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1 week ago | 
theguardian.com | Jon Arnold |Joseph Lowery |Graham Ruthven |James Nalton
The Sounders aren’t done quite yetThis was supposed to be the Seattle Sounders’ year. The team had a nice path in the Concacaf Champions Cup, and a number of seemingly savvy acquisitions in the winter had fans hoping they’d be enjoying a 2025 season that went down as the best in the club’s storied history. Like many resolution-makers who, in January, believe it’s their year, the panorama had totally changed by April.
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3 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Alexander Abnos |Graham Ruthven |Joseph Lowery |Jon Arnold
Defending champions in a rutThe LA Galaxy know how to win. Or at least, they knew how to win. While last season ended with the Carson club clinching a league-record sixth MLS Cup, they’re now making a different sort of history. Winless through their first six games of the season, Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Orlando City means the Galaxy have made the worst start to a campaign of any defending MLS champion ever. They don’t put a star above the crest for that.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Alexander Abnos |Jon Arnold |James Nalton |Graham Ruthven |Joseph Lowery
Sounders fighting the weight of historyIt’s time for celebration in Seattle – the Sounders have vanquished their bogey team. After knocking LAFC out of the playoffs with a 2-1 win in November, Saturday’s 5-2 result felt like conformation that LAFC no longer has Seattle’s number after they knocked the Sounders out of the Open Cup and Leagues Cup in 2024. Those results were part of a 10-match unbeaten run against Seattle that dated back to May 2021.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Joseph Lowery |Graham Ruthven |Alexander Abnos |Jon Arnold
No Messi, yes problemWhen the Houston Dynamo learned that Lionel Messi did not travel with Inter Miami ahead of the teams’ game on Sunday, they proceeded with a now-familiar playbook. Just like Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps did in similar Messi-less situations, the team apologized to their ticketholders, then bargained with them.
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2 months ago | 
theguardian.com | Alexander Abnos |Joseph Lowery |Graham Ruthven |Jon Arnold
I’m most excited about…Seeing more really good soccer in 2025. Over the last few years, it feels like the quality of the average coach in MLS has noticeably increased. Only a handful of MLS teams are still holding on to the “let’s play a 4-2-3-1 and defend in a mid-block” era with both hands. Pretty much every team has a distinct, observable style. JWThe rich getting richer.
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
backheeled.com | Ben Wright |Jon Arnold |Joseph Lowery
The MLS playoffs are nothing if not entertaining. Whether it was upsets (we got two more of them in this past weekend’s conference semifinal round!), generational goalkeeping, or an LA Galaxy attacking performance reminiscent of 2014 Germany vs. Brazil, spectacles abound. Can anyone stop this Riqui Puig-led juggernaut? Let’s dig into the latest playoff action, moving through teams in order of playoff seeding. LAFCResult: 2-1 loss vs.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
mlssoccer.com | Jon Arnold
Any fan knows what the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs are about. It’s one game at a time. Day by day. Play the opponent in front of you. Yes, Orlando City SC are focused on their Eastern Conference Semifinal against Atlanta United on Sunday (3:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass). But in their 10th season in the league, they're allowing themselves to dream. What would it look like to make MLS Cup presented Audi on Dec. 7? What would it feel like to lift the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy?
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
mlssoccer.com | Jon Arnold
Will Kuntz knew he had to get this right. In MLS, the success of Designated Players often determines the success of a team. And so the LA Galaxy general manager set out last winter to fill two open DP slots, knowing the investments would dictate the club’s trajectory for 2024 and beyond. Kuntz has evaluated talent for years. Before joining the Galaxy, he worked across town at LAFC. Before that, he was in the MLS office and was the director of pro scouting for the New York Yankees.
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Sep 23, 2024 | 
mlssoccer.com | Jon Arnold
The last time Columbus Crew met Club América, the stakes weren’t crazy high. Both teams had already qualified for the knockout stages of Leagues Cup 2023, and there was no clear matchup advantage to winning the group. Yet, Crew manager Wilfried Nancy made it abundantly clear in his pre-match speech: This was a big game. “Wilfred challenged us that day,” recalls Crew forward Christian Ramírez.
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Sep 20, 2024 | 
mlssoccer.com | Jon Arnold
They say time moves slower on Isla Chira. The island nestled in the gulf between the body of Costa Rica and the little arm flexing out into the Pacific Ocean is home to only 4,000 people, many of them fishermen who put their lines into the water of the Gulf of Nicoya every day and earn their living from the day’s catch. So it is a surprise that the island’s most notable export, aside from all the fish, is finding his home in a city that lives fast, never sleeps and is home to 8.3 million.
