SoccerWise - 2026 Season Predictions w/Matt Doyle

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

We have finally arrived to the first week of the 2026 season! Matt Doyle (Tactics Free Zone) joins Gass to go through all their predictions. They hit the big ones like MVP, Golden Boot and Defender Of The Year. They of course hit their deep cut stuff like "Gass Theorem" and Fullback Of The Year favorites. And then they add some team superlatives like the "League Pass" teams they are most excited to watch.7:30 Nashville Big Week CCL + BJ Callaghan Contract + Reed Baker-Whiting Trade11:00 MVP & Golden Boot Predictions21:30 Young Player Of The Year Favorites25:00 GKOY, DPOY & Fullback Of The Year40:00 Midfielder Of The Year (steal from NWSL)45:00 Coach Of The Year52:30 Newcomer & Gass Theorem Favorites58:40 Team Your Most Excited To Watch (League Pass Favorites)1:05:40 Biggest Points Climber Of 20261:08:20 Biggest Fall Off Of 2026

everybody to soccer-wise. Merry Christmas. I'll just start with that one right there, so I don't have to make up one of my own. We have arrived. MLS 2026 season kickoff is around the corner. We've got a massive week of CCC action as well. We are into the best time of the year.

Doyle is a time of hope for all fans everywhere. It is the last week where everyone's in first place. And I don't know. there's probably eight to 12 clubs fans who are feeling the best they're going to be feeling over the next 12 months. Yeah, I was going to say, does it, is it really a time of hope in DC or Kansas City? Don't do it to them off the gate, off the top. Tough, tough, tough. I mean, it's like, we all, we all know it. We've all seen it. That said, well, all right, I'm going to walk it back immediately. Because you're going to say you're lucky, a little interested in DC.

DC, DC is a little bit of true. Right? Right. I don't love pressing teams, but it looks like they're going to be a 4-4-2 pressing system. And they have, you know, two forwards who kind of fit together. They are at a talent, massive talent deficit in central midfield. But they've done some stuff. All right, Dr. So good. I'm paying attention. They will be a fantastic pressing team until they hire Wayne Rooney because when he's available, he's available. And then we'll reshift organization. We'll fire a couple GMs and then we'll come back around in about three. or four years. But for today, they are tied for first place in the Eastern Conference in MLS. And that is something worth enjoying. It's going to be a big weekend of action. So for anyone who hasn't looked, I hadn't actually really looked for a while. A lot more time windows every weekend of games. There's an early Saturday game, which will be weekly. What's happening? I believe McKelley Giannone will be on the preview and sideline of that game. The legend. Yeah. So you can always tune in in Spanish for that one.

and then I think our own Andrew Webe, a friend, I don't know what we're calling him, will be on Saturday nights, a big primetime game. And then there's at least two Sunday windows every week. But some weeks have more windows than that, including a Saturday afternoon game. And because of that, some of these night windows are not 37 matches at the same time that you can't consume. Because the games are a little more spread out, there's, I think, some 730 windows with just two games, some 1030 windows as well. so there's going to be a lot more watching, which is kind of what I enjoy

about having a sports league and watching the games. So that part I'm genuinely excited about. And that will obviously all kick off on Saturday. We're going to do a big preview game by game, I think, on Thursday to dig into everything we'll see this weekend and we'll give us a chance

to talk maybe about some teams that we don't mention in here as deeply and give some quick thoughts. If you haven't already, subscribe to Matt Doyle, ghost newsletter. I'm getting my wording right so I get there. Give everyone the pitch real quick. Tacticsfreezone.com.

It's everything that I've been doing the past 15 years for MLS soccer. I just picked it up and I moved it to my own newsletter. It is a hassle-free subscription. You just type your email in and should get an email back, confirming your subscription right away. There are four tiers,

the lowest tier, is free. There's going to be two free columns a week. One will be the power rankings and one will be sort of a weekly roundup. And then three paid tiers. The Sunday column that I've been writing for 15 years. Sorry, folks, that's paid. And then there'll be another midweek sort of tent pole column that I am already panicking and scrambling over like, oh God, what am I going to write? but that'll be probably stuff like U.S. national team depth char or tactical breakdown, stuff like that. It's gone really well. So if you have subscribed already, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And, you know, David knows this feeling of like suddenly you're unemployed and oh shit. What is that? Oh, no, everyone's going to support me. Well, I got to actually experience that first before I can pay for anything. Right. But the outpouring has taken a lot of the sting out of, was a pretty brutal start to February. And here we are.

Finally, back doing a regular podcast again, which I'm chees in a little bit. You could see that I'm genuinely happy to be talking to David Goss. The part that I'm most excited about is I believe we have scheduled in for soccer wise. We will do a public shaming of people

based off how much they are subscribed to Matt Dillel. We will not do that. No, we will not do that. We will not do that. And the shaming will start. with Andrew Weeby and Kaelin Carr. So know that you are on watch as of now. No, it is the place to go read.

If you've read Doyle's work at all over the last 15 years, as he described, you know it's what you want. It is the only person who can cover this league from start to finish top to bottom the way he does. So go subscribe, get on that. I will throw in if you're looking for some preview action. We have a number of videos that we have done. some of them have already come out as podcasts. Some we're still working on.

You can go to our YouTube page to watch all of them individually with a lot of local podcasters in every single market talking about their teams. I learn a ton from those. I think even on some of the storylines I already know, just hearing the angle that they're taking or the conversation that's going on in the market really can shift from the people. And, you know, I'm a sports fan.

I listen to Zach Lowe, but I watch the Knicks. And I'm like, come on, that's not the way it is. So I get it. We don't hit everything correctly. I would also recommend going and following all these people on blue sky because I think as the season starts and as blue sky has really exploded as the place to talk about sports and be, you want to follow all these accounts so that you're sucked into the conversation

and you know what's going on. I'd also like to throw a promo to American soccer analysis who's done as they've done every year. Incredible season previews. Even if you don't get to them this week, they're worth reading because they really set one, how people are looking at the sport and in this league and then sort of the parameters that teams are operating in and then go to back heel Joe Larry does it as well as as anyone else.

Joe did all 30 previews himself. Yes. I mean, 40,000 words in depth on every single team. Just I'm in awe of the work he put into that just to defend. Good job by Joe. Good job by Joe. So we love Joe here on Sakrides, had him on a couple weeks ago. Go read those and subscribe to this.

as well. We've got CCC kicking off. I'm just going to call it CCL as I oscillate between all the time. I am very excited for the first game, which is tonight in Ottawa, Nashville facing off against Ottawa. I believe it's now called Hamilton Stadium, but I call it Tim Horton's field because it's, you know,

if your mom names you Tim Horton's field, that's what I go with. I believe I was trying to get my weather app up. I believe the expectation is that will be 31 degrees, at kickoff in general in Ottawa. So that is 8 p.m. tonight. Yes, 31 degrees going down to 25. Everyone else is in Trinidad, Tobago,

the Dominican Panama, and Nashville, baby, gets the trip up north. So I'm really excited for that game. We haven't seen a lot of CPL MLS. That's not Canadian Championship crossover. So that will be fun as well. And then everyone else in MLS starts playing on Wednesday and Thursday. Well, we've got Philly, L.AFC, a bunch of other teams as well.

across these games. I think the Galaxy are Thursday, right? Yeah. Yes, maybe. Yes. So all those games are going to be on. We will, of course, be on Blue Sky hanging out through all of those. And then we get into the season. I wasn't going to leave a bunch of time for us to talk about Reed Baker Whiting, unless you want to talk about Reed Baker. I will say Nashville's had a great offseason. Like Nashville, like this is a bylaw opportunity on a kid who has talent who, like the biggest position a need that I identified for Nashville. You know, two weeks ago when I was writing for my former website was a sort of an air at either fullback.

