SoccerWise - MLS Edition: 2025 Watchibility Rankings + USL D1, Evander/Da Costa Signings, Atencio Trade & Santi Rodriguez Sale

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

We know you're trying to plan out your 2025 MLS schedule. Who is must watch, who do you want to go see, where should you travel to? Tom & Gass have you covered with their preseason 2025 "Watchability Rankings" to kickoff the week. Not to be outdone USL has announced their intention to create a top division league in America on the men's side of things. And of course the transfer market is still WIDE open as Portland finally pulls the trigger on their 2 big #10 moves, Josh Atencio leaves Seattle for the Mile High City, Houston continues to sell big pieces, and TFC have finally made a move!8:55 MLS 2025 Watchibilty Rankings36:03 Top 10 Watchibilty Rankings58:04 USL Division 1 News1:08:14 Da Costa & Evander’s Impacts For POR/FCC1:16:00 Josh Atencio Trade Fallout1:25:27 TFC Sign Big Center Forward Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Welcome everybody back to Soccer Wise, David Goss and Tom Bogart here. As said in our Patreon earlier this week, I still think you all are crazy for how much content you put out. You all have helped me understand the landscape and most importantly, helped me enjoy this crazy league. That is us right now. We are here on holiday Monday with a live show. Four new preview videos have gone up in the last two hours.

We have, I believe now, 16 videos up on YouTube. All of them are out as podcasts as well. Four different episodes of season previews that we have done with 16 different hosts from around the Major League Soccer landscape. And of course myself and Tommy Scoops back with you for a big soccer song. This is one of your favorite shows of the year.

Hell yeah, man I love doing the watchability ranking show and I love how much Disagreement we had when going through our own lists as we did our votes blind We're gonna use your list David Goss and then I just get to sit on from a chair and just go Oh, I disagree. This is where I disagree. Oh, you should have had this so I'm looking forward to that too Monday morning quarterbacks I still haven't decided if we're gonna to start from the top or the bottom. We're probably going to start from the bottom, but I actually hadn't gotten there yet. It is a big show.

If you haven't listened yet, by the way, I think last Thursday was one of my favorite shows of the year. We were lucky enough to have Sir Matt Doyle come join us. He brought us his over under points marks for every team in Major League Soccer and we all three picked our over unders. Morgan was kind enough to put it into a clean looking grid that has been posted on social media. I believe the numbers and the lines have been posted to Reddit as well.

If you want to go sort of test yourself and go to Reddit MLS. And someone was kind enough to make a doc that you can go use inside of our Patreon in our discord. So if you haven't already subscribed, get in there. We just dropped as we are crazy, our fresh new salary cap and depth charts. It has been an unbelievable amount of work. Shout out to Charlie cheesesteak for leading it. I think it's Todd, Chris and John as well,

who have really gotten dug in on this. Absolutely. We appreciate them wanting to be involved. We love that we've got a space where people who like soccer can get involved and do the things they're good at and try and help soccer fans understand this league a little bit better. They look a lot cleaner and fresher than what we were working with before. Tom, and I know you're already in there updating and trying to make sure things look what you're hearing across the league.

Exactly. This is, and particularly in the off season, I think it's super valuable for fans because I'll be filling in where I know a team is aiming to sign a DP9 or whatever, right? Now that the season's about to start, I'm just keeping it on the field, but we have notes in there where, hey, is this team going to play 4-3-3 or 5-2-3? Watch out for that. And hey, they're going to sign a DP9. Nothing's there yet. We'll see. These is the flexibility. So I love it. I have this open

all the time before we started soccer wise. Like I had my own depth charge. You had your own depth charge. Like this is, this is just normal stuff to us or what we've been doing for the last few years. And it's been really cool that like so many people are like, Oh, like I would love to see that too. So glad, glad to have a reason to do it for soccer wise. To Richard Greenberg in the chat for access to our discord, you have to subscribe so many people like, oh, like I would love to see that too. So glad to have a reason to do it for SoccerWise. To Richard Greenberg in the chat, for access to our Discord, you have to subscribe to our Patreon.

Once you do that, you get an automated message, you reply back to us and you get it there. It also gets you access to these depth charts and salary caps that we are talking about. And we are working on our VIP specials that we're gonna be rolling out for the 2025 season across both MLS and NWSL fans and anyone else involved, including USL.

We're going to talk about division one a little bit here today. We weren't able to do it last week. Unfortunately, this is the way American soccer, North American soccer chooses to work. I have five podcasts that I've already edited and put together and then a new league likes to drop the biggest piece of news of the year and it's like hey when do you want to talk about this and it's like probably between the 36 podcasts that we are putting out so we're gonna do it today because we already had Doyle booked to do the over-unders and then we already had a bunch of our season

previews rolling out as well of course Jordan Angeley will be back later this week for us to dig into all things NWSL and get ready for she believes cup we broke down the roster last week Sort of the big names that popped out to us some of the big ideas that Emma Hayes is trying to put together So you can go listen to that one as well And then I think finally after finally after we have 25 to 30 guests that have joined us over the last two weeks We're gonna get back into some interviews after this once sort of these seasons kick off,

pull the mailbag back in, and we've got some cool ideas as well for some of our weekly shows. So, after saying all of that, Tom, are you ready to go to Kansas City for negative six degrees and snow for the opening Kankistive Champions Cup. It'll be me, you and Messi just out making snow angels.

Me, me, you and Messi. I'll be, I'll join you guys in Miami, uh, with warmer weather and we can all watch together from remote. Home leg only. That's, that's what you signed in your contract. When I signed you up, I didn't realize that. No, I just went to the or at soccer wise adults and said, you know, I'm not saying anything, but you know, it'd be a lot better if this happened. Yeah, I'm not going. Full Elias Manuel, I'm just not going to be there.

We've got Concordia Champions Cup kicking off for MLS teams. We've already seen League MX and CPL and all these other teams get involved and now it starts for Major League Soccer. We start, oddly enough, with four or two all MLS matchups on Tuesday night, SKC hosting Miami, where the weather, as I said, is supposed to be pretty hairy. And then the Colorado Rapids hosting LAFC for what will either be a redux of the Colorado TFC series,

which we talked about with Mark earlier in the week in that preview about how brutal that game was or it'll just be pure Costa Rica USA snow game and then it rolls back around on Wednesday RSL are headed to Costa Rica Seattle finally get back on the field but without Josh Atencio, which we'll talk about and FC Cincinnati Debut for the 2025 season without Lucho Acosta against Matagua. Vancouver has a matchup against Saprisa and then this weekend Major League Soccer is back, which kind of catches you out of nowhere. It is going to be drinking, drinking from a fire hose once it begins. And then we are rolling through with all of our weekly coverage here at SoccerWise

to try and keep you abreast of everything Shocker inter Miami is the opening game on Saturday the early game at 2 30 Lafc hosts Minnesota at 4 30 which as you will see in my state My watchability rankings is a highly rated match in the gas watch abilities And then you roll into your normal schedule on the weekends. And of course, this year there'll be a Sunday game. I guess every single week, honestly, I haven't looked at the calendar as properly as I should. Either way, Andrew Weeby's gonna be on some of those,

so we're gonna be locked in for all of those. And of course, we're gonna have Andrew Weeby back onto the show this weekend, this week on Thursday. We are doing our Golden Boot draft. We are officially adopting it over from Extra Time Radio, RIP, and we are going to be doing it here at SoccerWise. We will then put it out as a graphic so everyone can track us and yell at us and hate us. We've already put enough, I think, lamination material out there with the Over Under points

show, but you know, we don't want people to feel like they don't have a reason to hate us. So, so we want more out there right like we gotta put our name in oak we should start carving these things not even written in pen throw this away. Let's commission that I think that would be a way to differentiate ourselves in the podcast world so I think that'd be cool while everybody's kind of figuring out the new technology we're like nah bro we're pivoting back to oak Right in scripture pal the pivot I'm gonna mail you this and you'll get it in three days I'm listening to a podcast as I fall asleep right now about Alexander the great so we could just start chiseling into marble I know I retained you retain that information

No, I didn't what the funny thing is I put them on sleep timer and I fall asleep like 10, 15 minutes in. I don't hear anything. So then when I wake up the next day, I rewind it back 15 minutes. So I've run the same podcast for weeks on end. And then finally I'll be like intrigued enough that I'm like, I gotta listen during the day. I gotta focus on this.

Exactly, I wanna actually hear this now and then I gotta find a new podcast to fall asleep to. You won't be falling asleep watching these MLS teams. Boom, transition, nailed. Bang. We are gonna go through our MLS watchability rankings. We are gonna start at the bottom. So can I do the methodology first?

Just lay it out for me. Absolutely, talk to us about the science, Tom. The science, we did our own research and we came up with a rubric to grade teams across six different gradings. Quality, 10 points. A team doesn't have to be great to be watchable, but that certainly helps. Identity, score of 0 to 10.

Look, Wilford Nancy's free-flowing build out at all cost style is much better than, if you remember Gerhard Schruber's car crash Red Bulls, those are not fun to watch. So 10 would be Wilford Nancy, 1 would be catch all for the stadium, the atmosphere, the kits, whatever else comes up in non-soccer. And this year for San Diego, I'll just spoil it, I gave them a 10 for non-soccer stuff because of the intrigue of an expansion team. I can't wait to see what they're going to look like. And then the three smaller categories, potential for spectacular moments, five points.

That's you know, free kick specialists or individual brilliance that you never know if you're watching that game whether or not somebody's going to do something crazy. Five points for fatal flaws, aka the bad defensive teams get five points and the good defensive teams get one point because it's fun last year to watch San Jose particularly beginning middle of the year. That game was going to end up 4-2. It didn't matter who they were playing. It was going to be pure chaos, and there was going to be goals. And five points for involuntary humor. This is for Peter Vermeese's jiffability on the sideline.

