USMNT July 26-28 viewing guide and open thread

There’s a fairly thin slate of viewing options this weekend with basically a game a day you might find worth watching:

Friday

Los Angeles Football Club v Atlanta United - 10p on ESPN

The weekend kicks off with the top team in the West meeting the second place Eastern conference team when LAFC take on Atlanta United.

LAFC are coming off a 3-2 loss to the LA Galaxy with Carlos Vela scoring the teams two goals. It was just LAFC’s third loss of the season, all of which have come on the road, and they still lead the Supporters Shield race by seven points despite having played two fewer games then the next closest team. Walker Zimmerman will look to help the team get things back on track and improve on their 8-0-1 home record.

Atlanta are coming off back to back wins over D.C. United and Houston but are just 3-7-0 on the road so Miles Robinson, Darlington Nagbe, and Brad Guzan are going to have their work cut out for them to reverse the season trends for these two teams. Emerson Hyndman has also made the starting lineup the last two weeks shortly after joining the team on loan from Bournemouth.

Saturday

Portland Timbers v LA Galaxy - 10:30p on FS1

There’s all kinds of USL action on ESPN+ on Saturday but if you’re sticking to the major networks your only real opportunity for action will start late with Portland taking on the Galaxy.

Portland are having a disappointing season, currently in ninth place and outside of playoff position but haven’t lost in their last five league games. The team is coming off a 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders with Jeremy Ebobisse and Jorge Villafana both having started in the victory over their rivals.

The Galaxy are coming off the aforementioned 3-2 win over LAFC, a game in which Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a hat trick but more importantly his opening goal was assisted by 17-year-old Julian Araujo, who typically plays at left back but was deployed as a winger last weekend against LAFC. Araujo is a dual national who most recently appeared with the US U-20’s but he has also recently told the Scuffed podcast that he is open to representing either Mexico or the U.S. depending on which country would offer him the better opportunities, and more alarmingly that he has not been contacted by US Soccer recently (particularly mentioning Gregg Berhalter).

Sunday

Pumas UNAM v Necaxa - 1p on Univision

Speaking of overlooked dual-nationals, Ventura Alvarado picked up where he left off last season for Necaxa, once again captaining the side as they opened their season last weekend with a scoreless draw against Cruz Azul. This weekend the team will be facing Pumas who opened their season with a 2-0 win over Atletico San Luis. Alvarado continues to be a consistent presence in the back for Necaxa while being consistently ignored by US Soccer.

What will you be watching or following this weekend? Let us know, whether that’s MLS and Liga MX regular season or the preseason activities of other players, in the comments section below.