Soccer <\/p>\n
So 2024 is just about gone, and what a year it was in Major League Soccer.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Leo Messi<\/a> and Inter Miami<\/a> wrote new history into the record books \u2014 but so did a certain Philly teenager less than half his age. A founding club with a long tradition of postseason pain produced a stunning Audi MLS Cup Playoffs run. Some cheeky wildlife (yes, you read that right) stole the spotlight in May. And a new champion, albeit a rather familiar one if you\u2019ve been following this league for a while, was crowned at the end of it all.<\/p>\n With preseason 2025 only a matter of days away, the whole roller coaster will crank up again very soon, this time with newcomers San Diego FC<\/a> welcomed to the fray just in time for MLS\u2019s pearl anniversary. But first, let\u2019s take a spin back through the league\u2019s 29th trip around the sun, from the legendary to the lighthearted.<\/p>\n Note: We\u2019re thinking both literally and historically here, which is to say that these picks include instants in matches as well as multiple occasions we\u2019ll look back on as a collective moment in time.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Messi\u2019s headline-grabbing midseason 2023 arrival in North America was driven to fever pitch by the Herons\u2019 rousing run to the Leagues Cup trophy<\/a>. Yet that tournament surge turned out to be a standalone event, as he and his old friends Sergio Busquets<\/a> and Jordi Alba<\/a> proved unable to reverse Miami\u2019s profound struggles in league play.<\/p>\n It was a completely different story in \u201824. Gerardo \u201cTata\u201d Martino\u2019s re-engineered squad were utterly dominant in the regular season, scoring an MLS-best 79 goals and losing just four of their 34 matches en route to the Supporters\u2019 Shield title<\/a> and a new single-season points record of 74<\/a>. Fittingly, La Rosanegra clinched the Shield by beating the defending MLS Cup champs Columbus Crew<\/a> in their own house on Oct. 2.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n They then broke the points record in cinematic fashion, thrashing New England<\/a> 6-2<\/a> in their regular-season finale on Decision Day two and a half weeks later, graced by Messi\u2019s first MLS hat trick \u2014 which took his season total to 20g\/16a despite being limited to only 19 appearances due to injuries and international duty with Argentina, and sealed his capture of the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Seeking to help better inform fans about the decisions made by on-field referees and their colleagues in the booth, MLS implemented in-stadium Video Review announcements for 2024, and by late June it had given us one of the season\u2019s funniest incidents.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n St. Louis CITY SC<\/a> supporters thought they\u2019d have a lead to celebrate when Dujic turned on his microphone following a review of an initially disallowed goal by winger N\u00f6kkvi Th\u00f3risson<\/a> in a match against Atlanta United<\/a>. The Canadian ref had a plot twist in store, though, one he revealed via a surprisingly dramatic delivery that soon went viral<\/a>, watched with delight by millions of footy lovers around the world.<\/p>\n Thanks for the memes, Filip!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Wilfried Nancy\u2019s Crew built on their impressive \u201823 MLS Cup win with sustained excellence this season, reaching the Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a> final (where a nasty case of food poisoning rendered them vulnerable to CF Pachuca, posing an all-time \u2018what if\u2019 for the rest of us), pushing Miami hard in the Shield race and hoisting Leagues Cup<\/a> hardware.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n It wasn\u2019t just the title \u2014 it was the way the Yellow Football Team did it, racking up 14 goals in five games with champagne soccer as they swept aside some of the league\u2019s top teams. There was a three-goal comeback from 2-0 down against Miami, then a tense penalty-kicks shootout dispatching of New York City FC<\/a>, followed by an assured win over the Philadelphia Union<\/a> and capped with a 3-1 destruction<\/a> of LAFC<\/a> in an MLS Cup rematch in the tourney final.<\/p>\n Afterwards Nancy spoke of urging his players to \u201ctry to do everything to be limitless,\u201d and while their title defense would later fall short (more on that later), that swashbuckling mentality figures to inform their approach to 2025, too.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n How many North American teenage prospects have we soccer fans ever been on a first-name basis with? It\u2019s a short list, to be sure \u2014 though it grew by one this summer.<\/p>\n MLS\u2019s transformation into a fertile cradle for rising young talent passed a poignant milestone on July 17, when homegrown Philly phenom Cavan Sullivan<\/a> \u2014 whose older brother Quinn<\/a> is already a first-team regular in his own right at 20 \u2014 made his MLS debut in a 5-1 win<\/a> over New England at the tender age of 14 years and 293 days old, breaking the record<\/a> set by Freddy Adu 20 years prior.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n This was not only MLS history: Cavan is also the youngest-ever player among top North American professional sports leagues as well as the \u201cbig five\u201d European soccer leagues, UEFA Champions League and Europa League, dating back to 1988.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s no such thing as too old or too young, there\u2019s only good and bad, and he’s special,\u201d said Union coach Jim Curtin postgame. \u201cWe can see that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A new chapter was written in MLS\u2019s surprisingly hefty history of raccoons in May, when a lively little scamp, quickly dubbed \u2018Raquinho\u2019 (or is it \u2018Raccinho\u2019?) by the MLS Season Pass crew, loped onto the pitch at Subaru Park without permission during the Union\u2019s home clash vs. NYCFC.<\/p>\n For what seemed like an age, the players on the pitch became spectators just like the rest of us, looking on as the clever creature evaded capture by stadium personnel, roaming freely across the grass for nearly three minutes before finally getting corralled under an empty trash can.