By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Oct 4, 2021) US Soccer Players – The start of fall brings with it cooler temperatures in most parts of the country. For MLS, things are just starting to heat up. It's the time of year when teams ramp up to the playoffs, jockeying for points on the quest for the Supporters' Shield or a higher place in the table. For teams just outside the top seven in each . . .
Is Atlanta United ready to play?
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 20, 2021) US Soccer Players - From the beginning, Atlanta United did things differently. When Major League Soccer's southern experiment launched in 2017, longtime observers of soccer and sports in the United States carried reasonable questions about the likelihood of United's success in the city. Since contraction prior to the 2002 season, there was no MLS team . . .
Gonzalo Pineda to Atlanta
By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 12, 2021) US Soccer Players - Atlanta United's just-announced new head coach arrives in Georgia with quite a resume. He holds a UEFA A coaching license, and he's bilingual. He joins the Five Stripes from the coaching staff of a highly successful club that has reached its league's championship final three times in his four years of service there, winning one . . .
Atlanta United under big club pressure
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Jul 21, 2021) US Soccer Players - Atlanta United was a big club before it ever played a game. By driving so much local interest in professional soccer, they climbed into the upper echelon of franchises in Major League Soccer. The club met that wave of enthusiasm with ambition. Atlanta spent real money on up-and-coming talent and hired a well-known head coach with a . . .
Has the coaching cult of personality arrived in MLS?
By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (May 7, 2021) US Soccer Players - Gabriel Heinze's team was losing, miles from home, and there was nothing more he could do about it. Atlanta United's Concacaf Champions League dream was evaporating. The Philadelphia Union frittered away the minutes in their quarterfinal second-leg match at Subaru Park, up 3-1 on aggregate thanks to their stunning three-goal away . . .
Mixed results for new MLS coaches
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 21, 2021) US Soccer Players - The start of the 2021 MLS season took place over three days this past weekend, pitting 26 teams against one another in 13 games. Only one team, Real Salt Lake, awaits its turn to get its campaign underway. An odd number of teams this season means there will always be a team sitting out a given round of matches. Unlike several of . . .
Chelsea advances in the Champions League, Atlanta and Portland in the CCL
Wednesday's soccer news starts in the Champions League. Christian Pulisic's Chelsea finished off their quarterfinal series with Porto, advancing 2-1 on aggregate after losing the second-leg 1-0 at home. The game's only goal came three minutes into stoppage time. "We accepted what was needed tonight, and I think we deserved to go through," Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said. "It was a tough . . .
MLS 2021: Tactical preview
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Apr 12, 2021) US Soccer Players – The start of a new MLS season brings with it plenty of questions and speculation. What a new season also brings with it is speculation over tactics and formations. How does a team win in MLS in 2021? That's the question coaches are trying to unlock heading into Friday's season opener. In MLS, there's another question that may be . . .
The new coaches in MLS
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 7, 2021) US Soccer Players - Perhaps no season in MLS history provided a ruder introduction to the league for new coaches than 2020. A typical preseason led directly into two games before a two-month layoff with no games and effectively no training. The return to play, first in Orlando at MLS Is Back, then in a truncated regular season that featured few fans . . .
MLS in the 2021 Concacaf Champions League
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 31, 2021) US Soccer Players - Major League Soccer teams got a bit more time to prepare for the 2021 season due to the delay caused by collective bargaining negotiations in January. That extra month might look like a positive after 2020 pushed rosters to the brink. Then again, there's already been more than enough time to recover and plan. New England . . .
