By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Oct 10, 2018) US Soccer Players - It’s expansion season in American soccer because every season is expansion season in American soccer. The game in the United States is experiencing a boom period when it comes to adding new professional soccer clubs. Those new professional soccer clubs need names, logos, and colors. There’s really nothing more important to the . . .
Predicting the knockout round
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Oct 5, 2018) US Soccer Players - After 162 games played across six months, the Major League Baseball season comes down to a single game for four teams across the two leagues. It’s called the Wild Card Game and it’s a do-or-die, winner-moves-on, 9-inning or more competition that can end an otherwise successful year in the span of a few hours. It’s intense and . . .
Reggie Cannon and Ben Sweat take different routes to a USMNT call
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Oct 3, 2018) US Soccer Players - Among the collection of fresh faces in the USMNT roster is a pair of MLS fullbacks getting their first looks with the senior squad. One is a homegrown product of one of Major League Soccer’s more renowned academy setups barely into his 20s. The other is former college soccer player who built his career over several stops in American . . .
An MLS playoff reality check
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Sep 28, 2018) US Soccer Players - This is the season of delusion for some MLS clubs. The tail end of the regular season, fraught and tense, full of opportunity but equally drenched in peril, has a particular way of revealing who teams really are. Making the MLS playoffs in the fifth or sixth position almost always comes down to the last few weeks of the season. . . .
Vancouver makes an unexpected move
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Sep 26, 2018) US Soccer Players - To call Carl Robinson’s nearly five years on the job as the head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps anything but “fraught” would be to avoid the overarching theme of his run there. Robinson is no longer the head coach in Vancouver as of Tuesday. In a surprisingly wordy statement posted to their website, the Whitecaps announced that . . .
Streaks, VAR, and pressure in MLS
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Sep 21, 2018) US Soccer Players - Midweek games in the thick of the MLS playoff chase wouldn’t seem to be the type to deliver wild, end-to-end action. That’s exactly what two Wednesday night games did. A third provided a bit of a surprise, ending one of the league’s most remarkable winning streaks. The MLS schedule pitted three Eastern Conference teams traveling . . .
Where do coaches want to be in MLS?
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Sep 19, 2018) US Soccer Players - The San Jose Earthquakes are the latest MLS team who will be looking for a new head coach come winter. San Jose relieved first-year boss Mikael Stahre of his duties on Monday with just six games to go in the 2018 MLS regular season. Assistant Steve Ralston will serve as the interim head coach for the balance of the campaign. After . . .
Next season for Orlando City
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Sep 14, 2018) US Soccer Players - Orlando City head coach James O’Connor paid his dues to earn his shot at the highest level of soccer in the United States. After ending his playing career with the USL version of Orlando City where he also served as an assistant, he moved to USL expansion team Louisville City as the top man. In three-plus seasons in Kentucky, . . .
Spare a thought for the New England Revolution
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Sep 12, 2018) US Soccer Players - Pity the New England Revolution, even if the situation they find themselves in is largely of their own making. Certainly pity their fans, a hardy group of loyal-to-a-fault soccer obsessives who support their beloved team despite often wanting to tear their hair out while doing so. Pity MLS, a league made weaker by the inability of . . .
Orlando City, FC Dallas, and the MLS reserves problem
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Sep 7, 2018) US Soccer Players - In 2016, Orlando City launched a reserve team called Orlando City B as part of Major League Soccer’s partnership with the USL. The team ostensibly served the same purpose as the rest of the USL’s MLS entries, providing professional minutes to up-and-coming players in the Lions’ system as part of a path to the first team. Results . . .