This is for Bruce yelling at the refs. This is for Diego Chara's smile after he tries to get out of a yellow card because he kicked somebody. All of the above, involuntary humor, scaled on five points. So, over those six categories, we have graded our teams and David Goss is going to give you his rankings and I'm going to critique it. I have a few outliers in here that I'm not super happy with and that's just the reality of sometimes the science and like you don't know what you don't know. I'm going to start at the bottom.

I'm going to make sure that I have this updated by the way to the latest because I've been tweaking all my points. Yes. Okay. So in last place, shout out to Gregory Roach who did an unbelievable job from the Pitch Pass podcast of previewing DC United with me. I have DC United in last place. I'm going to give you a bank of five here and then we could dig in.

So DC United in last. 29th is NYCFC. 28th is Philadelphia. 27th is Vancouver, and 26th is Nashville SC for this season. So we overlap, so I don't have DC last, I do have them in the bottom five, same thing with Nashville, Vancouver, NYCFC. For me, DC can't be last because of NTT. This goes to spectacular moments. This goes to uniqueness.

No team plays like DC. That doesn't mean that it's the very most watchable. It's not better. That was the problem for me. But I agree. But like, so when there's six games on at 730, I know what I'm getting with it. It feels nice to have a little wild card.

Yeah. And again, granted, a lot of it has to do with Ben Takei so you can catch up via highlights, which is why they're still in my bottom five, but they cannot be last for me as long as Christian Bentakei is on this team. Okay. Do you have, who's your last? Uh, Toronto at the moment.

Ah, okay. See, you talked about fatal flaws, you talked about humor, you talked about potential for insanity. That pushed Toronto all the way up. It seems like for the most part though the rest Of this we are fairly aligned NYCFC obviously a huge tough part is and Andrew Lee talked about it with us I think his podcast about to come out for us At Hudson River blue playing a baseball stadiums not ideal playing a different baseball stadiums not ideal

Let's go Mets one soda in spring training. So that I've get ready You better believe we're gonna be at every spring training and Marlins game coming up over the next few weeks. But that one's a little bit tough. And then for NYCFC, if Santi Rodriguez goes through the way we think, like it actually is one of the years in which I'm intrigued because of Pascal Jansen. And I'm intrigued by most of these teams. We're at that time of year, right? Like you could bring up any team in here. Philly, for example, I have low down here. Is Kevin Sullivan gonna play, I have low down here. Is Kevin Sellevang gonna play a ton of minutes?

What does this team look like? What is this new DP? Like you could sell me on most of these. I totally agree. Vancouver, I came out of the preview with Michael McCall, a little like things are stark right now and I don't know what I'm looking at. And I don't think Pascal Janssen,

I think that's a clear downgrade from Vanni Sartini in terms of watchability. And I don't know that Janssen, I think that's a clear downgrade from Vanny Sartini in terms of watchability. And I don't know that the soccer elevates it over the loss of Sartini's personality. Oh, Pascal Janssen, the NYCFC coach, of course. But I agree with- No, no, sorry. I moved between three things at the same time. You've got to be able to keep up with the mind, dude.

I'm trying. Yeah, no. Like, we did lose a great character in Vanny Sartini. I was surprised how low I had Vancouver. Like I knew that I wasn't going to have them in my top 10. I had them third last, and NYCFC was my second last because automatic one point for the stadium stuff. It's just, it's not fun to watch the Yankee Stadium.

And that's obviously going to change very, very soon in 27 when they open their beautiful new stadium. But for now, that's what it is. And this year- Thomas Lincoln sure has got a front row seat in the press box for the 2027 debut. How often do you think I'm gonna go from the Jersey short at Queens? Oh man. Can I just give a compliment? No you can't. That doesn't have any ulterior motive? No everything's ulterior I will tell you this that stadium is going to be like 18 minutes from my from my house that I grew up in. That's gonna be my

spot. Now you can get the... when you come when you're going back and visit you gotta stop by. So Vancouver I knew I wasn't gonna have them tie because this is not much new. There's a new coach but like the roster's set as is. You know, again I love Ryan Galt so like that carries it for me but you know pretty much how they're gonna play, what they're gonna do and they've shown that they're ceiling unless that this new coach can find a new wrinkle. They've shown that their ceiling, unless that this new coach can find a new wrinkle, they've shown that their ceiling is like six in the west and a first round exit.

Here's the thing. It's probably unfair, but I've seen this over and over again. With the off field stuff, with the owners selling and Stewart Armstrong leaving, essentially looking out of nowhere, it's just like, man, I feel like I've seen this before and I know what your ceiling is. Yeah. One of my worries with them, and I dropped it it down a bit was I don't know that the atmosphere is gonna be as good As it could be because I think the fans are gonna be affected by that

The other was I would actually be more sold on the Vami sartini trying to throw all of this against the wall once again Then I am I don't know what Sorenson style looks like and I don't know what how the players fit it And I don't know if I'll be as entertained by it with how the players fit it and I don't know if I'll be as entertained by it. Nashville one of the ones that if BJ Callahan changes as much as we think could jump up this very very quickly but where it starts right now and I think also the malaise in the fan base of like you turn a game on at Giotis early this year I don't know if fans are back yet and sold until there starts to be some results and change that's where that ends up. All right, my next five,

and this is probably a little low for them, but it has nothing to do with success this year. It has to do with watchability. 24th, I think is where I'm at, or 25th, New York Red Bulls, RSL, Montreal, Toronto, and then sitting right here at 21 is LAFC. What? Yeah. I have LAFC. What? Yeah.

I have LAFC in my top 10. I have Red Bulls right around the top 10. So you go first. Tell me why you're not really looking forward to those two. So LAFC, big special moments, I have them at four. Dennis Bulanga, Baby Giroud, Set Pieces, really, really high. Quality, I have them at a nine. style. I have them at a five. They have leaned further I have all I have all those same things. How did we finish so far off?

You have them at style five then I have them one and one on the last two So for fatal flaws and involuntary humor I have them one and one So for fatal flaws and involuntary humor, I have them one and one. So I have quality nine, identity five, non-soccer stadium kits, all that nine, spectacular moments five, fatal flaws one, humor two. How many bonus points did you give the teams ahead of them? I have humor one, I have non-soccer eight. Basically, I was one point less than you on everything. And that drops me down from like spots Well that drops them down from 12 to 20. Yeah, it's really tight in that whole middle space. No, that's fair. Um, I

Do think there's a world in which it's so fast that it's entertaining, right? It's constant open field stuff with the new midfield and all of that. It is Potentially super entertaining where it sits right now though, I am worried that it's going to feel stale and close down. Maybe when if Griezmann comes or Under is real, then maybe that gives a little bit more excitement, but I don't know that that does it for me. And the loss of Mateusz Bogusz and Kikel Levera is big, even though I love David Martinez Yeah, so and our David Martinez hype train is gonna have to slow down a little bit because Cenk Azundar is gonna be the starting winger but on my end like one like

Danny Buonga is is must watch he's awesome I like I did ding them on style because Like that can get older that can just feel like it has one pitch But if LFC is playing at home You know that's gonna be fun as hell to watch the atmosphere is gonna be there the kids the Hollywood all that other stuff So they get points there again the quality I have it at nine because I think this is one of the best teams in the league and particularly after Changa's under deal. So this year MLS teams will play around

24 regular season games before the summer transfer window opens. That's more than two thirds of the season. So LAFC are saving a DP spot for Antoine Griezmann. They are still working on that deal. And Cengiz Under comes in as a DP on loan until the summer. This is an excellent piece of business. This is a player who has 51 caps for Turkey. He's put up real numbers for Fenerbahce He doesn't fit the system that Jose Mourinho is playing which is why I was told

LFC were able to get this deal done and why he was open to it because alright I'll go somewhere where I'm gonna play for several months and I'll figure it out again in the summer There's a purchase option here But again if they get a deal for Griezmann Cegas-Under is a short-term solution So I think that was really really well done that's going to help a lot at the beginning. Olivier Giroud, I still am holding out big hopes for, we'll see. But like that front three is going to be really fun. The midfield is going to be more energetic than I guess ball playing, which I can, again,

I understand where that knocks him, but like I just think that off the field, spectacular moments and quality just really wins this for me. Yeah, I think all that's fair. On the UDER stuff, by the way, I'm a little surprised still that more MLS teams don't do this. That more MLS teams don't say we think we're good, we're not gonna make the big move, can we get a loan for someone who's through this summer? Then we're gonna get our guy, right? It's sort of an acknowledgement of like, you're not 100% here, we're not 100% committed to you. And then maybe sometimes it goes right. I'm just, it's one of those combos. I think we've had a couple times this offseason of like, I like that Chicago's left the spot open, find out who you are, then you make your big move,

or you see where Gutierrez stands and all that. There's some teams where I don't mind leaving the spot open, but wouldn't hate having talent in there to fill it for four or five months, have an adult to help players like you know, Uder is going to help young players sort of fill in in central midfield I think around Mark Delgado. There's a lot to like in that. Obviously there is a portion of the fan base I think we saw on social media that is very upset about that. We'll continue to follow that story and talk about it if it's super relevant as things go along. But it makes sense for LAFC to make this move. I get everything you're saying.

I guess I've just seen it before. See, Toronto will be successful. Like you talked about with coming back with Vancouver. It's obviously on a different level. It's way more talented, but that's where it sits for me. Now for Toronto, they were second highest on the potential humor ratings But they're also pretty high on special moments cuz like I'm not gonna not watch Bernadessie do something if insinuate is on the field

I'm not gonna not watch him step to a free kick around the wall But at the same time the quality was low overall for the team where we sit right now Although they did make a big signing we are gonna get into all of our breaking news after this And we're gonna talk about a lot of the big stories that have happened since our last show. You've broken a ton of news around some big moves that maybe we didn't think would happen for some teams like Colorado, Houston, LAFC and all of that. Montreal right behind because I'm intrigued by the project and like it's entertaining and interesting.

