Thursday's soccer news starts with the return of the XFL this weekend. The renewed attempt to make professional football a success in the spring raises an old competition issue for MLS. It also raises an old question. Is North American soccer's topflight really in competition with other sports? Major League Soccer's season overlaps with all the other pro sports and college football and basketball . . .
The FC Dallas Olympic movement
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Feb 5, 2020) US Soccer Players - No team had more players in the USMNT January camp than FC Dallas. Head coach Gregg Berhalter brought in a group of young players for two reasons. First was the standard audition for new talent. Second, to better prepare a group of U-23 players for the Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament in March. Berhalter made a point of . . .
The Chicago and Atlanta MLS expansion models
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Feb 3, 2020) US Soccer Players – A new Major League Soccer season starts in four weeks. With preseason in full swing, coaches are testing new tactics as teams buy and sell players. For Nashville SC and Inter Miami, it's their MLS debuts. Expansion teams have typically had a tough go at it in North American sports. In MLS, the gold standard remains the Chicago . . .
Once more, Columbus soccer fans save the Crew
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 31, 2020) US Soccer Players - If traumatic experiences bring people closer together, there might not be a more united fan base in Major League Soccer than that of the Columbus Crew. Crew fans, to put it kindly, have been on a ride over the last two years. Watching and enjoying their team was secondary to merely holding onto it. In 2018, then-owner Anthony . . .
Gridiron lines in MLS stadiums
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 29, 2020) US Soccer Players - The deals professional sports franchise owners and government leaders make to build stadiums vary from the egregious to the nearly passable. Rare is the stadium built only with private funds. Even in those cases where an owner foots the bill, there's bound to be some public element to the deal. Stadiums require infrastructure and . . .
Inter Miami’s immediate future
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 24, 2020) US Soccer Players - Right now, possibly as you read this very piece of writing, Club Internacional de Futbol Miami is deciding what it wants to be. The brand new MLS expansion club possesses a blank slate, ready for the architects of the South Florida outfit to fill that space with an identity. With no playing history to speak of, Inter Miami is free . . .
Chicharito enters the LA derby
Thursday's soccer news starts with Chicharito Hernandez arriving in LA as the next Galaxy superstar. He joins an impressive list of players carrying that title, with the Galaxy in no doubt that winning the local market means winning the West. Chicharito isn't a Zlatan Ibrahimovic stand-in. He's a different player, though how he operates at the top of the Galaxy attack carries the same importance. . . .
The Galaxy, Atlanta, and Toronto face preseason pressure
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 22, 2020) US Soccer Players - Now that all 26 MLS clubs are underway with preseason camp, it's worth taking stock of where they are right now. Late winter is the season of perpetual hope. MLS works hard to make sure no group of fans is without some reason to believe that their beloved side might make a surprise run to a final in any given year. The odds of a . . .
Seattle in the Champions League
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 17, 2020) US Soccer Players - On the one hand, being Major League Soccer champions two times in four years is pretty good. Add in that third trip to the title game and it's closer to great than pretty good. The Seattle Sounders aren't yet a true MLS dynasty, but they're about as close as a club can get. Seattle's achievements reflect well on the work of . . .
MLS prepares for another shot at the Concacaf Champions League
Friday's soccer news starts with Major League Soccer's great white whale, aka the Concacaf Champions League. While it might be worth arguing over the importance of the regional tournament, there's no doubt it's a priority for the league. Their attempt to end run it with the Leagues Cup and the Campeones Cup only shows how important competing with Liga MX is to MLS. It doesn't matter which MLS club . . .
