The group stage has just finished and the sky is falling for fans of US Soccer. Finishing a measly second in the group, beating only Vietnam, the pundits are overwhelmingly disappointed with the performance of our squad and our coach. However, the celebrations of the team indicate they aren’t as worried. After taking a statistical deep dive, maybe it’s not time to panic just yet.
Read MoreThe time has come. This weekend, the NWSL will return as the first professional sports league in the United States to take the field since the COVID-19 pandemic began. After writing previews since before the Challenge Cup was even announced (here are parts one and two), we’re excited to share our final set on the last three teams in the league.
Read MoreOver the past few weeks we’ve published an article about each MLS team diagnosing their rosters points of depth and weakness, and offering our suggestions for what kind of changes are needed before the start of the 2020 season. Here they all are in one place, so you can get caught up on each team’s needs.
Eastern Conference
Atlanta United by Tiotal Footbal
Chicago Fire by Eric Walcott
Columbus Crew by Eliot McKinley
DC United by Eric Walcott
FC Cincinnati by Jeff Bull
Inter Miami by Drew Olsen
New England Revolution by Harrison Crow
New York City FC by John Muller
New York Red Bulls by Alex Bartiromo
Montreal Impact by Kevin Minkus
Orlando City by Mark Asher Goodman
Philadelphia Union by Jared Young
Toronto FC by Kieran Doyle-Davis
Western Conference
Colorado Rapids by Mark Asher Goodman
FC Dallas by Jason Poon
Houston Dynamo by Dustyn Richardson
LA Galaxy by John Muller
Los Angeles FC by Mark Asher Goodman
Minnesota United FC by Dave Laidig
Nashville SC by Ben Wright
Portland Timbers by Drew Olsen
Real Salt Lake by Kevin Minkus
San Jose Earthquakes by Jamon Moore
Seattle Sounders by Ian L.
Sporting Kansas City by Kevin Minkus
Vancouver Whitecaps by by Eric Walcott
For better or for worse, we now inevitably place modern MLS expansion teams in one of two camps. First is the Minnesota/Cincinnati Camp, which is really the “they chose poorly” category. Teams in that class mostly didn’t spend much money, wasted the cash they did spend, and found themselves among the worst teams in MLS history, expansion or otherwise. The second category of expansion side is the Atlanta/LAFC version, which consisted of wise strategic planning that led to their teams competing for trophies in their inaugural seasons.
It’s probably not fair to force each new team into one of those two boxes, but we do it anyway because it helps us frame our preconceptions of them. As the league continues to expand at a rapid rate, we will continue to get more chances to unfairly label expansion teams in one column or the other. The labels for the 2020 expansion teams are still unclear, but Nashville SC looks to be on the fast track to follow in Cincinnati’s footsteps. For Inter Miami CF, the trajectory is still unclear. Despite being linked to nearly every star player in Europe over 30, they still haven’t dropped the cash. No matter if reality ultimately meets expectation, it is clear is that Miami still has a lot of work to do before their season starts on March 1st.
Read MoreWhether or not we’re ready to admit it, The Diego Era in Portland is nearly at its end. Each season, even as Valeri and Chara continue to prove they are less impacted by time than the rest of us, we see the sun setting on the horizon. It may not happen in 2020, but sooner rather than later we’ll be reading about the next iteration of the Timbers.
Still, though we feel the darkness creeping in, this is not the end. We must cherish our time spent in The Diego Era, now more than ever. In a way it is easier now, knowing our time here is limited. And although the team has a Designated Player spot open, until the day of reckoning arrives, Portland’s roster will see only changes around the edges.
With that said, let’s get this out of the way…
Read MoreBy Drew Olsen (@drewjolsen)
The season is about to begin! After almost three weeks of releasing previews, we’re finally done. If you missed any or just want to make sure you’re ready for the season, here’s every one of them.
Special thanks to Ryan Anderson (@mlsfantasystats) for creating the graphics that appear at the top of every preview.