And then RSL, it's just a tough start to the year. It's basically like a Diego Luna ranking and a, I'm just going to keep calling it Rio Tinto, I don't even care, a Rio Tinto ranking. Like I enjoy that atmosphere. I want to watch him play. I don't know what else I'm tuned in for right now. And the Red Bulls we've known for a while, but they did get an uptick from having an Emil Forsberg and a Chupa Moting and the potential to push For an MLS Cup. So my next five now breaking through number 20. I've got Colorado New England Sporting Kansas City, San Diego and FC Dallas

So I have some of these teams in in this kind of bundle as well again, like I said, I had Red Bulls much higher than you do. So I'm trying to decide which to go with. So let's do San Jose. So San Jose, they have a ton of intrigue with Bruce Arena. They have a lot of new players. To be clear, I didn't say San Jose. You didn't say San Jose? I said San Diego.

San Diego, all right. But then I'll go there. I have them much higher than you because again like I'm thrilled to watch an expansion team I can't wait to like To watch how they come together what the first few games or what it looks like after game 10 So again, that's why they get a 10 for me and in the non soccer stuff. They have star power They have to go Zano Anders Dreier like I'm very excited about that those two wingers Luca del Toro I think is gonna be super fun in this league and

the center back pairing I like But I see a world in which either if there's an injury or maybe it takes them a little bit to get on the same page There's gonna be a team that's gonna try to play out of the back no matter what and there's some possibilities for high score lines early in the season I'm I'm excited about all of that I just have to see it like play out in league play of like, I need to see it go wrong for a game and for them to try it again. I know the idea of the club top down is commitment to this, but like the losses start piling up.

This is where, so Kevin Case in here says SKC and Dallas seem high frame. That's where SKC gets bumped up for me, which is from a style point of view, I'd rather watch SKC shoot themselves in the foot over and over again, than watch a better pressing team press. That doesn't mean that I knock that. Quite honestly, there's a chance if I ran an MLS team, I'd hire a pressing coach and I would play that way.

But if I'm gonna sit down and watch it on TV, I wanna watch the expansive open teams. SKC's potential for fatal flaws is super high. My intrigue in them was ticked up a little by the three additions they made. Like it does feel a little different. Last year I had them further down on this list because it was all those things but with all the characters I'd seen before and I wasn't as excited about it. Dallas to me is one of the big outliers. Now the off-field stuff is tough. Like I broadcast at that stadium have not been great. They finished the construction,

the fans came back. When the team is good, like there's a good crowd in there. It's fun to watch. I've been to games at that building, really enjoyed it. The broadcast setup is not ideal for the way they do it and I don't know 100% what the team looks like. But if Bernie Camungo starts scoring goals and Lucho is flowing and Petar Moussa is flowing and some of the defense works enough to make it like a complete soccer team, but also maybe have some holes. This team could skyrocket for me pretty quickly. So I have them, I think ninth right now or something in some sort of tiebreaker in that area. Like I have them with LAFC San Diego, a couple of teams that I already talked about.

I think that this is going to mirror, you know, the first half of 22 when Pat Noonan Chris Albrecht took over at Cincinnati, the first half of the season, it was like four three was a normal score. I think that Dallas has the chance to do that because I will blindly follow Lucho Costa, Peter Musa, just the two of them. And again, they have pace around them which I think is really smart. That'll fit well again. Bernie Kamungo, Leo Chu, Anderson Julio. Two of those three starting at any point around your DP9, DP10 that are gonna be so good.

Like, I think that's an excellent setup. We'll see what their new center back looks like. But this is a team that struggled defensively last year and struggled personnel wise to the point where Nico Esivez was playing as boring as possible because he didn't trust putting anybody in space. So I think that they'll look like that that first half of 22 with Sinse before Sinse got Matt Miazga in the summer. And maybe the new center back is gonna be there Matt Miazga and maybe I'm selling them a little bit short defensively, but for watchability rankings Yeah, I think again

I think that there's a ton of possibilities for wide open games and again Lucho Costa Former a two years ago MLS MVP last year probably had slightly better season than his MVP year And Peter Musa I think is one of the best forwards in the league that people Dallas weren't relevant by the end of the season, so Peter Musa was a little bit slow to adapt and get his, he hit his form the second half of the season. And I don't think a lot of people are watching Dallas at that point. Someone put in the chat, plus 3300 for Petsar Musa has golden boot winners, not a bad number. I don't know what the numbers are right now.

That can't be the real, that's unbelievable. I can go in and look for them Somewhere else says plus nine fifth 9,500 on a vendor as well Petar Moussa, I think is going to pouring goals I think my two that I feel really strong about who are returning from last year of like big increased numbers is Moussa and Hugo Kipers the system around them is gonna be easier They have settled into the league like and I think M Musa is better than Kipers as a soccer player

I think he does more things he can create more of his own chances So yeah, all of that's gonna be super entertaining it's gonna be super fun and if they play kids as well, which Eric will sort of has been asked to and Me and buzz Carrick from third degree we did our preview of Dallas. We debated a little bit like where the academy stands right now. There may not be the players fully to do that, but if that's the case, then you know I'm sold completely as well on top of that.

New England is just like the big box of unknown, maybe even more than San Diego, but the off field stuff's not ideal with Gillette and you know, it's just tough to get an atmosphere in there but But if a lot of these pieces hit or don't hit it could be wildly entertaining The over the course of this season. Alright, so now we're at 15 for me. I Don't love all of the number. I don't love where everyone is in here and For me, these are like all either their ties and it's just alphabetical order or they're one point apart So I'm gonna read them out here. So tied for me at 31 points is

Austin Chicago Houston and st. Louis Austin Chicago Houston st. Louis. So let me start with my disagreement So I spent the first half of these rankings telling you these are the teams that I have much higher than you do these are the teams I've lower Houston is one of them. I love the play style. Love the game model It's just not enough talent right now for me to be like can't wait to watch these but Jack Mcglin baby. I'm so juice about it. We're getting playing pickup soccer Like that's what I was born for Mikael going to Palm Irish. I know it's gonna really hurt them. He was so good last year. So so good last year

So I'm worried about because if they play this style, but they're below the playoff line It like it's like with a pressing team where you say if you're 5% off that kills you For a possession based team if your quality isn't there like if you're below the playoff like that that really kills it for me as well. And I do think a lot of the way it's going to kill them is the lack of goals I think. The possession in the in the defensive third and middle third will be the same. It's the final third where it's going to be heard. And that makes it tough to watch. Yeah. Yeah. And so the other one that I'm lower than you on is Chicago. Yeah. I don't

I don't have any doubt that they're going to be competitive and good. But part of that is that I think that there's going to be they're not going to make really stupid defensive mistakes. They're just like those are Greg Borrell team. The drop the the pros of a Greg Borrell team is a system defensive stability and defensive stability by playing with the ball and thus kind of killing games a little bit that way and And taking away risk for yourself defensively doesn't lend itself to a watch ability like if Jonathan Bomba is Awesome. Yeah, that changes it But if they don't have that individual talent and then he's been really awesome preseason

I want to say but if he's not like a best 11 type player or somewhere near there then like it'll just be a system-based team that doesn't that again it's very good very competitive solid doesn't doesn't take a ton of chances and doesn't and definitely doesn't give up any chance I agree with all of that I think where I scored them really high was some of the... Well one, I do think the special moments could be really good because not just Bomba, but I think Gutierrez is going to have a killer year. That's a thing I'm going to tune in for.

I think Kellan's going to turn it back around under Greg and he is a set piece specialist. He can be an elite ball striker or passer. I don't want to feed too far into this, but you're gonna have social media open while you watch Chicago games. Like, let's just be real. The discourse around it for the first few weeks is going to be just bonkers for people. You want that?

I don't want it, but it's still out there. Then what are you talking about? It's just a reality, Tom. I don't get to live in the bunker that I want to. If it was my dream, it would just be you and me hanging out in a bunker talking about 2013 MLS Cup. Yeah. It's not the case, though.

So that's part of what draws me off because if I tweet anything positive or negative or indifferent about the Chicago Fire, i am automatically muting that tweet i don't want any part of it because it's so this is like the like the first take stuff and we're gonna be like rings culture just like oh no like lebron can never be better than jordan that's it like okay oh this guy's a butt like but admit it if the new all-star game was you me we being selecting four teams that play against each other and you know i would get the g-league team which I'm stoked about you would have yeah, you'd have the rising stars

Yeah, exactly, then we'd be killing it I agree with a lot of what you're saying and I think again all of these were in there for me Houston the style just Outweighed so much more. Yeah with the the lack of talent I would like to mention st. Louis in here because I think St. Louis, all of the non-soccer stuff are off the charts, right? The stadium, the atmosphere, the energy of the games, all of that stuff. And the talent we saw at the end of last year, like if they hit the ground running from where they took off or they finished last season, they are going to be, I think, a must watch game because I think you're guaranteed a good game. Like I think teams will come in and battle against them. They understand what they are. But like the floor is so high with them that I think they're

going to be really entertaining. Shout out to Argon Wolf in the chat who says pausing listening to the Soccer Wise podcast so I can listen to Soccer Wise live. We're there boys. I'm ready for soccer to be back. And we also had someone earlier, you gave a sigh after one of my five and they go that's an all-time Tom Boker soccer Why sigh so your reaction was there? There's a lot there's that's a packed field. That is high praise There are a lot of those One that you didn't hit on Austin Yes. Yes, so I have a ton of intrigue there and really quickly what I want to say on st Louis because I've talked about how much I love more so hard

Oh said your Twitter ever, like I really like that. What I haven't talked enough about is Thomas Totland is an awesome wingback and people I talked to at St. Louis are saying the same things about Conrad Wallum. So if their wing... like again this is such a nerd. Anyway we're doing the Watchability ranking. Oh the wingbacks are there. I love those two wingbacks and I think that's going to help kind of complete that attack going forward with the other players.

