MLS Footnotes: Shaq Moore credits return to U.S. for World Cup call-up

Editor's Note: MLS Footnotes takes you inside the major talking points around the league and across American soccer.

Shaq Moore took the road less traveled to last year's World Cup in Qatar.

When the Nashville SC and U.S. men's national team fullback was growing up in Georgia in the early-2010s, there were no nearby MLS teams with fully funded youth programs to join. So after stops at FC Dallas and the IMG academy in Florida, Moore set his on Spain, where the now 26-year-old turned pro and made almost 200 appearances in La Liga and (mostly) the second tier Segunda before moving to Tennessee last July.

Joining Nashville — which hosts Southeast rival Atlanta United on Saturday (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX and FOX Deportes) — was more than a chance to come home after seven years abroad. It was strategic for Moore.

"First and foremost it was to get playing and get a spot on the World Cup team," Moore told FOX Sports in an interview this week.

Most young players see MLS as a stepping stone to the highest levels of the European club game. Just this week, FC Cincinnati sold Brazilian striker Brenner, acquired from São Paulo in 2021, to Udinese of Italy's Serie A. The likes of Brenden Aaronson, Tyler Adams and Matt Turner increased their stock with the USMNT by graduating from MLS and heading overseas. Moore is one of the few who did the opposite.

"I'm glad it worked out," said Moore, who came off the bench against England and Iran in Qatar.  "Now hopefully I can repay Nashville with some silverware."

Considered an MLS Cup dark horse last year before losing to the LA Galaxy in the first round, Nashville currently sits sixth in the Eastern Conference after spending 2022 in the West. The club is winless in its last three games and has taken all three points from a match just once in since March 12. Meantime, Atlanta is coming off a dramatic late win over the Chicago Fire in its last MLS game. Stopping in-form Five Stripes duo attacking Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis (more on Giakoumakis later) won't be easy for Nashville's back line, with also includes USMNT center back Walker Zimmerman.

"We'll make it as difficult as we can for them," Moore said. "It's a good test against a good team, a rival. I think we're ready for it."

In any case, Moore has learned just 20 games into his MLS career that a foe's form doesn't mean much. Roster rules are designed to create parity across the league. Anybody can beat anybody on any day. Nashville is coming off a respectable 1-1 tie with defending champ LAFC last week. It also beat lower division San Antonio FC Wednesday in U.S. Open Cup action. Saturday's contest marks the third of four consecutive games at Geodis Park, which should help the hosts, and Nashville is unbeaten in its last six tries against Atlanta.

Facing his home-state team for the first time, Moore likes his side's chances of keeping that streak alive — even if that means disappointing some of his loved ones. "A lot of my friends and family go to Atlanta United games, so I put them in a tough spot by coming here," he joked.

Still, leaving Spain proved to the best career decision he could have made. 

"The quality of the players in MLS surprised me a little bit," Moore said. "It's a growing league and it's getting better every year. It's not easy or a retirement league, as people from outside sometimes look at it.

"There's a lot of good players here."

MLS FOOTNOTES

1. LAFC takes slim advantage home from Philly 

The rematch wasn't quite as dramatic as the 2022 MLS Cup final, at least until the final 10 minutes. After a Kellyn Acosta hand ball allowed Daniel Gazdag to give the Philadelphia Union a 1-0 lead in the 86th minute of Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions League semifinal first leg, the hosts were sitting pretty.

Then Acosta made up for his error by scoring a stoppage-time equalizer, sending LAFC back to California in possession of a possibly decisive away goal.

The second leg is set for Tuesday in LA (10 p.m. ET, FS1), with the winner advancing to face whoever emerges from the all Liga MX semi between Tigres and Leon. Tigres leads that series 2-1 on aggregate.

Neither LAFC or the Union have an MLS game this weekend as they prepare to square off for a spot in the regional finale.

2. Atlanta, Quakes suffer ‘cupsets' 

Eighteen MLS clubs participated in U.S. Open Cup matches this week. All but two – Atlanta United and the San Jose Earthquakes – advanced to the fourth round of the 109-year-old knockout competition and avoided the embarrassment of being eliminated by a minor league outfit.

With MLS teams resting key players and rotating their rosters, 10 of the games were decided by a single goal. Atlanta fell to USL Championship side Memphis 901 Wednesday.  The Quakes were knocked out a day earlier by Monterey Bay FC, which also competes in the American second tier.

3. Another MVP candidate? 

Atlanta's Thiago Almada, LAFC's Denis Bouanga and the Sounders' Jordan Morris would probably be the three MVP finalists if the MLS regular season ended today. With almost three quarters of the campaign still to go, don't be surprised if at least one other name ends up in the conversation: Giakoumakis.

Signed as a designated player from Scottish titan Celtic over the winter, the 28-year-old Greece national team striker had the unenviable task of replacing Five Stripes legend Josef Martínez, United's all-time top scorer who took home the Golden Boot during Atlanta's MLS Cup-winning 2018 season.

Yet Giakoumakis has scored in each of his five starts this year, including four in row. Giakoumakis was held out of the midweek loss to Memphis after tweaking his bothersome hamstring against the Fire, but coach Gonzalo Pineda hasn't ruled him out against Nashville.

4. World Cup runneth over 

Moore said his experience in Qatar was "life-changing." It also changed his and  Zimmerman's stature inside the club's locker room. "We know a lot of the younger guys look up to us," Moore said.

Often, they ask Moore  about his years abroad. "I try to give them a different perspective if the opportunity to go to Europe ever arises for them," Moore said. "I tell them that it's not always going to be bright lights. You're going to suffer sometimes, be lonely or homesick."

Not that he would go back and change his path.

"Sometimes I think, ‘What if I had access to some of these training facilities that we have now in MLS, the resources, the scouting," he said. "That would've been nice, but on the other hand, the journey made me who I am, having to scrape and fight for everything. It definitely humbled me and prepared me to become a better player and person."

5. Sunday best 

For the third consecutive weekend the MLS slate includes a Sunday game: Minnesota United vs. FC Dallas (9 p.m. ET, FS1 and FOX Deportes).

The Loons, eliminated by FCD in last year's playoffs, won the rematch in Texas on the opening day of the season. But Minnesota enters Sunday's contest in St. Paul on a three-game losing streak – this after the Loons kicked off 2023 with three wins and two ties in their first five games.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.