2026 Season Predictions w/Matt Doyle

That one right there. my own. MLS 2026 season kickoff is around the corner. We've got a massive week of CCC action as well. We are into the best time of the year. Toilet is a time of hope for all fans everywhere. It is the last week where everyone's in first place. And I don't know, there's probably

eight to twelve clubs fans who are feeling the best they're gonna be feeling over the next twelve months. Yeah, I was gonna say, does it is it really a time of hope in DC or Kansas City? Don't do it to them off the gate off the top. Tough. Tough tough. I mean, i it's like we all we all know it. We've all seen it. That said I well, all right. I'm I'm gonna walk it back to me.'Cause you're gonna say you're low-key a little interested in DC. DC D C's a little bit interesting, right?

Right. And I I don't love pressing teams, but it looks like they're gonna be a 4-4-2 pressing system. And they have, you know, two forwards who who kind of fit together. Um, they are at a talent, massive talent deficit in central midfield, but they've they've done some stuff. All right, Doctor Sogit. Yeah.

I'm paying attention. They will be a fantastic pressing team until they hire Wayne Rooney, because when he's available, he's available. And then we'll reshift organization, we'll fire a couple GMs, and then we'll come back around in about three or four years. But For today, they are tied for first place in the Eastern Conference in MLS, and that is something worth enjoying. Uh, it's gonna be a big weekend of action.

So for anyone who hasn't looked, I hadn't actually really looked for a while. A lot more every weekend of games. There's an early Saturday game which will be weekly, which will be happening. I believe Mikeli Giannone will be on the preview and sideline of that game. The legend. Yeah. So you can always tune in in Spanish for that one.

Um, and then I think our own Andrew Weeby, uh friend, I don't know what we're calling him, will be on Saturday nights, uh a big primetime game. And then there's at least two Sunday windows every week, but some weeks have more windows than that. uh including a Saturday afternoon game. And because of that

Some of these night windows are not thirty seven matches at the same time that you can't consume because the games are a little more spread out. There's I think some seven thirty windows with just two games, some ten thirty windows as well. So There's gonna be a lot more watching, which is kind of what I enjoy about having a sports league and watching the games. So that part I'm genuinely excited about. Uh and that will obviously all kick off on Saturday.

We're gonna do a big preview, uh, game by game, I think on Thursday to dig into everything we'll see this weekend and it will give us a chance to talk maybe about some teams that we don't mention in here as deeply, um, and give some quick thoughts. If you haven't already. Uh subscribe to Matt Doyle's uh Ghost newsletter. I'm getting my wording right so I get there. Uh give everyone the pitch real quick.

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Email back confirming your subscription right away. There are four tiers. The the lowest tier is free. There's gonna be two free columns a week. One will be the power rankings and one will be sort of a weekly roundup. Um and then three paid tiers uh the the Sunday column that I've been writing for fifteen years. Sorry folks, that's paid. Uh and then there'll be another midweek sort of tent poll column uh that I am

already panicking uh and scrambling over like, oh God, what am I gonna write? But that'll be probably stuff like US national team depth chart or or tactical breakdown, stuff like that. Um it's gone really well. Uh so if you have subscribed already, uh thank you from the bottom of my heart and

Uh, you know, David knows this feeling of like suddenly you're you're unemployed and oh shit. What is Oh no, everyone's gonna support me. Well, I gotta actually experience that first before I can pay for anything. Right. Um But uh the the outpouring has taken a lot of the sting out of uh what was was a pretty brutal uh start to February.

Um and uh and here we are, uh finally back doing a regular podcast again. Uh which ye I I'm cheesing a little bit. You could see that I'm I'm genuinely happy to be talking to David Goss. Most excited about is I believe we have scheduled in for Soccer Wise. We will do a public shaming of people based off how much they are subscribed. We will not do that. So No, we will not do that. We will not do that. And the shaming will start with Andrew Weebe and Kaylin Carr. So know that you are on watch.

As of now. No, it is the place to go read. Um if you've read Doyle's work at all over the last 15 years, uh as he described. Uh you know it's what you want. Uh it is the only person who can cover this league from start to finish, top to bottom, uh, the way he does. So go subscribe, get on that. I will throw in um if you're looking for some Preview action. We have a number of videos that we have done. Uh, some of them have already come out as podcasts.

Some we're still working on you can go to our YouTube page to watch all of them individually with a lot of local uh podcasters in every single market talking about their teams. I learn a ton. From those. I think even on some of the storylines I already know, just hearing the angle that they're taking or the conversation that's going on in the market really can shift.

from the people and and you know, I'm I'm a sports fan. I I listen to Zach Lowe, but I watch the Knicks and I'm like, come on, that's not the way it is. So I get it. We don't hit everything correctly. Um I would also recommend going and following all these people on Blue Sky. Because I think as the season starts and as Blue Sky has really exploded as the place

To talk about sports in B. You want to follow all these accounts so that you're sucked into the conversation and you know what's going on. I'd also like to throw. um a promo to American Soccer Analysis who's done as they've done every year incredible season previews. Even if you don't get to them this week, they're worth reading because they really set one, how people are looking at the sport.

and in this league and then sort of the parameters that teams are operating in and then go to Bacchill. Joe Lowry does it as well as as anyone else. And then he made all thirty previews himself. I mean it forty thousand words, um in depth. on every single team. Uh it just I'm in awe of the work he he put into that just to defend good job by Joe. Good job by Joe. Uh so we love Joe here on Soccerise, had him on a couple of weeks ago.

uh go read those and subscribe there as well. Uh we've got CCC kicking off. I'm just gonna call it CCL as I oscillate between all the time. I am very excited for the first game, which is tonight in Ottawa. Nashville facing off against Ottawa. I believe it's now called Hamilton Stadium, but I call it Tim Hortons Field because it's, you know.

If your mom names you Tim Hortonsfield, that's what I go with. Uh I believe I was trying to get my my weather app up. I believe the expectation is that we'll be thirty-one degrees at kickoff in general in Ottawa.

So that is eight PM tonight. Yes, thirty one degrees going down to twenty five. Everyone else is in Trinidad Tobago, the Dominican Panama, and Nashville baby gets the trip up north. So I'm really excited for that game. We haven't seen a lot of CPL MLS that's not Canadian Championship crossover. So that will be fun as well. Um and then everyone else in MLS starts playing on Wednesday and Thursday.

Well, we've got Philly, LAFC, a bunch of other teams as well across these games. I think the Galaxy R Thursday, right? Yeah. Yes, maybe. Yes. Um so all those games are gonna be on. We will of course be on Blue Sky hanging out uh through all of those. Uh and then we get into the season. I wasn't gonna leave a bunch of time for us to talk about Reed Baker Whiting.

Unless you want to talk about Reed Vaker? I will say uh Nashville's had a great off season. Like Nashville like like this is a by low opportunity on a kid who's has talent, uh who like the the biggest position in need that I identified for Nashville Um Writing for uh my former website was a uh sort of an air at either fullback. Yeah. Because Andy Nahar and Daniel Lovitz are both irreplaceable and inimitable. Like you can't replicate what they do. Um and

uh the backup fullbacks on that roster are just different types of players. And Reed Baker Whiting is twenty and he he hasn't won the job for Seattle. Um But he has kind of the same skill set uh as Andy Nahar. Um I don't think he's as good as Andy Nahar is or or was even as twenty, but like he's on a really Like he's a really promising player. This is exactly what we talked about on Soccerweiser, where it's like, okay, it's a it's a youth national team guy. There there's value to be found here.