Yeah. Because Andy Nahar and Daniel Lovitz are both irreplaceable and inimitable. Like you can't replicate what they do. And the backup fullbacks on that roster are just different types of players. And Reed Baker Whiting is 20 and he hasn't won the job. job for Seattle. But he has kind of the same skill set as Andy Nahar. I don't think he's as good as Andy Nahar is or was even as 20.

But like he's on a really, like he's a really promising player. This is exactly what we talked about on Soccerweiser where it's like, okay, it's a youth national team guy. There's value to be found here. Nashville isn't yet producing guys like that out of their academy. So you can buy low on someone. And for Seattle, it's like, okay. at some point, like, you have to move these guys along either into starting roles or do right by them and put them in a position where they can get more minutes, make a little bit of money, and clear the path for the next round of Academy products.

It's, yeah, I agree with everything you said. I will also say the transfer out of Johnny Perez for the number they got and then bringing in a player who I think probably, not probably, I think has a higher ceiling for less. and then you also still have the potential to sell him going forward. It's good business and it shows right now, I think Mike Jacobs has extended what this club does well in some of the international signings they've made, but also shows that at their core they're still doing what they did best originally, which was these moves around the edges and knowing the league

and knowing sort of the math that's going there. It goes on top of them giving B.J. Callahan a contract extension, which is huge for this club because he has reset the DNA of the team. I'm sure you're talking to the same people that I am. People are really passionate about working with him, working for him. The local media enjoys covering him. They say it has been just a breath of fresh air on top of the success on the field that they've had.

And with his national team background, as odd and whatever it is, that's a guy who's going to be attractive going forward. So I think to have him say, this is where I want to be and this is, you know, build this around me because I'm going to be a part of this for a while, I think it's really big for this club. So a huge offseason for Nashville, a big week. They will come up a couple times, I think, in our conversation. We're going to go through a bunch of the awards that we'll be given away this season

as a bit of a way to preview and talk about it. And then we're going to talk some generic team conversations that we came up with to dig into some teams overall. The top of any one of these convos would be MVP and Golden Boot. It's a little less interesting when you come to the MLS side. Do you have an MVP that's not Leo Messi? I think the only other one with a legitimate chance is Sun. Yeah. If it's not, you know, if Messi gets hurt in place 1,200 minutes,

Sun is like a, what, 85% favorite or something like that? Because he's going to have the numbers, and L-AFC is going to be one of the three best teams. In fact, if Messi gets her, L-A-FC, I think, becomes the supporter shield favorites, right? Yeah. And then it's like, okay, there's a world where Vancouver end up on 75 points, and Thomas Mueller has 18 goals and 23 assists and maybe it's Thomas Mueller. And then beyond that, you're getting down to,

should we do like MVP pie? Well, yeah. 1% is like Evander leads Cincinnati to a points record or. I think honey. I think honey has a huge one because he's already won it. And therefore, if Nashville is good without watching, people will say, oh, honey's got a shot. So if Nashville wins a shield,

I think Hani's going to win it whether he's the reason they win it or he's the best player on the team week in week out or whatnot. That's my guess. So I think Messi's going to win it just because of the way people vote. Yeah.

Like, yeah, he could play 12 games and he could win it. Yeah, and be like, oh, Messi's the best player. It's like, well, yeah, but that's not the award. The award is most valuable player and like, okay, you know,

I was about to say, I hate to be, you know, to get into semantics like that, but I love to get into semantics I rolled my eyes because I find that one of the hardest conversations we have is valuable player and like deciphering what that, because Rodrigo DePaul's not playing for any other team for cheap, neither is Sergio Regulano. So is therefore Messi the most valuable player because he's the best GM.

He's the best recruiting piece. Like there's a million ways to go about that. But you are right in which you could come down to the end of the season because there's also a world that Messi doesn't play as much as we think and Inter Miami are fans. fantastic or win the shield without him being on the field a ton because they just sign bertrami they already have the team built in that's that's that's exactly what happened in 2024 he played he played like 1500 minutes in 2024 they set the single season points record won the shield obviously and like they had a better points per game he wasn't there yeah when he wasn't on the field

and everyone was like yeah he's the MVP yeah okay so uh that's i think most of the names in that MVP conversation On the golden boot side, it's more interesting, you know, Messi could win it. Clearly, I picked him first in the Golden Boot Draft, which we did last week. There are some other interesting names here, though, as well. One of the things with Messi is with Bert Arameh signed, he might play a little bit less close to goal. I don't know how much that really matters. The amount of goals this guy has scored being the second runner, you know, the late pullback. Obviously, Alba's not there, but it should still all exist.

will be pretty high for him. There's a couple other obvious names. All of them are kind of the same ones we said in the MVP conversation. The one I would add here is Denny, gotcha, Buonga, who is my pick to win this. My thought process is, I think LAAFC are going to be rampant in the ways they were rampant. And I don't know how to calculate in the World Cup effect on, okay, going into it towards the end, I don't think Suns sits out games, but what's the focus? what's the impact.

If the team's doing well, where do you sit him? Where do you not? And then coming out of that emotional high of, I don't know, South Korea wins two knockout games. And now that's become his life and it's his life achievement and all of this. I don't know what the effect coming out of that is where, let's be real. Buonga's going to play 4,200 minutes this year because that's what he does. Now I know there's the wrinkle, which is the Brazilian offers and all of that.

But I felt safer going with Buongas there for the four. full year and does what he does best, then Sun coming around a World Cup is able to perform for 32 games at his highest level. I think that is really well put and really well thought out. My only pushback is I do think there's going to be an evolution of the game model. I think they're going to play more on the front foot, more in possession. And Bawanga is very good to excellent at scoring goals in that game state for a winger, he is all-time great as a goal scorer on the break. And if they're playing less on the break,

I just think that there is going to be a less dominant version of Denny Belong. It's still probably like 18 goals. But I do think it's going to tilt a little more towards Sun. And I don't know, like I'm not as concerned about the, I'm not as concerned about the emotional drop-off. after the World Cup for Sun because it I mean the guys he's a manian he's you know he's he's he's he's like a pros pro on every level and hence hitting the ground running at L a FC last year exactly

and then and not just in terms of like scoring goals and like drawing penalties in Chicago with like a sacrificial off ball run like but like taking it really seriously off the field as well and like understanding there's a there's a significant opportunity here so i you know son is my pick um i like surridge yeah he is scored a ton last year actually underperformed his ex g shout out tom um and he's got another like one they added one of the best chance creators in in the league to the attack i i just think that he's he's gonna eat like 25 goals seems very possible Brian White, 16 goals in 1700 minutes last year And we'll have a full year of playing with Thomas Mueller

You know, across all competitions I think he has 24 goals and in 20 so it's like okay If he plays a ton But that's a load bearing if Brian White Like he doesn't you know he's not an iron man A couple of the Petsar Musa obviously I'm going to throw in here It seems right now the setup of the team will require a little bit of creativity from him that will pull him from goals.

