The Daily Kickoff

Your Tuesday Kickoff: Which players will shine in the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge?

J. Sam Jones

What you need to know

2024 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T tonight

Major League Soccer, LIGA MX and special guests will compete in the 2024 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T tonight at 7:30 pm ET. You can watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. See the full schedule of events here.

Nashville SC sign midfielder Yazbek

Nashville SC have acquired midfielder Patrick Yazbek from Norwegian top-flight side Viking FC. The 22-year-old Australian international will occupy a U22 Initiative roster spot. Yazbek arrives with 4g/10a in 95 appearances spread across boyhood side Sydney FC and Viking. He debuted for Australia's senior team last March in a World Cup qualifier vs. Lebanon.

Atlanta United transfer Wiley to Chelsea

Atlanta United have transferred homegrown defender Caleb Wiley to Premier League side Chelsea. The US international left back reportedly departs for an $11 million fee. Reports also indicate the 19-year-old will be loaned to Ligue 1 side Strasbourg, who share an owner with Chelsea (Todd Boehly-led BlueCo).

DC United sign Cameroonian midfielder Enow

D.C. United have acquired midfielder Boris Enow from Israeli top-flight side Maccabi Netanya FC. The 24-year-old former Cameroon youth international is under contract through the 2027 season with an option for 2028. Enow has 130 professional appearances, featuring at the FC Porto (Portugal) and RC Lens (France) reserve teams before moving to Maccabi Netanya.

LAFC transfer defender Fall to FC Barcelona

LAFC have transferred defender Mamadou Fall to LaLiga giants FC Barcelona. Fall, 21, spent last season on loan at Barça and featured in 22 matches for their reserves. Previously, LAFC loaned the Senegalese center back to Villarreal CF.

FC Dallas acquire midfielder Cafumana

FC Dallas have acquired midfielder Manuel "Show" Cafumana from Israeli Premier League side Maccabi Haifa. The 25-year-old Angolan international arrives on a year-long loan with a purchase option.

Predicting the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T

Happy Skills Challenge day to you and yours. There are six competitions to pay attention to tonight featuring a full cast of MLS and Liga MX All-Stars, plus a few friends. You can check out the roster here. In the meantime, we have a few thoughts on who MLS should trust to bring home big points in each competition.

MLS All-Star Shooting Challenge presented by AT&T
Daily Kickoff Hero Prediction: Cucho Hernández - Columbus Crew

Cucho is the only player who qualifies as a No. 9 on the roster and even that’s pretty debatable sometimes. Whatever position he’s playing in Wilfried Nancy’s system, it’s allowing him to thrive as one of the league’s best all-around players. Among forwards in MLS this season Cucho is in the 92nd percentile in non-penalty goals per 90, the 95th percentile in expected assists and 99th percentile in shot creating actions. He’s also in the 99th percentile in progressive passes per 90 and the 92nd percentile in progressive carries per 90. And somehow in the middle of all of this, he’s in the 96th percentile in tackles per 90.

Every time I start digging into Cucho’s numbers I start to wonder if he should actually be getting his due as the best player in the league. But that’s not exactly why he’s the best pick here. He’s the best pick because he’s practiced harder than anyone else. Maybe not the actual hitting targets thing, but no one shoots like Cucho. He leads the league in shots per 90, just like he did last season and just like he did in limited minutes the year before. He’s on pace to be the only player to finish with more than five shots per 90 for the third straight season. In his first two seasons, he finished with more than six shots per 90. Seems like he’ll be fully prepared for a shooting competition.

MLS All-Star Touch Challenge presented by Crest
Daily Kickoff Hero Prediction: Riqui Puig - LA Galaxy

MLS needs to let Puig carry them to a win. He’s primed to thrive here. And, just like Cucho, it comes down to practice. Puig leads MLS in touch percentage. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Puig takes 14.3% of his team’s touches when he’s on the field. The next closest player is Houston’s Héctor Herrera at 13.2%. If you limit the pitch to just the middle and final third, Puig takes 18.0% of the Galaxy’s touches. The next closest player, New England’s Carles Gil, takes 16.3% of his team’s touches in the final two-thirds.

Now, obviously, it’s not just about measuring your touch. There’s a passing component to this competition. You have to take the ball down and pass it into a giant skee-ball thing. But Puig is extremely well-practiced there too. Puig leads the league in total passes with 2,138 attempts this season. The next-closest player, teammate Marky Delgado, has 1,764. The next-closest player after that is their Galaxy teammate Maya Yoshida. The next-closest player after the next closest player is their Galaxy teammate Miki Yamane. The Galaxy have four of the top five players in passes attempted this season. That doesn’t have anything to do with the skills competition, I just found it interesting.

Anyway, Puig touches the ball more than anyone, passes it more than anyone and completes more passes than anyone. He’s built for this.

MLS All-Star Cross & Volley Challenge presented by AT&T
Daily Kickoff Hero Prediction: Evander - Portland Timbers

There are no real stats to pull here. This is a purely vibes-based competition. Evander’s vibe is that he’s almost a little bored at how easy it is to take the ball off his chest and send home a volley. We’ve seen him score some pretty remarkable goals over the last couple of years and he seemingly does it with the urgency of a high school student in their last week of a summer retail job. No one makes goal-of-the-week contenders feel so casual.

MLS All-Star Passing Challenge presented by Old Spice
Daily Kickoff Hero Prediction: Riqui Puig - LA Galaxy

It’s not totally clear how many competitions players can compete in and we don’t even really know who will compete in each event. But, I dunno, if MLS is trying to win, they should probably just keep throwing Puig at the problem, right?

The other major candidate here of course is Sergio Busquets. He’s always been good at things like “passing a soccer ball.” The bottom line here is La Masia has always been about producing MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T winners and I don’t expect that to change tonight.

MLS All-Star Crossbar Challenge presented by GilletteLabs
Daily Kickoff Hero Prediction: Sacha Kljestan

Yes, Sacha Kljestan is on the roster tonight. There’s no real reason for me to pick him here, it’s more just a hunch. It’s been a while since his 16-assist season for the Red Bulls back in 2016, but I’m going to figure he can still ping a ball pretty well.

MLS All-Star Goalie Wars featuring MLS NEXT Pro goalkeepers
Daily Kickoff Hero Prediction: Stas Lapkes - Columbus Crew 2

Of the four MLS NEXT Pro keepers competing, Lapkes has the best shot-stopping numbers per American Soccer Analysis. In theory that should translate to goalie wars. In practice, no one knows what they’re going to do when they’re actually in the thunderdome. I just hope everyone makes it out alive.

Other Things

Philadelphia Union's Gazdag named Player of the Matchday: Philadelphia Union star Dániel Gazdag netted his third career MLS hat trick to earn MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra honors for Matchday 28. The Hungarian international guided his team to a resounding 3-0 victory over Nashville SC on Saturday night. The midfielder opened the scoring in the 10th minute before notching a brace in the 39th minute and completing his hat trick one minute before added time to ensure back-to-back wins for Philadelphia.

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