Nashville isn't yet producing guys like that out of their academy. So you could buy low on someone. And for Seattle, it's like, okay, at some point, Like you have to move these guys along either into starting roles or do right by them and put them in a position where they can get more minutes, um, make a little bit of money and clear the path for the the next round of academy product.

It's uh yeah, I agree with everything you said. I will also say the transfer out of Johnny Perez for the number they got and then bringing in a player who I think probably not probably, I think has a higher ceiling. uh for less and then you also still have the potential to sell him going forward. It's good business and it shows right now. I think Mike Jacobs has extended what this club does well in some of the international signings they've made.

But also shows that at their core they're still doing what they did best originally, which was these moves around the edges and knowing the league and knowing. sort of the the math that's going there. It goes on top of them giving BJ Callahan uh a contract extension, which is huge for this club because he has reset the DNA of the team.

I I'm sure you're talking to the same people that I am. People are really passionate about working with him, working for him. The local media enjoys covering him. Like they say it has been just a breath of fresh air on top of the success.

on the field that they've had and with his national team background as odd and whatever it is, that's a guy who's gonna be attractive going forward. So I think to s to have him say, This is where I wanna be and this is, you know, build this around me because I'm gonna be a part of this for a while. I think is really big for this club. So a huge offseason for Nashville, a big week. They will come up uh a couple times, I think, in our conversation. We're gonna go through a bunch of the awards.

That uh we'll be giving away this season as a bit of a way to preview and talk about it. And then we're going to talk some generic team conversations uh that we came up with to dig into some teams overall. The top of any one of these convos would be MVP and Golden Boot. Is a little less interesting when you come to the MLS side. Do you have an MVP that's not Leon Messi?

I I think the only other one with a legitimate chance is is Sun. Yeah. I if if it's not you know, if Messi gets hurt and plays twelve hundred minutes, uh Sun is like a What, eighty five percent favorite or something like that? Because he's gonna have the numbers and LAFC is gonna be one of the three best teams. In fact, if Messi gets hurt, LAFC I think becomes the supporter shield favorites, right? Yeah. And then it's like okay, there's a world where Vancouver

End up on seventy-five points and Thomas Mueller has 18 goals and 23 assists, and maybe it's Thomas Mueller. And then beyond that, you're getting down to Should we do like MVP Pi? Well like one percent one percent is like Evander leads. uh Cincinnati to a points record or I think Hani I I think Hani has a huge one because he's already won it and therefore if Nashville is good without watching people will say, oh Hani's got a shot.

So if Nashville wins a shield, I think Hani's gonna win it, whether he's the reason they win it or he's the best player on the team week in, week out, or whatnot. That's my guess. So I think Messi's gonna win it just because of the way people vote. Yeah. Like like the games and he could win. Yeah, and be like, Oh, Messi's the best player. It's like, well, yeah, but that's not the award. The award is most valuable player and like, okay, you know and

I I was about to say I hate to be you know to get into semantics like that, but I love to get into semantics like that. I rolled my eyes because I find that one of the hardest conversations we had. Is valuable player and like deciphering what that because Rodrigo DePaul's not playing for any other team for cheap, neither is

Sergio Regulon, so is therefore Messi the most valuable player because he's the best GM. He's the best recruiting piece. Like there's a million ways to go about that. But you are right in which you could come down to the end of the season Because there's also a world that Messi doesn't play as much as we think and Inter Miami are fantastic.

or win the shield without him being on the field a ton because they just signed Berta Rame. They already have the team built in. The that's that's lit that's exactly what happened in twenty twenty four. He played he played like fifteen hundred minutes in twenty twenty four. They set the single season points record, one the shield, obviously.

And like they had a better points per game when he wasn't there. Yeah. When he wasn't on the field. And everyone was like, Yeah, he's the MVP. Yeah. Oh, okay. So uh that's I think most of the names in that MVP conversation. On the golden boot side, it's more interesting, you know, m Messi could win it. Um clearly I picked him first in the golden boot draft, which we did last week.

There are some other interesting names here though as well. Uh one of the things with Messi is with Bertorame signed, he might play a little bit less close to goal. I don't know how much that really matters. The amount of goals this guy has scored being the second runner, you know, the the late pullback. Obviously Alba's not there, but it should still all exist.

will be pretty high for him. Um there's a couple other obvious names. All of them are kind of the same ones we said in the MVP conversation. The one I would add here is Denny. Gotcha. Buanga, who is my pick to win this. My thought process is I think LAFC are gonna be rampant in the way they were they the ways they were rampant. And I don't know how to calculate in the World Cup effect.

on okay, going into it towards the end. I don't think Sun sits out games, but what's the focus? What's the impact? If the team's doing well, where do you sit him? Where do you not? And then coming out of that emotional high of, I don't know, if South Korea wins two knockout games and now that's become his life and it's his life achievement and all of this. I don't know what the effect coming out of that is where let's be real.

Buanga's gonna play forty two hundred minutes this year, because that's what he does. Now I know there's the wrinkle, which is the Brazilian offers and all of that, but I felt safer going with Buanga's there for the full year and does what he does best than Sun coming around a World Cup is able to perform for thirty two games at his high.

I I think that is really well put and really well thought out. Um my only my only pushback is I do think there's gonna be an evolution of the game model. I think they're gonna play more on the front foot, more in possession. And Bawanga is Very good to excellent at scoring goals in that game state for a winger. He is all time great. as a goal scorer on the break.

And if they're playing less on the break, I just think that there is gonna be a less dominant version of Denny Boong. It's still probably like 18 goals. Um, but I do think it's gonna tilt a little more towards sun. And I don't know, like I I'm not as concerned about the I'm not as concerned about the emotional drop off after after the World Cup for Sun because

It I mean the guy's a he's a maniac. He's you know, he's he's uh he's like a pros pro on every level. And um hence hitting the ground running at LAMC last year. Exactly. And and and not just in terms of like scoring goals and like drawing penalties in Chicago with like a a sacrificial off ball run. Like um but like taking it really seriously off the field as well and like understanding there's a there's a significant opportunity here. So I, you know, uh Sun is my pick. Um

I like Surridge. Yep. He w is scored a ton last year. Actually underperformed his XG XG. Shout out, Tom. Um and he's got another like one they added one of the best chance creators in in the league to the attack. I I just think that he's he's gonna eat. Like twenty five goals seems very possible. Um Brian White, sixteen goals and seventeen hundred minutes last year, uh, and will have a full year of playing with Thomas Mueller.

Uh you know, across all competitions, I think he has like 24 goals and in 20. So it's like, okay, if he plays a ton, but that's A load bearing if of Brian White. Like he he doesn't you know, he's not an Iron Man. Uh a couple of the thr Pet Armusa, obviously I'm gonna throw in here. Um it seems right now the setup of the team will require a little bit of creativity from him. That will pull him from goal. So maybe there's

a couple easier goals tapping type stuff. I'm gonna interrupt you. Have you gotten any uh like insider scouting reports on the new Uruguayan Yeah. Yeah, not uh Valiente. Um not not a D P not technically wearing a number ten, but like seems kind of tenny. I don't know. Yeah, but it's he got signed this week.