Anyway, so I am with you. I do very much like St. Louis this season, both to watch and I think that they're going to be a good team. Austin, you had another point? No, no, go. Austin, I do have a couple questions of how exactly everything fits. Will the back line be good enough for Nico Estevez to trust to be able we can play possession We can take more chances. Yeah, and spot-on like

So again, I don't think that's what's gonna happen because I know enough about Nico Estevez He doesn't want to play like he did in Dallas. He does not want to play like that He was trying to save his job. So I don't and particularly with starting anew at Austin Right. I'm certain Rodolfo Brell is gonna tell him He's more likely to get fired for not playing possession-based soccer than he is losing games So I like I can see where it goes wrong, but I think that they're gonna Go downswing in right the front three like again I think Brandon Vasquez is is a battering ram that has

Really good IQ in touch and he can link up with other players like The front three of OZUNI, Vazquez and Usman Bucari. I'm super excited about. With Danny Pereira behind? Yeah. I love Danny Pereira. Dessler is one of the best attacking fullbacks. If Galaher gets on the field, he's up there as well just like bombing into situations. I don't know exactly what OZUNuni looks like yet. If he is, there's a possibility where him and Bucar are such straight line runners and finishers that it's not as entertaining

even though it might be successful. I think I was way past you and Doyle on Thursday when I was like, I think Brandon Vasquez puts up double digit assists this year and like shows all of his soccer. When he does those things though, it is really fun to watch. He is a great playmaker out of the center forward position and I love when Danny Pereira dribbles by people but then the potential for the fatal flaws with them right now based off all we've seen still exists and that kind of kept them up there pretty high. So now moving past that bank of four, I've got Orlando in 11th place. That finishes out the 10 through 11.

I thought, I thought, so can I interject on Orlando? So what, because I have them pretty mid table just because we know an Oscar Perajot team get more competitive than say Super One, like they're not going to lose games four through eight or they're unlikely to do that, right? Like, so what pushed you to move them towards the top 10? So I like watching professional athletes run through walls. So I like an Oscar Praha team. But then you add in the fact that potentially Rodrigo Schlegel still starts at center back for this team

and Pedro Caese has big mistakes in him and huge saves in him. So fatal flaw, potential for humor, and competitive nature are really high. And I think they're going to score goals. I think Paschalich is going to score a lot of goals this year. And like Eddie Atuesta makes them more entertaining and a little more open. I think this is going to be the Orlando team I most enjoy watching since Nani. Wow. That's a great shout.

And again, they have Croatian Andrew Wiebe on one wing. So there's a hidden category. If you sign somebody who looks like Croatian Andrew Wiebe, you get a couple bonus points. So now I get it. We had that tab muted, hidden, and now I see the bonus Croatian Wiebe points. Now it's moved it up the rankings for you. So now we are into our top 10. Number 10, I have Patrick Ozemach by himself. No club associated, Judge Patrick,

the Aussie God. Right there at number 10, I think it's pretty obvious Zaha coming in. There's a ton of attacking talent on this team. If it wasn't at a football stadium, this might be number one. Like that's straight up how different it makes it. And yet the fans get it as close as possible For an NFL Stadium, so so that's why I don't ding them for the offfield stuff One like light blue is my favorite color too. So that's an easy one sir minty Yeah, when he's not holding a gun at you easy hugging you so they get bonus points there But like I when I'm watching them play unlike Soldier Field unlike Gillette It's it I don't I have to remind myself,

oh, this is where the Carolina Panthers play. This was made for American football. So this was one of the teams that I didn't ding them on that, but again, maybe that was Sir Minty and Light Blue. So I think dinging them is tough because they're top 10 still for me. And I have actually three NFL stadiums in my top 10 so clearly it wasn't the only thing that restricted things. But I think it takes it a quarter step back and at the same time I'm going to be stoked. I'm going to be tuned in for all these games. I'm excited to watch Zaha.

I'm excited to watch Ajumang. I'm excited to watch Pepiel as a non-DP just adding to the attack. The fan base is great. I really enjoyed our preview we did with Jorge of Toppins. This is a team that is must watch. Just ahead of them is Minnesota United. And I think Minnesota United's atmosphere took them that half tick ahead of them. And of course, drinking tea with Kelvin Yaboa. I love Yaboa. I love Robin Lud. I love Joseph Rosales. There is so much about this team that I enjoy. I think the style this year will be a little bit high tempo and therefore a little bit open the potential for fatal flaws is there

Because we don't know that the center back core is perfected yet And so there's like this huge gap in central midfield and center back, but also a ton of quality. We've seen it together I mean, I think last year the last of quality, we've seen it together. I mean, I think last year, the last five games of the season, they were as entertaining as anyone to watch. And so like I think Kelvin Yoboa to me is must watch entertainment in MLS. Yes. I think he's going to be very fun.

He fits in this team stylistically and again with him being the attacking sort of the centerpiece, right? Like for me me I can't have a team in the top 10 without a potential star like yeah I love the team is the collective is the star whatever right for watchability rankings I have to tune in like he's a guy who has that chance Robin Lowe as well if if we want to if if I want to play devil's advocate I I could push back and say hey maybe that was just a hot run from Kelvin Yoboa.

How many penalties were part of that? How much of this is totally sustainable and repeatable? Again, I'm of the opinion it is much more likely that is who we're getting, but I think that there is an argument to be made, Devil's Advocate, of like, maybe let's not crown this guy just yet. Okay. You and the devil can go and spend the rest. You could go to the bunker together.

I'm not gonna go anymore if you're not team Kelvin your boa. We're not on the same team. I said devil's advocate. Yeah, I didn't realize we were on different teams. So I think that's fair. So one point ahead of them, I have two teams tied on 34 points, which is my number by the way.

So this is an exciting one for these two teams. The three teams I have from six through eight here are actually three teams that I'm surprised ended up here And I'm still confused about so let me go all the way to six, which is Columbus Yep, then I have San Jose then I have Portland San Jose is the least surprising one for you do it San Jose San Jose is the least surprising one for me in this. What are you doing? San Jose has such a wild potential right now. Like you have the idea of either Bruce screaming at his players because he's got Joseph Martinez

and Chicho trying to start in a front line together. I have no idea what that means for Amal Pellegrino. We've already heard them in the Lucho Acosta conversation. So it's going to be one of those where I think a lot of people are not going to know where they stand. There's going to be wide variance all the way through the summer window. If it's good. I don't remember the last time PayPal park or whatever it's called now was like bumping,

but it has the potential to and then Christian Espinoza's must watch stuff and talent. And like the team is much better but this was the only team that got the full five points for me on humor and then potential fatal flaws. That's beautiful. I love that. I think that fits them too. So yeah, I like all that insular stuff. I guess maybe I'm looking too far down like I teach own Joseph. I don't I just don't know if that's just I hope it is. I would love for that front to to be a thing in MLS. I have my doubts though and With Bruce arena, so I wouldn't put the fatal flaws up there because Part of my respect for Bruce arena and why we kind of were going back and forth about is gonna be a playoff team

Or not after they set a league record for most goals conceded ever is Because I think that Bruce arena will get a baseline of competitiveness a baseline of we're not gonna get embarrassed and that doesn't help with watchability. So I will say last year I had San Jose pretty high in mine and part of it was because they were just getting throttled and all the games were open and I was like well there's no variance there either. Right. You know that they're gonna lose. Oh it's Portland San Jose 4-1. I guess what's gonna be tonight or 4-2. Insert any team on that 1030 game. I think right here. We're debating a definition of the term fatal flaw I would consider a fatal flaw to have players yelling at each other or players flipping tables of chicken and rice

players cutting the logo out of their warm-up top and showing up to training like Fatal flaw is not just slip in the back Fatal flaw is shooting your team in the foot and I think there there could be some of this and if there isn't by the way I think the team's gonna be good so it's like the two options here are pretty high it's closer to what I considered Portland last year of like Portland was either gonna win or they were gonna blow up and that's what we saw in the postseason I'm surprised I still ended up with Portland this high I think the atmosphere just probably makes them

a perennial top 10 contender of like, you're always gonna watch Timbers Army Providence Particle. You're always gonna tune in for that when it's an option. And there's still such high level talent in the attack. And then there's entry with DeCosta. Like we're gonna talk about it coming up. And I know we have some Portland fans in here. We've done the Lucho side of things for a while. Then we pushed a Vander to Cincinnati We've talked about it a bit the Dakota part is still the biggest unknown of this whole thing at 24 years old though

If he hits it's really exciting. Jonathan Rodriguez is one of the must watches. I think in MLS I think Santino's in there as well. Is there a shift away from Chara? Are they still as open in the back? So there's a lot there for Portland that I think becomes interesting, but a lot of the off-field stuff for Portland, I think keeps them in contention up here. And then Columbus, you said you don't have a top 10 team without a star. Does Columbus have a star? Diego Rossi. I think he's best set to be a number like a 1B or two, like whatever you want to phrase it as. But I know that they're going to sign at least one DP, right? Like, so I think I'm keeping them in this because of Wilford Nancy

style. Everybody improves under him. Like again, we talked about Jason Russell Rowe, will he score if he started the starting center forward, he will score double-digit goals. But again, I do know that they want to bring in a DP9. That's the plan. So I'm comfortable keeping them in the top 10, just not towards the top five, because too many unknowns, and losing Cucho, losing Christopher Amir is the stuff. So back to Portland for a second. They're going to be... They have to focus on defensive structure, defensive

transition. I think that they're going to be less open. They'll be better defensively. I don't know how much better, but one of the pros for David D'Costa is one, he's super flexible. He can play either wing. He could play as a 10. He could play as an eight and a half, right?