So maybe there's a couple easier goals tapping type stuff. I'm going to interrupt you. Have you gotten any like insider scouting reports on the new Uruguayan? Not a D.P. Valentine? Yeah.

Valiente. Not a DP, not technically wearing a number 10, but like seems kind of 10y. I don't know. Yeah, but it's he got signed this week. How long does that take? And then they have to entrust him. They have to reshape what they do a little bit

for him to fit. into it and in all of that time you are the fourth best team in the league with pet sarmusa dropping in as your 10 last year how how bold is eric will to move to it quickly i think and we're we're doing our dallas preview in a little bit so i'm definitely going to ask these questions and see if we can dig into it but either way he's going to be around this conversation one of the ones i didn't know where to put and i said it the golden boot trap is timo verner like the team created chances last year bruce's team score goals i don't I still have so many unknowns, but like he's not going to a World Cup.

If this guy starts to pour it in and they create the right chances for him, he could score 20 to 25 goals and that might be the number this year. Yeah, it feels like that. It feels like a little Juan Pablo and Heli where, you know, I think Juan Pablo came over a little bit older. I think he was like 31. But he hadn't been a consistent goal score for a few years in Europe. And when he came going all the way back to 2007, I'm being ridiculous.

What a year to be alive. But he just, he could not stop scoring an MLS. That it was absolutely amazing. The way he came in and just was unstoppable. I don't know. It feels like that could happen with Timo Verner. Like, okay, I'm in a comfortable position. I think that the quakes are going to go out and get another DP center forward.

It's not going to happen, I don't think, before the game this weekend. But like that is what they're targeting with their second DP. and like if it's an Adam Buksa type for Timo Verna to run off of like that's that's where his best years came and the other thing is Nico Shakiris looks like he won the starting number 10 job at least for now

played there all preseason did great creating chances I think you scored a goal in in their finale against NYCFC so like I I would be surprised if Timo Verner scored more than like 16, 17 goals. But I wouldn't be shocked, right?

It's just, it's probably going to take 25 or 26 to win the golden boot. And I, that would be shocking. Yeah. I have Dwan Jones on my full back of the year list, like a year to be settled, play with the same team, play for Bruce. And then Timo Verner on the end of some of that stuff, even if it's Preston Judd on the end of that stuff, some of that stuff. Preston Judd was good last year.

Yeah. And I think he's perfect to, I can make that final run, stabbed to the near post, Timo Verner's floating on the far post, and Duan Jones has the license as a wingback to stay high up the field. I want to throw Kipers in this combo as well. Pretty much every single one of these has a caveat. Kipers is obviously, if they sign Levendowski,

he either moves or isn't playing as much. But I just can't see a world where I think Bamba will be better, even if Synchronago falls off a little. I think there's still production. I like the fullbacks there, and I love the addition of Robin Ludd. So in all of that calculation, I have to throw them in the Golden Boot Race.

It will be exciting when it's none of the people I just named. I just named like 15 options and it will be none of them. Okay. Seymour Reed versus Ryan Alumi for the Golden Boot. That's the future we want. I would love that. Threw me off. I was not to cite naming 15 other young players.

I was like, oh, we actually have young player. Let's go there right now then. Let's go to Young Player of the Year. It's one of our favorite conversations here on Soccer Wise. Can you tell me the birthday cutoff for this? this thing and what you have to be? I think it's January 1st, 2004 birthday or later, right? So it's 20, it's 22 or younger.

Yeah. So January 22. It's not 22 under 22. No, right? It's not, of course. It's 22 or younger. So January 1st of 2004. Yeah.

So that makes Owen Wolf ineligible because he's December 30th, 2004. No. December 30th, 2004 happens. after January 1st, 2004. Oh, after is the good thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's the good one.

Yeah. Good call. Yes. Yeah. Now that I'm locked in, Owen Wolf, I would say, is probably one of the headliners for this one. Where did you go with this? If he stays healthy and San Diego are as good as we think they're going to be, I don't see how Manitua doesn't win this. Okay.

It's a, he's a $15 million dollar setterback. And he's 20. Yeah. Like he could, he could end up being young player of the year. He could end up being defender of the year. And he could be the record outbound sale for MLS defenders. Okay. Like that's, and I love Owen Wolf, I don't talk Lamati, who I forgot to mention in my,

my column, Shakiris could do it. Like, if he has seven goals and 14 assists, which is, I think, not out of the realm of like, there are a lot. Olethe Mukanya was. excellent last year for Philly. He's still eligible. Like there's a lot of really, really good players who are eligible for this. Madadua is a level above them. Yeah. The other names I had down, but I agree with you. I have Mateo Silvetti. I thought he was awesome last year. I think he can play all three spots in the attack. That's not the 10. And so I think whoever's out,

he will be playing there. I think he could score a ton of goals. Owen Wolf, obviously, as I said, all the names you said, I would throw in Peyton Miller, although I don't know that he's going to play in MLS for the full year because of the offers that are coming in and the potential he has. But he's a game changer, and I think that will pop for people. And the other one's Johnny Shore. Like, there's a chance. You never know, unfortunately, what's going to happen with Keaton Parks.

You have a bunch of injuries in Central Midfield already. So if he plays a bulk of minutes as a center mid for a legitimately top four Eastern conference team at his age, I think that's going to elevate him up the conversation. So I think that could be a really big one. In the chat, we've got David Martinez, which I think we've just been waiting for that one for two years now. So if it happens, great. And yeah, I think there's a lot of names you can throw in here, which is why this is one of the fun conversations to have in MLS right now. But those, I think, are the ones we're going to lean on besides, of course, Snyder Brunel winning MVP for the season. You know who was not in this conversation? You know who was not in

this conversation 12 months ago. Alex Freeman. So things can change really, really quickly. Yeah. Just everybody bear that in mind. And don't hold it against us when we're wrong. I'm okay if you hold it against me. I appreciate being trashed every once in a while.

Let's take, let's go defensive here. So we've got defensive player of the year and goalkeeper of the year. I think on goalkeeper of the year, the frontrunner is going to be Dane Sinclair. can you give me a strong argument for someone else? I think that he's not going to have as much to do, right? And so I think that'll be, that'll hurt his case. And then you look at guys like, Matt Freeze isn't going to be that busy, but probably busier than Dane St. Clair.

And he's going to get a lot of pub because he's the U.S. number one during a World Cup year. Matt Turner, if Matt Turner bounces back and starts looking like the old Matt Turner who played every week, then he'll be the best shot stopper in the league. And that is something that people won't ignore. And then Christian Kalina, like he was not as consistent last year as he was in 2024, but for that 10-game run, he was otherworldly. and we know he can do that for 34 games. And the question for my pick, Michael Colodi for FC Dallas is can he do it for 34 games? Because he was the best keeper in the league final 10 games of last year and then did really well in the playoffs as well, even as FC Dallas were getting shelled. And he has won the starting job fully for FC Dallas.

And Martin Paz has been sold. Like this is it like it is his job. He earned it. He really, really looked good. So I'm going with the dark horse. That's my big. What a crazy world do we live in that the backup goalkeeper from Dallas gets sold to Iax?

I know he's Dutch and like it makes sense, but it's just like one of those things when it happened. I was like, this feels big, but it wasn't big because he doesn't really matter for the team. I think that argument makes a ton of sense. I think the day and one is interesting of like, we think the team will be better,

so therefore he'll have less to do. He's also a showman and they will be on prime time all the time. and I think some of that will will come out. I think the Matt Freed's argument is super interesting as well of obviously you're not supposed to vote on national team stuff, but if he's the starter for the first six months, like that's all people will talk about and so people will be tuned into all of that. And then on the Dallas side, I'm going to go Dallas on defensive player of the year, so I can't go goalkeeper as well.

