Round One resumes tomorrow
The New York Red Bulls host FC Cincinnati tomorrow at 7 pm ET. Then, FC Dallas take on Seattle at 9 pm ET. Both games are on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Both home teams need a win to survive and force Game 3.
Suárez to reportedly reunite with Messi at Inter Miami
Inter Miami CF are poised to sign legendary Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez for the 2024 MLS season, according to numerous reports from well-regarded journalists in South America. Suárez would reportedly finish the year with Brazilian Serie A side Grêmio before joining forces with Lionel Messi in the Herons' attack. They memorably played together at FC Barcelona in the 2010s, forming two-thirds of the vaunted "MSN" forward line alongside Brazilian star Neymar.
FC Dallas star Velasco suffers season-ending knee injury
FC Dallas midfielder Alan Velasco is out long-term after suffering a torn ACL and partially torn LCL, both in his left knee. Velasco, FCD's club-record signing, suffered the season-ending injury in the club's 2-0 defeat at Seattle Sounders FC on Monday to begin their Round One series.
Toronto FC announce roster moves
Toronto FC, who are entering their first full season under head coach John Herdman and general manager Jason Hernandez, have announced their end-of-season roster moves. The biggest updates involve two veterans – midfielder Víctor Vázquez and striker CJ Sapong – who had their contract option declined. Amid other moves, including club legend Michael Bradley's retirement, the Reds have just 21 players with guaranteed contracts for 2024.
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We’re one game into Round One of the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs and it sure seems like we have a clear idea who we’re going to see in the Conference Semifinals. The majority of Game 1s were so decisive that it’s hard to envision Game 2 going any differently. Even if they do, you then have to imagine Game 3 going differently, too. But not all hope is lost.
If there’s anything we’ve learned writing The Daily Kickoff the last four seasons, it’s that road games are hard. For everyone. Even FC Cincinnati only won seven of their 17 road games this year. It maybe shouldn’t be a surprise that only one team won on the road in Game 1.
So have a little faith, lower-seeded teams (and St. Louis). There’s still a chance you can get back into this series. Of course, then you have to win another road game, but let’s focus on the potential positives. Anything can happen, right? Even if those things are very, very unlikely.
Those incredibly unlikely things have a slightly higher chance of happening for some teams than for others. For some clarity on those chances, let’s do a quick ranking of who’s most likely to pull off a minor miracle over the next couple of weeks. Starting with our least likely candidate…
A tough matchup for FC Dallas got a whole lot tougher when Alan Velasco left Game 1 early. Now, knee surgery will keep him out for this series and for a whole lot longer. It always felt like they needed something truly special from Velasco and Jesús Ferreira to pull off the upset here, and now Velasco won’t even be on the field. If we can call any series wrapped without being officially wrapped, it’s this one. Sorry, Dallas.
The Union made up for a Decision Day loss to the Revs with ease in Game 1. Having José Martínez in the lineup goes a long way for Philly. The Union blitzed New England on their way to a 3-1 win and continued building on one of the most impressive home records in the history of the league. Again, they’ve only lost seven times at home since the start of 2019. They don’t lose at Subaru Park.
So even if the Revs do pull out a win against a team with a better lineup and more experience in Game 2, they have to go back to Chester and figure out how to do it again in a place where the Union become something close to invincible.
Look, y’all know the drill by now. Something something underlying numbers something something regression to the mean in a good way something something a chance to pull off the upset if things finally break their way. We all know about what this New York team is at this point. Yeah, there’s a chance they start proving why they had great underlying numbers all season. No, there’s no real reason you should believe a playoff series against one of the best MLS teams in recent memory is the time for them to start showing proof of concept on that.
But still, until this is wrapped, it’s hard to rule it out entirely. John Tolkin’s presence alone is enough to keep me from calling a time of death. Even if it feels like a minor miracle in itself anytime the Red Bulls find the back of the net.
