The 2023 MLS season rumbles on and doesn't even stop for FIFA International Windows!!! Week 4 went full MLS on us. First things first, Thiago Almada is special, as in not long for MLS special enjoy him while you can! The Five Stripes absolutely crushed the Timbers into sawdust. Philly went to Montreal and all hell broke lose in the second half as Club Foot turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 win in stoppage time. In the Bronx the Pigeons and DCU played a back and forth game seeing the home side eeking out a 3-2 victory. The Red Bulls saw off the Crew 2-1 in an early Eastern Conference battle at RBA. Chicago and the Knifey Lions played a crazy 3-3 draw in the Windy City. St Louis continues to prove everyone but themselves wrong. They beat the pants off of San Jose 4-0. Houston took out in state rivals Austin dos a cero. LAFC and Seattle played to a scoreless draw in Cascadia. Minnesota keeps playing well without Reynoso, and left Colorado with all 3 points. The Galaxy and Whitecaps played to an entertaining 1-1 draw. Week 5 is going to be interesting. Teams will be missing key players due to international call ups. Some, like Philly will be without even more due to red card suspensions!!! Philly will hoping that Orlando still hasn't gotten over their CCL hangover when they visit Subaru Park. Portland will look to get their season on track when the Galaxy visit the Rose City. Columbus and Atlanta looks like a banger of a matchup at Lower.com Field. Charlotte looks to build upon their win against Orlando when the Red Bulls visit the Bank. Can St Louis make it 5 for 5 to start the season? They visit Real Salt Lake. Nashville and FC Cincy looks like an early playoff preview. The Champs welcome FC Dallas to the City of Angels in a tasty looking nightcap. As usual all game times are eastern. National broadcasts & Free games are listed. All games can be viewed using MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. MLS N&A play by play threads are neutral spaces. Keep all rivalry-esque banter out of these parts. Bullying. personal attacks and/or trolling will not be tolerated. Saturday, March 25 POR vs LAG 4:30PM FOX / FREE CHA vs RNY 7:30PM CBS vs ATL 7:30PM DCU vs NER 7:30PM FREE MIA vs CHI 7:30PM FREE PHL vs ORL 7:30PM FREE ATX vs COL 8:30PM HOU vs NYC 8:30PM SKC vs SEA 8:30PM 'MNU vs VAN 8:30PM NSH vs FCC 8:30PM FREE RSL vs STL 9:30PM FREE LAX vs FCD 10:30PM SJE vs TFC 10:30PM
I'm a little surprised the MLS website doesn't show which team or teams are idle on a particular match day, so I'm working on a list of teams that are idle each week. So far, I'm up to June 3rd. I figure it would save people from wondering why they don't see a particular team on the schedule each week. For Week 5, Montreal is on the bye week. CFM played its first 3 games on the road, then had its home opener at the 'Big O' this past weekend. After their off week, it's 2 more road games for them before they have their first game at Saputo Stadium on April 15th.
So...let's play a game this week... How many players will be missing from your team due to international callups? The Loons will be missing seven: Lod, Boxall, Arriaga, Rosales, St. Clair, Hlongwane, and Lawrence. Heath may have to pencil himself into the starting XI.
Here is the MLS list: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/march-international-window-which-mls-players-were-called-up I count about 88 right now. So that's an average of 3 per team. Your mileage may vary. Houston has 4 but 2 are more likely to miss the Dynamo 2 game on Friday.
Lists four for RSL, omitting Jefferson Savarino (Venezuela) though he has today withdrawn due to personal reasons which may or may not mean he's available to play for Salt Lake.
And St. Louis is doin' their thang with basically no national team players. While RSL will be out 2-4. Odds are on STL's side to keep the streak going.
That makes it a perfect trap game for STL! The altitude factor and becoming the first team to deny St. Louis any points this season make for a surprising (or not-so-surprising) result for RSL.
Philly will be without 7 for international call ups, as well as Julian Carranza due to red card suspension.
So apparently Orlando City fans interupted the post game press conference???? Mainstream MLS coverage needs to be more open to talking about fan frustration.. - LA Galaxy supporters boycotting last night- Oscar Pareja having his press conference interrupted by angry fans knockingPlenty more, but who is telling these stories? Is that tension discussed?— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) March 19, 2023
LA Times covers the Galaxy issues pretty well. That said most MLS stories are from access journalists and bloggers.
Reading some of those tweets seemed a lot like sour grapes to me. You never hear of fan protests or boycotts so much in other pro sports leagues in the U.S. or Canada either, so why single out MLS (or apple TV) as being 'out of step' with coverage of frustrated fans? Despite the frustrations, fans still show up to watch a Knicks game in New York or the Sacramento Kings, the Chicago White Sox, the Washington Commanders, the Houston Texans, and the Phoenix Coyotes to name a few off the top of my head.
There's a ninny contingent to soccer fans that's much larger than other sports in the US. They seem very much like the feckless losers on social media who try to cancel anyone and everyone for things that might have been done or said decades ago. Just sad little people whose only accomplishments in life are being "adults" who digitally stomp their feet like spoiled children always trying to get their way. The least they could do is save that vitriol for something important like their team signing someone with a recent violent/abusive past the way Boston Bruins fans did about their team signing Mitchell Miller.
Below are the MLS Season Pass announcer assignments for Matchday 5 with the play-by-play talent listed first, followed by the match analyst. pic.twitter.com/WW0uypIIgm— MLS Communications (@MLS_PR) March 21, 2023 Thx, Jay!
Update on the fan protest at the L.A. Galaxy home opener: This week's episode of the 'Extra Time' podcast I watched on Apple TV+ did mention the protest near the beginning of the show. It did talk about fan frustration with the direction the team seemed to be headed toward, as well as the lack of competitiveness the team has displayed since its last MLS Cup title. It was also brought up that when both teams come out to the pitch before kickoff, the visiting side has to walk past the 5 MLS Cup trophies the Galaxy have won in its history...and that's by design to make the visitors feel like they are up against a good team with a lot of success on its side, and that winning in Carson will never be easy.
Sounders without: Arreaga (he's had limited minutes anyway as we seem to be wanting to get rid of him) Baker-Whiting (US U-19) Nouhou Alex Roldan Ruidiaz (really Peru? He's in his 30s, he rarely plays when you call him up, and he always comes back with either covid or an injury. At this point I've decided Peru is simply trolling Seattle) Vargas (US U-20) Seattle will be weak in defense. Thankfully we play KC - although this could be the golapalooza KC's been waiting for.
This is why I have really soured on the Timbers Army the last couple of years. it seems all they do is bitch, complain, moan and whine about everything that causes them the most basic inconvenience.
Having the road team in a perfectly matched shade of green to the main color of the home team is really odd.