What is it? It's it.

After another round of USL Jägermeister Cup matches, it's back to USL League One in the third tier this weekend, with five matches across Saturday and Sunday, starting with the visit of Lexington SC to the unbeaten Forward Madison on Saturday at 11pm (all times BST). The home side were 3-0 winners at Spokane Velocity in their last league match and won 1-0 over One Knoxville in the Jägermeister Cup last week, while the visitors haven't played in the league since April 14, when they drew 2-2 in Spokane. That's followed by two games at midnight, the first of which sees 2023 runners-up Charlotte Independence host 2022 champions South Georgia Tormenta at American Legion Memorial Stadium. Both sides lost in the Jägermeister Cup last week and both  have ten points on the board so far, but Independence will be looking to get back to the kind of form that made them so hard to beat in April. The other midnight start sees One Knoxville entertain Richmond Kickers at the Reg...

The USL Championship weekend gets underway with a quartet of midnight kick-offs on Saturday night (all times BST) , the pick of which seems to be Indy Eleven 's visit to Highmark Stadium, home of a misfiring Pittsburgh Riverhounds . Riverhounds won the USL Championship Shield last year for the best overall record in regular season play, but then lost five of their starting eleven over the winter and have never really recovered. Indy, meanwhile, are on a run of seven consecutive victories and, such are the changed fortunes of the teams this year, it wouldn't be surprise to see them make it eight. Indy sit third in the Eastern Conference, one place behind Louisville City , who follow up their midweek demolition of Detroit City with a visit to struggling The Miami FC . With goals coming from just about everywhere, but especially from Wilson Harris, Los Morados should have no trouble carving through a vulnerable Miami defence and win will take them top. Loudoun United have enjoyed ...

The MLS weekend gets off to a rare early start on Friday night at half-past-midnight (all times BST) as New York City FC  look to extend a great string of results when Western Conference basement dwellers San Jose Earthquakes come to Yankee Stadium. The Pigeons have won their last four - and seven of their last eight - to climb up to third in the Eastern Conference as Nick Cushing's side play with increasing swagger. Quakes, meanwhile, have slumped right back to a run of winless games after a brief respite saw them win two in a row a few weeks back. Saturday's games start with four 0.30am kick-offs, the pick of which looks to be the visit of St Louis CITY to Fort Lauderdale, where an Inter Miami side stung by their midweek home defeat to Atlanta United await. CITY really haven't got going this season after a cracking debut campaign but they have inspiration and finishing in Indy Vassilev and Joao Klauss, as well as a strong backline. Whether that will be enough to keep Lion...

An almost full programme of MLS matches last night began with CF Montréal breaking their run of nine games without a win when they beat DC United 4-2 at Stade Saputo. Ariel Lassiter put the home side in front after just six minutes, but they found themselves pegged back just before the half-hour when - who else? - Christian Benteke scored his twelfth of the season for United. The parity lasted for just five minutes before Sunusi Ibrahim - on as an early substitute for the injured Jules-Anthony Vilsaint - headed home from close range, with Mathieu Choinière extending their lead four minutes after that with a smart shot from outside the box. Benteke popped up again to reduce the deficit three minutes before half-time, taking advantage of some confusion in the Montréal box, but there was still time, though, for Matti Peltola to receive his second yellow card in first-half stoppage time, sending the visitors down to ten men for the entirety of the second-half. Seeking to ta...

The introduction of the pointless Leagues Cup into the MLS schedule has meant more midweek games this season and last, and there's an almost full programme of matches tonight, beginning with five 0.30am (all times BST) kick-offs. To say  CF Montréal  are in poor form is an understatement, with no wins in nine games including a two-legged Canadian Championship defeat to Canadian Premier League outfit Forge FC and just one win at Stade Saputo all season. They go into tonight's game with  DC United  with a Schroedinger's Cat level of pressure on them as they simultaneously desperately need a win but are not expected to get one against a United side who have travelled well this season and who have Christian Benteke in good goalscoring form.  FC Cincinnati  welcome  Nashville SC  to TQL Stadium on the back of a seven-win streak and you'd not bet against them extending that run, especially as the Coyotes are steadying their ship in the wake of Gary Smit...

