MLS 2021 season: One thing to look forward to for every club | Andrew Wiebe – MLSsoccer.com

I love this game. I love my job. I love sitting in my little basement office watching soccer, thinking and writing about soccer and lets be honest tweeting about soccer (or the six pandemic words I hate) all winter long.

Champions League and Europa League weekdays are nice, especially with more and more Americans and Canadians involved. Coffee and European soccer on weekend mornings is part of my households routine. Its a wonderful life. Its a soccer utopia. Its not enough for me.

I miss Major League Soccer. Transfer rumors, coaching changes and schedule announcements can only keep me going for so long. I need the real thing. I need games. The wait is two months, as of Wednesday. Two months. An eternity in pandemic days. The only consolation is that the Concacaf Champions League chops 10 days off our wait.

While we wait, we dream. We hypothesize. We speculate. We overreact. We assume. We imagine what April 17 and the 2021 season hell, life itself might bring. Anything could happen. Clearly anything. Im choosing to think about anything in a strictly positive way.

Heres something Im looking forward to seeing in 2021 from all 27 teams in MLS, in 50-ish words or less. As a W name, I feel for those who always bring up the back. Reverse alphabetical order, here we go!

NOTE: This column is meant to bring hope to every last one of us, no matter who you support. Our friends, family and neighbors in Texas need more than hope right now. The players of Austin FC, the Houston Dynamo and Dash and FC Dallas are living it, too, and raising money to help people who are without electricity, heat, food and shelter. Consider donating if youre able.

A Designated Player No. 10. Someday, Tommy Scoops (@tombogert) will tweet: Deal is done. Caps have their man. When will that be? No idea. Who will that be? No idea. I do know I want to see Deiber Caicedo and Cristian Dajome running off Lucas Cavallini in front of a Reynoso or Zelarayan type.

First of all, Im looking forward to seeing how Torontos longstanding (and, in parts, aging) roster adapts to Chris Armas desire to press. Just in terms of pure swag, though, I want to see if Richie Laryea has another leap in his game. Let the man cook.

I really want to see if they hit on Remi Walter (d-mid) and Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (center back). Theres a lot riding on that. What I want most, however, is 2,000-plus minutes from Alan Pulido. Hes a double-double, Best XI presence if he can avoid injury (and Tata Martinos gaze) and play enough minutes.

I spend too much time around Anders Aarhus (Extratime producer, Seattle native and Sounders supporter). Thats why I am not writing about life without Jordan Morris (for now), Nico Lodeiros engine at age 31 or the next test for Brian Schmetzer. Two names: Shandon Hopeau and Ethan Dobbelaere. Give the Homegrown wingers a chance, Schmetz!

Another (final?) year of Wondo. Im not sure well every truly appreciate Chris Wondolowski, the player, the person or the soccer story. He is, in my mind, a first-ballot National Soccer Hall of Famer. I know others dont share my thoughts on the HOFs mission. Well have to talk it out when MLSs all-time scorer is eligible.

Bobby Wood in MLS, as reported by The Athletics Sam Stejskal. I just want to see, you know? Weve followed Woods career in Germany and watched him with the national team for a decade now. Hes one of the realest Extratime interviews weve ever done. He got paid by Hamburg, and now its time to play again.

This is going to sound boring two new fullbacks. The Timbers believe 23-year-old Argentine left back Claudio Bravo has the potential to be best-in-class at his position in MLS. Mexican right back Jose Van Rankin has more than 200 games in Liga MX. Apart from that, this is a settled team. Get well, Sebastian.

Who takes Brenden Aaronsons minutes? As I type this, Im watching the Union homegrown buzz around for Salzburg in the Europa League. Will it be Anthony Fontana? He is the obvious depth-chart choice and an instant goal off the bench and in the starting lineup in 2020 (6 G in 509 minutes). Or will Ernst Tanner make a signing?

Can Oscar Pareja top Year 1? My instinct is to say, Yes, of course, but its also hard to replicate (let alone improve upon) what amounted to career years for so many guys. Plus, theres no MLS Is Back tournament to build momentum. But really Pato. Same concept as Wood, but slightly different profile. With Daryl Dike out on loan, there are minutes to be had.

Gerhard Struber. I dont really count the playoff match as a true introduction. It didnt get a ton of hype at the time, but we get to watch the development of one of the games up-and-coming managers in real time. We get to see Red Bulls get back to their pressing roots. Oh, and Caden Clark. Watching him every week is going to be fun while it lasts.

What work gets done between now and the end of the transfer window? Alex Ring is gone, so is Ronald Matarrita. They sold Joe Scally. What happens next will tell us about their ambitions. Are they MLS Cup contenders, working behind the scenes to reload? Or is this it and might a drop to mid-table be coming? Is Extratime making much ado about nothing?

Is playoff Tajon Buchanan the real Tajon Buchanan? I got a kick out of the young Canadian getting under Nanis skin during the Revs playoff win. Id get an even bigger kick out of it if those swashbuckling attacks and cheeky defensive moments carry over to 2021 and become the norm. Overlapping Carles Gil is a good job to have, if he can keep it.

