The League Soccer

 There are several things that popped out at me when I looked at the schedule; The first of which was the fact that there is no afternoon nationally televised game. If I could change one thing on the schedule side of MLS I would bring back random game times and days. If you want people to watch Vancouver-Houston put it on a Tuesday night nine o'clock start. Top that off with a San Jose-Colorado eleven o'clock kick off and you have made my Tuesday night. We will move back on to week six matchups: New England-NYCFC jumps off the schedule at me. The Revs currently sit a top the Eastern Conference but they've lost their toughest test 0-4 at the hands of LAFC. NYCFC is still trying to replace Castellanos and Sean Johnson, but recently added young American Richie Ledezma from PSV. I said last week that I believe if the Revs can hold their squad together through the end of the season that they could stay atop the East through decision day. Side note, this is also a battle of a tea...

 I haven't heard anything official, but April 19th is definitely not a FIFA window. Which makes it strange that US Soccer would schedule a highly publicized friendly against our biggest rival in something dubbed "The AllState Continental Clasico" being played in the same stadium the Super Bowl was just played in. Add to that there will be plenty of Mexico fans in attendance, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. I was looking through the schedule and Fulham plays Everton the weekend before and Leeds the weekend after. There's half of the US's starting outfielders you can go ahead and rule out of this game. I would guess anyone playing significant minutes with their European club would be out for this match and that's how I structured my roster prediction for this match: GK (3): Matt Turner, Arsenal; Gaga Sloanina, Chelsea; Sean Johnson, Toronto FC RB (2): Sergino Dest, AC Milan; Deandre Yedlin, Inter Miami CB (4): Miles Robinson, Atlanta United; Walker Zimm...

Atlanta United and the Seattle Sounders had two very different week 5 experiences missing several key players who were out on international duty. Atlanta got thrashed 6-1 at the hands of the Columbus Crew  while Seattle moved players all around the field out of position on their way to a 4-1 win at Sporting Kansas City. That very brief summary is a really good round up of how wildly different losing very impactful players effected teams across the league this weekend. Atlanta was missing MVP candidate Thiago Almada, Miles Robinson, and more and the Crew smelled blood in the water. It was only 1-0 at half time but the second half was all Columbus as they got on the board in the 47th minute before keeping their foot on the gas en route to thrashing Atlanta at home.  Seattle starting Jordan Morris at Striker, Cristian Roldan at Right Back, and moved Nico Ladero up from his usual role alongside Joao Paulo as they were without both starting full backs (the best full back in MLS in ...

 "Just win baby" it was the calling card of former Raiders owner Al Davis, and for USMNT fans that's what we got in tonight's 1-0 home win over El Salvador. This is not going to be a deep dive into the game (as I spent most of the 90 minutes chasing my young child around), but rather some general thoughts as all of our National Team players return to their clubs.  First and foremost: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! We qualified for the Nations League semi-finals this summer and are one step closer to qualifying for the 2024 Copa America tournament that will be held here in the United States. This win does two things: it moves us on to the semi-finals of the years tournament and automatically qualifies us for the quarterfinals of the 2023-24 Nations League contest. That is important because if we win that 2023-24 Nations League quarterfinal game, we qualify for the 2024 Copa America tournament. So while this win wasn't what we'd all hoped for, it got the job done. Second...

 There has been a lot said and written about the fact there is only one MLS player on the Nations League roster for the US and Friday's game against Grenada was the first United States national team game that did not feature a current MLS player since the league's founding in 1996. As a MLS blogger and true believer in the league's entertainment and sporting value in the States it got me thinking: has our talent pool outgrown MLS?  First and foremost I think that the role of Major League Soccer in this currently constructed roster is wildly understated. Twelve of the sixteen players who appeared for the United States against Grenada were either developed in MLS Academies or played Major League Soccer before moving to Europe. Here's that list:  Brendan Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, Auston Trusty- Philadelphia Union Weston McKennie, Alex Zendejas, Ricardo Pepi, Bryan Reynolds- FC Dallas Gio Reyna and Joe Scally- NYCFC Taylor Booth- Real Salt Lake Matt Turner played college soc...

