How does MLS pick up the World Cup mantle? Casemiro helps, but it’ll take much more

The World Cup gave MLS unprecedented momentum. Keeping it will depend less on signing aging icons than convincing America’s best young players to stay “Thanks World, we’ll take it from here,” is Major League Soccer’s message to the American public. Yet two moves in the last week were emblematic of the issues the league faces in taking on the mantle of North America’s hosting of the game’s grandest stage. A rising, under-the-radar homegrown player left for Europe, and a veteran with immense pedigree arrived, likely to close out his career. Sebastian Berhalter’s swapped title-chasing Vancouver Whitecaps for Middlesbrough of the EFL Championship. Free agent Brazil legend Casemiro traded Manchester’s Old Trafford for Nu Stadium in Miami. Continue reading...

Chris Smith in Miami · Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 8:28 AM
US news | The Guardian

How does MLS pick up the World Cup mantle? Casemiro helps, but it’ll take much more

The World Cup gave MLS unprecedented momentum. Keeping it will depend less on signing aging icons than convincing America’s best young players to stay

“Thanks World, we’ll take it from here,” is Major League Soccer’s message to the American public. Yet two moves in the last week were emblematic of the issues the league faces in taking on the mantle of North America’s hosting of the game’s grandest stage.

A rising, under-the-radar homegrown player left for Europe, and a veteran with immense pedigree arrived, likely to close out his career. Sebastian Berhalter’s swapped title-chasing Vancouver Whitecaps for Middlesbrough of the EFL Championship. Free agent Brazil legend Casemiro traded Manchester’s Old Trafford for Nu Stadium in Miami.

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