How long does that take? And then they have to entrust him. They have to reshape what they do a little bit for him to fit into it. And in all of that time, you were the fourth best team in the league with Pet Armusa dropping in as your ten last year. How

How bold is Eric Quill to move to it quickly, I think. Um and we're we're doing our our Dallas preview in a little bit. So uh I'm definitely gonna ask these questions and and see if we can dig into it. But either way, he's gonna be around this conversation. One of the ones I didn't know where to put and I said it, the golden boot trap is Timo Werner, like

If the team created chances last year, Bruce's team score goals. I don't I still have so many unknowns, but like he's not going to a World Cup. If this guy starts to pour it in and they create the right chances for him. He could score twenty to twenty five goals and that might be the number they Yeah, it f it feels like that. It feels like a little Juan Pablo and Heli. We're we're

Well you know, I I think Juan Pablo came over a little bit older. I think he was like thirty one. Um but he hadn't been a consistent goalscorer for a few years in Europe and when he came going all the way back to two thousand seven, I mean ridiculous. What a year to be alive. But he just he could not stop scoring an MLS. Unstoppable.

I don't know. It feels like that could happen with with Timo Werner. Like, okay, I'm in a comfortable position. I think that the Quakes are gonna go out and get another DP center forward. Um, it's not gonna happen, I don't think, before the game uh this weekend, but like that is what they're targeting with their second DP and like

Uh i if it's an Adam Books a type for um T McVerner to run off of, like that's that's where his best years came. Um and the other thing is Nico Shekaris looks like he won the starting number ten job, at least for now. Um Played there all preseason, did great creating chances. I think you scored a goal uh in in their finale against NYCFC. So like I I would be sh I would be surprised if Timo Werner scored more than like 16, 17 goals. Um, but I wouldn't be shocked, right?

It's probably gonna take twenty five or twenty six to win the the golden blue and I that would be shocking. Yeah. Um I have Dewan Jones on my fullback of the year list, like a year to be settled, play with the same team, play for Bruce. And then Timo Werner on the end of some of that stuff, even if it's Preston Judd.

on the end of that stuff, some of that stuff. I think Preston Judd was good last year. And I think he's perfect too. I can make that final run, stab to the near post. Timo Werner's floating on the far post. And Dewan Jones has the license as a wing back to stay high up the field. Uh, I want to throw Kuipers in this combo as well. Pretty much every single one of these has a caveat. Kuipers is obviously if they sign Lewandowski, he either moves or isn't playing as much.

But I just can't see a world where I think Bamba will be better even if Sincarnago falls off a little. I think there's still production. I like the fullbacks there, and I love the addition of Robin Lud. So in all of that calculation, I have to throw'em in um the golden boot race. It will be exciting when it's none of the people I just named. I just named like fifteen options and it will be none of them. Okay.

Seymour Reed versus Ryan Alumi for the golden boot. That's the future we want. I would love that. Um threw me out. So I was about to say naming fifteen other young players. I was like, oh, we actually have young player. Let's go there right now then. Let's go to Young Player of the Year. Uh it's one of our favorite conversations here on Soccer Wise.

Can you tell me the birthday cutoff for this thing and what you have to be? I think it's uh January first, two thousand four, birthday or later. Right. So it's it's twenty it's twenty two or younger. Yeah. So January, it's not twenty-two under twenty-two. No. Right. It's not, of course. It's twenty-two or younger. So January first of two thousand and four. Yeah. So that makes Owen Wolf ineligible because he's December 30th, 2004.

December thirtieth, two thousand four happens after January first, two thousand four. Oh, after is the good thing. Yeah, yeah. That's the good one. Yeah. Good call. Yes. Yeah. Now that I'm locked in, Owen Wolf, I would say, is probably uh one of the headliners for this one. Where did you go with this? Uh I i if if he stays healthy And San Diego are as good as we think they're going to be. I don't see how Manadua doesn't win this.

Okay. Um it's a it's a he's a fifteen million dollar center back and he's twenty. Yeah. Um like he could he could end up being young player of the year, he could end up being defender of the year, and he could be the record outbound sale for MLS. Defenders. Okay. Um like the that

And I love Owen Wolf. Idom Toklamati, who I forgot to mention in my uh my column, Shakiris could do it. Like if he has seven goals and and fourteen assists, which is I think not out of the realm of like there are a lot uh oh lethe makagna was excellent last year for Philly he's still eligible like there's a lot of really really good players who are eligible for this Manudua is a level above them Yeah. Um the other names I had down, but I agree with you. Um I have Mateo Silvetti.

I thought he was awesome last year. I think he can play all three spots in the attack. That's not the ten. And so I think whoever's out, he will be playing there. I think he could score a ton of goals. Owen Wolf, obviously, as I said, all the names you said, um, I would throw in Peyton Miller, although I don't know that he's gonna play in MLS for the full year.

because of the offers that are coming in and the potential he has, but he's a game changer and I think that will pop for people. Uh and the other one's Johnny Shore. Like there's a chance You never know, unfortunately, what's gonna happen with Keaton Parks. Um, you have a bunch of injuries in central midfield already. So if he plays a bulk of minutes as a center mid for a legitimately top four Eastern Conference team at his age.

I think that's going to elevate him up the conversation. Uh, so I think that could be a really big one. In the chat, we've got David Martinez, which I think we've just been waiting for that one for two years now. So if it happens, great. Um, and yeah, I think there's a lot of names you can throw in here, which is why this is one of the fun conversations to have uh in MLS right now. But those I think are the ones we're gonna lean on, besides of course Snyder Brunel winning MVP for the season.

You know who was not in this conversation twelve months ago? Alex Freeman. So things can change really, really quickly. Yeah. Just everybody bear that in mind. And don't hold it as hold it against us when we're wrong. Uh I I'm okay if you hold it against me. I appreciate being being trashed every once in a while. Let's take uh let's go defensive here. So we've got defensive player of the year and goalkeeper of the year. Um

I think on goalkeeper of the year, the front runner is going to be Dane Saint Clair. Can you give me a strong argument for someone else? I think that he he's not gonna have as much to do. Right. Um and I so I think that'll be Um, and then you look at guys like oh I mean Matt Freeze isn't gonna be that busy, um, but probably busier than than Dane St. Clair and he's gonna get a lot of pub because he's the US number one during a World Cup year. Um Matt Turner, if Matt Turner bounces back and um

starts looking like the old Matt Turner who played every week. Um, then he'll be the best shot stopper in the league. And that is something that people won't ignore. Um and then uh Christian Kalina, like he was not as consistent last year as he was in twenty twenty four, but for that ten game run, um, he was otherworldly and we know he can do that for thirty four games. Uh and the question for for my pick

Michael Calodi for FC Dallas is can he do it for thirty-four games? Because he was the best keeper in the league final ten games of last year and then did really well in the playoffs as well, um, even as FC Dallas were getting shelled. Uh and he has won the starting job fully for FC Dallas. And Martin Pas has been sold. Like, this is it, like it is his job. He earned it. He really, really looked good. So I'm going with the dark horse.

That's my pick. What a crazy world we live in that the backup goalkeeper from Dallas gets sold to Ajax. I know he's Dutch and like it makes sense, but it's just like one of those things when it happened, I was like, This feels big. But it wasn't big because he doesn't really matter for the team. Uh, I think that argument makes a ton of sense. I think the Dane one is interesting, of like,

We think the team will be better, so therefore he'll have less to do. He's also a showman and they will be on prime time all the time. And I think some of that will will will uh come out. I think the Matt Frees argument is super interesting as well of

Obviously you're not supposed to vote on national team stuff, but if he's the starter for the first six months, like that's all people will talk about. And so people will be tuned into all of that. Um and then on the Dallas side, I'm gonna go Dallas. undefensive player of the year. So I can't go goalkeeper as well. It's just not allowed. Uh the other name I want to ro throw in there is Roman Berkey. Like Saint Louis improved up the spine, center backs and Daniel Edelman.