What does second gear look like? For most of the second half of 2020, Nashville insisted they were more than a near-impenetrable wall. They insisted they could control games with possession. They insisted they could create from open play. They started to do it. They nearly knocked out the MLS Cup champions. The test in 2021 is determining whether that leap was a bug or feature.

Djordje Mihailovic. Montreal wanted him, and thats a good start. It never seemed like the Fire placed full faith in their homegrown midfielder. In many ways, thats understandable. One word: injuries. The MLS I want to watch doesnt give up on young players. It finds the right situation for them to shine. Is this the right situation for Mihailovic?

Youd think the rumors around a playoff club/MLS Cup contender without a cut-and-dry starting striker would be stronger. Not so in Minnesota! Yes, Bebelo Reynoso is marvelous, but Kevin Molino is gone and the only pure forward on the roster is Foster Langsdorf. So what am I looking forward to? Seeing who Adrian Heath and Co. decide to sign and roll with in 2021.

Phil Neville, club manager? Gonzalo Higuain, franchise player? Blaise Matuidi, still got it? Matias Pellegrini, bust or slow acclimation process? So many questions, so many unknowns, so much to look forward to as Inter Miami officially become, as I wrote earlier this offseason, David Beckhams team.

Im looking forward to a better, happier, more productive Javier Hernandez. The man admittedly hit rock bottom in 2020. His personal life crumbled, and so did his soccer life. Does Chicharito still have it? Hell have to prove it. He gets a pass for 2020, but its a one-time pass. The Galaxy need him to deliver, and he seems intent on doing it.

A full season of Carlos Vela (with kid gloves). Bob Bradley is going to be careful with Vela, and I appreciate that. LAFC and MLS missed his quality in 2020. His presence alone changes games and the league. Its easy to take that 2019 season for granted, but I am well aware we may not see that sort of consistently blinding brilliance again. Best to appreciate every single moment as long as Vela is capable of delivering.

Ariel Lassiter or Christian Ramirez? What about Maxi Urruti? Fafa Picault? Mateo Bajamich? Tyler Pasher? The Dynamo have Darwin Quintero, on his day as special a player asthere is in MLS, but after that its pretty open when it comes to their attack. Who will win Tab Ramos favor? Can he get enough out of his roster to make the playoffs? Thats his job.

What does Hernan Losada see when he looks at this roster? We dont know Losada yet. We know of him. We know, in general terms, what he did at Beerschot. We know his reputation in Belgium was as a young, passionate, tactically astute manager who got more from his team than could rightfully be expected. Can he do the same with D.C.? How will he decide to go about it? Big questions.

Ricardo Pepi. David Gass is driving the hype train. Im just along for the ride. Pepi scored a playoff goal as a 17-year-old and got a couple more in the regular season as Luchi Gonzalez eased him into the first team. So whats the next step? How much time can he take from Franco Jara? Is 1,500 minutes and 10 starts greedy or just right?

(Id have said Paxton Pomykals return, but lets all agree to stay as silent as possible until he builds up a run of games and form. No need to rush him.)

I kept myself to two stadium openings, which isnt to say the good people of Cincinnati shouldnt be ecstatic, too. Its just that the blue and orange side of soccer in Ohio didnt have to fight for their teams very existence. When Crew fans walk into that shiny new stadium, theyll carry the past on their shoulders, scars included. You cant move concrete, but you can hang championship banners on it.

Incremental progress. Snore, but seriously. The Rapids have been building and improving steadily. Bit by bit, piece by piece the roster is deep and talented. Do they have a Vela, Higuain or [fill-in-the-blank big-name or big-price-tag star]? No, they dont. Incremental progress. In 2020, it was a playoff appearance. In 2021? Why cant they push into the Wests top four?

A fresh slate. Extratime has become a FC Cincinnati podcast. Thats how much news theyve made, both good and not so good. What the club needs most is a fresh slate. They cant escape their baggage from two rough years in MLS, but they can look at the table and see themselves even with everybody else. Add Brenner, maybe Lucho Acosta and a new stadium to the mix, and why cant 2021 be the year they turn it around?

Fewer brain farts. Lets just say that when it came to decision making and make-or-break moments the Fire were gassy. Too much? Fine. Chicago didnt get that much credit for it, but they controlled games in 2020. They just didnt finish them. What could this team, now recruiting from every corner of the globe, do with a little focus?

The first home match at Q2 Stadium. Ive been to a lot of firsts for expansion teams. First games. First home games. Stadium openings. Theyre all special, but theres nothing like walking into the building youll call home for the first time. The Q2 is Austin FCs home. The first look feels like a dream come true.

Can George Bello be the next Reggie Cannon? MLS starter >International success > Europe. I would say Bryan Reynolds, but Reynolds rise and sale was truly meteoric. Meanwhile, Bello quietly became a starter for Atlanta United in 2020 at 19, and in 2021 hes got an opportunity to take an even bigger leap under a manager who knows what it takes to make the jump to Europe.

..

Feel free to drop a dose of positivity in my Twitter (@andrew_wiebe) mentions. Id love to hear what youre excited about in 2021. Stick to MLS and your club, or take it way beyond our little soccer world!

Read this article:

MLS 2021 season: One thing to look forward to for every club | Andrew Wiebe - MLSsoccer.com