By J Hutcherson (Jul 13, 2021) US Soccer Players - Though it's certainly closer than last season, it's still difficult to describe 2021 as normal for Major League Soccer. The easiest example of that is the three Canadian teams starting the season in the United States. Pandemic protocols made it unreasonable to hold league games in Canada. Once again, that forced the Canadian teams to try and . . .
Playing at home in MLS and Concacaf
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (May 3, 2021) US Soccer Players – There's no place like home. That's what a young Dorothy in the film "The Wizard of Oz" repeated to herself as she attempted to return to Kansas. In soccer, like in sports generally, playing at home and before your own fans has been considered a positive. In the pandemic era, home-field advantage and supporters have taken on a whole . . .
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 . . .
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 . . .
Toronto, Montreal, and an intriguing 2021 season
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 12, 2021) US Soccer Players - Life in Canada isn't any more complicated than life in the United States at the moment, with an ongoing global pandemic limiting social interaction, travel, and the economy. Well, unless you happen to play professional sports. In addition to the concerns everyone else is dealing with, players from Major League Soccer's three . . .
CF Montreal’s new coach
Tuesday's soccer news starts with a new coach in Montreal. The club promoted assistant Wilfried Nancy who has held that role since the 2016 MLS season. Nancy started as a coach with Montreal's academy in 2011, the year before it joined MLS. The move is somewhat of a surprise for a club with the kind of outsized ambition that led to the hiring of Thierry Henry and its rebranding. “I am very . . .
CF Montreal regroups
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Feb 26, 2021) US Soccer Players - The plan in Montreal was always to use 2021 to start over. Just not this way. The club made news just a few weeks ago when it announced a name and logo change. Gone was the Impact, the name it has used for the entirety of its existence dating back to 1992 in the lower divisions. Club de Foot Montreal replaced it, a name that hews . . .
The Impact becomes Club de Foot Montreal
Friday's soccer news starts with another Major League Soccer club deciding that at least a partial answer to their problems is a rebrand. Goodbye, Montreal Impact. Hello, Club de Foot Montreal, CF Montreal to its friends. Also welcome the kind of logo that's going to get what we'll politely refer to as a divisive response. If Impact Black, Ice Silver, and Sacre Bleu look familiar, it's because the . . .