Like Evander was again, MVP candidate. So these are not critiques, but he was the number 10 get him on the ball revolve everything around him David the Costa will do more work defensively and can play a couple different positions So if they need to be flexible they can like they've been playing Five three two in preseason part of that is Santi Moreno was had a little knock Jonathan Rodriguez I don't think he's played all preseason, but like, so, and Kevin Kelsey had kind of just arrived. Juan Mosquera wasn't playing, and obviously David DeCosta wasn't there because he hadn't

been signed yet or wasn't able to play. So they were playing like 5-3-2 in preseason because their four best creative attackers were unavailable. So I think that they're going to be more pragmatic this season, and they're still going to be a lot of fun to watch. But I think that's just kind of where I would push back a little bit with Portland. Yep. I'm fine with that.

Like, yeah. Here, I will say this. Portland and Columbus were outliers in overall quality in this portion of my standings because I think there was so much off field, AKA non-say, Providence Park, all these other things. Plus you bring in like dope jerseys, all those other things. Like there was a lot, I think that I liked.

Fill net with Jeff ability. Fill net with Jeff ability. The sideline's good too. That I like about all of that. Now we're into my top five. And my top five, I think for the most part is like I think these teams could win There's a little one by one. So let's start at five. It's right now, Cincinnati. I Have them higher I have them higher, but I think that's been a common theme

Throughout our preseason content of both points and everything else I think that that team is gonna be incredibly fun to watch. I think a everything else I think that that team is gonna be incredibly fun to watch I think Evander is gonna cook so I mean you know I'm here for Evander you know I'm already sold right I know and like look we're splitting here's you're right like I have them either second or third and you have them fifth like it's essentially the same thing but good I don't really know where they're behind these other teams I mean I have them one point behind my next three. I don't know what that one point was. I have one point less on non-soccer. I don't

know what that is. Probably fatal. Probably fatal flaw. Maybe. But I will say- Right. They're a little bit cleaner of a team. Sometimes teams that are really good defensively are a little bit boring. And again, you trade that for being really good defensively. I think Cincinnati is the rare case of they're going to be really good defensively,

but it's like a fun, aggressive style. Like, because of the back three, because of how athletic all three of the starting center backs are, Miles Robinson just goes and hunts, man. Teenage Adabee is going to go able to go hunt because you have Matt Miyazga behind you, with you, and the way that they kind of push-pull there,

that allows them to be more aggressive. So while they are, like, they're not sitting deep deep to defend and so I think that they're the rare exciting defensive team and I have them for as I said I didn't have pressing teams super high I had their identity and style really high though because they are enjoyable with the way they do it I think I had them a tick below these other teams in special moments just because I don't know how long it takes for a Vander to be a Vander there and so so I'm leaving. Yeah, there's a lot to like, I don't know. I mean, also, we're splitting

hairs at this point. We're in the top five, like all of these teams are right next to each other. Number four, I have Seattle. I think I'm tuning into a team that I think can win supporter shield every week. I'm tuning into a team that I think has loaded up. I'm tuning into a team that there's a ton of intrigue off the field and like, what is Jesus Ferreira? If he hits at his high, I absolutely want to watch this guy play

a team whose spine is domestic, which is just not something we see very often, right? If you go Stephry, Jackson Reagan, you go into Obed Vargas, Christian Roldan up through basically Jesus Ferreira as your number one creator, into Jordan Morris. When do we ever see something like that? And for the chances to be really good.

You're never gonna be upset for watching a Seattle game for atmosphere and all that type of stuff and enjoyment. And they're gonna play big games. This is one of those teams where it's going to feel like a big deal when they play other big teams, because most likely they're gonna be towards the top of the standings. So, there's a lot to like there.

There's a lot of enjoyment and I'm excited to see this season. I am too. I do like that they are a little bit different and like I think all these teams in the top five top 10 have their own uniqueness. It's not like you know one of these teams is trying to be like the galaxy necessarily or like Columbia, right? Like everybody has their own different way that they're leading through. And Seattle's, as you said, is the domestic core, a really strong defense, but again, they're also not boring defensively. Again, I wouldn't say it quite

the same as Cincy, but that that that stadium, the atmosphere, those kits, the fans, everything man like that's an easy 10 out of 10. Seattle are like, dude like when you get a big game at Lumen, you know it, you know it's a big game and you love it so like that carries them too and again this is gonna be a very very fun team to watch. And you add to that and this is like maybe unfair or whatever it is I mean I don't know the science behind this so maybe there's no such thing as unfair Vancouver games are big there are not a ton of Vancouver games that are big it's a Cascadia Cup Portland if they're bad it's still a big game then you add in most likely you're

talking top of the Western Conference with the two LA teams Minnesota like it becomes a long list of like if Seattle's playing these six teams it's a big game and that's fun to watch and as you, you can sense it when you get there. Number three, back on the scene, I've got Atlanta United, record setting signings, Miguel Almiron. When the Benz is bumping, it is as good an atmosphere as there is in major league soccer. I think it will be back. It's must watch for the record number signings. I think it's going to be must watch on entertainment. I'm not 100% sure how Ronnie

Dila opens it up and lets it play yet. So that was like a half point back for me, which probably lands them in third place. But like, Atlanta is back, right? They're the back on the scene. The party is back and I'm excited to watch it. Party is back and I'm excited to watch it. I can't wait man Miguel Marrone manual lots a lot like everything that they've done this offseason makes so much sense This is like I can't say enough good things about the scene like like we've had a couple false starts or Atlanta back on They're back dude there. They played Montreal to open the season at home. I That is again that is must-see to watch the crowd react to Miguel Marón's Homecoming. I can't wait. And that's in the 730 window. Do you think they'll play I'm Coming Home Carmelo Anthony style? They should. They should. Maybe there's a Paraguayan tune to make it

better or if there's like an Atlanta based tune. I think. But I would love that. I think that's a good idea guys. And we should talk to Atlanta about this after. Cincy is playing Cincy and Columbus kick off at home at the same time, 730, those are also going to be on the screen for me, but Atlanta is getting the main screen because of that. And I think that's a good way to look at this. Again, breaking a tie immediately. Things change during the season, but particularly week one, man, you got to have eyes and ears

on Atlanta United. Cole Rosenbaum in the chat says, clipping, Tom saying Atlanta is back in case I have to make a low lightlight video for Atlanta this Yeah, I think that's fair. But also if we're gonna trust anyone, you know on this show We're gonna trust Chris Henderson and Garth Lagerway that takes us to number two Probably would have been number one if everyone was healthy You think so, but the LA Galaxy are number two for me if Ricky was healthy. Yeah reigning champions the way they play also Josh Guestman said

this on our show where we previewed the galaxy and I completely agree. I think the overall style is going to be different without Ricky. It is going to be a little bit cleaner, a little bit safer, a little bit tighter as a style. Not just to recover, but like no one is Ricky Pooj and so therefore they're going to play a little bit different and they're going to be a little bit more comb they're gonna be a little bit more combative and then you add in Payne still being hurt and like we don't know how long he's out and what that looks like and all of that so they're number two that's pretty high fatal flaws they're obviously an elite team in all

of that non-soccer it's a great atmosphere the jerseys are always on point Krishnamurras is back home like there's a lot to like about this team plus they've just re-emerged they've won that championship We don't know what back-to-back championships can look like in MLS So like there's a lot to love about all of this, but I think because of the injuries there are two and not one Yeah, so I I see the argument for them being one of if they were full strength But I still would it would still be Miami for me. I know very clearly That's who one is because we haven't talked about them yet but so with the galaxy I think that they're gonna be a

lot of fun like I love the Christian Ramirez edition for them the way that he meshed with the Columbus Crew stars like he's gonna do that here and and I think that that front three when Paints was back fit between Ramirez Peck and and Paints so it's gonna be really fluid they're gonna have some tendencies like in Columbus but overall within Greg Vaney's game model. So that's going to be super fun. I hope that Marco Royce can play a lot of minutes because particularly without Ricky Pooch, that's going to be great to have.

But the midfield is definitely more athletic, combative, like you said, like with Sean Davis, Elijah Widener coming in. There are going to be games where they could do Edwin Cereo, Sean Davis, Elijah Widener. And then it was like, rather having a 10 in there, Ricky Pooches. So there's gonna be a little bit variants there they're gonna have a little bit of tweaks but like you said there's just so much to love with this team.

And as you spoiled for everyone, Inter Miami are number one. I will tell people this if you're listening we haven't really talked about Inter Miami a ton in the offseason it's just so chaotic we talked about it as there was sort of the Game of Thrones at the top of things. They are obviously elite for talent, Messi and Suarez and Alba and all the other options there. They will probably open up the game, although identity, I had them pegged down a bit just because I'm not really sure and it's Javier Mascherano, but I guess Messi is the coach. So it's his style. Overall, the potential for flannel flaws is super high based off the Atlanta playoff series.

