Welcome back for Season 2 of the League Soccer blog! Thank you to everyone who read, responded, reached out with kind words during last year. Year one was pretty amazing: I got to cover the 2nd ever St. Louis CITY SC game at CITY Park, I went to an I-70 Derby game in Kansas City, and got to cover MLS from what I hope was a unique perspective.
After years of watching and covering baseball, football, basketball and hockey I have learned what a challenge covering professional soccer is. There are way more moves every transfer window in soccer, then add in international competitions and cups and it can get away from you.
Last season was a phenomenal year of soccer in America. The Houston Dynamo won the US Open Cup, LAFC made the finals of MLS Cup and Concacaf Champions League, FC Cincinnati won the Supporters Shield, Messi took the league by storm winning the first ever Leagues Cup, newcomers St. Louis City SC finished first in the West and the Columbus Crew won MLS Cup. Whew, what a season! Enough looking back, it's time to look forward to 2024.
I'll be breaking down previews by top half finishers and bottom half finishers of each conference for a total of four Conference Previews. I'm starting with teams that finished atop the Western Conference last year.
St. Louis City SC Head Coach Bradley Carnell and CITY SC are looking to improve on a great first year in Major League Soccer. Gone are Nico Giocchini (Como, Serie B), Jon Bell (Seattle), John Nelson (out of contract) and then Jared Stroud and Lucas Bartlett were traded to DC United for Midfielder Chris Durkin. They also added Tomas Totland and Nikolas Dyhr from Europe. They have a big part of their core back for 2024- Klauss, Burki, Parker, Lowen and Big Sam. I don't see any reason for this team to take a step back. They've retooled, they have a great home field advantage and Bradley Carnell knows how to motivate a team.
Seattle Sounders Losing Nico Lodeiro to Orlando City is a massive loss for this club. There's no two ways around it. They did bring in Nathan and they still bring back a bevy of talent. They also have the benefit of Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan not being in a never ending International Window as both players seem to be out of the USMNT picture at the present time. If you're Seattle you have to feel good about the health and direction of your team, even with Lodeiro on the move.
LAFC There's no two ways around it, LAFC are running away with Southern California. In the last two years they've won Supporters Shield, played in two MLS Cups, played in a CCL Final and won one of those MLS Cups. But gone are club legend Carlos Vela, Kellyn Acosta, and Giorgio Chiellini. They did bring in legendary goalkeeper Hugo Lloris from Tottenham, but I have to wonder what losing Vela is going to mean for this side. Vela was their major signing before they had ever played a game. He won the league MVP and has Captioned them to all of their success in club history. It's hard to imagine LAFC not taking a step back even with all of the talent they return.
Houston Dynamo You can only view the 2023 Houston Dynamo's season in one word: success. The Dynamo had been struggling, were looking for an owner, signed Mexican legend Hector Herrera and then everything came together in 2023. They won the US Open Cup, qualified for the new Concacaf Champions Cup and Head Coach Ben Olsen established a winning culture. Looking forward I think you have to consider the Dynamo a contender in all competitions they chose to participate in.
Real Salt Lake Gone are Jefferson Saverino and Rubio Rubin. They made huge strides last year and have Chicho Arango and USYNT player Diego Luna to lead the team forward. The huge addition of Arango should've put the league on notice that RSL are going to contend and they are to be taken seriously.
Vancouver Whitecaps It's strange that you trade a player like Julian Gressel in MLS, who goes on to win MLS Cup and you've still had a successful season. That was the case for Vancouver last year and that was in large part to Bryan White and Robbie Gould. The dynamic duo for the Caps bear a large weight of the success of this team. They are Batman and Robin in British Columbia in 2024.
FC Dallas Health played a part, but FC Dallas had very high expectations they did not live up to in 2023. Like I mentioned with Seattle and Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan, FC Dallas had a similar situation with Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola. Both of these guys played a ton of soccer over the last two years qualifying for the World Cup. They avoided losing Jesus Ferreira to Europe this offseason so you have to consider that a win. If everyone is fresh and healthy watch out of FC Dallas in 2024.
I'll drop these previews weekly until they are all out. Once I've finished a conference I'll give my 2024 predictions and previews for each conference. Please comment, yell at me and enjoy!
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