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 . . .
St Louis, USMNT players, and potential newcomers of the year highlight MLS so far
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Mar 27, 2023) US Soccer Players – A majority of Major League Soccer’s teams have played only five games. And yet, some early patterns are starting to emerge despite the small sample size and a league that is very often unpredictable. Already, the start of the 2023 season has brought with it many surprises. MLS teams tend to surge or dip depending on a variety of . . .
MLS Week 5: Columbus scores six, St Louis and Seattle four in wins
The Major League Soccer season continued during the March international break, starting with Portland and the Galaxy drawing 0-0 at Providence Park. The Timbers finished with one shot on goal to LA's four. "I thought we had good control of the game for, you know, 80 minutes, 70-something minutes, and then it started to get very wide open and a little bit chaotic there at the end," Galaxy coach . . .
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 . . .
MLS Week 4: Atlanta wins 5-1, Montreal beats Philadelphia
MLS week 4 opened with Seattle and LAFC drawing 0-0 at Lumen Field with the Sounders putting four shots on goal to LAFC's three. “Little bit of a mixed bag there," Seattle Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. "I think that we gave up some chances there at the end. I don’t know what the expected goals are but they had a lot of clear chances because we were trying to find a goal at that end of the . . .
LAFC and Vancouver advance in CCL, Eintracht exits Champions League, goal for Dike
Wednesday's soccer news starts in the Concacaf Champions League with LAFC advancing to the quarterfinals 4-2 on aggregate over Alajuelense after losing the second-leg 2-1 at home. Alajuelense took the lead on the night from an 8th minute penalty, making it 2-0 in the 51st. LAFC's Carlos Vela pulled a goal back in the 81st minute. "We are happy to be around further in the competition, which was . . .
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 . . .
Philadelphia advances in the CCL, Championship win for Middlesbrough
Wednesday's soccer news starts in the Concacaf Champions League, where Philadelphia advanced 4-0 on the night and by the same score on aggregate over Alianza. Playing a man up from the 40th minute, the Union's Damion Lowe scored a minute into stoppage time at Subaru Park. Daniel Gazdag converted a 62nd minute penalty and Andres Perea added goals in the 81st and 84th minutes. Philadelphia . . .
MLS tactics early in the 2023 season
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Mar 13, 2023) US Soccer Players – If there's a common trend when looking at MLS clubs finding success early in the 2023 season, it could be the two tactical formations already standing out. The 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 have proven to be part of the formula in both conferences so far. It is obviously very early, in addition to the small sample size. Formations are largely . . .
MLS Week 3: Atlanta wins at Charlotte, Cincinnati beats Seattle
Week 3 in MLS opened with Atlanta United winning 3-0 at Charlotte. Caleb Wiley put United up in the 5th and Luiz Araujo doubled the lead in the 12th. Wiley scored again two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan made three saves to keep the clean sheet. "Today was one of the most complete games," Atlanta United coach Gonzalo Pineda said. "Was it perfect? No, we . . .