NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — B.J. Callaghan has had people reach out to him wanting to talk soccer thanks to the World Cup, and the Nashville coach believes this is a big moment as Major League Soccer starts the second half of this season.
“It's all of our jobs that are involved in soccer to continue to grow that game and capitalize on it,” Callaghan said Thursday. “Specifically about Nashville. Listen, our bandwagon has plenty of space on it for people that want to come. They're more than welcome.”
Nashville certainly has given fans plenty to watch.
Not only did Nashville spend the World Cup break atop the MLS standings with 33 points, the franchise tied for the best start to an MLS season in the last 25 years. Nashville also leads the Eastern Conference allowing the fewest goals (11) and with the best goal differential (plus-20).
When Nashville hosts Atlanta on Friday night in its first match in 54 days, the roster features a league-high four All-Stars in goalkeeper Brian Schwake, defender Andy Najar, midfielder Hany Mukhtar and forward Sam Surridge. This is Mukhtar's fifth All-Star nod.
“Maybe we’ll get a couple more too," Callaghan said of the All-Star Game in Charlotte on July 29. "Maybe I’m a greedy coach, but I know I think there’s a lot of guys on our team that are deserving of it.”
Home is the largest soccer-specific stadium in the U.S. where GEODIS Park has a capacity of 30,109. Nashville has averaged 27,527 over 10 combined home games this year.
Taking a break when a team is playing well can be challenging. Nashville was on an eight-match unbeaten streak with its last MLS loss April 4 at Chicago Fire. Nashville also is the only MLS team yet to lose on its home pitch with a 6-0-1 record and outscoring opponents 23-9 at GEODIS Park.
Nashville also became the first MLS team to win at Estadio Azteca in Mexico, beating Club America in April to reach the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals.
Callaghan called the second half of this season a clean slate for everyone in MLS working to improve rosters and improve. He wants to see Nashville playing with intensity and an attacking mindset.
“We know that we’re going to have to kind of continue to improve each and every time,” Callaghan said. "You don’t just restart where you left off.”
Now Nashville has its own World Cup connection, announcing Thursday the addition of attacker Elias Saad on loan from FC Augsberg of the German Bundesliga through May. Saad started two of Tunisia's three World Cup matches and takes up an international roster spot.
Saad, 26, has three goals and two assists in 28 career matches with FC Augsberg.
Callaghan didn't have a timetable for Saad's arrival. He said Nashville was very intentional looking to add someone who brings versatility and another strong attacker to a talented group.
Surridge, who had just returned May 23 from a back injury before the break, is just one of Nashville's players who used the break between MLS games to heal up and get stronger. Surridge is tied for the fifth-most goals in MLS this season with nine despite injuries limiting him to just eight league games.
"Hopefully, I can bring that into the season and just carry on doing what I’ve been doing,” Surridge said.
Midfielder Eddie Tagseth and Najar both are questionable, while Callaghan said midfielder Patrick Yazbek will be out for a bit longer.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
FILE - Nashville SC forward Sam Surridge (9) heads the ball as Inter Miami defender Jordi Alba (18) and midfielder Sergio Busquets (5) defend during the second half of a MLS soccer match, Oct. 18, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)
FILE - Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar, left, moves the ball past Club America midfielder Erick Sánchez (28) during the first half of an CONCACAF Champions Cup first leg quarterfinal soccer match, April 7, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
FILE - U.S. head coach BJ Callaghan reacts during the second half of a CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal soccer match against Panama, July 12, 2023, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Heavy, pungent wildfire smoke darkened skies in the U.S. on Thursday from the Great Lakes to parts of the East Coast, reducing visibility and prompting warnings that breathing the air outside could be dangerous.
Officials in many cities urged residents to stay inside or wear masks outside as air quality reached unhealthy to hazardous levels, meaning it's unhealthy for anyone, regardless of health conditions. The smoke is coming from fires that are burning primarily in Canada but also in northern Minnesota. A lingering high pressure system has trapped the smoke close to the ground, said Steven Freitag, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Detroit, where air quality was among the worst in the world for major cities.
“Sure enough, it arrived in force here and it’s really pretty extreme levels,” said Freitag, who noted that visibility in some areas was reduced to a half mile.
“It’s scary,” Omar Mitchell, 50, said as he looked to the sky. He wore a mask while walking to his restaurant in Detroit. “You don’t know necessarily what the side effects may be. That’s days or months later.”
Microscopic particles can lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, leading to heart and lung problems and contributing to other long-term health issues.
All of Michigan and much of Minnesota were under a hazardous air quality alert. In the Chicago area, air quality ranged from very unhealthy to hazardous.
National Weather Service meteorologist Jake Petr said even if winds from the northwest clear skies as expected later this week, the smoky air could keep returning until the fires are out. That could take months, until it snows in Canada and northern Minnesota, officials have said.
