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.
Read MoreWe’re publishing three team previews every weekday until MLS First Kick on April 16th. You can find all of them here.
Today we’re looking at three teams who had positive 2020 seasons, but are looking to join the top echelon of MLS squads in 2021.
Read MoreMinnesota ended the season with 53 points and fourth place in the Western Conference. This represented the team’s best finish in MLS, and first playoff appearance since a 2015 NASL encounter against Ottawa.
The team’s improvement was largely due to the dramatic improvement of the defense; conceding 28 fewer goals than 2018 (accounting for most of the +31 improvement in goal differential). And it’s worth noting the team evolved over the course of the season. Team captain Francisco Calvo was traded after seven games; midfielder Romario Ibarra was sent on a loan (his request as I understand it). And an influx of new faces over the summer meant the team entering the playoffs looked different than the team that started the season. At the start (first seven games), Minnesota conceded over 2 goals per game and scored over 2.4 goals per game. Since then, Minnesota conceded about 1 goal per game, and scored 1.4 goals per game. In short, the team transitioned from a high-risk, high-reward approach to a defense-first mindset.
Read MoreMaking the step up from the NASL into Major League Soccer can be extremely difficult (commiserations Cincinnati fans), and Minnesota’s first two seasons in MLS are an excellent example of this. Defensively, the Loons struggled to keep the ball out of the net consistently (Statistically the worst defense in the league in 2017, and tied for third worst in 2018). Adrian Heath’s insistence on playing a high-risk/high-reward brand of soccer was seen as extremely foolhardy considering the construction of his roster, and his history of “brand over results” which ultimately cost him his job at Orlando City.
Read MoreIt finally happened! I got one right last week! I did! I was doing a sarcasm and lo and behold I got a take dead on. ANALYSIS! Yes Atlanta and Cincinnati did in fact turn out to be a low scoring affair between two evenly matched sides. It feels like six months ago I was called a straight up hater for raising my eyebrows at De Boer’s most recent entries on his resume, but now discussing whether or not he knows what he’s doing is the take du jour. What can I say folks? I was bashing FDB before most of you had even heard of him. I have it on vinyl.
Read MoreI have the unfortunate pleasure of being both a Minnesota United fan and a soccer analytics nerd. MNUFC was bad last year…and the year before that. Historically bad. Despite how genuinely entertaining their home games are to attend, my fanaticism ached for the Loons to cease their fruitless flapping. But every so often I hear the voice of reason telling me to come to my senses and wake to the comforting reality: “they could have been worse.”
Read MoreWelcome to Little Things, a weekly look at some of the nuances that occur in MLS games. Technical and tactical aspects will be looked at to better evaluate players and teams on a larger scale, and of course statistics will be put to use.
Here’s our inaugural analysis, including an example of how not to press by Minnesota United, an interesting set piece fad, and an impressive build-up by Orlando City:
Read MoreMinnesota United entered the league in 2017 to very low expectations and still barely managed to meet them. While occasional flashes of quality may rightly gives fans hope for 2018, more still needs to be done if they’re to be considered a serious contender in the Western conference.
“Well, that didn't wind up being as bad as we thought it was going to be” is about as lukewarm a review that one could proffer, but it certainly fits. While I certainly don’t think many people would have given Minnesota any chance at making the postseason in their first year of Major League Soccer, the Loons sure gave us all a pretty big scare by opening the campaign conceding 20 goals in their first five matches. Minnesota’s inauspicious start led to many people wondering if they were going to be not just the regular amount of bad, but historically bad, like worse than Chivas bad.
Read MoreTwo years ago I first composed a list of my top under-appreciated wide midfielders. Guys like Mike Grella, Kekuta Manneh, Patrick Nyarko, Lamar Neagle, Lloyd Sam and Sebastian Le Toux painted the top of my list. Again, no, I’ve never done work for DC United.
When sifting through some old USL numbers, which long ago went extinct due to the merger between USL and MLS, I came away enamored with Kevin Molino. He sat at the top of my list of wide midfielders and I ended up getting him for a steal in our fantasy draft that year.
It seems Molino is the type of player that in a lot of ways floats under the radar of many fans in Major League Soccer. This may be partially due to a wrecked ACL during an exhibition game in May of 2015 which ended his first season in MLS prematurely. The lost season forfeited most of the “possibly interesting” stock that was seeded him coming into the league when he had blown out the scoring and assist records in USL.
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