It's just not allowed. The other name I want to throw in there is Roman Berkey. Like St. Louis improved up the spine, center, backs and Daniel Edelman. So I think they'll be better. If they press high and create chances and that's their game model and Berkey is good off his line and is a difference maker as a shot stopper, I think there's a world in which if St. Louis is in a playoff race,

he might be the most valuable player at the goalkeeper position. And if someone wants to sneak that debate in and he obviously is a name, I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up there. He hasn't been for the last year and a half, but that team was a mess. So I'm fascinated to see how he affects two young centerbacks and a group that's going to basically be built on their defensive stability, but also needing to press high to create chances. And that gives you space to show how good you are. I mean, for Columbus, they've had goalkeepers and goalkeeper of the year conversations who have been inconsistent.

Berkey would be an improvement on all of that. And if it's very obvious with the way they play, I think there's a chance he ends up in this conversation by the end of this year. That took me completely by surprise. I did not expect a St. Louis mention in any way. I got you. Yeah. Let's go defender of the year. I teased it a little bit there.

I think, again, with Dallas, with the way they're set up, I think Uruguide could be the most important defender, and I think he could be one of the best if he is playing in a three-man backline flanked by two natural fullbacks who have to step in to help attack and wing back. that have to play up the high up the field to create chances. You will see what we saw last year, which was elite over the top, elite 1v1, and Supercom in possession.

And I think he'll be there for the full year. I don't know that any defense is built around one player as much as it is him. And if he shines and this team shines, it will be very obvious over the course of the season. That's a good shout. I don't think I had put enough thought into Orogeida is a candidate for this one,

but it does actually make sense. He was very good last year. In year one. Yeah, in year one for a team that was like constantly under construction. And to be fair, they still kind of have that a little bit. They feel a little constantly under construction or not.

Like, please make some more moves. I just don't know if they're going to be good enough, right? If you look at it, Defender of the Year now tends to, who come from a team that finishes like top three in the conference every year. And, you know, like Tristan Blackman was really good last year. I didn't think it was Defender of the Year, but the Caps were awesome. Therefore, he got a lot of, you know, whereas the year before, it was Stephen Marrera,

who absolutely deserved it and got my, you know, going down the list. So I tend to think, um, Mikael, like if, if Miami passed the eye test defensively in a way that they didn't last year for most of the season, right until the very end. I think Mikael will rightly or wrongly get a ton of credit for that. So I think he could have narrative going there. I expect Seattle's defense to bounce back. And I think Jackson Reagan will be the obvious candidate if they do so. And then I'm going to go back to San Diego with Dua.

Last year, I voted for Michael Boxall because Minnesota's defense was very good, but also Boxall was intrinsic to the way. they play. Like they could not play their style if they didn't have Michael Boxall in that defense. It's the same with San Diego. Their defense is going to be very good. And also, they could not play that style that effectively if they didn't have Manu Dua in central defense. I think he's good enough to win young player and defender of the year. Okay. Let's go. Let's stick on the backline then let's go to fullback. Do you have any pushback on this? Am I too high on Manu Dua? No, I don't think so. I think

we get really excited sometimes about a guy year one and then it's like, okay, now the expectations on your shoulder, can you organize back? I also think San Diego will have some drop off, not maybe as much as I expected. And I don't know what that will look like. And you throw that all on top of a little bit of goalkeeping questions and Annabel Godoy going to a World Cup and the amount, I mean, we ask every year when he's done and when the legs will run out and they seem incapable of doing so. So I think that, the year will look harder for him than last year did when he came in and that will make things

a little worse. I voted Mikael for Defender of the Year when he was at Houston. I'm pretty sure. I know I had in Best 11. So it'd be crazy if Inter Miami won the Shield and he looked equally as good, if not better for being a little bit more mature. And I didn't end up voting for him again. But I was trying to lean away from that to an extent. I don't think you're crazy for a guy in Manu Duo who is comfortable in possession with both feet can defend in space and like fully understands the system he plays in. So calling him, calling him comfortable in possession is like the understanding of the century.

The way he steps in when teams are stretched and he reads the gap of, okay, so Bombino's gone high, you've chased him, you're chasing our attackers into space. the move here is for me to dribble into through at least break the first line of pressure and then at that point you things will open up he's super comfortable doing that and then one of the things that san diego does well is when you start to pack in they hit that early cross first time off the two wings and he crashes as well as any centerback into the run of play there we're like he will get

goals on top of just set piece plays no i think you're fair in being a excited about him and him being the frontrunner for most of these awards. On top of the fact that San Diego is going to promote all of that, like, not just in terms of like PR, but like they're going to play him. They're going to talk about how much he's worth. Like that is the thing they are built on. And he should fit in with all of that, which takes us to fullback, by the way. I think Luca Bombino will be in the young player convo if he has a year like he did last year

and he will get to play the full year and be comfortable and all of that. This one's hard for me with what we're doing wingback first. back because I think most of the wingbacks will win it because they will have more effect. They'll play higher up the field. They'll affect the game even more. I said Dewan Jones, a front runner for me, if we're allowing wingbacks to be a part of it. I would also throw both the New England guys in there. I think Feingold was awesome last year.

And as I said, I think Peyton Miller is like the next Alex Freeman at least, if that's the conversation we're having. My issue with that is both those guys played his wingbacks last year. and they're going to be full backs this year. Okay. Because it looks like a 4, 2, 3, 1. And I'm worried that playing deeper and having more defensive responsibilities. And look, if you talk to, if you talk to pros, you talk to guys who have done the jobs,

they'll tell you fullback is a is, if you talk to David Goss after Menzig, they'll tell you full back is a much more complicated position than wingback. Wingback is very linear. Like you have to be robust physically. Your job is to go in that direction and we got the rest for you. Yeah. Whereas you have to be aware of a lot more as a fullback, timing your overlap when you go in that direction. The space you're leaving behind you is more critical just because of the nature of a four versus a five.

Both Feingold and Peyton Miller are attackers first. And there aren't a lot of teams in MLS or anywhere in the world that plays with two, play with two attack first fullbacks in a four. So I'm kind of bullish on the revs overall. They're one of my like dark horse, big pass, you know, fun teams to watch.

But also there's a very obvious way where this could kind of fall apart. Yeah. Do you have, so what's your list of names that you'd put to start? Let me open up my, your own article on. tactics free.

My own article. Okay, let me throw a couple names out there while you're doing that. I think Eddie Arcompos an obvious one. He was a game changer for Vancouver last year. He should have been in the, I mean, we make up this award, so he should, we make this award up, right? This is not one that anyone actually gives. I'm now trying to mix between NWSL and MLS because NWSL has added some position

awards, so more people can get involved. So feel free to correct me at any time. Like, I know you've been very hesitant to do in the past, but feel free to open that up. That's an obvious one. Alex Roldon's an obvious one. one. Like, Seattle is competitive and good. You know he's a massive part of it. I mentioned Duan Jones. Those are like the three that jumped out to me. I do want to take a second before you say your names. What I don't know that I've actually really contextualized what the impact of losing

Kai Wagner will be for Philadelphia. And I'm not saying his replacement will win it. I'm saying how big of a drop off will this be for the Philadelphia Union to have lost a player who is such an outlier at his position and clearly fit what they did. Yeah, he was their best chance creator, their primary chance creator for like the past five years. Just, um, it, I don't think you can go like for like. You, you can't, you can't get that lucky again. Um, and I think part of it, like I actually mentioned Frankie Westfield in the column now that I

oh, there we go. Actually remember, um, because it's like, okay, like we saw with the U20s and at times with the union that Westfield's really, really good. getting forward. Like, not quite Kai Wagner level good, but like really good. And on a,

you know, a trajectory that's not linear. And, okay, so do you, like, Philly were tilted left a little bit last year.

