HI. Y’ALL.
I’m back. I’m well-rested. And like every friend you’ve ever had who became totally insufferable after a trip abroad, I have opinions on midday tea (good, I bought a kettle), urban planning (95% of American cities swung and missed, folks), and something called “Strictly Come Dancing” (I’m glad Layton didn’t win, seemed unfair to have a West End dancer on a show whose whole deal is taking celebrities who don’t know how to dance and teaching them to dance).
Anyway, I missed you. And it seems like I missed a lot. It would have felt like a lot even if I had only taken yesterday off. So, we’ve got to regroup. Because it’s the offseason, that only means one thing: Small-Sided—Get it? Like “short-sighted” but tweaked a bit to keep the whole soccer motif?—our mostly daily offseason look at the day’s big and small news.
1. Big O back in O-Town
Oscar Pareja is returning to Orlando City. It’s not a surprise but it did take a little longer than most of us were expecting. The bottom line here is that Orlando City were in the wilderness before Pareja and his stable, experienced presence plus an improved roster have been enough to drag the club out of there.
Even still, he had some detractors in Orlando, especially at the beginning of the season. The team navigated a tough stretch though, got incredibly hot over the back half of the year and ended 2023 with 63 points. I doubt too many folks are upset that Pareja is back. I mean, a few folks are upset, that’s the baseline for most Orlando fans, but still, less than normal.
Now, there are some extremely Daily Kickoff caveats here. First off, Orlando had no chance of continuing their second-half form for too much longer. Over that 17-game stretch, they led the league in points per game with 2.18. They also outperformed their Expected Points per game model by a hilarious amount. Based on American Soccer Analysis data, Orlando were 0.7 points per game better than what an average team would have been. That’s double the next closest team, RSL.
Second off, managers typically don’t affect all that much, etc. etc. we’ve been over it all before. However, organizational stability does affect how you craft your team. Orlando should have a clear understanding of the types of players that fit into Pareja’s game model and what’s needed to change a great roster into an elite roster this offseason. They have the space to do it too. The Lions have an open DP spot and Mauricio Pereyra has parted ways with the team. It’s time to go get a high-level No. 10 and add him into a midfield that will offer plenty of protection behind him recently re-acquired Wilder Cartagena and César Araújo.
There’s a clear path here thanks to a now years-long understanding of what Pareja wants from this group and what he can get out of them. The Lions aren’t far away from something truly special.
2. Everyone gets one. Right?
Hey, speaking of stability, lord knows the Revolution could use a healthy dose of it. Hiring an experienced and proven MLS manager like Caleb Porter makes a lot of sense after a less-than-ideal ending to 2023. Someone has to right the ship. It’s not a bad thought to put that job in the hands of a manager who’s won an MLS Cup at both of his previous stops.
Of course, it’s going to take a little more than just bringing in a name-brand manager to solve everything. DP forward Gustavo Bou is officially out, there’s no telling when fullback Brandon Bye will be able to return from an ACL tear and what level he’ll be at when he does, the same goes for forward Dylan Borrero, they probably don’t have the best shot-stopper in MLS history in goal for the first time since 2018, and Carles Gil’s back can only hold up so much longer after carrying this tea so far and so often. There are genuine questions and worries around this team that won’t be solved solely by adding Porter to the mix.
It shouldn’t hurt though. And now the Revs can really start moving forward with revamping their roster. Plus, ya know, kind of seems like getting the ball to Gil and Tomas Chancalay as often as possible is worth about 50 points a year. Don’t be *too* worried about the Revs.
3. A SuperDraft SuperNameDraft
No one ever knows how SuperDraft picks are going to work out. If you’re looking for actual insight into what these guys did in college, head to Travis Clark’s breakdown in The Reading Rainbow below. If you’re not looking for that and are instead looking for something much, much dumber, I have great news. Here are the top 50 names of the 2023 SuperDraft eligible players list.
- Thaddaeus Dewing – F – Air Force
- Wessel Speel – GK – Hofstra
- Damien Barker John – F – Louisville
- Kojo Dadzie – AM – Brown
- Ploutarchos Alonefti - F – Lipscomb
- Grayson Doody – RB – UCLA
- Buba Fofanah – F – Portland
- Birgir Baldvinsson – LB – Wisconsin
- Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau – F – St. John's
- Schinieder Mimy – LB – Oral Roberts
- Joey Batrouni – GK – Virginia
- Okeefe Cunningham – CM – Loyola Marymount
- Camil Azzam Ruiz – F – Iona
- Gevork Diarbian – LW – Providence
- Guillaume Vacter – RCB – UConn
- Ask Ekeland – CM – Duquesne
- Tyger Evans – LB – NCAA Transfer Portal
- Tyger Smalls – LW – Loyola Marymount
- Heriberto Soto – LW – Marquette
- Zane Bubb – RCB – Central Florida
- Ajmeer Spengler – CM – South Florida
- Konstantinos Georgallides – AM – Louisville
- Hugo Bacharach – RCB – Indiana
- Zach Zengue – AM – Georgetown
- Rommee Jaridly – RW – San Diego State
- Paddy Burns – LB – Notre Dame
- Kenji Mboma Dem – F – Dayton
- Maximus Jennings – RCB – Georgetown
- Kisa Kiingi – RB – Cornell
- KK Baffour – LW – Notre Dame
- Stas Korzeniowski – F – Pennsylvania
- Kalani Kossa-Rienzi – RB – Washington
- Finn McRobb – LCB – High Point
- Zoltan Nagy – GK – Duquesne
- Bright Nutornutsi – F – Grand Canyon
- Hesron Barry – LCB – Wisconsin Green Bay
- Jono Nyandjo – RW – Charlotte
- Til Zinnhardt – RCB – North Carolina
- Eno Nto – F – Notre Dame
- Andrew Hammersley – GK – Sacred Heart
- Olu Oyegunle – LCB – Syracuse
- Rocky Perez – CM – South Carolina
- Yeider Zuluaga – LW – Seattle
- Samory Powder – RB – Portland
- Alvaro Garcia-Pascual – F – Marshall
- Bernardo Prego – RB – Providence
- Giorgio Probo – CM – Creighton
- Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos – F – Memphis
- Jason Shokalook – F – Akron
- Donovan Hesselmeyer – CM – South Florida
|