So there's that and then humor's up there because it's either like you're chuckling to yourself because you're watching Messi chip it over players who are laying on the ground or it goes wrong. And I think most people are chuckling to themselves as well. So it is must watch. I'm gonna be tuned in. I can understand people saying like,

it shoved down my throat, it's too much. I would say this, this would be my comparison for you. I eat some form of shawarma bowl every single week, probably multiple times a week, whether it's shawarma flavored veggies, chicken, fish, whatever it is. Just cause there's a lot of it doesn't mean it's not good. So I still like it, even though there's a lot of it

for me to consume. And that right there is my comparison for you So I agree I wouldn't have said those poetic words because that wouldn't have come up but well done to Gus thanks That's the thing like don't overthink it I like this would be the Zagging just for the case like the sake of sagging like just trying to be different and working backwards of like I don't really want To put my end first cuz because there's like those criticisms are fair yeah we do get too much Miami that's why in soccer wise you're pretty much covered anywhere else that you look we're treating them like every other

team but let's not kid ourselves let's not overly correct things they are clearly number one Lino Messi is a greatest player of all time he is pining for into Miami you said you don't know what to expect with the identity What are you talking about? What else would have your mesh around a plan or no messy Luis Suarez? So just was gets it's gonna be a 4 3 3 or if it's it's the the 3 5 2 with Messi playing essentially Sometimes they're gonna be possession based Messi's gonna walk around. He's gonna do some incredible magic and then Segovia Redondo Banga Kramaski all those players are gonna have to do a lot of running

Yeah, like we know what we're gonna get and it's really good. It's really fun and they're beatable. They're susceptible right? There's there's like again. They set the points record last year lost Atlanta a completely underhanded Atlanta team like With Brad goose Brad Guzman Renaissance like that was wild there were so many games during the season where they would scrape points out because moment of of magic I'm messy, but there was a wild games there was also somewhere like it was a Suarez tap-in and or a defensive mistake from the other team and it's like Like we were saying with Doyle on the over under pod. I was like, yes, like when you have messy

You're gonna break XG models. I don't think to the the rate that they did last year is super sustainable so I don't know exactly where they're gonna if they're gonna be towards the top of the East but like I Think that there's variance here too Because like if they were just completely dominant and gonna we in every game and you know set a point record again and do it More boring like without some of these like late-game heroics or disappointments This wouldn't be as fun to watch because it's just like all right cool How many times can you watch Manchester City beat Ipswich town or whatever right? Like so the difference here is like I feel like at any given week whether they actually do or don't I feel like they can

Be beaten. Yeah. Yeah you tune in when they play the revs To set them because you're like, there's a chance that they could give up two absurd goals and go down to zero And that's not always the case for a team. That's the best team in their league We said we do this quickly. We started on a high and then we got stuck in the mud and it was really really fun. I would love to hear everyone else's responses so you can comment on this video, you can put a comment in the podcast, you can join our Patreon. It gets you access to our Discord and you can chat with us in there. It's been electric. It is going to be the spot to be on Saturday and Sunday to just react and enjoy and chat with people about Major League Soccer being back and soccer being back and all of that. I'm sure through the CONCACAF Champions Cup games

as well. If you want to hear a little bit more about any of these teams that you felt like we went through too quickly, we did a 25 to 30 minute preview on 23 of them. I believe are out so far I'm sorry 16 are out so far by the end of tomorrow. I believe 23 will be out So you we've got your coverage all across it videos on YouTube as well as full podcasts with timestamps for when each team begins You joke that we kind of got stuck. I that was unbelievable that we went through 30 teams in like 40 minutes 45 minutes. I know, the sleeve is wild. I think we did very well to not get stuck.

I could have been talking to St. Louis Wingbacks for a lot longer, and you helped push me along. The timing there I thought was excellent. Don't even critique yourself there. And I didn't even mention Pedro Almodore, so you guys are lucky that we were able to get through. But if you didn't think it was enough potential in two or three years that soccer eyes will

be covering a second first division in North America. The news breaking late last week from Paul Tonorio himself, one of our goats, that USL is seeking division one status on the men's side somewhere around 2027 or 2028. Reminder, the Super League on the women's side gained division one status. So there are two division ones in the United States on the women's side, NWSL and the Super League. So far, the Super League still in its first season.

It did flip the calendar. So they played through the fall into the winter, took a break and now it's returned again, I believe last week. Shout out to Fort Lauderdale United and my local squad up here and Brooklyn FC. Don't worry. I've got a lot of allegiances across all of that. The news coming out in I believe it was comments from Paul McDonough, who is the head of soccer, excuse me, the head of everything, I think.

At USL, I shouldn't have said it that way. There is still a lot to know about this. There's a lot to learn about this. Tom, what's been so far your initial reactions or conversations? So the conversations are interesting because a lot of people, so let me start with the positive. I think this is very good. If you want competition, if USL has real ambitions and designs on pushing MLS, the only way in my mind that happens is differentiating yourself you differentiate yourself by changing the calendar first I feel like that they already missed that opportunity a little bit and more

importantly promotion relegation Paul McDonough said this to Paul Tenoria said we're still on track honestly I don't have the direct quote in front of me he's to the effect of I kind of wish we the effect of, I kind of wish we did it already, or I kind of wish we were further along in there. Something that I've heard is new ownership groups, whether it's expansion or teams changing hands, it's what has been described to me as non-negotiable, you have to be in for Pro Rail so that the more ownership groups change, the more you can get the yes votes to get that passed. Me and Jeff Rooder reported probably a year ago, I think it was like last April,

that USL were about to vote on Pro-Rail and they're only bringing it to a vote when they know they have the votes. After we reported that, the next week, delayed it, delayed it, took it off. So they thought they were there and they weren't. So this is another move to that because as Paltz-Norio reported, the D1 sanctioning, what they would want is a 12 to 14 team D1 league. So you take the best of the USL Championship and the clubs who are really pushing for Pro-Ral and the clubs who are really pushing with like, let's build the stadium. Let's build this infrastructure. So I think this is all good. I do wish that USL did this in 2022.

You wish they had already done it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause again, like if you're going to push MLS, this is how you differentiate yourself. And they've had this vision, these plans, they probably hope that they did it a couple of years ago as well. But this is obviously really, really difficult,

really big things. It's not necessarily critiquing them because logistically this is very, very difficult. And there's so many people to talk to and figure things out. But this is the way because if you just try to be MLS, you're not going to out MLS. What you need is the differentiation of Pro-Rel and the calendar. I think there's a million ways to read this. I'm reading it from the outside, so I'm still not sure what this is. I think what you're saying is a ton of intrigue with it for me.

There's a few other things that popped in my head quickly. First was their broadcast deal is coming to an end. I believe it finishes at 2026. So having an announcement like this is a good way to start new conversations and I think I've heard things in the background of like they believe a limit on the amount that they make on broadcast deals and how lucrative their broadcast rights can be is that they are considered a minor league by some of the big networks in the United States, which I think fair and not fair like

There's a massive extent of this that I just think people don't understand. And I still believe if USL just said, I don't understand the championship thing. I think that was like the most random thing to do. Like, what are you appealing to people who know the English structure? Just say you're a big league and put together good atmospheres

and have good games and people are gonna accept it. I think the broadcast deal is a big part of this. I think as you talked about a little bit, the schism inside of USL is a big part of this of like, you have to look at things and say, if you're the Louisville's and the New Mexico's, you have to look at the Loudons and the Miami FC's and say you have to be with us. Like we cannot go to basically a high school field or an empty college football field and play half of our games in

this atmosphere. We want it all to be cohesive and look the same. And if you're not, then we have this new league that the top 14 teams are going to go into where we all have soccer specific stadium, and we all are pushing our product and we are doing the right things off the field to make good players want to come here. And the atmosphere is a good and we're pumping everything as strong as we can. And I think that is probably part of this as well, of sort of like internally the league looking at it

and saying, these are the standards we need, these are the levels we need. And you skim through it. And by the way, we're talking USL, so I have to plug John Morrissey here. He writes at back healed, you can listen to the USL show, you can follow his subscript, sub stack, all those things. I think it's must read all the time. He's sort of talking about the teams that can get in here and They are the teams you you want to watch if you we did the watchability rankings of USL

It would be the top 12 to 14 teams that you're talking about being in a potential D one because of the atmospheres They've built because of the the way they play So I think a lot of that to me was sort Of what came up first and and I was thinking about as this happened Outside of the major league soccer structure the pro-rel thing to Paul McDonough's point in sort of quote It's like you don't need D1 to do that Yeah, so if you're gonna do it, I think Jonathan Tannenwald had a pretty good thread about this whatever social media platform It was on.

Blue Sky. Blue Sky, shout out to the Skeets, where he was like, if you want to do it, do it. You don't need this to do it. And I think that's fair because I also don't know if it gets done in a structure in which a team can jump from League One eventually to the First Division if you have these setups of the requirements, which is a huge part of this. The necessity, I think it's within the first three years to have teams across all three time zones, major time zones in the continental US,

stadiums that are 15,000 attendance availability or higher. And then, I don't know, 40% of the ownership has to be of a net value above $40 million or something like that. You have to find ways to structure that into, if you get promoted, you have to be able to hit those things or you have to allow you a soccer to take those parameters off if you're promoted because of competitive nature and all of that which I think is super fascinating. I would be excited to watch all of this. I think there's been a lot of capital and by capital I just mean human energy or resources wasted on the soccer wars in the United States, that's Major League Soccer's fault. That's NASL's fault, that's USL's fault.

Like that's everyone's fault. And I find it unfortunate to think the idea that there'd be more wasted, but if it is the only thing that can push things in the right direction, then I understand. I think there's a lot of reasons USL does this internally. And I'm curious to watch the next few steps. I think we're going to start to pull some guests in to talk about this but like it was one of those things that

flashes across and you're like this is insane and then there are no details behind it and so you're sort of I think we're still waiting a little bit to see what this looks like and what it could be but it'll be really interesting. I worry a little bit that like you've built some really good things, like Louisville doesn't exactly hit those parameters. So are you now messing with the good things you've already built, which is like, you go to a Louisville city game

and the entire experience and atmosphere is what you want. That's the dream. It feels big, it looks good, it's fun to watch. You walk to the stadium and you have a good time. And I think you have a bunch of those. They're right outside some of these parameters. So are you now leveraging that and then in a situation in which you're overspending

to build 12, 2000 more seeds and change the stadium structure and all that type of stuff? I worry a little bit about that, but my hope would be U.S. Soccer has a way to fit kind of these in within that and be like, yeah, no, we're not going to make this team that's a fully fetched professional team in their market. Adjust this 1000 seats just to hit this requirement that is borderline arbitrary or completely arbitrary that I'm

not sure of because I've never really seen any of that behind it. Okay. We ready to dig into some news and get out of here because my wife we would go to an art festival that we Already late for and Let's start with this kit release any big thoughts No, I mean every year, you know, there are ones you like the ones you dislike the real salt lake one as you're pulling up That is one of my favorites. That is incredible. L.a fc's awake. It is gorgeous as well there You know, I don't want to go down the list of every single one. I like Boa Vista Salt Lake

Boa Vista if they paid their players I'm gonna be stoked about this when I'm out on the fields with all of my Venezuelan pickup team and they're like What team is that? I'll be like the team was former Sergio Cordova, you know Jefferson's have a real team and they're like what team is that and I'll be like it's the team of former Sergio Cordova you know? Jefferson Savarino. Yeah that'd be perfect so yeah I mean again there are kids I like kids that I'm fine with whatever what about what about you? I love that one I think this is one of the best years we've had and I think we'll probably put something together here that we can put out in like a cohesive way I think that this is one of the top years in M had and I think we'll probably put something together here that we can put out in like a cohesive way. I think that this is one of the top years in MLS and that there feels like more variance

than normal. Sometimes it's like don't call something stone when it's a gray jersey. You know who I'm looking at. You know who I'm talking about. Like don't try and get me excited about that in that way. Just admit it and be honest. But I think overall it was a really, really good year. I am stoked about that RSL jersey as well.

