To make matters worse #2, Vancouver got their butts kicked in the CCC last night by Cruz Azul. At home no less. I would say Cruz Azul is one of the favorites, though. Austin is fine for now. 6th most valuable franchise in MLS according to Forbes, with lots of good revenue numbers. They apparently have one of the best season ticket bases in the league. Forbes MLS Team Valuations 2025 List — Major League Soccer Ranking Yes, Vancouver has the lowest revenues in the league according to that survey. [That was prior to the 2025 MLS season of course. We don't have this survey from 2026 yet.]
I suspect there are a very fickle fanbase and another losing year will lose a lot of fans. Houston used to rag on FCD when they first landed on third base from San Jose and won. Once the winning stopped there attendance dropped dramatically and was worse than FCD who had prepared their fans to lose for years
SJE just traded discovery rights away to LAFC for their Porto signing for a mere 50K and two international roster slots for GAM peanuts. Fish knows exactly what hes doing.......
Logan Farrington with a brace today in Dallas' 3-0 win against RBNY in preseason. He's had a really good preseason. Fingers crossed it continues into the regular season.
San Diego get the 4-2 aggregate series win at Pumas and the high altitude of Mexico City. Soma and Bombino got starts. Pumas are currently 5th place in the LigaMx: no scrubs.
This one should have been put away in the 1st half. Pellegrino had several golden opportunities and couldn't put one away (he may have put two off the post). This is becoming a theme with him... he gets in good spots but is unable to finish. Dreyer is not in top form early either. Dude was a killer last year but has yet to return to form (I know, second game)... he also had a one-on-one with the GK but allowed a defender to push him off the ball before he could get a shot off. I am glad that SDFC was able to hold on in a tough env despite not being in mid-season form.
They'll need to up their game now. Their next opponent is Apertura Champion Toluca. [Best record in the regular season and won thru the playoffs.] Toluca have an American, and capped USYNTer, on their roster that we stopped talking about a long time ago. Fernando Arce, Jr. Doesn't play a lot, though. It is crazy that an MLS team can be founded, and one year later is eliminating a team like Pumas in a head to head series. [I'm dumb enough to have looked to see if Sebastian Saucedo was still at Toluca. So behind the times. He was in Liga MX from 2015 to 2023. Still in his 20s, and playing for Birmingham in the USL. That speaks to something. I don't know what, but it speaks to something. An MLS team didn't want him???]
This is who he is. It's who he was with San Jose. He's not going to finish well. He's Zardes, basically -- high work rate, gets into position, low conversion rate. As for the rest, it's the second game of the season, against a good Pumas team at altitude, with a defensive game plan different than their usual. I think SDFC should have concerns about striker and the winger opposite Dreyer, but I don't think this game means much in the grand scheme.
That's a tough draw. I was born and raised in North County so imagine my delight when we finally got a legit soccer team. It has been a so much better than I could have asked for... but now I am greedy and want the first major title in SD history.
Chuky was brought in originally as a marketing scheme and he clashed with Varas and Heaps from day one. Apparently, upon arrival, his entourage started demanding special treatment for themselves above and beyond any things Chuky's agent negotiated for Chuky in the contract. Chuky himself started demanding separate payment for media rights and appearance fees even though they were included in his $6M contract. He was a no show for a team trying to build a fanbase in San Diego several times -- we border Mexico, obviously, and he should have been a huge draw. As the season went on, Chuky started to get mad that Dreyer was more of an offensive focal point and pouted. Dreyer had like 35 g+a btw, and would have won MVP in a non-Messi year, so this was basically all selfish. And then towards the end of the season, Chuky got into a physical altercation with Varas and possibly other staff after getting pulled at halftime. So they shelved him for a few games. The team supported Varas. They brought him back as a sub and he did well, but in the offseason they announced he's gone before he was gone and gave Varas an extension. Chuky has had a lot of issues over his career in terms of conflicts with management. This is nothing new. He's now refusing to go and wants to sit on his ass and collect his contract. But I assume they will find a way to get rid of him. I hope they go get a real striker.
....................as did Steven Goff at the Washington Post. Not good days for domestic soccer coverage.
MLS’s internal league coverage on all platforms is like state television and propaganda. It’s completely unconsumable.
Did he get laid off or move on? I read a tweet from that seemed the latter but maybe he just made it seem that way?
Fifteen years ago I got my dream job. Last week, that came to an end. I was informed last Thursday that, due to some slight org restructuring and a retargeting of MLSsoccer's written coverage, my services were no longer needed. It was not acrimonious, it was just quick. The dream job was gone, the 15 years came to an end, and I'd been let go. This wasn't entirely out of the blue – my role had been steadily shrinking for a while. By the time 2025 rolled around, the writing was on the wall. https://tacticsfreezone.ghost.io/an-end-to-my-days-at-mls-and-my-plan-for-whats-next/
Websites are for Gen X. Podcasts are for millennials. TikTok is for Gen Z. MLS needs new blood that can handle the new media.