MLS 2020: A Quarter Century of Soccer

67YAZ

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Dec 1, 2000
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Chicago signed a 21 year old Ecuadorian right back from Aucas in his native country. Espinoza captained Ecuador's U20 team at the 2019 U20 World Cup and scored the winning goal in their quarterfinal against the US... He has two caps for the senior NT that came in late 2019 but doesn't appear to be part of the team for WCQ.

Seems like he'll have a solid shot at beating out Boris Sekulic at RB.

https://www.chicagofirefc.com/post/2020/11/23/chicago-fire-fc-acquires-21-year-old-defender-jhon-espinoza
Heitz recently promised a younger squad, and he’s moving fast to get it. (As an aside, how smart was it for the Fire to ignore all the pundits & fans Re: Chicharito last winter?). This is Heitz 5th South American signing. He’s putting the Basel model in place.

Edit: per this move, it might be more likely that Espinoza is coming into play wingback and Sekulic will play the right side of a back 3. The back 3 is Wicky’s preferred set up, but the talent this season was much more successful in a 4-2-3-1. Part of that was not having the wingbacks. They still need more strength on the wings.
 
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Titans Bastard

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Triple-header! I'm not sure I'm mentally ready for this, given how the playoffs have gone so far.
 

Titans Bastard

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Toronto is trying so hard to lose this, but Nashville keep blowing chances.
 

Titans Bastard

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Nashville has now had three goals (correctly) called off for offside. They've also bottled some onside chances. I'd be losing my mind if I supported them.
 

Titans Bastard

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Christ, if there's a screencap of Omar Gonzalez's hair, someone please post it.
 

Titans Bastard

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Nashville finally scores in extra time. Definitely deserved.

It's not over 'til it's over, but I won't be sad if we don't have another Toronto-Seattle MLS Cup.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Jun 15, 2002
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Revs have gone down to Philly and started fucking around.

Union do not yet look inclined to make them find out.
 

67YAZ

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And anothah! Philly has a big hole to dig out of and the Revs look very happy to play on the counter.
 

Titans Bastard

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Boom. It's just a different team with Carles Gil back.

Imagine if this team had even one CM who was better than league average!
 

Titans Bastard

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Damn, apparently Gustav Svenson is the Seattle first-teamer with COVID. That's a very tough loss.
No Leerdam for Seattle either. I was hoping to not have to watch Shane O'Neil start a playoff game but here we are.
Quite a few guys on both sides missing due to COVID or quarantine. LAFC are without both Diego Rossi and Brian Rodriguez, as well as their starting LB.

Christian Torres, age 16, gets the start at LW. He's made eight appearances and held his own (even scored a goal!) but a tough playoff game is a big ask.
 

67YAZ

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Quite a few guys on both sides missing due to COVID or quarantine. LAFC are without both Diego Rossi and Brian Rodriguez, as well as their starting LB.

Christian Torres, age 16, gets the start at LW. He's made eight appearances and held his own (even scored a goal!) but a tough playoff game is a big ask.
Torres looked good there - quick, aggressive, and a little savvy. Wouldn’t have guessed he’s 16.
 

67YAZ

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And now Nouhou gives it back with a sloppy challenge...and Vela screws it all up by lumping an easy one down the middle! Ooooffff. That’s a bad take.
 

Pesky Pole

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My belated congratulations to the Revs fans. My mom arrived in town and I thankfully missed the first half. My Union clearly weren‘t firing on anything and the Revs, playing great with Gil, punished them accordingly. I’ll certainly pass my allegiances along to my childhood home’s team now.

Tough last game for Aaronson and McKenzie. Now we see if ownership pockets the cash or spends a little.
 

Titans Bastard

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Are we surprised they aren't pushing the game back or is TV/timeframe all that MLS cares about?
I'm not surprised. I think they really want to wrap this up before pushing up on the holidays and especially 2021 (as contracts turn over).

I'd guess MLSHQ will be rooting for Nashville, though. Along with Dallas, they are basically Antibodies FC.
 

Senator Donut

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No offense to Minnesota or Seattle, but I’m hoping for a Revs-Crew-Burn-Wiz final four.

Fox lost its Thursday night gridiron football game, so they will be unleashing KC-Minnesota to a prime time network audience. That might suck in some unwitting viewers to MLS. On the downside, it avoids a potential snowy match on Wednesday.
 

Titans Bastard

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No offense to Minnesota or Seattle, but I’m hoping for a Revs-Crew-Burn-Wiz final four.

Fox lost its Thursday night gridiron football game, so they will be unleashing KC-Minnesota to a prime time network audience. That might suck in some unwitting viewers to MLS. On the downside, it avoids a potential snowy match on Wednesday.
Ah, the classic Wiz-Burn Chlamydia Cup.
 

Titans Bastard

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Big news from Toronto, with Vanney stepping down. Toronto was a total tire fire on the field until Vanney arrived (better front office personnel helped too). Toronto had one of the best MLS seasons of all time in 2017, and nearly won the CONCACAF Champions League in early 2018.

https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2020/12/01/greg-vanney-steps-down-toronto-fc-head-coach
There are currently four vacancies:
- Atlanta
- DC
- LA Galaxy
- Toronto

I don't think anyone would be shocked if Matias Almeyda left SJ, too. Additionally, Seattle has weirdly not re-signed Brian Schmetzer, whose contract expires next month.

There's a lot of natural speculation that Vanney could land at LAG, but we'll see.