It's going to go up in the background and up in the wall pretty immediately. Now we can get into the players who are going to be in those jerseys. Let's start with Portland. Tom give us the news first and then we can get a little reaction. The deal is done. The Portland Timbers have traded Evander to FC Cincinnati and they have signed David DeCosta from Lone's. That deal is around six million dollars give or take. This is a 24 year old player who was homegrown at Lone's. He's

the only club he's been at and they believe that he's going to hit another level with different responsibilities, different atmosphere, everything else. That a change of scenery is gonna be really really good for him and he's a player who as we said during the watchability rankings, he can play several different positions. He's going to do more against the ball. He's not going to score as many goals as Evander did. They hope that he can do the same creativity as Evander, but this is why

with the DP 10 for a DP 10, it isn't like for like, because there is not many like for like replacements for Evander. So David DeCosta is going to be a little bit different, give them a little bit different options for Phil Neville. And again, hopefully a more cohesive defensive unit starting from the front. I also wonder if it's a more cohesive offensive unit of, he seems like a bit more of a passer and like tie, knit things together

where a Vander was more of an individual one V one talent or is, he will play in Major League Soccer this year like Evander was elite 1v1 take ons creating his own chances shooting from distance if Costa's more engaged with the rest of the team I do wonder if that actually makes the team more successful both sides of the ball because you're losing the ball in more obvious areas you are in better counter pressing positions your offensive marking is a little bit better because you can anticipate a little more

what you're gonna see in your team and it knits the whole thing together. What's tough is a 24 year old coming into the league at this point of the season, or you know, like he's not gonna be a part of preseason. He's gonna try and jump in and learn on the fly. It takes a couple of weeks for sure, but we're talking about,

this thing started five weeks ago and That's right. That's why the Portland are frustrated with how long yeah They had to wait for since II to sell a coaster to buy a Vander and then the deal was essentially agreed And then there was a couple little finer details that held up since II and in a perfect world Like you said would have been weeks ago. I assuming this these deals are going to be done thursday or friday morning and so those are valuable days they cannot do the visa process until

that you'll go through so portland reprisal and then like we have our new site like the weeded we've done everything right here and we want to get this like guess what a banner gets to just like a close to get to be in preseason immediately with alice a very good to be in preseason media since it weander gets to be in preseason immediately with Cincy we're the ones who have to wait on a visa appointment where can we you know have a little bit urgency here so we'll see exactly when he's able to debut but he is coming from

Lons in season he's been training he won't have to ramp up entirely a little bit different from leaving team training with Lons and then getting here whatever right it'll be a little bit slower but it's not like he's starting from scratch so that that's the hope there but again Portland or Excited about this player. Yeah, it's the one with the biggest variance because he hasn't played in the league before so he has to learn That you have to see what it looks like plus the timing it takes to come in and be available and all of that It I think it's nice for Portland in that Because it was so drawn out they were locked in on their on the part

They wanted and they were able to do the research And and you know take the time to be like this is the piece we want and he's coming into a team in which Jonathan Rodriguez is a high-level designated player Diego Chara is still there as I've said many times I think Santi Moreno's one of the best attacking pieces in this league So the pressure is not fully on his shoulders to carry the team and I think that's a good way to get involved But I don't know the floor for this squad Like if you told me Portland didn't make the playoffs this year I would not be shocked if you told me they were competing for a home playoff game

I also wouldn't be fully surprised. So there's a wide variance there You know and a lot of that is gonna fall on how long it takes him and how high his ceiling is this first season To get involved. And a lot of that's going to fall on Phil Neville and the structure of the team and what he's able to do outside of just to cause the carrying things. Yeah, I agree. And then on the other side of this with a Vander, since he, it was made clear to me that Portland were ready to move on from a Vander this winter before aander's critical tweet thread about the club saying that the fans deserve better.

Everything he said after they lost to Vancouver in the playoffs, Portland were already like, we don't know if this is the guy to build around for the future because we don't think that he wants to be here necessarily. They had had contract, they redid his contract once there's all there's already been like a lingering like again Evander says that there is unfulfilled promises so there was like lingering tension on both sides in September they thought they had a deal agreed they thought they had a new contract let's move forward everything's good and Evander's camp thought that there was one more detail that what didn't think. So once that fell apart, because both sides thought they agreed and they didn't, I guess,

and again, on Portland's side, they'll say that they did agree and it was, again, that would have been their highest paid contract ever. It would have been like a little bit north of Denny Buonga. And then once that fell apart, that was when Portland were like, all right, like, can we, does he want to be here? If he wanted to be here, he would have signed the contract. He wouldn't be asking to put in a release clause if he wanted to be here. So that's where Portland were, and they identified DaCosta not that long after that. And they were, immediately after their season ended, they had a scouting trip ready to go,

and got to know him better and meet him. So this wasn't a, like, oh my god, he criticized the club on Twitter, like gotta go. The relationship was already kind of broken before then. And then like people would, like I was saying it this winter, there was at least the idea, hey, maybe both sides can apologize. Let's see if we can move forward, whatever, right? Never, it didn't seem realistic,

though that was a possibility. And now Evander's to FC Cincinnati. FCC gets a fresh start, clean slate with that front office with that team. I have no doubts in season one that he's gonna be like completely bought in, completely ready to go, all that stuff. I think that he's gonna be awesome for Cincy, but that's kind of where Portland were and Evander was. It was just time for this to come to an end.

I told Kevin Wallace to start our segment about Cincinnati, which I think our preview is going to come out tomorrow morning because we're waiting for this to happen to record it, was just all the coping mechanisms you learn dealing with Lucho. Maybe don't bury them, just put them in the attic for now because they might pop back up in the next year and a half, two years. And I think Cincinnati will take that. They're in win now if Vandor gives them the best chance to win a championship in 2025 or in 2026 and if it doesn't end the best way after that, that's probably fine because like the goal is right in front of you and that's the most important thing and he was

as known quantity as an option as you were going to get. So it makes a ton of sense and I understand the move, but I think it's for all parties finally moving on, it is a delay to the season. Like it's going to be a delayed all three of these teams. None of these teams are going to hit the ground running the way they want to. It's unfortunate,

but it probably worked out the best case scenario for all of them in the end. I mean, for Dallas for sure, like getting Lucho at the number they got him in the league, in the situation they were put in because of how late the Velasco stuff happened and outside the plan and all of that, this is a really good scenario.

And then I think for Cincinnati to say, if the Lucho stuff's gonna happen and we're gonna end up with an MLS MVP finalist at his quality, that's a pretty good one. And then for Portland to finish on a 24 year old who your hope is they want to be around for a while, right? Jonathan Rodriguez and Felipe Mora, you're like in their prime towards the end DPs.

The point of Evander was someone to like build the whole thing around for five years. Your next Diego Valeri, whatever that is. And that now could be DeCosta, which is the hope for this team. Let's move. Let's stay in the Pacific Northwest, but go to our next move. This one completely caught me off guard. Every time we think Colorado is done, they add another one. This time it's Jocetensio traded to Colorado or a cash for cash. No, trade, trade. His allocation money is believe it's 1.3 million. That's a lot. That's why I thought it might be a

cash for no. And but so he he'll retain his U-22 status with the Colorado Rapids. So it was 1.3 million. That's a lot. That's why I thought it might be a cash first. No, but so he'll retain his U22 status with the Colorado Rapids. So it was 1.3 GAM plus add-ons. They generated around like I think 750,000 plus couple first round draft picks in trading for international roster slots. So the same way that Seattle pretty much funded the Jesus for Air trade by trading international roster slots, Colorado did this year. And I think that that's an important part of this because we talk about the domestic core for both of these teams.

And it's not just that we're being, you know, super patriotic about, oh, like they're producing players for the us national team, whatever, right. There's a competitive advantage if you do it right, where not only do you not need all of your international slots and you have to go like you save money but don't have to buy them, you just generated enough money to go sign Josh Itensio and Seattle did this with Hazel Ferreira and Nashville have been doing this for years. So I think that's an interesting wrinkle to this but the top line is Josh Itensio is going to be I think a really good fit for the Colorado Rapids.

Seattle, you know, Colorado have tried for him in the past. Seattle have not wanted to move him but just the reality of this dude is too good to be a backup center back in the second or third six. He's gonna play a lot more in Colorado and Seattle got a fair evaluation. So I think it works, makes sense for everybody. This is one of the realities of building a good academy that comes up every once in a while.

And I think it's worth the conversation of they're not always gonna be great academy players that join your team, but the asset here for Seattle is the same. They got 1.3 million in allocation money for Josh Tencio. Like that is a huge add to the Seattle Sounders first team level. And now he can go out and have the career he's gonna have.

