Concacaf Champions League begins tomorrow
Austin takes on Violette, Philadelphia faces Alianza and Orlando City goes up against Liga MX big gun and 2020 CCL champ, Tigres. And that’s just the Tuesday lineup. Check out the full schedule here.
Sign up for The Daily Kickoff in your inbox! The Daily Kickoff is more than an article – it can be delivered to your email account as well.
Two Matchdays down and we’ve still learned nothing. Don’t worry though. Somewhere around Matchday 33 I feel like this is all really going to come together. For now though, let’s talk about some questions we have after Matchday 2. Then we can check back in on them… 31 matchdays or so from now to see if we actually got an answer.
2018 LAFC were the last team to win the first two games of their existence. Before that, it looks like you have to go back to Seattle in 2009 to find another expansion team with two straight wins from the jump. Sooooo… the company St. Louis are keeping right now is LAFC… and Seattle. Gut call here, but that seems like a pretty good sign.
That Seattle team finished third (out of eight teams!) in the West that season, and LAFC did the same in 2018. Now, I hadn’t even started high school when the Sounders joined the league and I’m liable to forget things from half a decade ago these days (yeah, that’s right, half a decade, the cold embrace of old age is wrapping its arms around you and you can’t escape), but I think it’s safe to say St. Louis are entering a different MLS environment than even LAFC. There’s a higher level of competition and simply more teams to compete with. Including, ya know, LAFC and Seattle. A third place finish would be something truly, truly special.
Even just making the playoffs would be special honestly. But right now, it kind of seems like St. Louis may have a legitimate shot here. Matt Doyle has the number in his Sunday column: About 80% of teams that win their first two games make it to the playoffs. On top of that, St. Louis are just playing impressive ball for a team that didn’t technically exist a few weeks ago. They’re not quite as Red Bullsy as we thought they might be under Bradley Carnell, but still Red Bullsy enough to have some of the same tendencies that raise your floor in MLS. Oh, and Joao Klauss may be a \dude\.
There’s a long way to go, but there’s a chance St. Louis join a relatively short list of expansion teams that started competing and kept competing from day one.
Through two games, which is a very small amount of games, but still, Seattle have looked a lot like a team with continuity, top-end talent across the board and a bit of fire in their belly after missing the playoffs last year. It’s kind of frightening.
I don’t want to crown them yet or anything, but they’re clearly playing at a level no one else is at right now to start the season. They don’t have CCL to worry about like their two most probable competitors, LAFC and Philadelphia. And, oh my goodness, seriously, have you seen what they did to poor Colorado and RSL in the first two games? Those two teams maybe aren’t the best barometers for future success, but there’s no denying Seattle have taken care of business in style.
Health is always a concern with this group of course. However, they do seem deeper than in past seasons, and there will be ups and downs like any other. For now though, there’s zero reason to be anything but bullish on Seattle.
The Herons are one of a small list of teams to win their first two games, and they’ve done it without DP striker Leo Campana on the field. The first came against CF Montréal, and it might be a second before beating CF Montréal means much. The second however came this weekend against a full strength Philadelphia Union side. Does it mean we’ve severely underrated this group and totally overlooked a surefire playoff team?
Well, to be frank here, I’m not totally convinced. To be fair, I’ll start by directing y’all back to the stat about almost 80% of teams who win their first two games making the playoffs. Six points isn’t nothing. And even if they needed a couple of stunning goals to get on the board against Philly, they still kept the supercharged Union attack in check for most of the night. Again, all of that happened without a DP striker on the field. Those are all very good signs.
But a large part of me still wants more proof of concept. Why am I giving St. Louis the benefit of the doubt and showering them with optimistic praise and not Miami? I… actually don’t really know, and, as I’m typing this, I’m wondering if I might just be a hater? I might have some things to work through here. I’ll let y’all know. In the meantime, keep an eye on Miami’s results the next few weeks and tell me if they’re actually good or not.
Lucas Zelarayan has had so many outstanding moments in MLS. But, fairly or unfairly, it’s always felt like those moments were relatively fleeting. Like he would do something spectacular one week and then have his production fall off for a few weeks or so before doing something spectacular again. That doesn’t mean he’s bad, it just means he’s a great player who hasn’t quite reached an MVP level of play. Basically, his output seems to come in bursts.
When it happens, though, it’s amazing. His two goals against D.C. this weekend were unreal. The question is if Wilfried Nancy’s tactics can keep putting him in positions to go from potential Best XI guy to genuine MVP candidate. That doesn’t sound like that big of a jump, but we’re talking about the difference between a star and a star. It’s a tough threshold to get over. But imagine for a second that Nancy, like he did with Djordje Mihailovic last year, sets up Zelarayan to succeed at a level beyond his already fantastic 10 goals and 12 assists last season. Are we potentially looking at a 2017 Diego Valeri-esque 30-goal contribution season? It could absolutely happen.
Another week, another impressive performance from the Quakes. This time it actually resulted in three points.
I came into the year thinking the roster might show itself to have more quality and balance than we were probably giving them credit for. The surprise here is it manifested so immediately. Luchi Gonzalez already has this team heading in a very positive direction and there is real talent across the board here. This is the most optimism-inspiring Quakes team in a long time. And if I had to make a call on very, very limited data at this point, I’d pencil them into a playoff spot. Lightly. But still, penciled in!
- "70 years of history” came through in St. Louis’ home debut.
- Inter Miami said they aren't worried about making "big statements" during their fast start to begin the season.
- St. Louis CITY SC were welcomed by an epic tifo at CITYPARK.
- The San Jose Earthquakes got a "character" win in Luchi Gonzalez's home debut.
- Seattle Sounders win over RSL reminded Brian Schmetzer of the Oba-Dempsey days.
- Jesús Ferreira powered FC Dallas to a win over LA during what Nico Estevez called an "amazing adventure.”
- Matt Doyle’s Sunday column is up and good.
Good luck out there. Let them know you’re there as soon as you can.