Well, with Kai Wagner gone, and no official replacement is it, do you just tilt right and say, you know all that freedom Kai had last year? Frankie, you have that now. You get forward.

And Philly's going to be good again this year. I don't think they're going to win to shield, but they're going to be good. And Frankie Westfield has a chance to be a huge part of that, both in providing the final pass, and also, like, he has a knack for getting into the box. So he's a guy I mentioned.

Andrew Gutman perpetually underrated, underappreciated. He's a guy I mentioned, and I think there might actually be more creative burden on his shoulders this year, because with no Brian Gutierrez and Andre Franco out until at least mid-season, he's going to have to get forward. He does that really, really well. but I actually went with, for my prediction, I went with Andy Nahar.

And I'm whistling past the graveyard a little bit. I was going to say. He's never stayed healthy. Back to back years would be a miracle. He had, he had his healthiest year last year at age 32. You know, it just doesn't seem likely.

But like, please give me 2,500 minutes of that this year because he's so good and he's so much fun. And Nashville's going to be so good and fun. And they're kind of shifting their game model a little bit. just like marginally in a way that really suits him. You know, they're going to try to be a little bit more dominant in possession.

And like he's so like it's like having another playmaker out there, another guy who's so happy to get on the ball in those spots. So, you know, fingers crossed for national fans that I'm correct. But there's like there's a lot of good ones. And then there's questions like, does Anthony Markhanik count as, you know, like the end. I think I think he kind of does. whereas under Achenique probably does it. I love Achenique. I'm so excited for his season.

The other than names that I thought about, which doesn't really fit this though, is I think Reggie Cannon will play a little bit of both. Like I think he will be third centerback at times for this, whether it's as a backup for the two or if they switch formation at all. And I think you'll see his value, which was he was one of the better players as a third centerback at times last year, as a fullback at times.

And so then those names, are different than mechanic scoring seven goals or whatever it is on the two ends of the spectrum. But this is going to be a fun one, I think, when we come back to it towards the end of the year, midway through the year to refresh and talk about where we stand. Okay, let's stay on the player side before we have some of the other awards that we have to do. Let's go to midfielder. So this is the one I believe I got wrong, which is we've done the six in the past and NWSL has brought in midfielder of the year. But it was sort of a way to, listen, all the MVP conversations are with the 10 and like shifting away from that who is the best midfielder in the league.

And so trying to change that conversation also lets you bring in eight a little more, a Sebastian Burrhalter of the world. If he could stay healthy, Keenan Parks of the world, I think, do you see the effect here of a David Aisjalo or is it just Rodrigo to Paul? Because he's Rodrigo to Paul. Like this is where I think you could have a lot of those conversations. Where would you go with this one on first hearing at about seven seconds before we started. Yeah, so I

kept it to sixes in my column and I kind of wishcast Stephen Eustachio into that, because he's an excellent player. And I guess maybe I kind of poo-pooed it a little bit when the signing was first announced but I shouldn't have done that. Like

he's a really excellent player and he has the chance to meaningfully change the way L-AFC, which is going to be one of the best teams of the world in the league rather, to meaningfully chance it changed the way that they play. And I think that matters.

Certainly that's the type of stuff that losers like us talk about a lot. And so like that that's like that's really big. But if it's like man, I think if we're bringing in eights, I think that Miami's going to win the supporter shield. And Rodrigo DePaul's probably going to play, if that's the case, he's probably going to play 2,500 minutes for a team that collects 75 points. and trophy and it would be surprising if he's not one of,

if not the very first name mentioned among Sixes and Eighths in this league. Yeah. The thing that I talked about, I think with Joe on this show, right, when Oostakio signed, is how good Oostakio is, though, at getting you out quickly if he wants to and how accurate he is. That's where it's like, okay, if you push numbers high and you turn it over, he's going to get Son and Buonga into transition. He doesn't need to knock it around.

and slowly progress up the field. He can do it. He's great at it. That's where he will help this team the most is the ability to pick the lock a little and sort of dictate. But there's still probably three to five assists in there of early balls from him that are hit the exact way you want to outside of the foot, cross field, through the channel, like all this type of stuff that he can do

that very few people can do. So I think Gustafio makes a lot of sense. The question would be, does he play a full season in this league? And does he play a full season with this team? I'm really excited for what Robin Ludd's going to bring to Chicago. So that's one where I don't think you'd consider him a pure 10, but he will be in that mix. He's going to be like a free A, right?

He's going to be like the Kevin DeBreino role, which is like much more of an attacking role than a defensive role. And he might sort of line up there at times. So it might look a little different. But that's one as well. I think there's a few different ways you could go with this one. One of the ones I'm fascinated about is I believe the report that Artur is injured right now to start, Jack McGlynn doesn't cover a lot of space.

So if this Boozac guy comes in and plays well and does the job and Houston's good, it might be very obvious that this guy is a game changer for this team because it feels like there is a lot of gaps in central midfield for Houston and someone's going to have to cover them and bring in the captain of an Argentine team to, you know, in his 30s to come and sort of hold that spot could be really interesting. That's probably more for a newcomer, though. Um, okay, that's all of our player awards. Uh, you did come, did we mention, did we mention rolled on in Kubas?

No, we should, we should just with those guys. Yeah, they deserve mentions the two of them, um, because they were both so excellent last year. Um, it, it, it felt too obvious to, to choose either of them to be the, the winner of this, uh, extra time award. but nobody here would be shocked if at the end of the season we're like man Andres cuvus is amazing you know or Christian Roldon is the best central midfielder in the league and like you look at it like Christian Roldon was meaningfully better than Obed Vargas last year and Obed Vargas has instantly walked into Adelaideco Madrid's central midfield rotation and is taking minutes from guys who we would all be like

Holy shit. Everybody go to Paul coming to Moles. Right. Right. Yeah. So it's like, okay. Like you can use the transitive property a little bit here to understand how good these guys are. Okay.

So off the field, coach of the year. This one's tough to do in advance. You kind of have to predict where you think teams fall in the standings. Why? How they're affected. To me, the obvious one out the gate is B.J. Callahan. If Nashville takes the jump, we think they're going to take, even with the addition of Espinoza.

I think a lot of it's going to be put as. feet if they play the soccer we think they're going to play i think they're going to be darlings for a lot of people to watch week in and week out um and then i think a lot of the success is tied to what i said at the top of the show what he brings why he's connected to this team all of that stuff so that's my early vote um or my prediction where did you go yeah i think bj is a favorite because i think they'll go from 52 points to like 64 this year and a lot of that will be oh christian espinoza but also So, like, they're, they're just going to be really, really good. And that should not be ignored.

