Soccer <\/p>\n
The 2025 MLS schedule is out<\/a>, a veritable smorgasbord of soccer splashing onto everyone\u2019s calendars as the new year looms.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Naturally, some matches will draw the eye because of the history, circumstances or context around them. Here\u2019s a selection of some of the most notable among them.<\/p>\n Note: With MLS marking its 30th season by welcoming its 30th club in San Diego FC<\/a>, there are just too many big games to fit into a very early rundown like this one, and no slight is intended to those not included here. Besides, we\u2019ll learn plenty more about the must-watch teams and fixtures in the coming months from winter transfer business and as preseason camp unfolds.<\/p>\n You can catch all the action all season long on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV<\/a>. And new this year: MLS Season Pass will broadcast a featured game on Sunday evenings with enhanced production and dedicated studio programming (more details will be shared at a later date).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Many of us have watched, read, talked and thought quite a lot about Lionel Messi<\/a> and his Miami<\/a> project over the past year and a half \u2013 to excess, in the eyes of some. But there\u2019s a reason the GOAT looms so large wherever and whenever he plays, and every time he dons that pink kit is an opportunity to be reminded of why.<\/p>\n The Herons produced MLS\u2019s best-ever regular season in 2024, breaking the league\u2019s points record and scoring more goals than anyone else, only to crash and burn at the first hurdle in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs via an equally historic upset loss to Atlanta<\/a>. That sets up all sorts of great expectations and fertile plotlines for the new campaign.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, this fixture marks a fresh start for the MLS Cup 2021 presented by Audi winners. New York City FC<\/a> parted company with head coach Nick Cushing in November.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Jaws. Toros. Sockers. Nomads. San Diego is rich in soccer history, talent and culture, yet it\u2019s been decades since a top-flight men\u2019s professional outdoor team represented \u2018America’s Finest City.\u2019 That finally changes on the first night of March when SDFC play their inaugural home match, led by livewire Mexican winger Hirving “Chucky” Lozano<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s quite fitting that they welcome St. Louis<\/a>, another traditional soccer hotbed that\u2019s embraced just such a long-awaited return since CITY SC debuted in 2023, for the occasion.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n All eyes will turn towards \u201cThe Benz\u201d as Messi & Co. visit the Eastern Conference counterpart that sank their MLS Cup 2024 hopes in stunning fashion last fall. More than 68,000 fans turned up at MBS for the second game of that Round One series, and a similarly huge crowd is likely for this rematch \u2013 possibly even the biggest of the entire MLS season. It will also gain enhanced production and dedicated studio programming on MLS Season Pass as one of 2025\u2019s new featured matches on Sunday evenings.<\/p>\n To further thicken the plot, Miami\u2019s respected sporting director Chris Henderson<\/a> just moved from IMCF to ATL, where he\u2019s spearheading what projects to be a dramatic, ambitious roster rebuild to vault the Five Stripes back into the league\u2019s elite. This battle against the reigning Supporters\u2019 Shield holders will provide a timely test for ATLUTD\u2019s overhauled squad.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Thirty years to the day after these two clubs faced off in the league\u2019s inaugural match in 1996, MLS\u2019s rich history takes center stage with this commemorative occasion by the Bay. It\u2019s a moment to savor the vast growth and evolution of the past three decades, and the presence of new Quakes<\/a> head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena \u2013 who led D.C.<\/a> to the 1996 and \u201897 MLS Cup titles en route to becoming the winningest coach the league has seen so far \u2013 on the touchline brings it all full circle.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll also get an early snapshot of Arena\u2019s renovation efforts in San Jose, where past glories have faded amid sustained struggles: The two-time champs have made the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs just three times in the last decade, and PayPal Park has yet to host a postseason match since its opening in 2015.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Rivalry Week, a longstanding annual celebration of the league\u2019s fiercest and most eagerly-anticipated matchups, kicks into another gear in 2025 with a packed slate of local and regional derbies across two matchdays. And what better way to raise the curtain than this heated cross-Missouri showdown between two cities with a deep, contentious sporting history?<\/p>\n This matchup caught fire right from the jump when STL entered the league in 2023, fueled by a clash in the playoffs later that year, and you can bet on both fanbases being hyped up for the latest edition.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Rivalry Week rolls on with an unprecedented Saturday slate of seven backyard brawls from coast to coast. From New York\u2019s Hudson River Derby, to the Miami-Orlando<\/a> cross-Florida clash, to the Texas tussle between FC Dallas<\/a> and Houston Dynamo<\/a>, all are appointment viewing.<\/p>\n But be sure to tune in early for a feverish afternoon spectacle in Canada, where Montr\u00e9al<\/a> and Toronto<\/a> will renew an ancient rivalry dripping with geographic, cultural and linguistic context that runs far beyond the pitch.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n That daylong rivalry extravaganza concludes in the Rose City, a powerfully atmospheric setting for the always-ferocious Cascadia Cup clash between the Timbers<\/a> and Sounders<\/a>, whose history spans decades and multiple leagues dating back to the old NASL in the 1970s.<\/p>\n The intensity crackles on the pitch, and in the stands as well: Supporter culture thrives in the Pacific Northwest and this fixture provides a unique showcase for the tifo, chants and songs of the Timbers Army, Emerald City Supporters and many others on both sides.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n What better way to wrap up Rivalry Week \u201825 than with El Tr\u00e1fico, the vibrant \u201cbattle for Los Angeles\u201d that became a must-watch affair from the moment LAFC<\/a> entered MLS in 2018? Both fanbases show out for these games like no other.<\/p>\n With the reinvigorated Galaxy<\/a> surging back to their usual place among the league\u2019s upper crust with a rousing march to the MLS Cup 2024 trophy<\/a>, this is also a duel of top Western Conference contenders, packed with entertaining stars like Gabriel Pec<\/a>, Denis Bouanga<\/a> and Olivier Giroud<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Cincy<\/a> vs. Columbus<\/a> \u2013 they call it the \u201cHell Is Real\u201d derby, a cheeky nod to a memorable road sign along Interstate 71 between the two cities, and it\u2019s featured several compelling clashes over the past few years, including an instant classic in the 2023 postseason.<\/p>\n The fans love to needle one another in this fight for Ohio bragging rights, and under coaches Wilfried Nancy and Pat Noonan, the teams play some of the most assertive, attacking-oriented soccer in the league.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s always a blood-and-thunder vibe when the red and blue halves of Gotham lock horns \u2013 just look back at their pulsating clash in the 2024 playoffs, where Emil Forsberg<\/a>, Dante Vanzeir<\/a> and their RBNY<\/a> teammates knocked off the Pigeons on their upstart run to the MLS Cup final.<\/p>\n The intensity dials up that much further in the final weeks of the regular season as teams make their final push, which promises bile, bite and bravado for this meeting in Harrison, New Jersey.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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