📊 Milestones to watch for in this weekend's MLS action | OneFootball

A rip-roaring 2025 MLS is set for its latest installment as Matchday 8 approaches this weekend.

Between the usual star names and top clubs dominating discussion points, and surprise packages showing the parity the league so often boasts, here are some of the biggest milestones to look out for come Saturday.

Columbus set sights on club-best start

Many MLS fans and pundits alike billed Columbus Crew capable of making a run to the MLS Cup this season, and so far, they look every bit the part of an Eastern Conference champion.

Sitting atop the table coming into the weekend, Wilfried Nancy's unbeaten Crew (15 points, 4-0-3) will lock horns with St. Louis City to bookend Matchday 8 during Soccer Sunday.

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Should the Crew post a three-point haul, they would equal a best-ever undefeated start to a season, pulling level with their efforts across the 2010 campaign.

The pending addition of Philadelphia Union star and Hungarian international midfielder Daniel Gazdag shows their motivations this season, and though he may not be announced in time to feature, Columbus is on the right track once again.

Minnesota is on the hunt to remain hot

Despite residing in a state far more connected to Ice Hockey and American Football, at least in a professional sporting lense, Minnesota United is in the midst of an unexpected push in the West.

Under young tactician Eric Ramsay, the Loons are the current occupants of third place in the conference after winning four of their last six while boasting an overall record of 4-1-2.

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Level on points with league debutants San Diego FC and just two points adrift of pace-setters Vancouver Whitecaps, Minnesota has a chance to equal their second-longest single-season unbeaten streak in club history while closing the gap to their best-ever unbeaten streak to just one match.

It's all going incredibly well at Allianz Field in 2025.

2025; the year of dominating defenders?

While sparing you the adage of "offense gets the glory, but defense wins championships," there is no denying that those who ply their trade at the back are having a huge say across the opening two months of the 2025 season.

Thanks to the data dolling out a fair few flowers thus far, some key defenders have been deserving of considerable praise.

Five different MLS defenders have registered 19 clearances thus far, but Minnesota's Morris Duggan and Orlando City's Rodrigo Schlegel are at the head of the pack with 20.

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This in of itself is impressive, but across a global footballing landscape that features silkier ball-playing defenders, Duggan and Schlegel are going against the grain with their no-nonsense brand of shield-bearing.

Duggan in particular has been sublime for the Loons this season and is now one of the first names on the teamsheet for Eric Ramsay, with the German-born center-back a key instrument in Minnesota's push in the Western Conference.

Josef Martínez continues to grow his MLS legacy

Indisputably one of the best goalscorers in MLS history, San Jose star Josef Martínez put on a clinic last weekend when he bagged a hat-trick in the Earthquakes' 6-1 win against D.C. United.

Justly rewarded when he received Player of the Week honors on the back of his seventh-career three-goal effort, the Venezuelan star is now approaching another milestone when San Jose locks horns with LAFC this weekend.

Should the Valencia-born goalscorer achieve another multi-goal feat, he will pull ahead of former San Jose legend Chris Wondolowski (25) and secure sole possession of the second-most multi-goal games in MLS regular season history.

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More impressively, it has taken Martínez just 190 games when compared to some of the other iconic names on the list.

Still just 31, there is certainly more left in his tank.

Messi closing on yet another MLS achievement

What would a weekend watch be without another alert surrounding Argentine legend and footballing great Lionel Messi?

Fresh off Inter Miami's charge into the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup with a brace that helped the Herons dispatch LAFC on aggregate across two legs, the Rosario-born trickster will once again have a chance to add his name to the record books.

Already sitting on 24 goals in just 29 MLS appearances, should he score against Chicago Fire this weekend, Messi would become one of a select few to score 25 times in their first-thirty MLS games.

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Already boasting the best goal contributions ratio in the history of the league, what's one more statistical record to add to his overwhelming list of accolades?

📸 Editorial Photo Credit: ©️ Samantha Madar - Imagn Images