Soccer <\/p>\n
First kick is just over three weeks away, which means teams around the league are starting to scramble to fill some holes (or in some cases, to create new holes<\/a> that will subsequently need to be filled).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Here are a few of the teams I\u2019m keeping an eye on at the moment, and the questions that need answering:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n There is simply no replacing Riqui<\/a> 1-for-1 because nobody in the world \u2013 other than maybe Pedri if he\u2019s gone on a full YOLO diet \u2013 plays like he does. Riqui goes everywhere in search of the ball, and it\u2019s often brilliant:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Riqui Puig didn’t score or assist the Galaxy’s first goal of the night, but his movement and gravity \u2013 and teammates willing to orient their movement around that \u2013 opened up the field & made it happen. pic.twitter.com\/M9PLhtY7KE<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) October 3, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Marco Reus<\/a> isn\u2019t going to create sequences like that. Reus is a pure attacker and always has been \u2013 true 10, left wing, right wing, false 9, he\u2019s played them all. And that means teams he\u2019s on are more structured than the Galaxy<\/a> were last year (or the year before that) when they were built around Riqui.<\/p>\n I think this ends up being just fine for the Galaxy, provided Reus stays mostly healthy until Puig\u2019s return (I\u2019m hoping for sometime in August, but we\u2019ll see). And for what it\u2019s worth, even if Reus does miss a game or two between now and then, LA have Diego Fag\u00fandez<\/a> on hand as a backup playmaker. Remember last year when Riqui missed time, Fag\u00fandez filled in for the most part and put together some truly excellent performances as a true No. 10 in what was clearly more of a 4-2-3-1 than the sort of lopsided 4-3-3 they play when Riqui\u2019s on the field.<\/p>\n So yeah, I do think Reus (and Fag\u00fandez) mostly solve for Riqui\u2019s injury, as long as Greg Vanney\u2019s willing to adjust the equation a little bit.<\/p>\n There are other moves to factor into that as well \u2013 note that it\u2019s Mark Delgado<\/a> providing the final ball above, and he\u2019s clocking in for the other LA side now<\/a>. Will Sean Davis<\/a> make that play? What about new signing Elijah Wynder<\/a>? And 2024 MLS Cup presented by Audi MVP Gast\u00f3n Brugman<\/a> is now in Nashville<\/a>, which means Edwin Cerrillo<\/a> is going to have to test his limits in distribution and progressive passing (I am bullish) week-in, week-out.<\/p>\n Jalen Neal<\/a> is gone as well<\/a>, though I am less concerned about that<\/a>. And as for the Dejan Jovelji\u0107 reports<\/a>\u2026 we\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Which, to be clear, I think we will.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Anyway, general manager Will Kuntz had a lot more surgery to do on this roster over the past six weeks than I\u2019d realized. Because of the moves he\u2019d made in the previous three windows, they\u2019re in good shape to not just survive, but actually thrive in the season to come.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Timothy Tillman<\/a> was first among LAFC<\/a> midfielders in minutes across all competitions last year with 3,202. Eduard Atuesta was second with 3,007. Ilie S\u00e1nchez<\/a> was third with 2,862. Lewis O\u2019Brien was fourth with 1,452. Mateusz Bogusz played most of his 3,851 minutes (what a workhorse) up top, but some of those were in central midfield as well.<\/p>\n All those guys except Tillman are gone. For a team that won one trophy and came close to a half-dozen more over the past two years, that is a TON of turnover in the engine room.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not limited to that: between the departure of Jes\u00fas Murillo and the sale of Omar Campos, they lost about 4,000 minutes off the backline. If Cristian Olivera<\/a> is sold, that\u2019s 2,500 winger minutes gone which, on top of the Bogusz sale, and on top of Kei Kamara\u2019s departure (he played about 1,500 minutes as a center forward), means the front line\u2019s been remade as well.<\/p>\n I have had my gripes with LAFC\u2019s game model over the past several years, and I\u2019ve written directly at that<\/a> multiple times, but I\u2019ve never felt like the roster needed a makeover. Yet here we are.<\/p>\n Here is the glass-more-than-half-full take: Delgado, with his smarts and endless stamina, is a better fit in head coach Steve Cherundolo\u2019s 5-2-3 than Ilie or Atuesta were. I love the Nkosi Tafari<\/a> acquisition \u2013 it\u2019s maybe the best under-the-radar acquisition of the winter by anyone. He has Best XI potential. Yaw Yeboah<\/a> was also a shrewd pick-up with real upside backing up Ryan Hollingshead<\/a> at left wingback. So was Jeremy Ebobisse<\/a>, who signed as a free agent at center forward.<\/p>\n John Thorrington has always been masterful at making these intra-league moves. I think he\u2019s done some great work again.<\/p>\n Beyond that, they\u2019ll get $3 million in General Allocation Money (GAM) from the Bogusz sale<\/a> this year, which makes roster building easier. If they loan Olivera and have a purchase trigger that activates on January 1, 2026 (something insanely low, like \u201cone appearance activates the purchase trigger at X million dollars\u201d), they\u2019ll get another $3 million GAM for next season. Oh, and they\u2019ll also open playing time for David Mart\u00ednez<\/a> (at least until Antoine Griezmann gets here), who\u2019s probably the most talented of that group. Sell him in 2027, and that\u2019s another $3 million GAM, and suddenly you\u2019ve made it VERY easy to keep making these kinds of floor-raising builds.<\/p>\n So I get the theory of it. But man, it\u2019s a lot of changes for a team that won a lot for the past several years and has often looked good doing it.