Review: Keeping up with the neighbors from the worst house on the block - the 2026 other teams thread

If they’re casual…they won’t notice the drop in the level of play, but will notice the drop in fan intensity and atmosphere.

 

For years, the bigwigs at MLS were calling the World Cup "rocket fuel".

The irony is that, as far as I can tell, they did absolutely nothing whatsoever to promote the league the past two months and I, an MLS fan, completely forgot that they existed and dread their return. And now there is chatter that Messi is retiring.

My question is if the rocket to which they were referring is the Challenger?

 

They ramped up promotion over the last week of the World Cup. I saw MLS ads during almost every game that I watched in that span.

 

I do think MLS skews heavily to digital/targeted advertising these days. I see a lot of promotions for DCU on socials and I don’t even follow the club’s accounts.

I’m also a bit surprised that their overarching efforts haven’t been larger, but I guess we’ll see what happens over the next 18 months and judge growth accordingly.

 

Lolol, the league is investigating Miami regarding tampering during the process of signing Casemiro.

 

Uh oh! Maybe they'll force Miami down to 5 DPs?

 

...or maybe even......................................................Super Secret Probation?

 

I had missed that Chicago has swapped out golden boot leader Hugo Cuypers for almost 39-year-old Robert Lewandoski. Hope that goes well for them.

 

The fact that Cuypers saw the writing on the wall and asked to be transferred makes the deal even more head scratching. Lewandoski is a legend, but I doubt he's going to put in the work Cuypers did, especially this season.

 

The whole thing was just marketing pandering to the Polish community in Chicago. If Chicago is lucky, Lewandoski will play through the sprint and regular seasons next year at an ever decreasing level of ability/availability. Look, I collect vintage cameras and some of them were ones I wanted 50 or so years ago and couldn't afford. Point is, the cameras I get now cost much less than what they cost new. Paying serious coin for a 39 year old legend while jettisoning a current Golden Boot leader is madness.

 

Is Leviathan running Chitcago, too?

 

Is Herrera still on DC's books?

 

Aaron Herrera, that is.

 

Yes, until his contract ends at the end of the year or DC decides to buy out his contract

 

Yeah, that's the MLSiest of MLS moves. This is not a serious league.

 

Tweets posted on The District Press - Freedom Kicks website:

(Translation: DC United has shown interest in Ian Subiabre (River Plate). Formal club-to-club talks are underway, pending the submission of a formal offer.)

 

19 y/o LW. Don’t know anything beyond that but possibly a U22 DP? It’s the right part of the pitch to target at least.

 

I thought we were using all of our int'l roster slots, how are we going to sign any of these folks we are supposedly looking at?

 

There are some rumors that Kye Rowles is about to get a green card.

Beyond that, those slots can always be bought with GAM. Or someone else might get moved.

 

international is a category of player, not of roster spot. There is a league-wide max of 241 international players allowed (works out to about 8 per team) but no upper or lower limit per team for this category of player. Teams can simply trade intl spots so some will have more or less than 8. So, only the shadow knows how many internationals we currently can have.

The page below is confusing because in one cut it shows we have 7 internationals but the section specifically for internationals only shows 4. Calvin-ball!

D.C. United | MLSSoccer.com

 

The MLS Roster Profile page is the most accurate source of info. The rosters on the MLS website are sometimes hilariously wrong.

Major League Soccer Unveils Club Roster Profiles Following 2026 Roster Compliance | MLSSoccer.com

 

Americans like events, not soccer.

Lots of empty seats in the stadium, and the level of play and attention to MLS are much lower.

But maybe this is the year soccer gets big in the USA! Just like I've heard every world cup.

I think we're doing fine actually as a league. DCU isn't very good.

 

Hopkins appears a bit soft to me tonight, a bit whiny and not confident. Play the game, man!