The entirety of MLS was in action Wednesday night, and save for the handful of teams that featured a week ago, the 15-match slate marked the return to play from the World Cup break.
Despite MLS’s assertion that it’ll “take it from here” after the summer tournament, there was bound to be an adjustment period after a full two months off, as some teams rediscover their rhythm while others work in new signings. And as part of the latter, that meant a spotlight on the league’s two new marquee names: the Chicago Fire’s Robert Lewandowski and Orlando City’s Antoine Griezmann.
Griezmann was by far the more impressive of the two on the night, scoring to open his MLS account while generally fitting in rather seamlessly. He appeared to benefit from Orlando’s having played a pair of friendlies before the season’s restart, one against the USL’s Tampa Bay Rowdies and another against FC Dallas. The French World Cup winner scored in both, giving him a greater sense of interconnectedness with his new teammates before his official debut.
It showed in a short-handed Orlando side’s impressive 4-0 win at the San Jose Earthquakes, with Griezmann scoring — officially, for the first time as a Lion — while also enjoying a high degree of effective link-up play in his 90-minute showing.
The 35-year-old opted for a spectacular opening, five minutes in, attempting to lob from long range after catching new San Jose goalkeeper Angus Gunn well off his line, only to overhit his chance. In the 12th minute, he dropped a bit and played a great ball in behind, springing Tiago down the left on a two-on-two that didn’t pan out. In first-half stoppage time, another slick touch from Griezmann nearly put Orlando in on goal, with the Atlético Madrid great clipping a ball to Griffin Dorsey, whose subsequent move was blocked.
Griezmann’s personal breakthrough came three minutes after halftime, thanks to a poor giveaway in the San Jose back. Orlando forward Justin Ellis, 19, pounced on a sloppy pass and quickly fed Griezmann, who displayed some quick feet and a lefty, near-post finish to put the result out of reach. The score was also Griezmann’s 300th career club goal in all competitions, as a bonus.
GRIZI GETS HIS FIRST IN @MLS 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NfC5mfPZaS
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) July 23, 2026
Meanwhile, if Lewandowski wasn’t quite familiar with what kind of league MLS can be sometimes, he got a crash course quickly. Namely, it’s a league where a player of his caliber can go quiet in an anticipated moment, while a homegrown, baby-faced player donning the No. 59, Preston Plambeck, can become a hero.
Lewandowski endured 62 goal-less minutes Wednesday night at Inter Miami in the Fire’s 3-2 defeat against a side missing Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul; new signing Casemiro watched from a suite next to Miami ownership. Miami did have Luis Suárez, though, and the Uruguayan star upstaged his Polish counterpart, scoring twice and forcing the save that yielded the rebound for Plambeck’s 87th-minute winner, the first goal of the 20-year-old’s career.
Plambeck!! 🔥⚽ pic.twitter.com/qih6dRENCB
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) July 23, 2026
Wednesday was Lewandowski’s second shot at his MLS debut, with the first, a home match versus Vancouver and former Bayern Munich teammate Thomas Müller, slated for last Thursday, postponed due to air quality as a result of the Canadian wildfires. Regardless of the setting and opponent, there will always be a heightened level of expectation on a player of Lewandowski’s stature, but there’s pressure for him to perform right away, given he’s replacing a player who leads the MLS Golden Boot race.
There wasn’t a more consistent source of goals in MLS before the World Cup break than Hugo Cuypers, who tallied 13 in all and at one point scored in 10 straight league games. Upon Lewandowski’s introduction, Fire coach Gregg Berhalter indicated Chicago would pivot to a two-striker system to accommodate Lewandowski and Cuypers, but the two won’t feature together after all, with the latter headed to Monterrey, as previously reported by The Athletic.
So the onus is on Lewandowski to acclimate immediately and keep the club’s goal flow coming. That didn’t happen in his debut, during which he had only one decent look at goal but had it blocked and put out for a corner — though he was the player closest to an atrocious own goal committed by Miami goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo for the opening score.
Just how everyone predicted! pic.twitter.com/tzmsY9ERnm
— Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) July 23, 2026
Given the track record everywhere Lewandowski has played, he has the benefit of the doubt that those goals will come in time.
Chicago versus Miami has the potential to be one of the league’s box-office fixtures once everyone is fully match-fit and back in action. The league will surely hope to get such an occasion on Sept. 9, when the sides meet at Soldier Field and Messi, Casemiro and De Paul are all integrated.
As for when Lewandowski and Griezmann will go head-to-head, MLS fans won’t have to wait much longer. Orlando welcomes Chicago to Central Florida on Aug. 19 — two days before Lewandowski turns 38 — in the first of two meetings remaining in the regular season, by which point both should have their MLS legs underneath them. As far as first impressions go, though, it’s advantage Griezmann.