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n One of the things I was most looking forward to this year was watching Alan Velasco develop into a true No. 10 under new manager Eric Quill. Velasco\u2019s best MLS moments \u2013 including a legendary performance against Leo Messi<\/a> and Inter Miami<\/a> back in Leagues Cup<\/a> 2023 that was so good it got the kid into the full Argentina national team \u2013 came the few times he was used as \u201cgo wherever you want, get on the ball and make the game\u201d No. 10 in a 4-2-3-1 rather than as a winger or a free 8 in a more structured, positional play-heavy 4-3-3.<\/p>\n Which is to say that while his potential was great, his performances in MLS had mostly been meh. And if Boca Juniors offer you eight figures for a guy who\u2019s mostly been meh, and is coming off an ACL tear, you probably have to take it.<\/p>\n So Velasco is gone<\/a>. So is Jes\u00fas Ferreira<\/a>, who looked pretty miserable last year. Paul Arriola<\/a> was never a 10 (though I always wanted to see him in a pressing 10 role, a la Latif Blessing back in the day), but he was a productive attacker, and he\u2019s gone, too.<\/p>\n Dallas<\/a> are sitting on a mother lode of GAM. They\u2019re also about $25 million in the black in the transfer market since the winter of 2019-20, which blows virtually every other MLS team away.<\/p>\n What I\u2019m saying is that if guys like Evander<\/a> or Lucho Acosta<\/a> are available (spoiler alert: they are), Dallas have multiple ways of going after them. If, in turn, they\u2019d rather go shopping down in South America again \u2013 where they\u2019ve obviously had a ton of success, at least from a \u201cdevelop and sell\u201d perspective \u2013 they should have the freedom to do that, too.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Possession, passes per possession, passes from the midfield, passes within the midfield, passes by midfielders, field tilt\u2026 all of it, added together, made the Dynamo<\/a> absolutely distinct over the past two years. It led to the 2023 US Open Cup title<\/a>, plus going toe-to-toe with the likes of Columbus<\/a> in Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a>, Toluca in Leagues Cup and LAFC in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n They played beautiful soccer, and when it was working its best, it ran through H\u00e9ctor Herrera<\/a> and Coco Carrasquilla<\/a>. The former is one of the best Concacaf midfielders of all time; the latter is one of the best Concacaf midfielders currently.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a lot to replace. Lemme show you something though:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Houston intend to use their open DP slot on a new No. 10, with plans to shift Amine Bassi<\/a> into that secondary attacking midfield role Coco played. That\u2019s the right call.<\/p>\n But as I\u2019ve pointed out before, Atuesta is very gettable on a non-DP deal (which was the case for him with LAFC last year), and he\u2019s a Herrera clone in so many ways. His slightly lower pass attempts and completion percentage in the chart above are more indicative of the differences between Houston\u2019s and LAFC\u2019s game models rather than a difference in talent between the two players. Slot him into Herrera\u2019s role, put the ball on his foot 100 times a game, and let him cook.<\/p>\n Atuesta is currently surplus to requirements on a stacked Palmeiras side. Someone in MLS needs to go get him, and I honestly can\u2019t think of a better fit than the Dynamo \u2013 provided they intend to keep being the team they have been the past two seasons.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n RSL<\/a> set a single-season team record for points last year. Did you know that? It sounds kind of impossible given how great this team was from 2009-14, but it\u2019s true. And they did it despite selling Andr\u00e9s G\u00f3mez<\/a>, who was on course to be Best XI and Young Player of the Year mid-season, and subsequently seeing Chicho Arango<\/a>, who was producing at an MVP clip, go into the toilet.<\/p>\n RSL used the money from the G\u00f3mez sale to bring in a pair of young wingers, Dominik Marczuk<\/a> and Lachlan Brook<\/a>, last summer. Those guys, along with Diogo Gon\u00e7alves<\/a> (also brought in last summer) and Diego Luna<\/a>, will play the vast majority of the team\u2019s minutes across the \u201c3\u201d line of Pablo Mastroeni\u2019s 4-2-3-1.<\/p>\n They have yet to make a substantial move to replace Chicho, who was sent to San Jose<\/a> for $1.4 million in GAM earlier this winter. Right now the only center forward on the roster with substantial first-team experience is 23-year-old Brazilian Elias Manoel<\/a>, who had 8g\/4a in about 1,600 regular-season minutes last year.<\/p>\n Pro-rate that to a full season\u2019s worth of playing time, and you\u2019re looking at a starting caliber No. 9 \u2013 especially when you consider the fact that Manoel\u2019s underlying numbers were even better (he was 91st percentile among forwards in non-penalty xG as per FBRef, and 89th percentile in npxG+xA combined). Yes, he has underperformed those numbers (10 non-penalty goals on 14 non-penalty xG the past two years), but these things tend to even out over time.<\/p>\n RSL have an open DP slot and I wouldn\u2019t be at all surprised if they used it on a more obvious Chicho replacement. But I don\u2019t know\u2026 there\u2019s something Brian White<\/a>-ish about Manoel \u2013 he\u2019s the type of guy a shrewd front office would take a chance on, and the type of talent who could blossom into a 15-goal scorer if he\u2019s surrounded by the right teammates.<\/p>\n We\u2019re still pretty far from the start of the season, so don\u2019t write this in pen. But if I was picking an out-of-the-blue breakout player for 2025, pretty sure Elias would be it.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nDoes Marco Reus solve for Riqui Puig\u2019s knee injury?<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
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What are LAFC doing in tearing apart their midfield?<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
Will FC Dallas sign a new DP 10 or are they hunting in the league?<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
Can Houston keep their game model without H\u00e9ctor and Coco?<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
Will RSL go shopping for a new No. 9 or is it Elias Manoel\u2019s job to lose?<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n