MLS Goal Scoring Picks, Odds, Predictions for Wednesday, July 22, 2026

By Phil West | Jul 21, 2026, 2:20pm

If you’re hungry for soccer again, now that the World Cup’s behind us, Major League Soccer is ready for you.

With an ad campaign proclaiming, “Thanks, world, we’ll take it from here,” and with its players logging the sixth most minutes of any league in the world during the recent global tournament, MLS is hoping to use the North American-hosted spectacle we all just witnessed to drive new fan attention. Those who know about the league — and have had Wednesday’s slate of matches circled on the calendar for some time now — are ready for the chaos, the competitive balance among many of its teams, and of course, the goalscoring.

Here are three players with a chance to get on the scoring sheet as the league picks back up halfway through its 2026 season.

Wednesday’s Goal Scoring Picks

Thomas Müller, VWFC
Guilherme, HOU
Preston Judd, SJE

Thomas Müller, VWFC

Müller and the conference-leading Whitecaps didn’t get a chance to resume the season last week against Robert Lewandowski and the Chicago Fire as planned, due to Canadian wildfires compromising air quality and rendering soccer unplayable in the Windy City. They’ll aim to get their good form started up again on Wednesday against an FC Cincinnati team that’s lost a step or two off the pace of their previous few seasons.

While Brian White might be the most likely to score from open play, Müller is still a primary choice to take penalty kicks, and given the rust that both teams have to shake off, perhaps a defender makes an errant move or accidentally gets a hand to a ball in the box. Given the Whitecaps’ ability to move the ball into the final third and then weave attackers into various pockets of danger, this isn’t a far-fetched scenario at all.

Guilherme, HOU

The first-year MLS player, coming over from his native Brazil, is making his mark in the league, with eight goals and five assists in his first 14 games with the Dynamo. And he’s helping to make the Dynamo relevant again, as they’re seventh in the West, looking poised to hang on and reach the playoffs for the third time in four seasons after missing out on last year’s postseason play.

Given that the Dynamo have only scored 19 goals this season, it’s more likely than not that scoring will either come through Guilherme assisting or scoring directly. On Wednesday, they’ll host a D.C. United team that’s already given up 25 goals through 18 matches and have struggled about equally at home and on the road. A win for the Dynamo is a reasonable expectation, and Guilherme being part of the narrative is even more reasonable.

Preston Judd, SJE

Orlando City’s Maxime Crépeau has let in 38 goals so far this season in just 14 matches, and yet he’s been named to the 2026 MLS All-Star team playing the Liga MX all-stars in Charlotte next week. The rationale for the league elevating him into one of the three coveted goalkeeping spots is pretty simple: He featured as starting goalkeeper for the Canadian national team during its World Cup run to the Round of 16, emerging as the top choice over Inter Miami’s Dayne St. Clair.

Orlando City’s also gotten a lot of attention for a marquee signing who could make a difference for the struggling squad in this second half of the season: former France national team and Atlético Madrid and Barcelona standout Antoine Griezmann. The star attacker could make his debut on Wednesday in San Jose, giving fans on the East Coast a reason to stay up for the West Coast match.

But the player most likely to score in this match is on the hosts’ side. Preston Judd is among the MLS Golden Boot leaders in 2026, with 11 goals to his credit. Given that the current leader, Hugo Cuypers with 13, was just moved to Monterrey in Liga MX, and given that Lionel Messi (with 12 goals, tied for second with Petar Musa) will be taking a few weeks off following the World Cup, this is Judd’s chance to break into the lead. Against Orlando — with its struggling defense and getting back into the season following a long cross-country trip — goals are there for the taking, and Judd’s just the brand of opportunistic striker to take them.

Photo Credit: REUTERS

Phil West

Phil West is a writer based in Austin, Texas, whose work has appeared in a wide range of outlets, including MLSSoccer.com, Backheeled, and Howler, as well as major publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Austin Chronicle, and San Antonio Express-News. He also wrote two books on soccer for The Overlook Press.