And also, there's no guarantee that if you just add talent, you become a better team. And, you know, it takes some coaching. It takes some man management in the locker room. And I think everything I've heard is that BJ is really, really good at that. And just I'll say this, the conversation I think, what I think will happen, which I think we will be pretty on top of, because I'm saying right now, is if they shift all the way to the way he wants to play in Espinoza fits. It is that he had the restraint to slowly do it and not just, okay, tomorrow we're

going to do this and then we're going to ship points for the next six months and then we'll figure it out. Like he has gradually brought them there and it is in a place, I think, that the team has never been in. Even at their success, Nashville's never played this soccer. So that I think will be a large part of it as well. Yeah. The other one, look, it would be a really good story if Brian Schmester finally won.

And Sounders fans get all pissy about the fact that he's never won and, you know, never came all that close. It's like, yeah, it's a regular season award. Sounders do not have great regular season. Did you hear me get yelled at by the lobbying scorchers in Jeremiah on this? No, I missed you on. I missed that, actually. On our interview with them for our preview, a couple of the teams. I've done what's sort of the national narrative thing that you're annoyed about or you want to talk about, you know.

Oh, my God. I bet they're in soft. No, they actually. Well, no one went straight to like complaining about deep cut Sounders fans who complain about Roos. Oh. And he's like, they actually under aid him, which wasn't the question. But the main one they said was stop saying Seattle will contend for the shield. They won't.

They don't care. It's not what they do. Don't think you're going to say it into existence because it won't happen because. I'm changing my pick. The Seattle Sounders are going to win the supporter shield this year. Why? Why won't they? because they're going to try and win Leaks Cup.

They're going to try and win Concaf. Like what they do is play hard in every game. It's impossible to do across what do we think they probably end up at 45 games. 45, 50. In all competition. They were 50 this past year, I think. And they are so good at it that they kind of know, well, we'll get there in the playoffs and then we'll sort of be that tournament team.

Like, because they're good at Leaks Cup, they are good at the playoffs. It obviously didn't work out perfectly for them last year. like they lost in penalty kicks. Like that happens sometimes. They were, they were, I think I ended the show saying it again. And they were like, stop saying this. It's not going to happen. So back to the Schmetser conversation.

No, if it does happen, right, if they end up on 70 points. And to be clear, I think they have the talent to end up on 70 points. Brian Schmetser winning a coach of the year would be sort of a really nice. And it's not exactly the cherry on top of the Sunday. because it's not the last thing that he needs to do. But it would be a nice sort of commendation for a guy who is what, top three coach in MLS history. If you look at the overall scope of his career.

And it's on the table, man. Like maybe it makes more sense this year to focus more on league play and on winning a second supporter shield than it does on you know, leaving everything on the line for CCL title. I don't know. I am interested to see where we end up with Mark Dos Santos,

which is this like it could be plug in play. LAFC, they're always good. They're always top three. They're top three. Like there could be a version where everyone just skips past him. There's also a version where if the style changes a bunch, but the success remains, we all fall in love with it, which is funny,

because the results will probably be similar to what they were. especially in the regular season. I think the effect there would probably be more knockouts of you're more dangerous than knockout games because you can control the game. And when teams bunker on you, you're able to break it down. But I don't know that we'll see that over the course of the season. But that will be another big one to have.

I'd be surprised if San Diego and Philly pushed at a level that they did last year, that those two in Mikey Varus and Bradley Carnell are really eligible for this again because now the mark is, well, what you did last year. Yeah. And it will be. pretty tough for Jesper Sorensen again to do well enough compared to last year for him to win this type of award because my theory would be the way Sorenson wins it is he wins MLS Cup, which is after the voting because that's the only difference between last year and this year.

Yeah. Is there a world where Javier Mascherano wins? I don't think so. I think it would have to be like 80 points at a messy injury. They have to be so much, they have to be so much better than everyone else that it's like, like it ends up being everything as a Miami award because otherwise people are not going to give him the credit for this team being good last year and then getting better with such a change in personnel. So I find it hard to believe that most people would give the credit to him specifically. On the other side, I don't really know who votes on this thing.

So maybe enough people that only watch Miami vote. And he ends up being the frontrunner the entire year because that's who everyone was going to vote for. Anyway, okay. a couple of the more ambiguous ones we've got comeback newcomer and gosh theorem uh comeback is the least interesting one to me and i think you did it in your article i did um i always vote for guys who are coming back from an injure yeah i don't vote like the buddy of my bear baby yeah right coming back from being trash is that what yeah i don't vote for guys who who the no trash coming back a good year after a bad year it's always coming back from injury there's a lot of guys Jordan morris hasani dotson for the sounders

um Kelvin yboa for minnesota and minnesota is going to play yeah this year it's not just going to be rugby so i'm like i think he could end up having a really good season uh rudy kamacho he's the starter for columbus again um he missed like everything yeah last year so he's also never played well without playing for nonseil like in his entire career and he's like 30 So it would be huge if he was good. It would be very big. So there's like there's some there's some choices. But this isn't to me this isn't a particularly interesting.

My nerd one is Ted Kudy Pietro coming back full year. I like that. Put some numbers down and he gets there. Let's do newcomer. I've talked about Gost theorem a couple times already. So I could throw some names out there. But let's do newcomer here, which is sort of the big moves of the off season. Hamas Rodriguez is going to have his comment.

envos uh usakio as well both of them i think would have to play the full season for it to hit and for that to matter uh i think we both kind of feel it's unlikely with hames that he plays for this team in august uh so he'd have to put up what 15 and 10 in the last of the season yeah to win this award but he'll be a vibe he'll be fun uh we'll talk about leak pass in just a second who where did you sort of lean on the newcomer side i mean ustaccio is the one who um popped to mind first because I think he is going to have that measurable effect on how L.A.F.C. play. But Hermann Burtarame is probably going to score a bunch of goals. Yeah.

And voters tend to notice that. Tom's Superdraft or a golden boot draft pick, Josh Sargent, if he ends up playing in MLS this year and scores. And we apologize for the broken window that just occurred in your home. When Tom heard that and just threw a phone for no reason. reason. That's a guy who could who could end up winning it. But there's not a ton of

right. It doesn't feel like the money has been spent on big money has been spent on names that will. Can I draft Dallas's DP number 10? That's my pick. That's my draft pick, Tom. And it's one of those things where it's like, well, one. So does a Mateus Bogus count in this? They have to be new to the league. And neither does Mammy do fall.

Okay. So that's part of it. And the other part is I think guys where if even if they have a good year, it's really in service to the other players around them. If Ruval Kaba has a big year, you're going to see it on Shupamoteng and Forsberg stats. It's not really going to be him as much. And so it doesn't feel like the huge names, even though there have been big money spent on some big names and a ton of movement. Fekundo Torres, not available, not new. I guess we should throw Timo Werner in like we had that conversation. towards the top if he scores X goals. Yeah, he'll scores. If he's like 16 goals and nine assists, then he'll be in the conversation for sure. And I would say a lot of teams have done some work to close out last year, even like a nerd of a Kenji Cabrera

or something like that. Those were all moves that already happened that now they're settling in. Echinique, guys like that, Samuel Gide, they don't have the ability to do this. But I think those are going to be the like, these are the big ads for these clubs that have come in.

so I don't see like a ton of other obvious names. Bertram is the big one who will put up numbers and has come into this league. On the Goss theorem side, a lot of the names then that I just mentioned, I think I put Veld as my one. I just, I think this guy is going to like take scalps throughout the season. So here is the,

here's the question. I'm going to shout out Paul Harvey, who does really great work for American soccer analysis for this one. He doesn't think that Velt should be. eligible because even though the dude could not put the ball in the back of the net until the playoffs um his underlying numbers were overwhelmingly positive like it wouldn't actually be goss theorem it would be more like denny bewanga from 2022 when he came in um the final seven games of that season i was joking about how he's the worst finisher in the league and like the the

how that one worked out for you it was a joke um like anybody who looked at the underlying numbers to say this guy's going to be a monster. This guy is going to be like a really, really good player in this league. And like it might apply here to Christopher Velda. Okay, first of all, nerds get off my lawn and chill with that. Second of all, I think that's part of it, which is the pressure and the and some of the changes of the speed of the game and the shape stops you from performing at your best when you first get here. And so yes, he got himself into those spots, but he didn't finish the chances. If he does now, what's the difference is how he has settled, how he fully understands his role in the team and his comfort in those big moments.