So I think they'll be better. If they press high and create chances and that's their game model and Berkey is good off his line and is a difference maker as a shot stopper. I think there's a world in which if St. Louis is in a playoff race, He might be the most valuable player at the goalkeeper position. And if someone wants to sneak that debate in, and he obviously is a name. I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up there. He hasn't been for the last year and a half, but

That team was a mess. So I'm fascinated to see how he affects two young center backs. And a group that's gonna basically be built on their defensive stability, but also needing to press high to create chances. And that gives you space to show how good you are. I mean, for Columbus, they've had

Goalkeepers and goalkeeper of the year conversations who have been inconsistent, Berkey would be an improvement on all of that. And if it's very obvious with the way they play, I think there's a chance he ends up in this conversation by the end of this year.

Uh that took me completely by surprise. I did not expect a a St. Louis mention in any way. I got you. I got you. Yeah. Uh let's go Defender of the Year. I teased it a little bit there. I think again With Dallas, with the way they're set up, I think um Urgide could be the most important defender, and I think he could be one of the best.

if he is playing in a three man back line flanked by two natural fullbacks who have to step in to help attack and wing backs that have to play up the high up the field to create chances. you will see what we saw last year, which was Elite Over the Top, Elite 1v1 and Supercom uh in possession. And I think he'll be there for the full year.

I don't know that any defense is built around one player as much as it is him. And if he shines and this team shines, uh it will be very obvious over the course of the season. That's a good shout. I don't think I had put enough thought into Origiday as a as a candidate for this one, but it it does actually make sense. He was very good last year. In year one. Um yeah, in year one for a team that was like constantly under under construction.

And to be fair, they still kinda have that a little bit. They feel a little constantly under construction or not. Like please make some more moves. Um I just don't know if if if they're gonna be good enough. Right. If if you if you look at it, um Defender of the Year now tends to come from a team that finishes like top three in the conference every year. And um

You know, like like Tristan Blackman was really good last year. I didn't think it was defender of the year, but the caps were awesome. Therefore, he got a lot of vote, you know, whereas the year before it was Steven Moreira, who absolutely deserved it and got my vote. You know, going down the list. So I tend to think um Mikael.

Miami passed the eye test defensively in a way that they didn't last year for most of the season, right until the very end. I think Mikael will rightly or wrongly get a ton of credit for that. So I think he could have narrative going there. I expect Seattle's defense to bounce back and I think Jackson Reagan um will will be the obvious candidate if uh if they do so. And then I'm gonna go back to San Diego with Dua. Last year I voted for Michael Boxall because

Minnesota's defense was very good, but also box all was intrinsic to the way they play. Like they could not play their style. if they didn't have Michael Bauxall in that defense. It's the same with San Diego. Their defense is gonna be very good and also they could not play that style that effectively if they didn't have Manudua in in central defense. I think he's good enough to win young player and defender of the year. Okay.

Um let's go let's stick on the back line then let's go to fullback. Do you have any pushback on this? Am I too high on Manudua? No, I don't think so. I think um We get really excited sometimes about a guy year one and then it's like, okay, now the expectations on your shoulder. Can you organize back line? I also think San Diego will have some drop off, not maybe as much as I expected. And I don't know what that will look like.

Uh and you throw that all on top of a little bit of goalkeeping questions and Annabelle Good Do I go into a World Cup and the amount I mean, we ask every year when he's done and when the legs will run out and they seem incapable of doing so. So I think that the year will look harder for him than last year did when he came in. And that will make things a little worse. I voted McGayell for defender of the year when he was at Houston. I'm pretty sure. I know I had him best eleven.

So it'd be crazy if Inter Miami won the shield and he looked equally as good if not better for being a little bit more mature. And I didn't end up voting for him again. Right. Right. But I was trying to lean away from that to an extent. Uh, I don't think you're crazy for a guy in Manudua who is comfortable in possession with both feet, can defend in space.

and like fully understands the system he plays in. Like either So calling him calling him comfortable in possession is like the understatement of the century. The way he steps in when teams are stretched And he reads the gap of, okay, so Bombino's gone high. You've chased him. You're chasing our attackers into space.

The move here is for me to dribble into through at least break the first line of pressure. And then at that point you things will open up. He's super comfortable doing that. And then one of the things that San Diego does well is when you start to pack in, they hit that early cross. First time off the two wings.

And he crashes as well as any center back into the run of play there, where like he will get goals on top of just set piece plays. No, I I think you're fair in in being excited about him and him being the front runner for most of these awards.

Um, on top of the fact that San Diego is gonna promote all of that. Like, not just in terms of like PR, but like they're gonna play him, they're gonna talk about how much he's worth. Like that is the thing they are built on. Uh, and he should fit in with all of that. Which takes us to fullback, by the way.

Um, I think Luca Bambino will be in the young player convo if he has a year like he did last year and he will get to play the full year and be comfortable um and all of that. Uh this one's hard for me with w what we're doing wing back versus fullback. Because I think most of the wing backs will win it because they will have more effect. They'll play higher up the field. They'll affect the game even more. I said Dewan Jones.

uh a front runner for me if we're allowing the wing backs to be a part of it. I would also throw both the New England guys in there. I think Feingold was awesome last year. And as I said, I think Peyton Miller is like the next Alex Freeman at least, if that's the conversation we're having. Um my issue with that is both those guys played as wing backs last year and they're gonna be fullbacks this year. Okay. Because it looks like a four, two, three, one. And I'm worried that

playing deeper and having m more defensive responsibilities. And um look if you talk to If you talk to to pros, uh you talk to to guys who have done the jobs, they'll tell you fullback is a is if you talk to David Goss after Benzing They'll tell you fullback is a much more complicated position than wing back. Wing back is is very linear. Like you have to be. Your job is to go in that direction and we got the rest for you.

Yeah. Whereas it it you have to be aware of a lot more as a fullback, timing your overlap when you go in that direction, the space you're leaving behind you is uh more critical just because of the nature of a four versus a five. Um Both Feingold and Peyton Miller are attackers first. And there aren't a lot of teams in MLS or anywhere in the world that plays with two play with two attack first fullbacks in a four. Um so I I'm

kind of bullish on the revs overall. They're they're one of my like dark horse uh big pass, you know, fun teams to watch. But also there's a very obvious way where this could kind of fall apart. Yeah. Um, do you have so what's your list of names that you'd put to start?

Uh let me open up my Your own article on Tactics Free. My own article Okay, let me throw a couple of names out there while you're doing that. I think Eddie Aracampo is an obvious one. He was a game changer for Vancouver last year. He should have been in the con I mean we make up this award, so he should we make this award up, right? This is not one that anyone actually gives.

I'm now trying to mix between NWSL and MLS because NWSL has added some position awards so more people can get involved. So feel free to correct me at any time. Like I know you've been very hesitant to do in the past. Uh but feel free to open that up. That's an obvious one. Alex Roldon's an obvious one. Like if Seattle is competitive and good, you know he's a massive part of it. Um I mentioned Dewan Jones. Those are like the three

that jumped out to me. Um I do want to take a second before you say your name. What I don't know that I've actually really contextualized what the impact of losing Kai Wagner will be for Philadelphia. And I'm not saying his replacement will win it. I'm saying how big of a drop off will this be for the Philadelphia Union to have lost a player who is such an outlier at his position and clearly fit what they do.

