Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
MLS’ offseason is the most compact, curtailed and probably the busiest in all soccer leagues around the world. There is so much player movement, so many dates to remember and since the break itself is fairly short, quite a lot can happen in such a short period of time that you might miss some of the bigger stories. With the preseason on the verge of getting underway, let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories that have happened thus far with an eye on what’s to come as the regular season is only six weeks away.
How are the Expansion Teams Doing? Minnesota United and Atlanta United are both joining MLS for their inaugural campaigns in 2017, and both have been busy setting up for their first season’s, though they’ve gone about that task in vastly different ways. Atlanta hired their technical staff and coach well in advance, and was signing players and loaning them out as early as last spring. Their foundation under Tata Martino is a mixture of MLS stalwarts and intriguing South American talent that Martino knows from his time in Argentina. Whether they’re set up for immediate success is an open question, but their process is quite a bit different than the one Minnesota United has been using.
The Loons (their nickname) went out and hired Adrian Heath, the former Orlando City manager who has experience in managing an expansion team through early growing pains. That’s a solid start, however they only have 13 players under contract in comparison to ATL’s 23. Many of Minnesota’s players are former NASL Loons, such as Christian Ramirez, Miguel Ibarra et al, with a few other intriguing MLS veterans thrown in. In the Western Conference, they’ll need way more than what they have now if they want to succeed. Obviously both teams are incomplete at the moment, but Atlanta seems to be further along in their build, and since they’re in the weaker conference, they are set up for earlier success, it seems.
The Galaxy’s Rebuild: It has been quite a long time since the LA Galaxy have undergone a rebuild quite like the one they’re undergoing as we speak. First, Bruce Arena left to manage the US National Team. Second, LA has lost players such as Keane, Gerrard and DeLaGarza; two of those three players have been foundational pieces of the Galaxy puzzle for years. With Curt Onalfo taking over, the focus has shifted away from players like Gerrard et al to younger talent, since Onalfo coached LA Galaxy II in USL for the last two seasons. They’ve also signed Jermaine Jones to help anchor their midfield, which was an area of weakness last season at times. But since this is the Galaxy, most of the speculation has centered on their two open DP slots and who might join Gio Dos Santos. Talk has centered around his brother Jonathan as a possibility, but for the moment, the Galaxy seem incomplete. With the West being as tough as it is, could this be a season of regression in LA before LAFC joins the league next year?
NYRB Trades Their Captain: MLS roster movement is so common that it’s out of the norm when a move, especially in-league, creates as many waves as the Dax McCarty trade did just a short time ago. McCarty has been with NYRB since 2011 and became their captain and emotional leader after Thierry Henry retired, but he’s been way more than that. There aren’t many better holding midfielders in the league than Dax, and his form earned him a well-deservednational team look. But now that he’s gone, and the Red Bulls have done little else this offseason, what’s next for NYRB? They do have ready-made replacements in Dax’s spot with Sean Davis and 17 year old Tyler Adams, but neither of them are Dax, at least not yet. The Red Bulls offseason is a little short with the CONCACAF Champions League tie against Vancouver coming in a month, so there isn’t a ton of time to work out life without Dax, but Jesse Marsch(who was rumored for a hot minute to be the next manager of Red Bull Salzburg), has the ability to plug the holes.
How about Dax’s new team? Well, the Chicago Fire have completely remade their midfield with MLS stalwarts in Dax and former LA Galaxy midfielder Juninho, and with some of the options they have up front, they’d better start contending for a playoff spot soon. There is no reason now for them not to.
NYCFC Still Has an Open DP Slot: NYCFC’s offseason has also been unusually quiet, by their standards, although that hasn’t stopped them from making some waves. They traded $325,000 in allocation money (that’s now being disclosed in trades, hurrah) to move up in the SuperDraft to take Jonathan Lewis, a speedy winger, who will help in NYCFC’s quest to get younger. They’ve also traded for goalie Sean Johnson and signed Panamanian midfielder Miguel Camargo, showing a slight change in approach, at least for now. But there is that third DP slot open, and NYCFC still like to spend big. But who is that guy? Could it be Sami Khedira? Perhaps. But it doesn’t seem like anything is on the immediate horizon. But with David Villa and the other returning cast from last season’s impressive team, they’re still a force to be reckoned with, but now even younger and faster.
What about the Champs? It’s pretty easy to fluke your way up the food chain in MLS, a bit like what Seattle did this season when it looked like they were dead and buried (OK, they’re still the Sounders so they’re still pretty good even when they aren’t). But after a Championship season, you wouldn’t expect much to change, right? But in MLS, very little stays the same for long. The day after MLS Cup, they waived 13 players, including Zach Scott (who retired), Nelson Valdez (who went home) and other players who you probably forgot were on the roster. But they’ve made some intriguing moves, including picking up Harry Shipp and Will Bruin, who both at times have been able to light the league up. But the biggest question for the Sounders in their quest to repeat is Clint Dempsey’s health. He may be back by the spring, which would be great because he’s Deuce and the Sounders could really use him despite winning the Cup without him and it would make a really good attack even better. But most of the big pieces are still in Rave Green, which means everyone else is still chasing the Champs.
Most Intriguing Signing Thus Far: Columbus signing Ghanaian defender Jonathan Mensah as a DP. For a long time, the league actually didn’t approve defenders as DP’s (hello OlofMellberg), probably out of fear of repeating the Rafa Marquez experiment, but since Matt Besler was signed to a DP contract, that’s changed a bit. There still aren’t many of them, especially since there’s better defensive talent around for less, but Mensah is a full Ghanaian international and should help a Columbus back four that was pretty awful last year. If he succeeds, more higher profile defenders could be making the trip to MLS and signing DP contracts.
Other Signings to Remember: Real Salt Lake signing Albert Rusnak as a DP, and the Houston Dynamo completely remaking their roster almost overnight (Alberth Elis, A.J DeLaGarza, Romell Quioto, etc.)
There is still time for plenty of wheeling and dealing, but it seems many of the biggest moves are going to wait until the summer. In MLS, the summer transfer window is as important as the winter one, but for now, this new season is shaping up quite nicely.