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The incident drew global attention, with late-night talk show heavyweight Stephen Colbert marveling at the resourceful raccoon as he shared the footage with his audience and Topps producing an official trading card<\/a> of the breakout star.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n What\u2019s in the water in Cincy<\/a>? Luca Orellano<\/a> became the second straight FC Cincinnati player to win the MLS Goal of the Year award, following in the footsteps of his teammate and countryman Lucho Acosta<\/a> with this jaw-dropping chip over goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois<\/a> \u2014 from, what, 70, 80 yards out? \u2014 in a 4-1 rout<\/a> of CF Montr\u00e9al<\/a> on Aug. 31.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The footage speaks for itself: just an incredible goal, powered by audacious resourcefulness and superb technique. And it was just one of several stunners scored by Orellano, who totaled 10g\/7a in his first season in MLS, plus another in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Sure, Messi won MVP and drew the lion\u2019s share of worldwide attention, but another FC Barcelona ex turned out to be box office in his own right: Riqui Puig<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not only did the LA Galaxy<\/a> maestro run the show for the eventual league champs all year, tallying 13 goals and 15 assists in 29 regular-season games (then another 4g\/3a in the playoffs) and leading the league in touches, passes attempted, passes completed, fouls sustained and multi-assist performances en route to a spot in the MLS Bext XI presented by Continental Tire<\/a>. He also aimed squarely at the necks of anyone who publicly doubted or criticized him or his team, trolling, mocking and\/or blasting pundits, commentators, fans and all else who wandered into his crosshairs, be it via Tweets, spicy interview quotes or choreographed goal celebrations.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The main-character energy was so strong that even a torn ACL<\/a> in the Western Conference final \u2014 where Puig kept playing on the injury, notching the assist on Dejan Jovelji\u0107<\/a>‘s dramatic late winner \u2014 couldn\u2019t keep him out of the spotlight as the Gs won their sixth MLS Cup title in his honor.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n MPF. That acronym might not mean much to most readers. But it\u2019s an all-too-familiar ironic lament for the most long-suffering supporters of the New York Red Bulls<\/a>. It originally stood for \u201cMetro Playoff Fever,\u201d the tagline for an ill-fated postseason promotional campaign decades ago when the side were known as the MetroStars, the \u2018F\u2019 quickly devolving into \u201cFailure\u201d as the founding MLS club fell short year after year after year.<\/p>\n The story changed, and then some, in 2024. Led by Swedish attacking star Emil Forsberg<\/a>, who set the tone by declaring \u201cf— it, we can win. Why can\u2019t we?\u201d in the leadup to their Round One meeting with the defending champions from Columbus, RBNY swept the Crew with two inspired performances.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Riding some of the most rugged defensive performances in recent playoffs history, the Red Bulls kicked on with road upsets of their crosstown rivals NYCFC and Orlando City<\/a> to reach MLS Cup presented by Audi for just the second time in their history, where they pushed the heavily-favored Galaxy right to the brink in a 2-1 final<\/a> that belied the gap in regular-season performance between the two teams.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Take a glance back up the page at item No. 10 in our list. All that dominance Miami relentlessly produced over the course of the regular season would usually rank much higher here. Except that the Herons fell victim to the greatest upset \u2014 and that\u2019s statistical fact, not just subjective opinion \u2014 in the history of the league at the first stage of their playoffs campaign.<\/p>\n It came at the hands of a giant fallen on hard times. After Atlanta United finished a disappointing ninth in the Eastern Conference table, limping into the final playoff berth with a 10W-14L-10D record, no one gave the Five Stripes a ghost of a chance to knock off Messi & Co. But from his defend-and counter tactics to the \u2018F— \u2018Em All\u2019 rallying cry, interim head coach Rob Valentino made all the right moves, while grizzled veterans Brad Guzan<\/a> and Dax McCarty conjured up one clutch performance after another to inspire their teammates.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n After an agonizingly tight loss in Game 1, ATL drew level with a comeback 2-1 win<\/a> before 68,455 loud fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a reminder of their potent 2018 team\u2019s MLS Cup triumph, before stunning Miami with yet another comeback win, a sensational 3-2 stunner<\/a> in the decisive Game 3 of the Round One series.<\/p>\n \u201cCome down here, backs against the wall, find a way to get a result,\u201d said Guzan afterwards. \u201cFeels good.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n With Miami sent packing way ahead of schedule, the path to MLS Cup would run through Southern California, where Puig had shaped the Galaxy into the highest-scoring side in playoffs history<\/a>, coach Greg Vanney pushing the throttle to empower his team\u2019s loaded attack even at the risk of exposing their previously-rickety back line.<\/p>\n Though their Spanish No. 10 was ruled out by the season-ending knee injury he suffered in the conference final, LA did not waste the opportunity presented to them. Vanney adjusted his central midfield to address the threats posed by the Red Bulls\u2019 press-oriented transition game, setting the stage for a man-of-the-match performance from Gast\u00f3n Brugman<\/a> as the Gs snatched a 2-0 lead before a quarter of an hour had passed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n RBNY\u2019s rally fell just short, and when the final whistle blew at Dignity Health Sports Park, LA\u2019s \u2018Race for Seis\u2019 had completed, a one-time dynasty in possession of their MLS-best sixth title<\/a> exactly 10 years on from their last championship. And the question posed incessantly for more than a year could finally, undeniably be answered in the affirmative: The Galaxy are indeed back.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n