Bill Ostrowski, 76, wore a mask as he walked through downtown Chicago, where wildfire smoke shrouded skyscrapers. “It stinks. It’s not a good sign when you wake up in the morning and you can smell the air,” said Ostrowski.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, the sky was “glowing yellow,” said Brent Williams, head of the soil, water and climate department at the University of Minnesota. The area “could be looking at weeks to months of continued smoke and flare-ups off and on as the winds blow in different directions,” he said.
A study published this year found that long-term exposure to tiny particles from wildfire smoke contributed to an average of 24,100 deaths a year in the lower 48 states. Long-term exposure can make existing health problems worse and lead to a range of chronic and deadly issues, including respiratory illness, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, and premature death.
In the New York City area, a thick haze tinged the morning sky orange and yellow and partly obscured Manhattan’s skyline.
City officials opened cooling centers as health officials urged New Yorkers to limit strenuous and prolonged outdoor activities. The city’s schools, parks and other agencies moved activities indoors, rescheduled events and adjusted operations. State officials distributed tens of thousands of face masks at transit hubs and other major locations.
Gwen Moseley, 65, was among the first patrons at Rosedale Library in Queens to take advantage of the free masks, saying she’s on the road much of the day working as a therapist for children with autism.
“Who wants to be breathing this? It’s not healthy,” Moseley said as she waited to meet a young client. “When I’m out walking, I can feel the scratchiness in my throat.”
Smoke eased a bit but was expected to thicken again by late afternoon or evening, possibly lasting overnight, weather service meteorologist Maureen Hastings said. She said it might move south for a while on Friday but return at night.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation warned that there was a potential for temporary spikes of “very unhealthy” air quality from Buffalo in the state's western corner to Rochester by Lake Ontario, Syracuse in the central region and down to the greater New York City area.
Philadelphia officials urged people to avoid strenuous activity and stay inside or wear N95 or KN95 masks outside.
“Today is not the day to start your marathon training plan,” said Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson, the city's public health commissioner.
In Minnesota, forest rangers on Thursday combed a remote wilderness area for anyone who might still be there days after wildfires led to its closure.
Officials closed the Boundary Waters along the U.S.-Canada border on Tuesday. At the time, 6,000 to 10,000 people were inside, but Superior National Forest staff estimated Wednesday that they’d reached 90% of them, said Karen Harrison, a spokesperson for state and federal agencies involved in the response.
She said Thursday that smoke is making it difficult for helicopters to fly and that fires are spreading despite firefighting efforts.
“There will be fire on the landscape until fall, and some fire will be burning until snow cover,” Harrison said.
The Royal Canadian Air Force successfully evacuated 11 Minnesota teenagers and four staff members Wednesday from wildfires in an Ontario provincial park about 175 miles (282 kilometers) north of the Minnesota border.
Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit, Jacqueline GaNun in Lansing, Michigan, and Cybele Mayes-Osterman in Chicago contributed to this report.
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A person wearing a mask cycles in Times Square as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Jimmy Tyner walks along the Detroit River during poor air quality due to smoke from Canadian wildfires Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
A pedestrian crosses the street as the Detroit city skyline is obscured during poor air quality due to smoke from Canadian wildfires Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
A golfer checks his score card at Willow Hills Golf course during poor air quality due to dense smoke from Canadian wildfires in Northbrook, Ill., Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A watercraft sits in the Detroit River near the skyline during poor air quality due to smoke from Canadian wildfires Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Detroit.. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
A volunteer for the World Cup wears a mask as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky at the Rockefeller Center fan village, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A person uses binoculars to look out as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky at Top of The Rock observation deck at the Rockefeller Center, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Wildfire smoke blankets downtown Jackson, Mich., Thursday, July 16, 2026. (J. Scott Park/Jackson Citizen Patriot via AP)
Hazy skies from Canadian wildfires cover Silver Beach and Lake Michigan, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in St. Joseph, Mich. (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)
People wear masks as they walk on the street during poor air quality due to dense smoke from Canadian wildfires in Evanston, Ill., Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A general view of street mall during poor air quality due to dense smoke from Canadian wildfires in Glenview, Ill., Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) CORRECTION: Glenview, not Northbrook
Boats maneuver the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky Thursday, July 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)
A dog walks along the shores of Lake Superior amid heavy wildfire smoke Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Duluth, Minn. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
Wildfire smoke blankets downtown Jackson, Mich., Thursday, July 16, 2026. (J. Scott Park/Jackson Citizen Patriot via AP)
Wildfire smoke blankets Vandercook Lake as a fisherman tries his luck on Thursday, July 16, 2026, near Jackson, Mich., Thursday, July 16, 2026. (J. Scott Park/Jackson Citizen Patriot via AP)
Boats maneuver the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky Thursday, July 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)