 We're going to cover a lot more of the USMNT versus Grenada game, but I wanted to throw that headline out for a reason. The USMNT has no permanent head coach, general manager, or sporting director. With that in mind interim head coach Anthony Hudson has gotten a commitment from Alex Zendejas and seems to be tracking to secure the International future of heralded Striker Florian Balogun. He also brought in a young group mixed in with a couple of veterans and important dual nationals to the January camp, and didn't have anyone up in arms about the Nations League roster this month.  Add to that Ricardo Pepi said before the game that Hudson allows them a lot more freedom in how they play and it showed in the 7-1 win over Grenada. Which is the main story line for me from Friday night's fixture is how many times over the years (not just the Berhalter era) have we seen "lesser" teams on the road in CONCACAF sit back in a low block and the US struggle to find a result?  ...

 One of the bigger storylines ahead of this weekend are all of the players who won't be playing because of International Duty this weekend. Some clubs are going to be down a lot of players, while others will be without one or two very significant pieces going into this weekend. Orlando City and Philly is the ultimate dwindled down roster matchup of the weekend with both sides being down seven players going into the weekend. Orlando will be without starting RB Mikey Halliday, GK Pedro Gallese, all everything F Facundo Torres, MF Wilder Caragena, and a couple of good youth depth players in Thomas Williams and Alexander Freeman. Philly will be without Daniel Gazdag, Damion Lowe, Jose Martinez, Jack McGlynn, Quin Sullivan, Brandan Craig, and Richard Odada. I've written on multiple occasions how both of these teams are deeper than your average MLS squad, but this weekend should be a real test of that depth. Sporting Kansas City is without Marinos Tzionis this weekend which could rea...

 The USMNT will head to Grenada to take on the Spice Boys in the first of their two Nations League contests. Keep in mind that beating El Salvador is the only thing that matters in terms of advancing. I'm a big fan of never throwing games away, but perspective is always helpful. With that in mind here is my ideal starting lineup for Fridays contest: GK: Matt Turner, Arsenal RB: Bryan Reynolds, Westerlo RCB: Mark McKenzie, Genk LCB: Auston Trusy, Birmingham City LB: Sergino Dest, AC Milan CM: Djorde Mihailovic, AZ AM: Yunus Musah, Valencia AM: Luca de la Torre, Celta Vigo S: Ricardo Pepi, Groningen RF: Gio Reyna, Dortmund LF: Alex Zendejas, Club America I would bring Pulisic, Booth, Aaronson, Miles Robinson and one of Sonora/Cardosa off the bench in this game. Pulisic is probably not full match fit any way. Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson and Joe Scally have played a ton of minutes this year so I would rest them in preparation for El Salvador. Dest really needs all of the minutes he can ...

 My note from the first game of the week is pretty simple, both LAFC and the Seattle Sounders are good, and the Sounders Bruce Lee kits are absolutely incredible. The Sounders are now back to back weeks without a goal, but I have no doubt they will find their form soon. There were a lot of surprises this week, I didn't get to send my picks for this week out because I was prepping to travel to St. Louis to cover St. Louis City's historic win to open their inaugural season 4-0-0, you can read more about that  here . My main point is I likely would have gone 0-10 on the week because there were some shocking results.  The Chicago Fire managed a 3-3 draw against FC Cincinnati in front of less than 8,000 fans at a very cold Soldier Field on Saturday night. Speaking of shocking results, I've been pretty hard on CF Montreal this season and they pull off a big win over the Philadelphia Union.  I don't see Jim Curtin's side getting distracted by a deep CCL run, but they may w...

 In my journey of watching soccer I discovered the Kansas City Comets of the Major Arena Soccer League, the top division of indoor soccer in North America. Let me tell you it has been fun to watch. If you're not a staunch soccer fan then I would highly advise giving MASL a chance.  They play four 15 minute quarters, the clock stops when the ball is dead and they have power plays. The indoor game is like a hybrid of soccer, basketball and hockey and it makes for an incredibly entertaining event.  The Comets lead the league in attendance with an average of over 3,500 fans per game. The St. Louis Ambush play in St. Charles and seem to have a pretty good following as well and the rivalry games are a blast to watch. The Comets play on blue turn at their home arena in Independence. Their other top rival is the Milwaukee Wave, who play on black turf. There are two teams in Mexico as well. All of the games can be streamed for free on Twitch. This is a shorter blog but I just want...

Within an hour of kickoff there was snow falling from the St. Louis sky. Kickoff temperature was 25 degrees Fahrenheit, but St. Louis showed up for their MLS expansion team. St. Louis City SC began the night looking to become the first expansion team in MLS to start their journey winning their first four games against a San Jose side that was off to a hot start of their own.  The first news of the night was City SC would be playing down another Center Back, having already lost Joakim Nilsson prior to the season starting. Coach Bradley Carnell spoke to the "next man up" mentality in the post game press conference, and the next man up was newly signed defender Lucas Bartlett. St. Louis City was looking for a historic win starting two center backs who had played a combined 4 first division games (both made regular appearances in MLS Next Pro last season for City2 and North Texas) against an attack of Cristian Espinosa, Jeremy Ebobisse and Cade Cowell.  The game started with some...