The third round of matches in the inaugural USL Jägermeister Cup took place on Saturday, or at least 5/6 of them, with Union Omaha versus Central Valley Fuego held off until Wednesday. Lexington SC made the relatively short journey to  Chattanooga Red Wolves and came away with the points after a seven-goal thriller in front of 2,308 at CHI Memorial Stadium. Mayele Malango had point Red Wolves ahead in the eighth minute, but the visitors drew level in the 35th minute, Ates Diouf scoring his second goal of the competition. That lasted for all of three minutes before Chevone Marsh put Chattanooga back in front, and they held their 2-1 lead through half-time. Ten minutes into the second-half, though, Alexis Cerritos pulled Lexington level again, although it was another short-term arrangement as Malango got his second to restore Red Wolves' lead two minutes later. The game turned in the 75th minute when Omar Hernandez was red carded for a foul on Cameron Lancaster and with the home side...

The USL Championship weekend got off to a shocking start when  Charleston Battery  surrendered their unbeaten league record at home to basement dwellers El Paso Locomotive on Friday night. Locomotive under new boss Wilmer Cabrera were always going to be a different prospect to their lacklustre early season selves but the turning point in the game came when the home side lost Chris Allan to two yellow cards in three minutes at the end of the first-half, leaving them facing a game Texan side with just ten men for the entirety of the second-half. The visitors took advantage of the numbers with a nice goal from Amando Moreno in the 69th minute but failed to make further in-roads as the clock ticked down, allowing Jackson Conway to equalise for Battery with three minutes left of standard time. Just when they thought they'd rescued a point, though, Moreno grabbed his second two minutes into stoppage time to quiet the 3,257 home fans and end Charleston's eleven-match unbeaten run, Al...

A feisty old affair is a good place to start a round-up of Saturday's MLS action and another 40,000-plus crowd was at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to see  Atlanta United  take on  Los Angeles FC . The game wasn't short on action in the first-half, despite a lack of goals, and Eduard Atesta petulantly picked up a yellow card that would come back to bite him later. The match turned fifteen minutes into the second-half when Brad Guzan raced out of his goal to head a deep ball, a trailing leg taking out Mateusz Bogusz. VAR ruled it was a red card offense and substitute 'keeper Josh Cohen's first job was to pick the ball out of the net from Bogusz's deflected free-kick. Both sides had further chances after that and the Five Stripes were given a boost for a last push when Atesta received his second yellow nine minutes from time, but LA held on to push Gonzalo Pineda into further trouble. The slide at Stade Saputo was at least temporarily arrested by  CF Montréal , who drew 0-0 w...

It's USL Jägermeister Cup time again on Saturday, with five ties - Union Omaha versus Central Valley Fuego is on Wednesday - taking place between midnight and 4am (all times BST). First up is the visit of One Knoxville to Forward Madison , third visiting fourth in the regular USL League One table but a clash of two Central Group rivals - each with one win and one defeat - in the Jägermeister Cup. Madison are yet to lose in the league but were beaten 1-0 at Lexington in the first round of Jägermeister Cup matches, while Knoxville lost 5-1 at home to Northern Colorado in the Cup last time out. The first of two 0.30am kick-offs sees Chattanooga Red Wolves welcome northern near-neighbours Lexington SC to CHI Memorial Stadium, with both sides in the bottom four of the league so far. However, the visitors top the Central Group with a win and a shootout win from their two games so far, in stark contrast to Red Wolves, who have a loss and a shootout loss to their name. The other ...

An eleven-game USL Championship weekend gets underway with three games on Friday night and the return to league action of Eastern Conference leaders Charleston Battery . They welcome El Paso Locomotive to South Carolina for a half-past-midnight kick-off (all times BST) that will mark Wilmer Cabrera's first game in charge of the visitors from West Texas. Loco have won one and lost eight of their eleven games so far this season and it was no surprise to see Brian Clarhaut given the boot after last week's home defeat to Memphis 901. Whether Cabrera can work some magic may be a question for another day as Battery are flying right now, even if they did lose on penalties to Atlanta United in the US Open Cup in midweek. Also at 0.30am is Hartford Athletic versus Monterey Bay FC , two sides who started the season brightly but have since fallen off. The Union still sit in fourth place in the West but have lost four of their last five games, a draw at home to Memphis the sole bright spar...