A dramatic final day in the EFL Championship saw a shakeup in the table, as Blackburn defeated Millwall to open the door for Sunderland to get into the promotion playoffs. Millwall held a two-goal halftime lead against Blackburn, which was barely clinging to hope for a playoff spot. However, a capitulation and a late goal […]

Major League Soccer is considering some interesting changes to its playoffs and the number of teams involved. The 2023 season set to start in just a few weeks. Despite this, the league does not have a playoff structure currently set in stone. One of the alterations that could be coming to MLS is 18 teams […]

Injuries, an international break, and a bevy of good matches gave MLS fans a number of games to watch Friday and Saturday. With the number of games to be played dwindling, every match-up takes on that much more importance, and this weekend the results shook up the Eastern Conference standings. On Friday, a back and […]

In political parlance, the "laugh test" is the method to determine the reality of a proposal or idea, as in if a person laughs when you tell them your solution to a problem, it both unrealistic and ridiculous. A few weeks back on the MLS Talk podcast (subscribe on iTunes today) I suggested that Chivas […]

What do the Michigan Bucks and DC United have in common? They are the only two teams to score more than two goals against the Chicago Fire in 2012, but last night the Fire could only blame themselves (and not dodgy turf or a backup XI) for an embarrassing loss. With a loud but small home town […]

Team: Colorado Rapids Coach: Oscar Pareja Last Season: 12-9-13, 5th West, 6th Overall Twitter Hashtag: #Rapids From MLS champions to gutted in the past season, the Colorado Rapids enter the season wondering "what if". A new front office and new coach will try to repeat the incredible playoff run of two years ago with an older and more injury-prone […]

Team: Chicago Fire Coach: Frank Klopas Last Season: 9-9-16, 6th East, 11th Overall Twitter Hashtag: #CF97 In our 2011 preview of the Chicago Fire, I predicted the Fire would either make a surprise long run in the playoffs or miss the playoffs, be stuck in neutral, and just be lost in the near future. Neither of […]

If Sporting Kansas City's season had a title, it would be "Night and Day". A tough start to the season, no doubt spurred on by the never-ending road trip, saw the team open Livestrong Park and use its great atmosphere to rocket to the top of the Eastern Conference. Although they fell in the conference […]

Poor New York Red Bulls. In a season when it was all supposed to come together (young stars! established DPs! weak conference! newish stadium!) it all fell apart. New York struggled all season and barely made the playoffs, defeating a floundering Dallas side before falling in the conference semi-finals. The offseason has not been kind […]

The Columbus Crew were certainly a surprise team last season. After cutting ties with a number of veterans and going with a roster that looked lacking on almost every part of the pitch, head coach Robert Warzycha coaxed a great season out of a sometimes combustible team. Robbie Rogers earned his way onto the U.S. men's national […]

Chicago ended the year as potentially the best non-playoff team in MLS. They caught "fire" and had a winning record for the final third of the season, almost stealing the tenth playoff spot from New York. The same team that set the MLS record for draws in a season (which they tied with NY) gave […]

This time last year, the San Jose Earthquakes were riding high. They had upset the New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference playoffs and had seen the emergence of Chris Wondolowski as a bona fide goal scorer. Although the team had definite weaknesses and was not at the level of, say, Real Salt Lake, […]

Chivas USA had a new head coach and a new system last season, but after a slow start the team looked to be set in neutral in the competitive Western Conference. However, the acquisition of Juan Pablo Angel and a too late run at a playoff spot gave this team a bit of life and […]

In my 2011 season preview, I predicted that Toronto would struggle for the first few months under its newest leadership structure (new general manager and head coach) but toward the end of the year start to look like a promising team for 2012. I had no clue that the amount of change they would undergo […]

As our long-time readers know, MLS Talk likes to provide serious, well-thought out news analysis mixed with offbeat and laughable soccer-related thoughts. This is the latter type of post. Prior to First Kick 2011, the MLS Talk writers got together to give some predictions for the upcoming season. At the time, we promised we'd resurrect […]