  First I wanted to share my big news, that I will be covering the St. Louis City SC versus San Jose game as a credentialed media member! I am beyond excited and grateful for the opportunity. I will be posting a few blogs as it relates to the game: I will be doing a full game recap on the blog, I will be live tweeting the game, I will hopefully get some pictures to post and upload, and then I will do a blog about my experience covering the game.  If you are going to be at the game or in midtown I will be handing out some Fumbling Punter shirts at the Block Party on the Lou Fusz Plaza before the game. Let's get into the matchup: St. Louis City SC is looking to make a bit of history at CITY PARK tomorrow as they look to become the first MLS expansion side to win their first four MLS matches. To do so they are going to have to get through a young and inspired San Jose Quakes side.  The Quakes have several USMNT eligible players including Striker Jeremy Ebobisse, midfielder J...

 Boy were we all wrong about St. Louis City SC. I'm mad at myself about this too. I've been following the team since the beginning from the Academy to MLS Next Pro and I knew Lutz had done his homework and I knew there was the chance they could outplay their projections. However I fell in line with the mob and didn't predict that City would do much this year. Now they're 3-0-0 with a chance to become the first expansion side to start 4-0-0. I had even been of the school of thought that maybe Austin had overlooked them and that they couldn't lose to a poor Charlotte side behind that crowd, but going on the road to Portland against a good squad in a tough environment and coming home with three points tells me we need to start taking them seriously.  FC Cincinnati survived a home test against the Sounders. Austin shook off the CCL dust and took three points on the road at RSL. I also think it's time we start talking about Nashville (2-1-0) and have allowed 0 goals ...

The big news today is that it has been reported that Alejandro Zendejas has committed to the US National Team! That’s a big move on a few fronts as I wouldn’t declare our winger depth as great, he plays regularly for a big Mexican club and frankly he’s going to play for us and not Mexico. It has also been reported that he is going to be in camp for the upcoming Nations League matches. This is a low key very important two games for the US. After a draw at El Salvador the States need a win and a draw to secure our spot in the semi-finals this summer. I personally would just like to see us treat every competitive window as important and use the January camp to get deserving players caps and introduce younger players to the National Team. So here’s who I’ve got representing these United States in the March window:   Goal Keeper: Matt Turner (Arsenal) Ethan Horvath (Luton Town) Zak Steffen (Middlesboro); I’m guessing Gaga Sloanina will be in the U20 camp otherwise I’d have him as my thi...

 On Thursday night the Vancouver Whitecaps played host to Honduran side Real Espana on something called Fox Soccer Plus. Hmm I wondered, is this a new app Fox Sports is using to promote soccer coverage? I searched the internet to see how to get Fox Soccer Plus and found out that it was a premium cable network not found on Sling TV or Hulu Live TV.  In fact it was a premium sports add on network for YouTube TV and Directv. Not wanting to sign up for a free trial I looked at who was covering it in Spanish in the United States as I have had to watch a Gold Cup game or two in Spanish in my day. So I go to TUDN's website where they offer a free preview, but for only five minutes. After my venture into watching a CONCACAF Champions League game in a language I do not speak I dug deeper and found that Fox has an app called FOX Now. An app where they showcase all Fox operated networks. Here I found a free one hour preview on my phone that got me from the 30th minute to halftime before ...

 I have to apologize to you all. Some internet issues caused me to not post my week two preview. It was a great week of MLS matchups that I will get into here in a minute. I want to start with wrapping up the absolutely beautiful hot mess that is Concacaf Champion League.  For those that are newer to soccer, or have primarily watched European soccer CONCACAF (the North and Central American soccer governing body) hosts a club competition similar to Europe in which teams that finish atop their leagues qualify or can qualify for. MLS gets three seats (MLS Cup Champion, Supporter's Shield Champion, and the next highest finishing club) then MLS teams are eligible for two more spots via the Canadian Cup and the US Open Cup. This year there are five teams from MLS represented in CCL: LAFC (Supporter's Shield and MLS Cup Champs), Philadelphia (2nd in MLS Cup and Supporter's Shield), Austin FC (next highest finisher in MLS), Orlando City (US Open Cup) and the Vancouver Whitecaps (Ca...