Page 63 - Soccer360 Issue 105

IMPORTANT
DATES
Season Kick-Off - February 21 Inter Miami vs Real Salt Lake
First weekend back (all the other teams will play) February 24 & 25
Rivarly Week- May 11-18
May 11- FC Cincinnati vs Columbus Crew “Hell is Real Derby”
May 11- Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers “Cascadia Derby”
May 18- Orlando City vs Inter Miami “Florida Derby”
May 18- Toronto FC vs CF Montreal “Canadian Clasique”
El Trafico- July 4 LAFC vs LA Galaxy at the Rose Bowl(Last year MLS record with 82,110 Fans in attandence)
2024 MLS All Star Game -
July 24 Columbus’s Lower.com Field
MLS All Star Game is where the MLS All Stars with face a european side in a friendly, last season they faced Arsenal at Audi field. Arsenal won the game 5-0. Still no confirmation on who the MLS all stars will be facing this year
Leagues Cup- July 26 to August 25
Its a month long competition where MLS sides and Liga MX sides take part of. Last year Inter Miami won it with Messi. There is a complete break from MLS while this tournament plays
MLS Decision Day (Last games of the season for every team)- October 17
2024 MLS Cup Final- December 7
TOP RIGHT:
The New York Red Bulls are one of three original MLS teams that have never won the MLS Cup
TOP:
The all-time MLS leading scorer, Kei Kamara
BOTTOM:
McCarthy looks to climb the minutes played leaderboard
6 FACTS
ABOUT THIS
SEASON
Everyone loves fun facts. Whether it is stumping fellow supporters or being prepared for bar trivia night, knowing ones soccer facts is important! To better prepare supporters ahead of the upcoming season, here are six interesting facts about Major League Soccer.
THE TEAMS REMAIN THE SAME
For the first time since 2019, there were no new MLS teams added for the 2024 nor were there any teams that moved from city to another. While that may seem like that may hinder the growth of the game here in the United States one also has to remember that the league has added five teams since that time and that between 2010 and 2019 they had added ten teams. Expansion has grown the league in many positive ways but it appears that league is settling in with the teams that they have. Although San Diego will be joining in 2025,
there doesn’t appear to be much more movement for new clubs entering the league.
CUP HALF FULL
While MLS does not have promotion/ relegation it does offer supporters a little different an equal opportunity at success. Since the league’s foundation
in 1996, only fifteen of the league’s
thirty teams have won the MLS Cup.
Los Angeles Galaxy, D.C. United,
Seattle Sounders, Columbus Crew SC, Toronto FC, Portland Timbers, San
Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas
City, Houston Dynamo FC, Los Angeles FC, Chicago Fire FC, Colorado Rapids, Atlanta United FC, and New York City FC have all won at least one MLS Cup. As a point of comparison, only six teams have won the English Premier League title in the same time frame (Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Manchester United).
LOOKING FOR THAT FIRST TITLE
While a lot of teams have won the
MLS Cup there are a few teams who have famously never won the title.
From the original ten MLS teams, three have yet to win top honors: FC Dallas (formerly the Dallas Burn), the New York Red Bulls (formerly New York/ New Jersey Metrostars), and the New England Revolution have all yet to win the league’s oldest trophy. Each side has won other trophies/silverware: Dallas and the Revolution have each won the US Open Cup (1997 and 2016 for Dallas and 2007 for New England). Meanwhile each team has won the Supporters’
Shield (2016 for Dallas, 2021 for New England, and 2013, 2015, and 2018 for New York). But as for the MLS Cup? Still looking for it.
THE RETURN TO THE US OPEN CUP
This winter, MLS sent shockwaves throughout the footballing world by announcing that they would be leaving the US Open Cup, one of the oldest football club tournaments. In place of their senior teams, MLS said that they would send their NEXT Pro teams. The response from supporters, both within their fanbases and from lower division teams. US Soccer’s response was swift, making their own announcement that MLS cannot use their NEXT Pro teams
to replace their senior teams in the competition and that MLS failing to play in the tournament would affect their sanctioning as a league. MLS backed down from their earlier proclamation and thus MLS is back in the Open Cup!
KAMARA THE GREAT
MLS’ active leading goalscorer is Kei Kamara, who has scored 144 goals over the course of his 18 years in the league. The journeyman forward (he has played for nine teams in MLS and 13 teams across his professional career) is just
one goal shy of Landon Donovan for second place in league history. He still has a bit of work to catch up to San Jose Earthquake legend Chris Wondolowski, who has 171 goals.
MCCARTHY MINUTEMAN
As a midfielder, it is expected that players will play a lot. But 36, 701 minutes? That is a lot of running. Entering his 18th MLS season with Atlanta United McCarthy sits just a little shy of the 37k minute mark, fourth all-time in league history behind Kevin Hartman (37,260), Kyle Beckerman
(41, 161), and Nick Rimando (46, 336). McCarty could pass Hartman this year (last year logged 1898 minutes for Nashville SC) but at 36 he is chasing father time if he wants to pass two Real Salt Lake legends in Beckerman and Rimando.
Almada (17 goals. Young Player of the Year) and Giorgos Giakoumakis (11 goals) lit up the Eastern Conference last season and should continue to give their supporters hope that more silverware is coming. The caveat is,
of course, that Almada stays in the South. The Argentine international has had strong interest from Europe and could see a move in the summer.
As for the Western Conference all eyes will be on LAFC. After finally winning MLS Cup in 2022 The Black and Gold fell short in
MLS Cup 2023. On paper, they should have little reason to worry about making it back to the final, with the team adding French International Hugo Lloris to steady the ship in goal and bringing back Carlos Vela for one final ride. But one has to wonder how much of the acrimonious contract discussions this winter between star striker Denis Bouanga and the club will carry over onto the field. Perhaps the biggest question of 2024 is whether St. Louis can once again climb to the top of the Western Conference. Led by goalkeeper Roman Burki (MLS Goalkeeper of the Year) the Lou’s bend but don’t break mentality shot them to top of the West in their first season. Although they will not catch anyone by surprise this year, a year of experience as a group should pay off. Speaking of paying off, MLS supporters know never to write off the Seattle Sounders. In a league where the standings can quite volatile, the Sounders have bucked the trend missing the playoffs just once since 2009. While making the playoffs is great, Seattle have designs on going deeper and winning their first Cup since 2019. Although stalwart midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro is gone, the team is still led by a contingent of players with extensive playoff experience including goalkeeper Stefan Frei and forward Jordan Morris.
While there may not be a clear cut favorite to win it all this year, MLS will certainly provide plenty for supporters to watch throughout the summer heading into the stretch. The hope from the league is that those watching for Messi, Vela, and Lloris will also catch Sullivan, McGlynn, and Almada.
If they can catch lightning in a bottle the possibilities for 2024 to breakthrough year for MLS are endless.
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