The beauty of the USL Championship is the league’s capacity for the unexpected. Yes, preseason favorites like Louisville and Tampa Bay are undefeated, but no one expected Orange County and San Antonio to be top the West or Miami to hold a top-four position entering the month of April. We’ll see which surprise contenders are for real as 2026 carries on, but Week 4 was full of results and moments that subverted expectations.
Amidst the game action, the USL players’ protests carried on for a fourth week. At the beginning of both halves, the rival teams formed a circle at the halfway line in a show of unity, pausing play for a full minute. As of this weekend, every club in the Championship has now hosted a home match, meaning that fans in 25 markets have been made aware of the ongoing labor situation.
For now, there’s still no strike, and the Week 4 slate continued to shake up the power rankings. Who’s up, who’s down, and how’d it happen? Let’s dig in.
1. Louisville City
Trending: No change
Result: 1-0 win at Brooklyn
Since joining Louisville City, Sam Gleadle has operated as a forward, but that hasn’t always been his position. In previous stops with clubs like San Antonio FC and Monterey Bay, the Englishman filled both fullback spots and looked completely natural as a defender. Danny Cruz clearly had his preference when it came to Gleadle’s deployment, but Simon Bird is thinking differently.