Yeah, he was their best chance creator, their primary chance creator for like the past five years. Just um I don't think you can go like for like. You you can't you can't get that lucky again. Um

And I think part of it, like I m actually mentioned Frankie Westfield in the column, now that I actually remember. Um, because it's like okay, it like we saw with the U twenties and at times with the Union that Westfield's really, really good getting forward. Like it not quite Kai Wagner level good, but like really good and on a um you know, a trajectory that's not linear. Um and

Okay, so do you t like Philly were tilted left a little bit last year. Well with Kai Wagner gone, um, and i no official replacement is it, do you just tilt right and say Uh you know all that freedom Kai had last year? Frankie, you have that now. You get forward. And Philly's gonna be good again this year. I don't think they're gonna win the shield, but they're gonna be good. And Frankie Westfield has a chance to be a huge part of that.

both in providing the final pass and also like he has a knack for getting into the box. So he's a guy I mentioned, um, Andrew Gootman, perpetually underrated, underappreciated. He's a he's a guy I mentioned. And I think there might actually be more creative burden on his shoulders this year. Um because with with no Brian Gutierrez and Andre Franco out until at least mid season, he's gonna have to get forward. Yeah. And he does that really, really well.

But I I actually went with for my prediction I w went with Andy Nahar and I'm whistling past the graveyard a little bit. Back to back years movie. He had he had his healthiest year last year at age thirty two.

Yeah, it's like it just doesn't seem likely. But like please give me twenty five hundred minutes of that this year because he's so good and he's so much fun. And Nashville's gonna be so good and fun and they're kinda shifting their game model a little bit, just like marginally, in a way that really suits.

Um, you know, they're gonna try to be a little bit more dominant in possession and like he's so like it's like having another playmaker out there, another guy who's so happy to get on the ball in those spots. Um So, you know, fingers crossed for Nashville fans that I'm correct. Um, but there's like there's a lot of good ones and then there's questions like does Anthony Markanic count as

You know, like the and I I think I think he kinda does, whereas under Echenike probably doesn't have to be like, I love Echenike. I'm so excited for his season. Um the other than names that I thought about, which doesn't really fit this though is I think Reggie Cannon will play a little bit of both. Like I think he will be third center back at times for this, whether it's as a backup for the two or if they switch formation at all.

And I think you'll see his value, which was he was one of the better players as a third center back at times last year, as a fullback at times. Um, and so then those names are different than Marcanix scoring seven goals or whatever it is on the two ends of the spectrum. But this is going to be a fun one, I think, when we come back to it. towards the end of the year or midway through the year to refresh and and talk about where we stand. Okay, let's stay

on the player side before we have some of the other awards that we have to do. Um, let's go to midfielder. So this is the one I believe I got wrong, which is we've done the six in the past and NWSL has brought in midfielder of the year. But it was sort of a way to Listen, all the MVP conversations are with the ten and like

Shifting away from that, who is the best midfielder um in the league. And so trying to change that conversation also lets you bring in eights a little more, a Sebastian Burrhalter of the world, um, if he could stay healthy, a Keaton Park. uh o of the world. I think do you see the effect here of a David Ayala or is it just Rodrigo DePaul'cause he's Rodrigo DePaul? Like this is where I think you could have a lot of those conversations.

Um, where would you go with this one on first hearing at about seven seconds before we start? Yeah, so I I kept it to sixes in my column and I I kinda wish cast Steven Ustaccio uh into that'cause he's he's an excellent player. Yeah. Um and I guess maybe I kind of poo-pooed it a little bit when the signing was first announced. Um but I I shouldn't have done that. Like he he's a really excellent player and he has

the chance to meaningfully change the way LAFC, which is gonna be one of the best teams in the world, uh in the league rather, to meaningfully chance uh change the way that they play. And I think that matters. Certainly that's the type of stuff that Losers like us talk about a lot.

Look man, I think if we're bringing in eights, I think that um Miami's gonna win the supporter shield. And Rodrigo DePaul's probably gonna play if that's the case, he's probably gonna play twenty five hundred minutes for a team that collects seventy five points and trophy and uh It would be surprising if he's not one of, if not the very first name mentioned among Sixes and Nates in this league.

Uh, the thing that I talked about I think with Joe on this show, right, when Ustakio signed, is how good Ustakio is though at getting you out quickly if he wants to, and how accurate he is. That's where it's like Okay, if you push numbers high and you turn it over, he's gonna get Sun and Buanga into transition. He doesn't need

to knock it around and slowly progress up the field. He can do it. He's great at it. That's where he will help this team the most is the ability to pick the lock a little and sort of dictate. But there's still probably three to five assists in there of early balls from him that are hit the exact way you want to, outside of the foot, cross field, through the channel, like

all this type of stuff that he can do that very few people can do. Um so I think Ustakio makes a lot of sense. The question would be, does he play a full season uh in this league and does he play a full season with this team? I'm really excited for what Robin Ludd's gonna bring.

To Chicago. So that's one where I don't think you'd consider him a pure ten, but he will be in that mix and maybe like a free eight, yeah. Right. He's gonna be like the Kevin De Bruyne role, which is like much more of an attacking role than Than a defensive role. And you know. And he might sort of line up there at times, so it might look a little different. Um, but that's one as well.

Um, I think there's a few different ways you could go with this one. Uh one of the ones I'm fascinated about is I believe the reports are that Arthur is injured right now to start. Jack McGlynn doesn't cover a lot of space. So if this Booz Ok guy comes in and plays well and like does the job and Houston's good, it might be very obvious. that this guy is a game changer for this team because

it feels like there is a lot of gaps in central midfield for Houston and someone's gonna have to cover them and bring in the captain of an Argentine team to, you know, in his thirties to come and sort of hold that spot could be really interesting. That's probably more for a newcomer though. Um okay. That's all of our player awards. Uh you did come did we mention did we mention Roldan in Kubas? We should we should just with those guys on

Yeah, they deserve mentions, the the two of them, um, because they were both so excellent last year. Um It it it felt too obvious to to choose either of them to be the the winner of this uh extra time award. Um But n nobody here would be shocked if at the end of the season we were like, man Andres Cubas is amazing. Yeah. You know, or Christian Roldan is the best central midfielder in the league. And like you look at it, like

Christian Roldan was meaningfully better than Obed Vargas last year. And Obed Vargas um has instantly walked into Atletico Madrid's central midfield rotation and is taking minutes from guys who um We would all be like, holy shit if you're gonna be able to do that. Right. Yeah. So it's like okay. Uh okay, so off the field, Coach of the Year. This one's tough to do in advance. You kind of have to predict.

Where do you think teams fall in the standings? Why? How they're affected. Um, to me, the obvious one out the gate is BJ Callahan. If Nashville takes the jump we think they're gonna take, even with the addition of Espinoza, I think a lot of it's gonna be put at his feet. If they play the soccer we think they're gonna play, I think they're gonna be darlings for a lot of people to watch week in and week out.

Um, and then uh I think a lot of the success is tied to what I said at the top of the show, what he brings, why he's connected to this team, all of that stuff. So that's my early vote, um, or my prediction. Where did you go? Yeah, I think B J's a favorite,'cause I think they'll go from fifty two points to like

sixty four this year and a lot of that will be oh Christian Espinoza but also like they're they're just gonna be really, really good and that should not be ignored. And also there's no guarantee that if you just add talent, you become a better team.

It you know, it takes some coaching. It takes some man management in the locker room and I think everything I've heard is that b BJ is is really, really good at that. And um And just I'll say this the conversation I think what I think will happen, which I think we will

be pretty on top of because I'm saying it right now is if they shift all the way to the way he wants to play and Espinosa fits, it is that he had the restraint to slowly do it and not just, okay, tomorrow we're gonna do this and then we're gonna ship points for the next

six months and then we'll figure it out. Like he has gradually brought them there. And it is in a place I think that the team has never been in. Even at their success, Nashville's never played this soccer. So that I think will be a large part of it. Yeah. Um the other one, look, it would be a really good story if Brian Schmetzer finally won and

Sounders fans get all pissy about the fact that he's never won and, you know, never came all that close. It's like, yeah, it's a regular season award. The Sounders do not have great regular seasons. Did you hear me get yelled at by the lobbing scorchers in Jeremiah on this? I no, I missed you on I missed that actually. On our interview with them for our preview, I've a couple of the teams I've done what's sort of the national narrative thing that you're annoyed about or you want to talk about?

