By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Oct 9, 2020) US Soccer Players - Even in a season beset by a pandemic, with the schedule upended, travel more complicated, and home-field advantage chucked out the window, the Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC are intent on repeating history. Seattle and Toronto have faced off in three of the last four MLS Cup finals and look to be on a collision course to meet again . . .
Player development shows the value of MLS is Back
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 7, 2020) US Soccer Players - What was once a product of necessity is now something of a hot commodity in the world of Major League Soccer. The league's return-to-play model, the MLS Is Back tournament in Orlando, Florida, is winding down with only Tuesday's final left on the schedule. Fifty-one games in total, played on training fields for the sole benefit of . . .
Seattle and Portland step up
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Jun 15, 2020) US Soccer Players – The coronavirus pandemic that forced Americans to stay home, closed businesses, and forced sports leagues to go on pause lead to a series of community initiatives to help people cope with the health and economic fallout of the last few months. It also made for some strange collaborations. For example, MLS rivals the Seattle . . .
Soul and superstar in MLS
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 4, 2020) US Soccer Players - No team ever makes it through a season without some of its players missing significant time due to injury. Injuries are part of the deal across the length of a 34-game season plus playoffs. The best any team can hope is that the injury bug doesn't hit a crucial player. When stars do go down for an extended period of time, it can . . .
Valeri and Bradley stay put
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 18, 2019) US Soccer Players - The Portland Timbers announced late Monday that Argentine playmaker Diego Valeri signed a new multi-year contract to remain with the club for the foreseeable future. The 33-year-old Valeri helped the Timbers lift an MLS Cup back in 2015 and won the league's Most Valuable Player Award in 2017. He remains one of the most dangerous . . .
The Portland Timbers’ Diego Valeri dilemma
By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Oct 4, 2019) US Soccer Players - Last week, Real Salt Lake marked the 10-year anniversary of their underdog 2009 MLS Cup win. The club honored the members of that squad during their game against the LA Galaxy. One face was a particularly welcome sight for the home fans. Javier Morales, the Argentinean playmaker whose creativity and class powered the . . .
The Western Conference playoff bubble
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Sep 27, 2019) US Soccer Players - The thing about bubbles is that they aren't particularly stable. Every bubble rides the edge between existence and the decided lack of existing at all. One moment it's there, the next, it's gone. Sitting on the bubble, in the common parlance of sports, is never a good thing. It means that your chances to qualify for the . . .
Portland’s difficult season
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Jul 19, 2019) US Soccer Players - The Portland Timbers are in the midst of a difficult season, depending on how you define "difficult". There's no objective way to judge the degree of difficulty for a given MLS season. Even if we attempted to create one, we'd first have to agree on which factors matter most in the assessment. What tops the list? The vagaries . . .
The Portland Timbers will end up at home
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (May 3, 2019) US Soccer Players - The Portland Timbers aren’t a big club. At the risk of offending Timbers fans, Timbers players, and Timbers investor/operators, the truth is that the Portland Timbers are a medium-sized club in a medium-sized market that has big-time support. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially when the size of the club doesn’t really . . .
MLS contenders already looking for turnarounds in 2019
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 3, 2019) US Soccer Players - Before the 2019 Major League Soccer season began, a list that started with Atlanta United, New York Red Bulls, NYCFC, and Portland Timbers could have been an easy preseason power ranking of the top four teams in the league. Atlanta United entered the campaign as the defending league champion. The Red Bulls won the Supporters' . . .