It's not always gonna be on the team that brings him through the academy. I think it's unfortunate I think some of it was timing right he has had some weird injuries at the wrong time When I felt like he'd get a chance then all of a sudden Jackson Reagan takes over at center back So he loses that opportunity and then obey jumps him and like that's just the reality sometimes open Vargas Is a better soccer player than just 10 to you that doesn't mean a 10 to is bad but Seattle's trying to like compete in the Club World Cup and win a championship and that's a

Different parameter and like a different style and they've got a good roster now He goes to Colorado and it's like the perfect fit for him I think I think he's going to be a lot of the ball playing in Central midfield So he's going to show his ability to win possession cover ground But I also think a lot of this team metronome stuff is gonna go through him He's a decent progressive passer for a guy at that, at that position. He's also versatile. So if it does end up being three centerbacks, I think he could slot in there and maybe we find out that that's his best role is

as a Steven Morera style centerback who get, who steps into the attack and plays in possession and all those types of things. But he's going to be a starter and like that's really cool for him. That's awesome. And Colorado clearly is trying to corner the market on these pieces that they think are undervalued around MLS could have sell on for them or could stay and be good pieces. Yeah. And on the back of this, Colorado Rapids were one of the teams in talks for Sonny Dots and

with Minnesota. Right. Obviously they're not doing that anymore because they signed Josh Tencio So I'm curious to knock on of what are the offers for Sonny Dotson? Will he stay like opening days in a few days here? Is he gonna be there on opening day or is there gonna be a deal? Again after his trade requests and looking for a new contract So Colorado was a big suit of room now they got Josh Tencio Also, they may have to pop up the standings a little bit

because you're talking about a midfield of Josh Centeno, Cole Bassett and Georgie Mihailovich. Like, bring on Morocco in the Olympics. Once again, let's do this a second time. Let's redux this. We talked, we called Seattle, I think, I think I called them a good junior camp roster and Colorado Rapids right now are the Olympic squad for the United States men's national team. A couple big moves alongside Major League Soccer and Brazil. One we've been talking about for a while, Santi Rodriguez. It sounds like it's into

its final stages and for a massive number. Yep. That'll be happening. The reports in Brazil say 17 million. C.L. Merlo came out today and said it's 15 million. Whatever it is, that is unbelievable. It sounds like they got more upfront for Santi Rodriguez than Columbus did for Cucho. They have the sell-on in Cucho with Betis. That deal makes sense, right? But that is wild to me, that Cucho was. Santi's a little bit younger, but we know how much we love Cucho. Like that deal makes sense right but like that is wild to me that could like Kucha was like

Yeah, he's a little bit younger, but we know how much we love Kutcher So that is an excellent deal for nwcfc. It sucks to lose him But this is kind of right aligned with their previous years of okay I guess that they'll bring in some key attackers or key new signings the end of February early March Oh five guys have never heard of 12 hours before the first game. That's my favorite thing that NYCFC does. So, but like I'm worried about them. I'm really worried about them at the beginning of the season for this. Then the other one is another team that I'm a little bit worried about too. Houston. Paul Marisch is have a great deal to sign center back Mikael from the Houston Dynamo.

It would be a new club record, a club record that they set this earlier this winter for Koko Kersky. That was 3.5 million to Pumas. And Mikael is about to be out the door. Really good success story for development and how great Mikael has been over the last two years really, but particularly last year. And this is a player who was kind of buried in a youth team, a second team when Houston initially brought him to their second team and then to their MLS team. This is just an A-plus development development story. It sucks though because he was one of the best center backs in the league. Club World Cup cashing out for MLS teams. You're gonna get to host games make a little money and then you've got all these teams in South America who are like Club World Cup money. Let's go sign MLS players. It's what we think happened with Sebastian DeRuisi.

It's what we think happened with Alan Velasco, the numbers they got. It's definitely part of this Santi Rodriguez move, as well as the Eagle group and all of the money that's flowing around. And it's one of these where it's like you can't say no, because the numbers probably outsize what it should be and it's not going to come back. And so you make the move and then you figure it out later. I think for fans, the frustration is, okay, now use that, reinvest in this team. Like that money shouldn't go away. That money should be a part of trying to continue to push these teams. It's what, what Austin has done. And the hope would be NYCFC does the same.

And Houston does the same here too. I love Mikhail. I've had him in my defender of the year voting. I think the last two years, I had him in my best 11 or second best 11 last year. I think he's been the perfect center back for that team. And like you said, it's like a crazy development story of he was a two guy and now he's getting sold back to Brazil for a ton of money. Houston can't say no to this deal because they're trying to generate money to use, but it puts them another step behind going into this season and like I don't know how much of a spine you can lose

and remain competitive for a team that was already pushing their limits. I think they're going to be better offensively this year because of some of the goal scoring like Ponce being there for the full year. Your hope is yes. Some of you 22 wingers are able to be healthy and Ellie and all these pieces and I think Jack McGlynn actually is a good add to a lot of this but losing Coco Ache Ache and Mikael and Steve Clark Yeah, it is like a huge Turnover from the last two years for this team So I think this one's an unfortunate one to see even though I understand the realities of what's going on with it

Let's continue on here before we get out of here. We've got a couple big moves, LAFC and Toronto FC. You talked about UDNR a bit, but it's not the only work that LAFC's done. Yes, so Chega's UDNR is the big one coming in on loan until the summer. They also signed Ukrainian Youth International, left-back wingback Artem Smolyakov and Christian Oliveira.

It has been sold to Grameo for I believe a fee in the region of four and a half five million with a very very big selling clause Olivera has been pushing all winter to leave to get probably a better contract somewhere else he came back late for preseason that was kind of wasn't really totally big reported but he got his move so he follows Bogus out the door and LAFC are just reloading again He never Ended up landing in LAFC last year was supposed to be the big year

I think year one it was like he was a huge piece for them of Giving some balance to belong to when he finally got his feet set and then last year was like alright This guy now is your second option. He's going to be dominant. It was bogus instead. And LAFC does this better than anyone though, which is they keep the transfer fee, the transfer funds fluid. And so they're able to move players off for similar or more than what they spent. It allows them to go back out into the market and make the next move rather than tanking that player's value and then being stuck with the player and not having the funds

to go out and compete on the other side. And all of that of course goes with the under move of like, okay, they're going to have a DP through the summer. If the assumption is you're getting Antoine Griezmann, then you're going to have another DP and like that right wing isn't open for three players. So you believe in David Martinez, then you're not going to need Kike Olivera to be around that at all. And let's finish with Toronto FC because they finally did it. They made a move. Yay. Toronto. Big signing. They have signed Norway International Center for Ola Brin Hildesen from FC Michelin deals alone with the purchase of the 25 year

old as four caps with Norway. He had 10 goals and 11 appearances on loan with Molda in 24. He wasn't kind of breaking through totally at Michelin after the move. So again, he went on loan to Molda and now he's going on loan to Toronto. This is a good signing. The timing here and why we've getting a lot of questions about Toronto FC. Why aren't they doing anything? Why aren't they making more moves? Why are they being so slow? They were working really hard to Lorenzo and Cine Departure. He said he wanted to go back to Europe rather than the Middle East, so they focused on Europe. They brought first division offers from clubs

in Spain, Italy, and Turkey. Insani had turned them all down despite the fact that it would have came with a buyout that would have paid him the vast majority of his money. He turned them down. They were holding out the hope, aim, goal, whatever, that they'd have that DP spot open, and then they could fill the DP spot. So they didn't want to sign somebody, because that's the most important incoming if they had the DP side open.

So they were ready to go with this side of things. They have a center far working on a center back and working on maybe another one after that too. So Toronto are going to be busy, but this is really good to get all our Bernatos in over the line right now. And for Toronto FC fans that are gonna be yelling at me through their speakers,

yes, they already brought in Theo Corbinu, so they already had made a move, I was making a joke. So now they've added two pieces to the attack, Prince of Wussu out the door as well, they needed to center forward. Like there literally just isn't, I think Deandre Kerr was the starting center forward as of this moment. Not a knock on Deandre Kerr, but

I just had question marks on the on the depth chart all the way through because I was like I think they're going to sign a center forward. Yeah. Argon Wolf asked a good question in the chat, which says if they were going to buy him out, essentially, why not just buy him out? I've been asking the same question the whole time. But this is where Toronto FC stands. They have their 3DPs filled right now. Robin Frazier in year one trying to turn some things around. I think for the fan base, it'll feel good just to start to see new fingerprints on this team.

Like you want this roster to be flipped in a way in which it just starts to fit a new vision, a new model away from the old. And so any move I think is appreciated for that fan base. Well this is our quick show on a weekend on a holiday Monday ended up being an hour and a half and that is on top of the 87 other hours of content we are putting out. So a new season preview episode dropped yesterday that one was I have it somewhere but I believe it was st. Louis Charlotte Austin and DC United

And if it wasn't those ones are out there, so I know that for a fact There are 16 teams via podcast available as well as via video Standalone videos on our YouTube page I thought that might be a little easier to share for people if you want to sort of send them around to other fans and Help people sort of get excited for the season for your own team or maybe you thought something was interesting about a different team. So I appreciate all of you who have been enjoying it so far. The interaction, the reactions been great.

The comments on the YouTube page are really fun for me to skim through and sort of look through myself about what fans are thinking about their teams. That was a large part of why we want to do these local podcasts was to sort of get the idea on the ground, the feeling on the ground, which is always so much different than what we see from afar at times. And as well to promote some of these shows that I think people should be listening to or people should be following a lot of these podcasts. They do great jobs just covering the teams. They've got websites. A lot of times it's written as well. For sure. They're all must follows on social media for all of your like up-to-date coverage

of this league which needs to get stronger and needs to be better and so we're trying to help a little bit as well as Trying to be here ourselves. So we will not go anywhere. This is Monday Tuesday We're gonna put out some more season previews We have our Golden Boot draft coming up on Thursday with Andrew Weeby and Matt Doyle at some point We're gonna have to publish our standings and awards to some extent of what we think is going to happen. I'm sure you've got some stuff cooking at Give Me Sport as well that people can go follow and go read and everywhere else you want your MLS coverage we will probably be there at some point. The season is just around the corner. Conker Calf Champions Cup coming up this week. So nowhere for us to hide.

We are going to continue to turn out the content and the coverage. We appreciate all of you for being here and we'll talk to you again pretty soon. you