Oh my god, I bet they're in suffering. Well, uh Noah and Noah went straight to like complaining about deep cut Sounders fans who complain about Rooster and he's like they actually underrated him, which wasn't the question. But the main one they said was Stop saying Seattle will contend for the shield. They won't. They don't care. It's not what they do.

Don't think you're gonna say it into existence because it won't happen because I'm changing my pick. The Seattle Sounders are gonna win the supporter shield this year. Why? Why won't they? Because they're gonna try and win League's Cup. They're gonna try and win Conca Caf. Like what they do is play hard in every game. It's impossible to do across.

What do we think? They probably end up at forty-five games? Forty five fifty in all fifty this this past year, I think. And they are so good at it that they n kind of know, well, we'll get there in the playoffs and then we'll sort of be that Tournament team. Like because they're good at League Scup.

They are good at the playoffs. It obviously didn't work out perfectly for them last year, but like they lost some penalty kicks. Like that happens sometimes. They were they were I I think I ended the show saying it again, and they were like, stop saying this. It's not gonna happen. Uh so back to the Schmitzer conversation. No, if if it does happen, right, if they end up on seventy points, and to be clear, I think they have the talent to end up on seventy points. Um Brian Schmetzer.

uh winning a a coach of the year would be uh sort of a really nice um it's not exactly the cherry on top of the Sunday because uh you know, it it's not the last thing that he needs to do, but like um it w it would be a a a nice sort of commendation for a guy who is what top three coach in MLS history if you look at the the overall scope of his career. Um and it's on the table, man. Like Maybe it makes more sense this year to focus more on

league play and on winning a second supporter shield um than it does on uh you know leaving everything on the line for C CL title. I don't know. I am interested to see where we end up with Mark Dos Santos, which is this like it could be plug-in play, LAFC, they're always good. They're always top three. They're top three. Like

There could be a version where everyone just skips past him. There's also a version where if the style changes a bunch but the success remains, we all fall in love with it, which is funny because the results will probably be similar to what they were, especially in the regular season.

I think the effect there would probably be more knockouts of you're more dangerous in knockout games'cause you can control the game and when teams bunker on you, you're able to break it down. But I don't know that we'll see that over the course of the season. Um but that will be another big one to have. I'd be surprised if San Diego and Philly pushed at a level that they did last year, that those two in Mikey Varis and and Bradley Carnell are really eligible for this again because

Now the mark is well what you did last year. Yeah. And it will be pretty tough for Jesper Sorensen again to do well enough compared to last year for him to win this type of award because my theory would be The way Sorensen wins it is he wins M L S Cup, which is after the voting because that's the only difference between last year and this year. Yeah. Um is there a world where Javier Mascherano wins? I don't think so. I think it would have to be like eighty points and a messy injury.

They have to be so much better than everyone else that it's like It ends up being everything is a Miami Award because otherwise people are not going to give him the credit. for this team being good last year and then getting better with a ch with such a change in personnel. So I I find it hard to believe that most people would give the credit to him specifically. On the other side,

I don't really know who votes on this thing. So maybe enough people that only watch Miami vote and he ends up being the front runner the entire year because that's who everyone was gonna vote for. Uh anyway. Okay. Uh a couple of the more ambiguous ones. We've got comeback, newcomer. And Goss theorem, uh comeback is the least interesting one to me. Uh and I think you did it in your article. I did. Um I always vote for guys who are coming back from an injury. Yeah. And I don't vote like Bye.

Coming back from being trash? Is that what Yeah, I d I don't vote for guys who who The no trash coming back? A good year after a bad year. It's always coming back from an injury. There's a lot of guys, Jordan Morris, uh Hasani Dotson for the Sounders. Um Uh Calvin Yabaua. for Minnesota and Minnesota's gonna play yeah this year. It's not just gonna be rugby.

So I I'm like I think he could end up having a really good season. Uh Rudy Camacho, if he's the starter for Columbus again. Um he missed like everything. Yeah. last year. So he's an obvious He's also never played well without playing for Nanse, like, in his entire career. And he's like thirty five. So it would be huge if he was good.

It would be it would be very big. Um so there's like there's some there's some choices, but this isn't to me this isn't a particularly interesting Uh the my nerd one is Ted Cuddy PH. Coming back full year, puts some numbers down and and he gets there. Um let's do newcomer. I've talked about Goss Theorem a couple of times already, so I could throw some names out there, but let's do Newcomer here, which is sort of the big moves of the off season.

Jamez Rodriguez is gonna have his convos. Uh Ustakio as well. Both of them I think would have to play the full season for it to hit and for that to matter. Uh I think we both kind of feel it's unlikely with Jamez that he plays for this team in August. Uh so he'd have to put up what, fifteen and ten in the first half of the season to win this award. But he'll be a vibe. He'll be fun. Uh we'll talk about Leak Pass in just a second. Who, where did you sort of lean on the newcomer side?

I mean Ustakio is the one who um popped to mind first because I think he has gonna have that measurable effect on how LAFC play, but um Herman Bertarame is probably gonna score a bunch of goals. Yeah. Uh and voters tend to notice that. Uh Tom's super draft or uh golden boot draft pick, Josh Sargent. If if he ends up

If he ends up playing in in MLS this year and and scores. And we apologize for the broken window that just occurred in your home when Tom Heard that and just threw a phone for no reason. Um like y that's a guy who could who could end up winning it. But there's not a ton yeah of

Uh right? It doesn't feel like the money has been spent on big money has been spent on names that will be a few. Can I can I draft Dallas's DP number ten? That's my pick. That's my draft pick, Tom. And it's one of those things where it's like Well one, so does uh Mateus Bogus count in this? They have to be new to the league? And neither does Mamba Dudu fall. Okay. So that's part of it. And the other part is I think guys where If even if they have a good year

It's really in service to the other players around them. If Ruval Kaba has a big year, it's i you're gonna see it on Shupa Moteng and Forsberg stats. It's not really gonna be him as much and so It doesn't feel like the huge names, even though there have been big money spent on some big names and a a ton of movement. Uh Facundo Torres not available, not new. Uh I guess we should throw Timo Werner in. Like we had that conversation towards the top. If he scores

X goals. Yeah, he scores. If he's like sixteen goals and nine assists. Then he'll be in the conversation for sure. And I would say a lot of teams have done some work to close out last year, even like a nerd of a Kenji Cabrera or something like that. Those were all moves that already happened. that now they're settling in, Ekenike, guys like that.

