The 2026 MLS season creeps closer towards the 2026 World Cup.
It’s a packed weekend of MLS play for Matchday 12. | Liza Rosales/ISI Photos//Getty Images, Chris Gardner/MLS/Getty Images, Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images, Scott Gould/ISI Photos/Getty Images, Shaun Clark/Getty Images The 2026 MLS season forges ahead as it approaches the one-third mark and nears a lengthy break for the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer.
With MLS clubs taking several weeks off for the tournament, banking points before the break is vital to every team. Individual players also look for standout performances to earn a spot at the first-ever 48-team World Cup. Matchday 12 features 15 games, with 12 on Saturday and three on Sunday, headlined by the San Jose Earthquakes hosting Vancouver Whitecaps in a massive clash atop the Western Conference table on Saturday night.
Inter Miami could fall as low as 10th in MLS with a loss to Toronto FC. | Eston Parker/ISI Photos/ISI Photos/Getty Imagesfell 3–1 to one of the Canadian Premier League’s poorest-performing teams midweek, crashing out of the Canadian Championship to Atlético Ottawa.
Now, they look to return to form against the 2025 MLS Cup champions, The Herons are looking to bounce back after blowing a 3–0 lead to lose 4–3 to Florida rivals Orlando City, and will hope to avoid falling as low as 10th in the Supporters’ Shield table. The hosts are likely to be without key USMNT stars, Josh Sargent and Đorđe Mihailović.to the Windy City this weekend, with Gregg Berhalter’s men looking for a fifth win in eight games after dropping a dramatic 3–2 result to FC Cincinnati last week.
Hugo Cuypers looks to both build on his brace and bounce back after missing a second-half stoppage-time penalty. Meanwhile, New York hope to snap a six-match winless run. , a side reveling in form after staging a four-goal comeback to win last week’s Florida Derby.
Can Crépeau prove himself in his home province of Québec, or will Prince Owusu maintain his standout form and lead CF Montréal to the three points?had some Canadian fun the past two weeks, picking up their first back-to-back wins of the season by defeating Toronto FC and CF Montréal. Now, they’re back at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the last time until Aug. 15, after it hosts eight World Cup games this summer, taking on the LA Galaxy.
Momentum and the moment favor the Five Stripes here, with travel and inconsistent form likely hampering the 2024 MLS Cup champions.are back at Bank of America Stadium, looking to halt a three-game losing streak, which saw them drop three of four games on the road. It’s the club’s first home match since April 17, and it will need to see some offensive improvement from Pep Biel and Idan Toklomati after being shut out in a 1–0 loss to the New England Revolution last week.
It’s a spell of five-straight home matches now as well, making a win over. Yet this season, the defending Supporters’ Shield winners sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with six points in 11 games, while New England leads with 19 points in 10. Expect Dor Turgeman and Carles Gil to have a field day against a dismal 2026 edition of the Union in front of the home supporters.
Two teams with talent that could be bound for the World Cup, this will be a key audition game for USMNT’s Diego Luna and Croatia’s Petar Musa, both vying to make their respective teams as previously called-up players. Luna is in outstanding form at the moment and showed impressive confidence in last week’s win over the Portland Timbers, while Musa scored in his return from injury in a win over the Red Bulls.
With those clashing missions,saw their Concacaf Champions Cup journey come to an end this week, eliminated by Tigres UANL in the semifinals. While B.J. Callaghan’s men won’t have to balance both competitions anymore, they paid a hefty price for the run—key scorer Sam Surridge is likely unavailable due to an ongoing injury. At the same time, Australian World Cup hopeful and star midfielder Patrick Yazbek was seen on crutches midweek.
Hany Mukhtar and Cristian Espinoza will hope to keep the group afloat against Tai Baribo’shave played some outstanding soccer under new manager Matt Wells, but are now amid a four-game winless run, including three losses. This week marks their first match back at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park since April 11, and after facing the likes of Miami, LAFC and Vancouver over the last month, they take on aside that sits on just six points and second last in the Western Conference.
It should be a fairly simple result for the Rapids given the talent of Rafael Navarro and Paxten Aaronson, among others. Plus, they could be aided by the altitude.will consider themselves massive favorites this weekend at home against Sporting Kansas City, despite goalkeeper James Pantemis being forced into an MLS record-setting 13-save performance in last week’s loss to.
Yet, despite SKC’s one win in 10 games this season, the Dejan Joveljić-led group might just be able to scrape out a point. Beau Leroux and Édier Ocampo will battle for the second time this season as the Whitecaps head to San Jose. | Rich Lam/Getty Images, the only team to beat them in 11 games this season.
While Thomas Müller is doubtful after missing last week’s draw against the Galaxy with illness, Vancouver will be able to rely on Sebastian Berhalter and Brian White, who are enjoying immense form in an effort to crack the USMNT World Cup squad. San Jose, meanwhile, look to defend their Western Conference lead without star midfielder Niko Tsakiris, who will be sidelined with injury.side this week, as the Californian second-year club searches for a road win to snap an eight-game winless run, which has included just two draws.
Anders Dreyer remains the sole hope for San Diego’s middling form, coming up against a Seattle side boasting in-form talents of Paul Rothrock, Cristian Roldan and Albert Rusnák.are back on the baseball diamond this week, looking to return to winning ways after going winless through the last seven matches, as Nicolás Fernández and Maxi Moralez have been unable to push the team to victory.
While they remain the cornerstones of any NYCFC effort, they face a structuredside, with the matchup also featuring a USMNT goalkeeper battle between presumed starter Matt Freese and potential third-string backstop Patrick Schulte.are enjoying exceptional form, boasting five wins from the last six matches thanks to striker Kelvin Yeboah returning to his potent scoring self, as he showed throughout 2025. While the James Rodríguez experiment hasn’t quite worked out, this week’s clash againstshould have plenty of star power, with Yeboah battling Austin’s returning Brandon Vázquez and Myrto Uzuni in a clash of the strikers.
’s matchup against Toluca midweek, kicking off a poor performance that saw the Black and Gold bid adieu to any hopes of the Concacaf Champions Cup, eliminated by Toluca despite winning the first leg. This weekend, they turn their focus back to MLS, and they will do so without Denis Bouanga, who is suspended for the matchup against Guillherme’s Houston Dynamo.
Ben Steiner is an American-Canadian journalist who brings in-depth experience, having covered the North American national teams, MLS, CPL, NWSL, NSL and Liga MX for prominent outlets, including MLSsoccer.com, CBC Sports, and OneSoccer.
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