Eastern Conference
Atlanta United by Tiotal Football
Chicago Fire by Kevin Minkus
FC Cincinnati by Eliot McKinley
Columbus Crew by Eliot McKinley
D.C. United by ExiledMLS
Montreal Impact by Eric Walcott
New England Revolution by Ben Bellman and Drew Olsen
New York City FC by DummyRun
New York Red Bulls by Harrison Crow
Orlando City SC by Ian Lamberson
Philadelphia Union by Jared Young
Toronto FC by Jared Young
Western Conference
Colorado Rapids by Benjamin Bellman
FC Dallas by Jason Poon
Houston Dynamo by Harrison Crow
L.A. Galaxy by Harrison Crow
Los Angeles FC by Eric Walcott
Minnesota United by Ryan Anderson
Portland Timbers by Drew Olsen
Real Salt Lake by Kevin Minkus
San Jose Earthquakes by Jamon Moore
Seattle Sounders by Ian Lamberson
Sporting Kansas City by Harrison Crow
Vancouver Whitecaps by Cheuk Hei Ho
The Portland Timbers in 2018 were like a well-built pickup truck. They weren’t anything special, but they were sturdy. Without ever feeling like it was the best vehicle out there, one day you looked down and saw that that baby had 250,000 miles on it and was still going strong. Similarly, the 2018 Timbers were a decidedly average team that just kept truckin’ along until they found themselves playing for the MLS Cup. To get back there in 2019, they will need their aging midfield to continue to drink from the fountain of youth, overcome some depth issues, and solidify the attack, but as long as they keep getting their oil changed every 3,000 miles, they could find themselves vying for another trophy.
Read MoreDuring a recent American Soccer Analysis shareholders meeting in the penthouse suite of the swanky hotel we built in Minecraft (it’s our Slack channel), we discussed our favorite ASA articles of the past year. Because it is the season of listicles and we relish every chance to talk about ourselves, we decided to put them all together in one official post. Also, our site traffic is essentially zero at this time of year, so it seemed like an easy way for us to remember where we put them.
It was a great year for MLS (though perhaps not American soccer overall) and the most successful in our five year life as a website. We added interactive tables, introduced xPG, rebooted the podcast (new episode coming out soon! …probably), and added a lot of great new writers to our existing ranks of stale old writers. They’re not all represented in the list below, but special shout out to our weekly contributors who put together content every week - Little Things (@harrisonhamm21), Lowered Expectations (@harrison_crow), Expected Narratives (@ahandleforian), and Setting the Table (@ericwsoccer) - showed us the individual plays each week that made up the whole of the MLS season. We’d also like to extend a special thank you to Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post, for including us as a part of the WaPo’s incredible World Cup coverage.
Read MoreWelcome to Lowered Expectations, week 20 edition! Each week, we go about posting chalkboards and GIFs of the weekend’s best open-play shot attempts which did not quite live up to expectations (and rarely do we update this paragraph). We look at each one and not only evaluate the results, but also the process leading to them.
Read MoreBy Drew Olsen (@drewjolsen)
The World Cup starts this week! America may not have made it to the tournament in Russia, but American Soccer Analysis still has you covered. We've partnered with the Washington Post on a series of articles previewing some of the most interesting teams. The pieces will be trickling out in the coming days as the tournament ramps up, so we'll be posting the links below as new ones are published. Keep checking back here to make sure you're all caught up.
Friday 6/15/2018
Belgium is a World Cup contender by the numbers, but Eden Hazard is key to backing them up by Harrison Crow (@harrison_crow)
Thursday 6/14/2018
Egypt got World Cup luck of the draw. Now it needs a little luck with Mo Salah’s health. - Jared Young (@jaredeyoung)
Costa Rica will look the same at World Cup 2018, but results might not match 2014 - Harrison Hamm (@harrisonhamm21)
Wednesday - 6/13/2018
The odds are against an Iceland World Cup run. You might fall for them again anyway. - Ian Lamberson (@ahandleforian)
Spain enters 2018 World Cup behind David de Gea and a better attack — but without its coach - Joseph Lowery (@joeincleats)
Tuesday - 6/12/2018
Peru could be the surprise team of the World Cup with Paolo Guerrero back - Joseph Lowery (@joeincleats)
Germany’s chances to repeat as World Cup champion could rest with Manuel Neuer - Drew Olsen (@drewjolsen)
Monday - 6/11/2018
By this measure, Brazil is a bigger World Cup surprise than Iceland - Jared Young (@jaredeyoung)