So that to me is where it matters. And I understand the idea of like someone being completely out of the game because they fully don't understand the league and then developing forward. But if you go from incapable of finishing to finishing a lot, that feels like you've understood how it works a little bit. And you've settled in and gotten comfortable. and that goes straight to what the theorem exists on. Yeah, same for Bruno Damiani, who was my pick. You know, he knew where the goal was last year and he just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net consistently enough.

There was one other. Someone just asked me if I have a lawn in Arizona. I don't know how I became the Arizona guy, but I love it. I'm here for it. Two others, actually. Jonathan Bamba. That's the clear one to me as well. And Emmanuel Lattelot-Lat-Lath.

and I haven't heard overwhelmingly great things about either in this preseason. I got to tell you. Yeah. The expectation from Bamba should be that it's there, that all of it's built around what he does well, that it's very similar to last year. So you had a full year to figure it out, learn, and all of that. And if you can't do it now,

then it's probably never really going to happen for you. And that's a huge issue for Chicago with as much as they invested. You could go get Bamba's production from an MLS veteran. right now with the way it's at and you could not spend TP money and you could do it they might actually have done that in robin lud and like be in the same position so uh there are other players out there who can do it with him that's most that that's a quick short list of some of the names um what's it called uh wow NYCFC young attacker joined last year uh Nico fernandez mercow that would be one as well on the newcomer on yeah he did he's not a gosster there I

He was good last year. He'll be great this year as well. Okay, let's talk a little bit of team awards or team conversations for us, not awards. Some of the ones I wanted to do were expectations of biggest jump, biggest falloff for teams. And I want to talk league past teams, like, especially these first two, three weeks, I think there are a number of teams where it's like, I can't wait to see what this looks like. And my hope is a couple of those teams land to what it was last year, which was. was two weeks in it was like you have to watch san diego right when nonsea got to columbus it's like you got to watch this team play like i don't care who they're playing i don't care what time it is that's the soccer that i want to watch uh and i think there's going to be a number of those teams let's start on the league pass site so i like who are you stoked to tune into what are you locked in for week one of can't wait to see how it goes down and expectations that'll be fun Cincinnati um i like the the talent there is so overwhelming they've done such a good job of putting this roster together, and it didn't click last year. And I have my theories

as to why that is. And I, Sinci fans are, some of them are being, I think, pretty stupid in the way they're talking about Pat Nune. Like, it's pretty well established. Pat Nune is a really good coach. I, like, I'm looking forward to seeing what they have figured out. I think, I mean, their underlying numbers were terrible last season. I can't imagine it happening that way again. then there's like, God, if that spark of magic between Dengay and Evander, if they can find that, then suddenly this is like one of the most entertaining teams in North America. Yeah. That's one, I agree, locked in, want to see how it looks.

If it starts flowing and like the goals start to look easy for those two and the wingbacks are attacking and all of that, then it's like, yeah, this is what we thought. They were the second best team in the league last year. And if they play like it, then it becomes really. impressive and fun to watch. And I think in Lucho's best times, they were very fun to watch, right? Some of these games that were open, 5-3 games,

big comebacks, like all this type of stuff that they were capable of. I think a lot of that stems off what Pat Newton builds culturally and what they're capable of doing. I think Chicago's on my list. Like, if it all hits, I think it could be really, really fun. In possession, I think they

could be dangerous in transition. I think you could have really entertaining games for them. And I want to see, early on are they a top four team in these like i think that's on the table uh and should be expected and that's a huge question mark some of the ones that i don't know that i'm curious on the galaxy like yeah i'm afraid they're going to be a little boring i thought i thought i thought jesson hack was going to be there to be a centerback but it looks like he's playing in a double sixes with uh serio yeah in a four two three one and like look if ricky

pooch was healthy then i'd be like okay kind of worth it but i don't know Like, I'm worried, like, Eric Tommy is not Ricky Pooch and neither is 38-year-old Marco Royce. And I'm worried that it could be a little bit disappointing. And then, like, if that's what ends up happening, you're playing higher up the field, can peck and pain still take apart teams that are in a deeper block? Because that was a huge part of the issue. You couldn't get them into the transition moments. And they showed their limitations against set teams.

But that's one where it's like, I'm locked in. I can't wait to see how it looks. obviously Hamas Rodriguez in Minnesota. I don't know when he will start starting. I don't know how many minutes we're going to get out the gate. I'd be surprised if there's a minute Hamas Rodriguez plays for Minnesota that I don't consume this year. Like that's, I still have chills when I think of the goal against Uruguay in 2014.

There's a number for some reason that Colombian generation has that. I have a Wanfare, Contaro, Quintaro jersey in here. Like, I love a lot of these players. I have no idea what it looks like. I think the expectation that he's going to crush his intense from some people were like, of course, ball are done. But then there's also a chance that that's all true. Yeah.

I'm really interested to see two head coaches, Tata, if he can resurrect that Atlanta United, honestly the entire organization at this point. But move on to the other one because I know what you're going to say. Are you going to say revs? No. Oh. I'm going to say Red Bulls.

I think Michael Bradley is brilliant, right? And his dad is one of the greatest soccer coaches and MLS and U.S. soccer history. And what Bob was really great at and never got enough credit for it. It was like granular improvement. I think Bobby was talking about this on a soccer wiser last month. It's like helping players improve on like a really granular level. And I imagine Michael's going to be the same way. And like he did really good work with Red Bulls 2 and half a season.

And look, man, that club needs something. They need some kind of science of life. And I'm hoping that they get it from the new head coach, at least in part. Zippy Tuna said, can't wait for the quote, feel better than Michael quote. From Schmetser. That's such class. That's such a good line. I'll throw out that last one then, which is the reps.

A lot of return pieces. Chain shifted. a ton of young former U.S. internationals or current U.S. internationals. They also have a robust academy that has been tapped into on and off. Obviously, Caleb hates it, but Bruce was oddly open to it and helped build it. And to go along with some of the players that I like to watch, I think Tugerman's going to score a bunch of goals. Campania is genuinely in the conversation for a World Cup spot on a team that I think

will not only qualify out of the group stage, I think could be the Dark Horse. of the World Cup, so he's got a ton of pressure and opportunity. And he's been awesome in preseason. Golden Boot winner of the preseason. Yeah. And there's a bunch of Luca Langoni. Like there's a bunch of talent in this team. I don't know how it all fits.

