The League Soccer

 We just witnessed what was nearly a perfect two game stretch for US Men's National Team. Convincing defeats of Mexico and Canada where our young players stepped up, shined, and showed us a glimpse into the potential of the future for this squad. The second half of the finals against Canada was fairly ani-climatic. They game was put to bed before the half, Canada just didn't have it in them.  The crowd was definitely one concerning point to mention. The stadium was giving big time early 2000's MLS vibes, being half empty in a NFL stadium. It's not a great look for the federation and I'm sure the players don't particularly enjoy it. It's abundantly clear that Mexico is the draw, but with their struggles do you either: A). Set up the semi-finals and finals of competitions in cities that have both NFL and soccer specific stadiums? St. Louis, LA, Orlando, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, San Jose/Santa Clara, Columbus, Cincinnati, Minneapolis/St. ...

 Before most players broke their first sweat it was broken by the Athletic staff that Gregg Berhalter was going to be re-named Head Coach of the US Men's National Team. I'll be dropping another blog tomorrow to talk about my many reservations and the absolute clown show the "process" appears to have been.  On the field the Americans looked sharp. From early on they clearly looked like the superior side. They were playing more free and offensively aggressive that they did the last cycle. A couple of questions I had going in to this game was Chris Richards' match fitness after not logging a ton of minutes for Crystal Palace. Well the answer is he looked great. He was playing long balls well, marking his man on defense, and winning headers. Pretty much every thing you want to see from your Center Back.  The other question was how Yunus Musah would do filling in for Tyler Adams. I've seen enough of Musah that I didn't question his speed or skill, but it's ...

 We're roughly half way through the 2023 MLS season, if you don't count Leagues Cup of course. That made me think about what playoff matchups would look like if the season ended today. Some of the matchups may surprise you. 8-9 Play-in Games Western Conference: (9) Sporting KC at (8) Portland This is an amazing matchup for the face SKC didn't win a single game until week 11. They are playing good soccer and rising up the standings. It's a little bit of a shock to see Portland here too as they haven't played particularly well this season. Eastern Conference: (9) CF Montreal at (8) DC United Talk about a playoff matchup literally no one could have envisioned. Montreal was in a pretty obvious rebuild and finished it by trading Kamal Miller to Inter Miami in one of the craziest trades of all time. On the other side DC United have been terrible for a long time but have finally started to look like an actual soccer team under Wayne Rooney this season.  First Round Matchup...

 We are officially half way through the season. There have been a ton of surprises both good and bad. St. Louis City has been the story of the league, but you can't look past how good FC Cincinnati have been. There's also been that disastrous start for Sporting KC, and it continues for Colorado and the LA Galaxy. The biggest story of the first half of the season has revolved around a player who hasn't even played a game in MLS yet, Lionel Messi. You know one of the greatest soccer players of all time.  Today I want to focus on the following:  -My MLS Best XI for the first half of the season -Awards for Coach of the Year, MVP, and Young Player of the Year MLS Best XI My MLS Best XI really has no qualifiers. I'm not using advanced metrics, just the Fumbling Punter eye test as to who I think belongs on this list. It will coincide with my MLS All Star Ballot, so here we go: GK: Roman Bürki St. Louis City SC; Lots of people laughed about St. Louis having a keeper as a Design...

What a strange midweek game between St. Louis City and FC Dallas. The game that started weeks ago picked up at the 50th minute and played to a 2-0 FC Dallas win. The US Open Cup now has a final four set with FC Cincinnati playing what will likely be Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF. Then on the other side of the bracket we have Houston and RSL.  All four of these teams have something very meaningful to play for. FC Cincy is looking for their first trophy as a MLS side after a disastrous start to their existence. Houston and Real Salt Lake are both really looking for something to spark their fanbases. The obvious big one is Inter Miami. Other than League's Cup this is their first chance to hoist a trophy with Lionel Messi and add to his legacy and really start their own as a club. Unfortunately we have to wait until August for the semi-finals.  Let's get to those power rankings! 1. FC Cincinnati 12-3-1 39 points Last Week: 1; FCC haven't dropped points since April 29th in a 1...

 It was just reported by Fabrizio Romano with his infamous "Here we go" tagline that Lionel Messi has agreed to go to Inter Miami CF. There's still a ton of information regarding this contract that will be coming out in the next days, weeks, months but I have to imagine it is the most significant and complex contract for the most significant signing Major League Soccer has ever seen.  Messi will be far from the first star to come to MLS. Those that have came before him include Inter Miami's co-owner David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Chicharito and Carlos Vela are some of the most significant names that come to mind. However we are talking about Lionel freaking Messi! Considered to be one of the greatest soccer players to ever live Messi turned down reportedly around $400M per season to join the Saudi league and turned down a reunion to Barcelona in favor of South Beach.  Messi changes everything for Inter Miami and MLS. American soccer fans have filled ...

 Hello readers, it's been a bit since I've had time to sit down and write my blog hence the reason it's so late this week. We had a good slate of games midweek and LAFC managing to miraculously keep their CCL Finals against Leon at 1-2 on the road. No time for horseplay, so let's jump into this week's power rankings: 1. FC Cincinnati 11-3-1 Last Week: 1; All FCC does these days is win. They're eight points clear in the Supporter's Shield race. They're currently on a five match winning streak and are still alive in the US Open Cup, where they will meet Pittsburgh in the quarter finals.  2. LAFC 7-4-1 Last Week: 2; LAFC have three games in hand in the Supporter's Shield race so you can't count them out yet. The last fifteen minutes of the CCL game was huge for them. Leon scored an incredible header that would've made it 3-0 but the goal was called off for a foul. Then Buoanga scored a racing goal to make it 1-2 to give them a HUGE leg up headin...