Speaking of trouble finding the back of the net…
It’s bleak right now for Nashville in attack. In five of their last six games, they’ve scored exactly as many MLS goals as you and I have. Other than a 3-2 win against New England, the Coyotes have been held scoreless for over a month now. There’s no real reason to think they’re going to break that cycle against a red-hot Orlando side. There’s especially no real reason to think they can do it two games in a row.
But, as always, they have enough defensive chops to at least make a couple of penalty shootout wins plausible. And, even if he’s been struggling as of late, Hany Mukhtar is still liable to haul off and do something special at any time. You can’t rule Nashville out completely. Just mostly.
Let’s be clear. The setup Atlanta used in Game 1 against the Crew results in a loss in 99.9% of timelines. The Crew are too good and Atlanta are too soft defensively for those tactics and personnel to ever result in the smash-and-grab win they seemed to be hoping for.
The good news for Atlanta is that they never have to use that setup again. Thiago Almada will be back for Game 2 and the Five Stripes can get back to the 4-2-3-1 setup that powered them to a relatively impressive post-Leagues Cup run down the stretch. Will that be enough to take down Columbus? Almost definitely not. But you can’t dismiss a team with Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis entirely.
The Whitecaps let Game 1 get away from them a bit. They were in it until the third set-piece goal and then they were well and truly dead after the fourth set-piece goal. That’s definitely not ideal, but it does seem like the odds of LAFC scoring four set-piece goals a game are slim.
Just a few corrections on the training ground and the Whitecaps will have more of a fighting chance. Not a great chance. But a fighting chance. Vancouver have too much attacking talent and LAFC have too much of a tendency to go cold at strange times for us to forget about the ‘Caps. A Vancouver win at BC Place would put all the pressure on LAFC to survive at home in Game 3.
A lot of RSL’s success here is still somewhat Chicho Arango-dependent, but they weren’t that far off the mark without him in Game 1. Now they go back to Salt Lake and have a sizable home-field advantage at altitude. They’re relatively evenly matched with Houston, and there’s a chance the Dynamo’s match-winner-by-committee approach could falter at any second.
I mean, it probably won’t, but I guess it could.
I’ll be honest. I don’t think it’s going to happen. But it would just feel kind of silly to not have the only higher-seed to lose in the first round at the top of this list. They won the conference for a reason, right? Right???
Yeah, ok, it’s a tough sell. Sporting KC have been as hot as they come as of late. Game 2 is in Kansas City. There’s a decent argument that makes St. Louis the least likely to come back.
But all that being said, I’d be shocked if St. Louis didn’t have any fight left in them. And we know how good this team can be on any given day. SKC don’t have this locked up. Not entirely, anyway.
Inter Miami to celebrate Messi's Ballon d’Or in friendly vs. NYCFC: Inter Miami CF, in recognition of Lionel Messi winning his world-record eighth Ballon d'Or award, The game is part of "Noche d’Or," a first-of-its-kind event that begins at 6 pm ET and will see Messi's historic trophy be presented to fans pregame.
Jacksonville Armada FC announced as newest club in MLS NEXT Pro: MLS NEXT Pro on Thursday announced the addition of Jacksonville Armada FC as a new independent club to the league. The Armada, based in Jacksonville, Florida, will join MLS NEXT Pro, targeting 2025 as their first year in the league. The team becomes the third independent club scheduled to join the league in coming seasons, alongside Carolina Core FC and Cleveland.
- FC Cincinnati's "vocal leader" Matt Miazga blends worldly lessons with hometown swagger.
- The New York Red Bulls are embracing the must-win stakes in tomorrow’s matchup with Cincinnati.
- Joe Lowery looked at how Game 1 losers can keep their season alive in Game 2.
- And Casey Dunau looked at how Game 1 winners can reach the Conference Semifinals.
- Jonathan Sigal picked out a Game 1 Best XI.
- Here’s how to watch episodes 4-5 of the Apple TV+ docuseries, “Messi Meets America.”
Good luck out there. First impressions are important.
