MLS NEXT Pro never stops, not even for World Cups. Your Twos have been hard at work the last few weeks, climbing the table while the world’s focus is fixed on the international version of the beautiful game. No result has been bigger than this Saturday’s 5-2 win over St. Louis CITY2, powered by the second hat trick of the season from Marcus Caldeira. His impressive performance in front of the goalmouth was enough to earn him his second Player of the Matchweek title of the 2026 season.
Caldeira’s first two goals of the match came in the first half, both of which were a result of fantastic positioning and footwork in tight spaces to capitalize on opportunities created by teammates Darius Randell and Troy Putt. His third strike in the 69th minute was also assisted by Randell, whose service from the left found his striker unmarked in the box to break the deadlock and give the Black and Blue the 3-2 lead they were looking for.
After his three-goal haul, Caldeira now sits level at the top of the MLSNP scoring charts with Columbus’ Zachary Zengue and Atlanta’s Arif Kovac on 10 goals apiece. This was his fourth multi-goal game of the year, having already recorded a pair of braces and a hat trick in the season opener. He’s the first player in MNUFC history (first and second team combined) to score multiple hat tricks in a single season. Not a bad couple of stats, ay?
With the win, the Loons are now up to sixth in the Western Conference through the first 15 games of the season. They’ll be heading out to LA for their next match against LAFC2 on Wednesday, where they’ll look to keep their high-scoring form alive.