Samuel Giddy, they don't have the ability to do this, but I think those are gonna be the like these are the big ads for these clubs that have come in. Um so I don't see like a ton of other obvious names. Bertha Ramez The big one who will put up numbers and has come into this league. On the Goss Theorem side, uh a lot of the names then that I just mentioned, uh, I think I put Veld as my one. I just I I think this guy's gonna like take.

scalps throughout the season. So here is the here is a question and I'm uh I'm I'm gonna shout out Paul Harvey who does really great work for American soccer analysis for this one. He doesn't think that Velt should be eligible because even though the dude could not put the ball in the back of the net until the playoffs, um His underlying numbers were overwhelmingly positive. Like it wouldn't actually be Goss theorem. It would be more like

Denny Buwanga from twenty twenty two when he came in um the final seven games of that season. I was joking about how he was the worst finisher in the league and like the the FC's Kevin Cabral. It was a joke. Um, like anybody who looked at the underlying numbers could say, Oh, this guy's gonna be a monster. This guy's gonna be like a really, really good player in this league. And like

It it it might apply here to Christopher Velvet. Okay, first of all, nerds, get off my lawn and chill with that. Second of all, I think that's part of it, which is The pressure and the and and some of the changes of the speed of the game and the shape.

stops you from performing at your best when you first get here. And so yes, he got himself into those spots, but he didn't finish the chances. If he does now, what's the difference is how he has settled, how he fully understands his role in the team and his comfort in those big moments. So that to me is where it matters. And I understand the idea of like someone being completely out of the game'cause they fully don't understand the league and then developing forward.

But if you go from incapable of finishing to finishing a lot, that feels like you've understood how it works a little bit and you've settled in and gotten comfortable and that goes straight to what the theorem exists on. Yeah. Uh same for Bruno Damiani, who was my pick. I you know, he knew where the goal was last year and he just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net consistently enough.

Um there was one other that someone just asked me if I have a lawn in Arizona. I don't know how I became the Arizona guy, but I love it. I'm here for the Uh two others actually. Jonathan Bamba and Emmanuel Latte La. And I haven't heard overwhelmingly great things about either in this preseason, I gotta tell you. Yeah. So the expectation from Bamba should be that it's there, that all of it's built around what he does well.

that it's very similar to last year. So you had a full year to figure it out, learn and all of that. And if you can't do it now, then it's probably never really gonna happen for you. And that's a huge issue for Chicago with ch with as much as they invested

You could go get Bomba's production from an MLS veteran right now with the way it's at, and you could not spend TP money and you could do it. They might actually have done that in Robin Ludd and like be in the same position. So uh there are other players out there who can do it with him. That's Most that that's a quick short list of some of the names. Um what's it called? Uh wow. NYCFC, young attacker, joined last year. Uh n Nico Fernandez Mercado? That would be one as well.

On the newcomer. Yeah, he did uh he's not a goster. I'm gonna go. That's right. He was awesome. He was good last year. He'll be great this year um as well. Okay, let's talk a little bit of team awards or team conversations for us. Not awards. Uh some of the ones I wanted to do were

Expectations of biggest jump, biggest fall-off for teams. And I want to talk league past teams, like especially these first two, three weeks. I think there are a number of teams where it's like, I can't wait to see what this looks like. And my hope is a couple of those teams land too.

what it was last year, which was two weeks in, it was like, you have to watch San Diego, right? When Nance got to Columbus. It's like, you gotta watch this team play. Like, I don't care who they're playing, I don't care what time it is. That's the soccer that I want to watch.

Uh and I think there's gonna be a number of those teams. Let's start on the League Pass side. So we're like who are you stoked to tune into? What are you locked in for week one of can't wait to see how it goes down and expectations that'll be fun. Cincinnati. Um, I like the the talent there is so overwhelming. They've done such a good job of putting this roster together and it didn't click last year. And I have my theories as to why that is and I

Cincy fans are are some of them are being I I think pretty stupid in the the the way they're talking about Pat Noonan. Like it's pretty well established Pat Noonan is a really good coach. I like I'm looking forward to seeing what they have figured out. I think I mean their underlying numbers were terrible last season. I can't imagine it happening that way again. And then there's like

God, if that spark of magic between Denke and Evander, if they can find that, then suddenly this is like one of the most entertaining teams in in North America. Yeah. Um that's one I agree. Locked in, want to see how it looks. if it starts flowing and like The goals start to look easy for those two, and the wing backs are attacking, and all of that. Then it's like, yeah, this is what we thought. They were the second best team in the league last year.

And if they play like it, then it becomes really impressive and fun to watch. And I think in Lucho's best times, they were very fun to watch. Right. Some of these games that were open, five three games, big comebacks, like all this type of stuff that they were capable of. I think a lot of that stems off what Pat Noon built culturally and and what they're capable of doing. Um I think Chicago's on my list.

Like if it all hits, I think it could be really, really fun in possession. I think they could be dangerous in transition. I think you could like have really entertaining games for them. And I wanna see Are you know early on? Are they a top four team in these? Like I think that's on the table uh and should be expected. And that's a huge question mark. Some of the ones that I don't know that I'm curious on the galaxy.

Like Jowel. I'm afraid they're gonna be a little boring. I thought I thought Justin Hack was gonna be there to be a center back, but it looks like he's playing in a double sixes with uh Surreal in a in a four two three one. And like, look, if if Ricky Pooch was healthy, then I'd be like

Okay, kind of worth it. But I don't know. Like it I I'm worried like Eric Tommy is not Ricky Pooch, and neither is thirty-eight year old Marco Royce. And I I'm worried that it could be a little bit uh disappointing. And then like If that's what ends up happening, you're playing higher up the field, can Peck and Payne still take apart teams that are in a deeper block'cause that

was a huge part of the issue. You couldn't get them into the transition moments and they showed their limitations against set teams. But that's one where it's like, I'm locked in, I can't wait to see how it looks. Um obviously James Rodriguez in Minnesota. I don't know when he will start starting. I don't know how many minutes we're gonna get out the gate. I'd be surprised if there's a minute James Rodriguez plays for Minnesota that I don't consume this year. Like that

I still have chills when I think of the goal against Uruguay in twenty fourteen. There's a number for some reason that Colombian generation has that. I have a Juan Fair Contero qu Quintero jersey in here. Like I I love a lot of these players. I I have no idea what it looks like. I think the expectation that he's gonna crush is intense. From some people were like, Of course, baller, done. But then there's also the chance that that's all true. Yeah.

Um I'm really interested to see two head coaches. Uh Tata, if he can resurrect the Atlanta United, honestly the entire organization at this point. But move on to the other one because I know what you're gonna say. Are you gonna say Ravs? No. Oh. I'm gonna say Red Bull.

I think Michael Bradley's I think Michael Bradley's brilliant, right? And his dad is one of the greatest soccer coaches and uh MLS and in US soccer history and um what Bob was really great at and never got enough credit for I was like Granular improvement. I think Bobby was talking about this on a SoccerWiser last month. It's like helping players improve on like a really granular level. And

I imagine Michael's gonna be the same way. And like he did really good work with Red Bull two in half a season. Um and look, man, that club needs something. They need some kind of science of life and and I'm hoping that they get it. uh from the new head coach, at least in part. Zippy Tuna said, can't wait for the quote, feel better than Michael quote from Schmitzer. That's such class. Uh that's such a good line. Uh I'll throw out that last one then, which is the red.

A lot of return to pieces, chain shifted, a ton of young former um US internationals or current US internationals. They also have a robust academy that has been tapped into on and off. Obviously Caleb hates it, but Bruce was oddly open to it and and helped build it.

Um, and to go along with some of the players that I I like to watch, I think Tugerman's gonna score a bunch of goals. Campagna is genuinely in the conversation for a World Cup spot on a team that I think will not only qualify out of the group stage, I think could be the Dark Horse.

of the World Cup. So he's got a ton of pressure and opportunity. And he's been awesome in preseason. Golden boot winner of the preseason. Yeah. Uh and there's a bunch of Luca Langoni, like there's a bunch of talent in this team. I don't know how it all fits. I don't know how it all goes together. Um, a little bit of unsure stuff right now with Sabayos. I think he's having trouble getting his family into the country. So there's conversations about Colombian teams reaching out for him.

