By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 30, 2023) US Soccer Players - The arrival of April means many things. The feeling of spring is in the air, and sports kicks into overdrive. Baseball celebrates the opening day of its new season. Golf's biggest week of the year arrives with The Masters. American football's preeminent offseason event, the NFL Draft goes down at the end of the month. Both the NBA . . .
Eredivisie experience showed in the USMNT’s March wins
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 29, 2023) US Soccer Players - It's a job done for the USMNT following Monday night's 1-0 win over El Salvador in Orlando. That result advanced the Americans into the final four of the 2022-23 Concacaf Champions League set for Las Vegas in June, a necessary step on the road to defending the title the US won in June of 2021 in a memorable game with . . .
MLS returns to All-Stars vs club in 2023
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 24, 2023) US Soccer Players - American sports culture as a whole naturally informs a lot of what Major League Soccer does, and rightfully so. For MLS, the issue is finding a balance between what some view as the more "authentic" approach to the game, a misnomer, to be clear, and a more unapologetically American style. While the influence that the most . . .
League A and beyond in the Concacaf Nations League
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 22, 2023) US Soccer Players - The USMNT resumes the defense of its 2021 Nations League title on Friday when it travels to Grenada for the third match in Group D play. A US group fresh off a World Cup is hoping to start the next cycle on a high note by backing up its Nations League win two years ago with another title, one that would naturally come at the . . .
Auston Trusty is part of the USMNT center back picture in March
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 17, 2023) US Soccer Players - The USMNT will gather in Orlando next week ahead of Concacaf Nations League matches against Grenada and El Salvador with interim coach Anthony Hudson calling in a 24-player roster featuring a mix of experience and potential. Only one, center back Miles Robinson, plays in Major League Soccer with MLS opting not to break in the early . . .
LAFC puts the focus on player development with Red&Gold Football
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 15, 2023) US Soccer Players - While not everything about Southern California is perfect, for the most part, there are reasons it's high on the list of America's most desirable places to live. That's extra true if playing soccer is your particular professional vocation. The weather, the lifestyle, and the potential to leverage the area's status as a pop culture . . .
LAFC is the latest defending MLS Cup champion to try to add a Concacaf Champions League title
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 8, 2023) US Soccer Players - In 2022, the Seattle Sounders became the first Major League Soccer team to win the Concacaf Champions League. The achievement ended 13 years of Liga MX dominance in the competition, turning the Champions League from a Sisyphean exercise for American and Canadian clubs into a real chance at continental glory. If Seattle could do . . .
Damir Kreilach at RSL and James Sands at NYCFC
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 3, 2023) US Soccer Players - Absences loomed large in the story of Major League Soccer in 2022. More than a few teams dealt with missing big names last season, a list that's long enough that it's not worth using the limited space available here to run it down. Just know that Sporting Kansas City, the Seattle Sounders, Atlanta United, and others can claim to be . . .
How Austin FC, Houston, and Sporting Kansas City’s losses in week one suggest more from those clubs
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 1, 2023) US Soccer Players - For 27 of the 29 MLS teams, the opening weekend that extended into Monday was just the first of 34 games that will determine the playoff field, and, ultimately, the 18 clubs that will compete for a championship this season. One of 34, and there’s plenty of room for optimism for some of the clubs that came out on the wrong end of the . . .
Three clubs looking to take another step in MLS
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Feb 24, 2023) US Soccer Players - There are two steps to becoming part of the top echelon of Major League Soccer clubs, also known as the perennial contenders. Step one: Make your move into the ranks of the top teams in the league, qualify for the playoffs, and win a playoff game. Step two: Stay there. Step one isn't exactly easy, but with the league's . . .
