The first round of season 25 of Major League Soccer is in the books. It was a fascinating week with six home wins, three draws and an eye-catching four away wins. Here are the big takeaways from the opening set of matches.
Champions League no distraction
One concern I had going into the new season for a number of the teams was their participation in the CONCACAF Champions League, but there was no need to be worried. Of the five teams who appeared in that competition in the lead up to the opening weekend in MLS, four of them won their first game of the season.
The only team that did not begin their campaign with victory were New York City FC, but they were down to 10 men from the third minute after Maxime Chanot was given his marching orders in their match away to the Columbus Crew. Montreal Impact, Atlanta United, Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC all won so sharpness told.
Columbus Crew have unearthed a star
There was a lot of anticipation around the Columbus Crew heading into the season, after Caleb Porter’s charges spent a lot of money bringing Darlington Nagbe and Lucas Zelarayan to Ohio, and in the latter they might just have found a future MLS gem. The Argentine midfielder was the standout player in the Crew’s win over NYCFC. So good was his performance that only four men rated higher than him with Who Scored this entire weekend.
His busy performance included a number of key touches, while he was not afraid to take the game to the NYC defence with five dribbles. His performance was topped off with the winning goal in a wonderful display. The Crew designated player is already looking like money well spent.
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Atlanta squad depth looks a concern
Another point of intrigue heading into the 25th season of Major League Soccer was the squad depth of former champions Atlanta United, or rather the lack of it. In the last 15 months or so we have seen Miguel Almiron, Michael Parkhurst, Julian Gressel, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Darlington Nagbe and Hector Villalba all leave the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, all of whom played huge roles in the MLS Cup winning success. In Pity Martinez, Ezequiel Barco and Josef Martinez, the five stripes still had a front three the envy of many, but the fear of what would happen if one picked up a serious injury has already come true.
Josef Martinez is out for the season after damaging his ACL in the win at Nashville SC on Saturday evening, and as he left the field we were reminded of that lack of squad depth Frank de Boer has at his disposal, when it was Adam Jahn who replaced the Venezuela international. This is not a dig at the former San Jose Earthquakes and Columbus Crew forward, but he last played MLS in 2018 and spent last season in the USL Championship with the Phoenix Rising. He is not Josef Martinez and Atlanta could seriously pay the price unless a major replacement for the Venezuelan star is acquired soon.
Overseas imports hit the ground running
There were a lot of appealing signings brought into Major League Soccer from overseas ahead of the new campaign, many of whom came with blossoming reputations and a lot of hype. A number of those players hit the ground running for their new franchises in the opening round of the season, and it will be fun tracking their progress over the next 33 matches.
Alan Pulido arrived at Sporting Kansas City having been the top scorer in the Mexican league and he has already opened his account for his new side, while Luis Amarillo was quick to declare that he will score 25 goals in MLS when he was signed by Minnesota United. That was seen as a bold statement but to his credit he is off the mark, getting the second of Minnesota’s three goals in the win at Portland Timbers. Cristian Pavon is another with a lofty reputation and he opened the scoring for LA Galaxy in their 1-1 draw at Houston Dynamo, while a man whose addition for FC Cincinnati went under the radar, Jurgen Locadia, also found the net on his debut. These players have the potential to light up the league this season.
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