Son Heung-min in action during an international match, one of the headline names for the MLS All-Stars against Liga MX
Son Heung-min headlines a reshaped MLS All-Star roster against Liga MX in Charlotte | Photo: Wikimedia Commons
On Today's Board
MLS All-Star Game
8:00 PM ET
MLS
ALL-STARS

MLS All-Stars vs Liga MX All-Stars

Wednesday, 8:00 PM ET | Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC | Apple TV
LIGA MX
ALL-STARS

Charlotte hosts the MLS All-Star Game for the first time, and the league arrives with a roster reshaped by absences as much as by star power. Son Heung-min and Thomas Muller headline a 29-man MLS squad after Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul were excused for post-World Cup rest, striker Hugo Cuypers was sold to Monterrey mid-selection, and defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi was ruled out injured. Yannick Bright, Andres Cubas, Philip Zinckernagel and Guilherme were added in their place, a roster that leaned on depth once the headline names thinned out.

Liga MX counters with a 24-man squad announced on the eve of the game, five representatives from reigning champions Cruz Azul alone, the largest single-club contingent on either side. Toluca coach Antonio Mohamed takes charge of the Liga MX side fresh off winning the Concacaf Champions Cup, giving Mexico's league a manager with real continental pedigree rather than an exhibition figurehead. Eight late roster replacements, including goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo and forward Salomon Rondon, filled out the squad in the final days before kickoff.

This exhibition carries more than bragging rights for MLS, which has used the Liga MX format specifically to measure itself against a league with deeper soccer roots and a passionate fanbase across the border. With Messi absent, the game leans on Son and Muller to be the box-office draw, against a Liga MX group built more around collective quality than any single global name.

Preseason Friendly
7:30 PM ET

Liverpool vs Wrexham

Wednesday, 7:30 PM ET | Yankee Stadium, New York, NY

This is a strange one for Liverpool supporters to process: the reigning Premier League champions fired the manager who won them the title. Andoni Iraola signed a two-year deal in June after Liverpool's hierarchy moved on from Arne Slot less than a year after his title-winning debut season on Merseyside, and Yankee Stadium is the new manager's first true test in front of an American crowd. The squad Iraola inherits looks different too, with Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate all departing after their contracts expired.

Liverpool's 31-man touring squad includes new center back Ifeanyi Ndukwe alongside full-backs Luke Chambers, Calum Scanlon and Calvin Ramsay, while World Cup participants Ryan Gravenberch, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz were held out of the tour opener against Sunderland and are due to join the group this week, meaning Wednesday could be the first look at something closer to Iraola's actual first-choice XI.

Wrexham, meanwhile, arrives at the peak of its own story. Three straight promotions under owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have taken the club from the National League to the Championship, and this season Wrexham is fighting for a playoff spot that would put the winner into the Premier League itself. Getting a competitive runout against a reigning English champion, on a New York stage built for baseball rather than football, is exactly the kind of occasion a club selling a Hollywood-scale rise story wants on its calendar.

Sydney Super Cup
5:30 AM ET

Tottenham vs Sydney FC

Wednesday, 7:30 PM local (5:30 AM ET) | Allianz Stadium, Sydney, Australia

Tottenham have named a considerably more experienced side for the second match of their preseason tour than they used in the opener, with Richarlison leading the line after scoring in a 2-0 win over Auckland FC. Conor Gallagher, Mathys Tel, Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Manor Salamon and Ben Davies all start, and new signing Martin Dubravka gets his first minutes in a Tottenham shirt in goal. The club is unbeaten through its first two tour matches, which matters more than usual given manager Roberto De Zerbi's rebuild is under real scrutiny after back-to-back 17th-place Premier League finishes.

Sydney FC will field a near full-strength lineup of its own as it prepares for the new A-League season, captain Rhyan Grant and playmaker Joe Lolley leading a group that also features striker Patryk Klimala testing himself against a Premier League back line. For an Australian club, fielding this close to a first-choice XI against a team the caliber of Tottenham is a rare measuring stick outside of A-League competition itself.

The match is the second fixture of the Sydney Super Cup, a four-club tournament running through August 12 that also includes Chelsea and Western Sydney Wanderers, giving Australian fans a genuine chance to compare two Premier League sides and two of their own top-flight clubs on the same stage across a two-week window.

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