2024 NWSL Season Previews: Houston Dash and Racing Louisville
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We’re releasing team previews ahead of the NWSL season that kicks off on Saturday, March 16! Our third edition includes the Houston Dash and Racing Louisville.
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2024 NWSL Season Previews: Chicago Red Stars and Kansas City Current
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We’re releasing team previews ahead of the NWSL season that kicks off on Saturday, March 16! Our second edition includes last season’s bottom dwellers, the Chicago Red Stars and the Kansas City Current.
Read More2024 NWSL Season Previews: Bay FC and Utah Royals
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We’re releasing team previews ahead of the NWSL season that kicks off on Saturday, March 16! Our first edition includes the league’s two newest expansion teams in Bay FC and Utah Royals.
Read MoreSeason Previews: FC Cincinnati, Columbus Crew
/How much Skyline Chili can you eat off a Supporter’s Shield?
FC Cincinnati enters 2024 in a previously unknown situation in its Major League Soccer history - as defending Supporters’ Shield champions. FCC’s run to the Shield wasn’t a fluke, either. According to American Soccer Analysis numbers, though Cincinnati outperformed its xPoints, the team still produced the highest total in MLS in 2023. But 2024 FCC will have to adjust and evolve, like nearly all silverware winning teams.
Read MoreSeason Previews: Orlando, Philly, St. Louis City
/Will Orlando’s Outliers Overperform Once More?
How do you follow-up your best-ever season? Orlando City might have the answer. Orlando finished 2023 second in the East (and second in MLS) with a club-record 63 points, scoring a club-record 55 goals along the way. After a best-ever playoff finish in the Eastern semifinals, the Orlando front office may have had a best-ever off-season:
Read MoreSeason Previews: LAFC, New England, Seattle
/The Vel-lesser of Two Evils
LAFC had nearly the best possible season you can have after winning MLS Cup, making it to the final a second consecutive year and shining as the analytics darlings of the Western Conference. LAFC led their conference in both xG difference and xPoints, reflecting consistent dominance in generating and limiting opponents’ underlying shooting opportunities. Steve Cherundolo’s team achieved this success through a transition game that exploits speed and technical skill to get behind defenses. Much of this comes down to the brilliance of Denis Bouanga, who turned 14.5 xG worth of shots (4th in MLS in 2023) into 20 league goals to win the golden boot. But apart from Carlos Vela and Ryan Hollingshead, no one else on the roster was reliably putting the ball in the net. That will need to be the main point of improvement for the Black and Gold in 2024, and a flurry of outgoing and incoming moves will keep things exciting in SoCal. Does this top heavy and largely new roster have the depth to compete in every chance for a trophy?
Read MoreSeason Previews: Atlanta United, Houston Dynamo, Real Salt Lake
/Atlanta United: Almada and Inshallah
2023: Garth is Good
Under the new leadership of CEO Garth Lagerway, Atlanta United returned to the playoffs in 2023, shaking off the previous season's disappointments. While Atlanta was ousted in the first round at the hands of the eventual champs, the team gave fans plenty of reasons to have hope for the future.
Read MoreSeason Previews: Sporting KC, Vancouver, Dallas
/Punny Titles Are For Clubs That Don’t Hire Gavin Wilkinson
A 2024 Sporting Kansas City preview can only begin with the acknowledgement of an ending. Two club legends, Graham Zusi and Roger Espinoza, won’t be lacing up their blue boots this season. One of those two has been in a Sporting KC jersey every year since 2008. The duo combined for nearly 700 games played and oversaw the collection of four trophies. They will be sorely missed by the fans and in the clubhouse. The fact that Zusi spent his entire 15-year career with one club is just a marvelous feat. What a career.
Read MoreSeason Previews: RBNY, San Jose, Nashville
/WELCOME TO FORS-BERGEN COUNTY
The prince that was promised finally arrived.
After years of fans clamoring for a bonafide star to take the pitch for the home team at Red Bull Arena, the New York Red Bulls finally went out and acquired such a player. Emil Forsberg, who’s been in the Red Bull soccer-sphere since 2015 with Leipzig, is the sort of player that can be an immediate gamechanger in MLS.
Read MoreSeason Previews: Montreal, Charlotte, Portland
/Columbus Deux: Boogaloo Électrique
Coming off the highs of the 2022 season, CF Montreal felt like they had some real momentum… then they let their best in league coach walk, sold their eight (maybe) best players, hired a maniac, and decided we’ll play 180 degrees different from our very successful previous tactical identity and now with mostly bad players. That went predictably badly, with Montreal undergoing a humongous -30 xGD swing from +18 to -12, as they just missed the playoffs in a weak Eastern conference. Also at some point they had to cut one of their few good players for fighting a guy in a men's league game. Truthfully, the less said about 2023 the better.
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