I don't know how it all goes together. A little bit of unsure stuff right now with Sabios. I think he's having trouble getting his family into the country. So there's conversations about Colombian teams reaching out for him. But it seems like the revs are at least going to hold on for now and try and help him. Brian Belello gave the, team president gave an interview with Blazing Muscat, who does fantastic work covering all soccer in New England, not just the revs, saying that Sabius was never for sale. Yeah.

Like he's, he's going to be back. But the offers are real, and I think that's the background of the offers is there's a belief maybe he wants to leave. But I like that centerback pairing. Obviously, Turner, going to be super entertaining to watch. Interesting. So the revs are one for me as well early in the season where it's like, okay, was it a culture? like, did you fix stuff from last year? It's really interesting to try and fix a culture

without fixing pretty much any of the players, but just one person. But it's obviously a really important person for things. Okay, let's go biggest jump off. Biggest jump up into the season, jump off. I was just doing a little job button. And then biggest fall off. Which one do you want to start?

Positive or negative? Let's start positive. Yeah, let's do it. uh people are are going to shame me for this if i'm wrong but i think it's the quakes the quakes were they played like a 55 point team last year they just sucked in in their own box right like donnell had a shocker uh anytime earl edwards was out there it was four goals for the the opponent like and i'm frankly kind of shocked that they didn't they haven't addressed the goalkeeper situation.

Even with that, I expect massive improvement from those young centerbacks. I think they'll go to a four and they'll have Ronaldo Vieira for a full year. I expect a huge jump from Shakuris. I think Pimo Verner is going to be good. And Bruce just knows how to get teams to play. They were a better team than their record last year. I think they're going to play closer to their underlying numbers this year. And that could mean, you know, in the Western Conference, it's not very scary.

right now. 50 plus points feels like it's on the table for San Jose. Okay. Um, I'm going to go with the revs. Everything I just said, I'm going to believe in a chunk of it. I think the talent's there. I think the fix works. Uh, the other obvious, obvious is the wrong phrase to use. The galaxy seemed like a clear one of like, there's just no world in which they go, oh, in 14 to start a year. And so the point, even if the points per game ends up being not that far off from what it was last year the second half of the year the points jump would have been massive if that was a full year they're better to start this year it feels like they have a clear idea without ricky like having an identity that's not just marco royce will be ricky because he's not um but i'm going to go with the revs because

i have i trust listen if i'm not going to trust a former u.s youth national team coach who's worked around the first team and coming to an mLS team and has a distinct style and a clear idea at this point i don't know when i'm going to so i'm going to choose to believe in a lot of that stuff for the revs and believe in the jump that comes for them. Then that takes... The other one is Atlanta. Yeah. 28 points.

That's not a 28 point team. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what that team is. Yeah. That is a crazy team. I'm looking forward to watching them. And then the fall off on the other side.

The clear ones are what I said with Coach of the Year. It's Philly and San Diego. They could both have great years and have clear point drops just because they were so good last year. but I'm going to go with Minnesota of just a complete change you can say you want to change the style a little if you don't change the personnel a ton

I think a lot of those players wanted to play more like this last year but I don't know that they can at a really high level and then you've got the Hamas thing thrown in how long is it take to get him there how much is built around him if he doesn't come back how big of an effect does that have there's just so many question marks in this team I think Cam Noles will be a coach in MLS for a long time

like I wouldn't be surprised if he does well I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't go great and he gets another job. Like I've spoken with him. I've covered his next pro teams. Like I think he's an MLS head coach. I just think it's a really tough job to come into. Eric Ramsey would have struggled with it. Yeah.

I just hope that he's given adequate time because this is a huge adjustment that is being made for a team that doesn't really have a culture of developing players and fitting pieces in and all that. and like they're trying to do all of it at once and it's more than a one year job. And I know that's a weird thing to say because they were just a 58 point team, but like that team is gone.

Yeah. Like those players are gone. So it's, it's, they're the obvious one to me for a big drop off. The other is Orlando. Alex Freeman was a huge part of that last year. He's gone. Robin Yontsin is already hurt.

Rodrigo Schlegel, the legend is gone. I thought the easy place to upgrade was, uh, goalkeeper and first they did it by signing Carlos Coronel and then he left them at the altar. And now they have Maxime Crepeau who to me isn't a starting caliber goalkeeper in MLS. It's unclear if they're going to be able to win the ball defensively. They really struggled with that when Cesar Arajo wasn't on the field last year.

He's gone. Their best moments last year came when Luis Muriel was, you know, got on that little hot streak. He's gone. Like, Martino Heda was awesome last year. I think he's a really good player. Do I think he's a 30 goal contributions player? I don't. So it's like,

there's a lot of possible that are not great either. A lot of goals from distance that are not super repeatable, even if you're good at it. Yeah, there's a lot of question marks in there. It would be wild if this kid, Igor and Tiago hit, and it was like that's where they maintain the level because the assumption is that both of them are going to start, is what Mike Spillane talked to us about.

That was perfectly timed, though, because we actually had someone in the chat say, do a quote most mid-segment so we could talk about Orlando. Then you proceeded to put them into the bad conversation. So it worked out really well for Orlando fans. For anyone else in the middle who's thinking, you haven't talked about us as much, that's why I want to do every game this on Thursday. We will do a mention of every single team so we could talk about them a little bit going into the weekend. I think there's some fascinating stuff with NYCFC.

I think there's some interesting conversations. around some of the teams in the middle, Austin, Dallas, Portland, all these teams that we maybe haven't spent as much time on here, which probably won't be as much the outlier teams, although there could be a couple negative ones in there that I just said. NYCFC, if they had gotten the Sightly the deal over, just to have the work done would have been in one. That, to me, would have been one of the most interesting teams coming into the year.

Talk about, you know, big jumps, there isn't a huge points there. They're not going to go over 65, so, like, there's not that much. But I think Pascal Janssen's as good as anyone in MLS. I think there's a lot that's already built. But striking out on your DP right at the final sort of whistle of the transfer window, and then we don't know what's next with them and having Alonzo Martinez out, although great odds to win the golden boot if you want them. And you go through some of the vetting barlers which we were looking through to see what's out there earlier

than you can get those as well. Okay. Most of our convo there, Doyle, anything I missed? No, I think we hit it all. Hell, yes. We are ready for the season to kick off. We will be on Blue Sky tonight and every night this week talking through all the CCC games, CCL games. So you can hit us up there.

We have all of our previews already out there on YouTube so you can go watch them. We'll roll a bunch of them out in our podcasts. We've got a really fun conversation about the future of NWSL and youth development with the GM of Racing Louisville that we're going to be rolling out there tomorrow as we start our end of WSL season previews. We're going to be doing an interview across most of the teams in the league. And then our big interviews, our big previews as we did last year with Lori Lindsay and Jill Lloyden. So I'm really excited about those.

And then we'll be back to talk MLS. We're going to be back every Monday early for you so that we can get you your weekend recap as soon as possible, but we'll put out all those details and some big other news going on around soccer wise and everything we're doing. So subscribe to Doyle's newsletter. Subscribe to all the other things we talked about. in this show backheeled if you can spend a Patreon on american soccer analysis for all the work they do to keep it going and uh looking forward to the season the games are finally here you can hear

us stop pontificating about what we think will happen and hear us pontificate about what we think is happening it's the exact opposite so thank you to all of you who are in the chat live with us thank you to you to you doyle thank you to to tommy scoops for being out there and giving us our vibes at all times and we'll talk to you again very very soon