2023 Season Preview - San Jose Earthquakes

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If you are a San Jose Earthquakes fan, your neck is still recovering from the whiplash of last season (yeah, and probably from that Atlanta United game, but these are still preseason previews, right?). 

If you are not a fan, then you are probably not very aware of all the comings and goings last year of people not named Matias Almeyda. Chofis, the top goalscorer from 2021? Gone mid-season. Francisco Calvo, the most entertaining player in MLS this side of Nouhou Tolo? Gone mid-season. Marcos Lopez, the U-22 player trying to help Peru get that last World Cup spot? Gone mid-season. At least they got a bit of money back for Calvo and Lopez.

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2023 Season Previews: Real Salt Lake, New England Revolution, Chicago Fire

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2023 Season Previews: Real Salt Lake, New England Revolution, Chicago Fire

In 2022, Real Salt Lake was picked by by nine of 10 MLS pundits to finish in the 10-12 range. These spots are reserved for teams who are unexciting and lack top end talent. 13th-15th are reserved for spectacular disasters, while the rest are for teams that really could be special (though a few still become spectacular disasters). RSL beat expectations and finished 7th.

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2023 Season Previews: Seattle Sounders, FC Dallas, Los Angeles FC

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” - Brian Schmetzer, presumably.

I’m not here to be all sunshine and roses. Last year was bad. But, also, it was awesome. Being the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League has come with a purse bulging with bragging rights. It’s not a small thing. It was a remarkable accomplishment.

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2023 Season Previews: New York Red Bulls, Columbus Crew, Colorado Rapids

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2023 Season Previews: New York Red Bulls, Columbus Crew, Colorado Rapids

Since the more than two million dollar signing of coach Gerhard Struber in October 2020, RB Global has continued to spend on the squad after a long fallow period. This off-season is no different with the club record signing of striker Dante Vanzeir. Struber has overseen a dramatic overhaul of the squad, and RBNY improved dramatically in his first season, posting a 10.37 xGD, which was good for fifth in the league (compared to fifth worst in 2020), while the team underperformed overall, gaining only 13th most points with 48 (the 2020 team averaged 1.38 ppg which was close to the 2021 team ppg of 1.41).

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2023 Season Previews: Los Angeles Galaxy, Nashville SC, Minnesota

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2022 was a mixed year for Nashville SC. Shuffled over to the Western Conference for a single season, the ‘Yotes (yes, it’s short for ‘coyotes’, no I won’t stop calling them that) started the season with an eight-game road trip, never quite figured out how to win consistently at Geodis Park once they got home, and missed out on a home playoff game by on tiebreakers.

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2023 Season Previews: Toronto FC, Charlotte FC, Atlanta United FC

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Predicting 2023 for Atlanta United seems impossible, and that has almost nothing to do with what happened in 2022, although we really should look at 2022. First, something of a tradition in these previews, the full and up to date annotated franchise xGD history of Atlanta United.

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2023 Season Previews: DC United, SKC, St. Louis city

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Part of the impetus for short-term improvement could come down to Rooney as 2023 is the final guaranteed season of his contract. If Matt Doyle’s current projected depth chart starts for DC on February 25, the teams average age would be 29.4. Rooney will have to rely on an older attacking core of Designated Players to keep the Black and Red in contention. 

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2023 Season Previews: Austin, Vancouver, Montreal

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Hello Austin fans, it is I, your favourite team hater. Author of tweets such as “SCOREBOARD”, and “Dread it, run from it, the xG arrives all the same”. You remember me. I hope you’re all well. I’m here today to talk about your beloved Austin FC and their 2023 hopes, shall we?

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