Seems like the revs are at least gonna hold on for now and and try and and help him. Brian Bellello gave a the the team president gave an interview with uh Blazing Musket, who does fantastic work covering all soccer in New England, not just the Revs, uh saying that Sabias was never for sale. Yeah. Like he's he's gonna be back. But the offers are real and I think that's the background of the offers.

is there's a belief maybe he wants to leave. Um, but I like that center back pairing. Obviously Turner gonna be super entertaining to watch, interesting. So the revs are one for me as well early in the season where it's like, okay, was it a culture like Did you fix stuff from last year? It's really interesting to try and fix a culture without fixing pretty much any of the players.

But just one person. Uh, but it's obviously a really important person uh for things. Okay, let's go biggest jump off, biggest jump up into the season. Jump off. I was just uh doing a little jump button. And then biggest fall off.

Uh which one do you want to start? Positive or negative? Uh let's start positive. Yeah. Let's do it. Uh people are are are going to shame me for this if I'm wrong, but I think it's the Quakes. The Quakes were they played like a fifty-five point team last year and they just sucked. in in their own box, right? Like Daniel had a a a shocker, uh

Anytime Edwards was out there, it was four goals for the the opponent. Like and I'm frankly kind of shocked that they didn't they haven't addressed the goalkeeper situation. Um Even with that, I expect massive improvement from those young center backs. I think they'll go to a four and they'll have Ronaldo Vieira for a full year. I I expect a huge jump from Shakiris. I think Timo Werner is gonna be good.

And Bruce just knows how to get teams to play. They were a better team than their record last year. Um, I think they're gonna play closer to their underlying numbers this year. And that could mean, you know, in in the Western conference that's not very scary right now. Fifty plus points feels like it's on the table for San Jose. Okay.

Um, I'm gonna go with the revs. Everything I just said. I'm gonna believe in a chunk of it. Uh I think the talent's there. I think the fix works. Uh the other obvious obvious is the wrong phrase to use. the galaxy seem like a clear one of like there's just no world in which they go oh and fourteen to start a year. And so the point even if the points per game ends up being

Not that far off from what it was last year, the second half of the year, the points jump would have been massive if that was a full year. They're better to start this year. It feels like they have a clear idea without Ricky, like having an identity that's not just Marco Royce will be Ricky because he's not. Um but I'm gonna go with the revs'cause I have I I trust.

Listen, if I'm not gonna trust a former US youth national team coach who's worked around the first team and come into an MLS team and has a distinct style and a clear idea at this point, I don't know when I'm going to. So I'm gonna choose to believe in a lot of that stuff for the Revs uh and believe in the jump that comes for them. Then that takes the other one. Yeah. The other one is Atlanta. Yeah. Twenty eight points. That's not a twenty eight point team. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know what that team is. Yeah. That is a crazy team. So I'm looking forward to watching them. Uh and then the falloff on the other side. The clear ones are what I said with Coach of the Year. It's Philly and San Diego. They could both have great years and have clear point drops just because they were so good last year. But I'm gonna go with Minnesota of just a complete change.

Uh you can say you want to change the style a little. If you don't change the personnel a ton, I think a lot of those players wanted to play more like this last year, but I don't know that they can at a really high level. And then you've got the Hamas thing thrown in. How long does it take to get him there? How much is built around him? If he doesn't come back, how big of an effect does that have? There's just so many question marks in this team.

I think Cam Knowles will be a coach in MLS for a long time. Like I wouldn't be surprised if he does well. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't go great and he gets another job. Like I've spoken with him. I've covered his next pro teams. Like I think he's an MLS head coach. I just think it's a really tough job to come into. Eric Ramsey would have struggled with.

Yeah. I I just hope that um He's given adequate time because this is a huge adjustment that is being made for a team that um doesn't really have a a a a culture of developing players and uh fitting pieces in and all that and like they're trying to do all of it at once and it's more than a one year job. And I know that's a weird thing to say because they were just a fifty eight point team, but like that team is gone. Yeah. Like those players are gone. Um so it's it's

They're the obvious one, um, to me for a big drop off. The other is Orlando. Mm-hmm. Um Alex Freeman was a huge part of that last year. He's gone. Robin Janssen is already hurt. Uh Rodrigo Schlegel, the legend, is gone. Uh I thought the easy place to upgrade was s uh goalkeeper and First, they did it by signing Carlos Coronel and then he left them at the altar. And now they have Maxime Crapeau, who to me isn't a a starting caliber goalkeeper in in MLS. Um it

unclear if they're going to be able to win the ball defensively. They really struggled with that when Cesar Arajo wasn't on the field last year. He's gone. Their best moments last year came when Luis uh Muriel was uh you know, got on that little hot streak, he's gone. It like Uh Martino Jada was awesome last year. I think he's a really good player. Do I think he's a thirty goal contributions player? I don't.

Um so it's like the underlyings on Postolich are not great either. A lot of goals from distance that are not super repeatable, even if you're good at it. Yeah. There's a lot of question marks in there. Um It would be wild if this kid Igor and Tiago hit and it was like that's where they maintain the level'cause the assumption is that both of them are gonna start, which is what

Mike Spillane talked to us about. Uh that was perfectly timed though, because we actually had someone in the chat say, do a quote most mid segment so we could talk about Orlando. Then you proceeded to put them into the bad conversation. So it worked out really well for Orlando fans. For anyone else in the middle who's thinking, ah, you haven't talked about us as much.

That's why I want to do every game this on Thursday. We will do a mention of every single team so we could talk about them a little bit going into the weekend. I think there's some fascinating stuff. with NYCFC. I think there's some interesting conversations um around some of the teams in the middle, Austin, um, Dallas, Portland, all these teams that we maybe haven't spent as much time on here, which probably won't be as much the outlier teams.

Although there's could be a couple negative ones in there that I just said. NYCFC if they had gotten the siloed deal over, just to have the work done, would have been in one that to me would have been one of the most interesting teams coming into the year. Talk about, you know, big jumps there isn't a huge points there of

They c they're not gonna go over sixty-five, so like there's not that much. But I think Pasco Jansen's as good as anyone in MLS. I think there's a lot that's already built. Uh but striking out on your DP right at the final sort of whistle of the transfer window and then we don't know what's next with them.

And having Alonzo Martinez out, although great odds to win the golden boot if you want them and you go through some of the uh some of the betting parlors with you are looking through to see what uh what's out there um earlier, then uh you can get those as well. Okay. Most of our convo there. Doyle anything I missed?

No, I think we hit it all. Hell yes. We are ready for the season to kick off. We will be on Blue Sky uh tonight and every night this week talking through all the C C C games, CCL games. So uh you can hit us up there. We have all of our previews. already out there um on YouTube. So you can go watch them. We'll roll roll a bunch of them out in our podcast.

Uh we've got a really fun conversation about the future of NWSL and youth development uh with the GM of Racing Louisville that we're gonna be rolling out there tomorrow as we start our NWSL season previews. We're gonna be doing an interview across most of the teams. in the league and then our big interview or our big previews as we did last year with Laurie Lindsey and Jill Loydon. So I'm really excited about those and then we'll be back to talk MLS. We're gonna be back

every Monday early for you so that we can get you your weekend recap uh as soon as possible, but we'll put out all those details and some big other news going on around uh Soccer Wise and everything we're doing. So subscribe. uh to Doyle's newsletter. Subscribe to all the other things we talked about in this show. Back yield if you can. Uh spend a Patreon on American Soccer Analysis for all the work they do to keep it going. And uh looking forward to the season. The games are finally here.

You can hear us stop pontificating about what we think will happen and hear us pontificate about what we think is happening. It's the exact opposite. So thank you to all of you who are. Thank you to you, D.