attractions, that matters almost as much as what he does in the box.
Chicago already had a pretty good attack before Lewandowski arrived. Can he settle quickly, turn it into the best in MLS and make the Fire feel like a genuine contender?
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Which - if any - USMNT stars will make a move?
MLS and its fans have spent years looking toward the 2026 World Cup as the moment when some of the USMNT’s biggest names might finally start coming home. Thus far, that anticipated post-tournament rush has not really materialized.
NYCFC reportedly have serious interest in Christian Pulisic, who is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract with Milan. But the Italian club also holds an option to keep him through 2028 and has reportedly made it clear that he is not for sale. At 27, and with plenty of high-level European soccer still ahead of him, there does not appear to be an obvious sporting reason for Pulisic to make the move just yet.
Weston McKennie, meanwhile, effectively removed himself from the conversation by signing a new Juventus deal through 2030. No other major domino has fallen, either. For all of the talk about the World Cup creating a natural homecoming point for this generation, most of the USMNT’s established European-based players appear comfortable staying exactly where they are.
There has, however, been some movement further down the depth chart. Orlando City are reportedly finalizing the return of Dike, a fringe USMNT striker who became a star in MLS before leaving the club for West Brom in 2022. Injuries repeatedly disrupted his four-and-a-half years in England, and a return to familiar surroundings might be exactly what he needs to restart his career.
It is not the kind of blockbuster American signing MLS may have envisioned after the World Cup, but it is still a sensible move for both player and club. There is still time for that to change. The MLS secondary transfer window only opened this week and will remain open until Sept. 2, while business across Europe is also beginning to accelerate. More deals will be discussed, and perhaps one of the bigger names can be tempted. For now, though, the great USMNT homecoming remains more theory than reality.
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Are Nashville SC legit?
No one could get near Nashville to start the season. B.J. Callaghan’s side made a mockery of the league through their first 14 games, losing just once and conceding only 11 goals. Cristian Espinoza’s arrival on the right wing already looks like one of the deals of the offseason, while Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar have both rediscovered their best form.
And yet, despite emerging from the World Cup break perched atop the MLS standings, Nashville are not treating this as a finished product. The club is finalizing deals for Tunisian winger Elias Saad, who is set to arrive from Bundesliga side FC Augsburg, and 21-year-old Senegalese midfielder Famara Camara. Neither move necessarily changes the face of the team, but that is hardly the point.
Nashville already have the stars and the structure required to win. What they need now is more depth, a little extra unpredictability and enough fresh legs to survive what promises to be a taxing second half of the season. For a team that has already established itself as the league’s standard-bearer, this is exactly what a good transfer window should look like: identify the few remaining weak spots, strengthen them and make an already excellent side even harder to catch.