There's no waiting around. We will find out the group stage draw for the MLS is Back Tournament on Thursday afternoon (3:30 pm ET on MLSsoccer.com, MLS Twitter, Facebook and YouTube), which gives us just enough time to fantasize about how we'd like to see it go.
There are many ways to portion teams into the six groups looking for maximum drama and excitement. Putting rivals together would obviously play a big part for most observers making a wish list of ideal groupings and, as you'll see below, I am certainly not immune from derby fever.
Of course, my dream draw follows all the format rules. Three groups for each conference, with five groups of four teams and one of six. Nashville moves to the East, which will then have the only mismatched group to feature six teams. All six groups have an already determined top seed, with hosts Orlando City getting the seed in that oddball group. You can check out all the tournament structure details here.
Group A
1. Orlando City
2. Chicago Fire
3. Columbus Crew
4. FC Cincinnati
5. Inter Miami
6. New England Revolution
The Lions (who we already know are seeded into the six-team group) aren't able to be corralled together with Atlanta United, but that may be just as well. Instead they can start revving up the league's first Florida derby since 2001. We also manage to keep a Midwestern trio intact, with Chicago joining Ohio's "Hell is real" rivals. New England has an adversarial relationship with the Fire that goes way back, but that's not why they're here. With the Revs involved, we may as well call this the "something to prove" group. And putting these six clubs together makes it more likely that the knockouts will feature an extra underdog or two, which is always fun.
Group B
1. LAFC
2. Houston Dynamo
3. LA Galaxy
4. San Jose Earthquakes
Yes, we have all three California clubs together. El Trafico is arguably the premier event viewing match in MLS these days, and I have no doubt that the Quakes want to prove that their much older Galaxy grudge is still the fiercest rivalry in the state. Houston may seem like an outlier at first, but they actually have varying degrees of hard feelings (for various reasons) against all three group mates. Each team in this foursome features a scary front line, so the chance of seeing some wild shootouts is high. What's more, pooling these teams together offers plenty of style contrast. You have the front foot aggressors (LAFC), the team trying to transition from one type of strike star to another (LA Galaxy), the über-pressers (San Jose) and the side still trying to figure out who they are (Houston).
Group C
1. Atlanta United
2. Nashville SC
3. New York City FC
4. New York Red Bulls
The Five Stripes can't meet Orlando City in the group phase, so we'll let them focus all their southern throwdown energy on the new kids from Nashville. No explanation should be needed for a wish that the Big Apple clubs get stuck together. These natural derby tandems are far apart on the map, but there is a connective animosity tissue between them. And, while it doesn't often get mentioned when discussions about the best rivalry games come up, I'd watch Atlanta United and the Red Bulls lock horns any day of the week.
Group D
1. Seattle Sounders
2. Minnesota United
3. Portland Timbers
4. Vancouver Whitecaps
I actually almost pulled the Cascadia trio apart, but then came to my senses. Of course we want those three teams in a short, desperate cage match to see who advances. The Loons don't fit here in the rivalry sense, but they do share a certain hard-nosed mentality with the other three. With them involved, tense soccer would be this group's calling card. And as with Group C above, this quartet should be challenged more so than most by the July/August weather that awaits them in Orlando.
Group E
1. Toronto FC
2. D.C. United
3. Montreal Impact
4. Philadelphia Union
Sticking the Impact together with Toronto FC is a no-brainer. Their games tend to be explosive, and seeing them clash in such an urgent setting should only throw added powder on their rivalry dynamite. Philly and D.C. are actually quite a bit closer in distance than the Canadian derby foes, and I wouldn't mind seeing the animus between the two stoked down in Orlando. In addition to pairing up sets of rivals again, this group will be a battle of wills to see which cooler climate outfit can best beat the Florida heat and humidity.
Group F
1. Real Salt Lake
2. Colorado Rapids
3. FC Dallas
4. Sporting KC
The Rocky Mountain Cup angle survives here. Sporting KC also has some history of discord with both Colorado and RSL, so that all lines up nicely if we're looking for fireworks. Although FC Dallas doesn't have any recent powder keg memories with any of the other three teams, drawing them here brings this group quite the nice, level competitive footing.
