MLS The Daily Kickoff
By Anonymous (not verified), November 2, 2022
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By Sam Jones
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Good morning, y'all. Your pal Sam here. Let's soccer.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Nashville SC's Mukhtar named 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP: Add another trophy to Hany Mukhtar's incredible season: the Nashville SC's star attacker has been named the 2022 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player, following his MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi honor from earlier this year. Mukhtar led the league with 34 goal contributions (23 goals, 11 assists) in 2022, tied for the fifth-most in a single MLS season. That amounts to an incredible 65.4% of Nashville's goals in 2022, powering a third straight Audi MLS Cup Playoffs appearance since the club's expansion journey began in 2020.
- MLS Cup on Saturday: I mean, I didn't think you were going to forget. I'm just excited. In the meantime, here's how to watch the game plus a preview.
WHAT IF THIS IS JUST ROUND ONE?
Nothing is a given in MLS. It's why the reaction to The Mothership's preseason predictions is always hilarious because trust me when I say we're less confident in our predictions than anyone. All you can really go by is what you already know, so new players, new coaches, and random bursts of luck don't go into consideration for those things.
It's even dumber to try and predict what's going to happen before we've even gotten through the offseason. Like, at least twice as dumb. But I don't think what I'm about to say is crazy. It feels like a better-than-decent chance that we get this same matchup in MLS Cup next year.
Now, that's not so much a comment on the rest of the league but more of a comment on both LAFC and Philadelphia's "championship windows." It's a pretty valid concept all considered. There are only a few teams who have had consistent success year-by-year in MLS. And technically, LAFC isn't even one of them. There are even fewer teams who have had the ability to win MLS Cup over multiple seasons. The Union have been at that level for the last three seasons and NYCFC have been there for the last couple of seasons. As of now, that's kind of it.
It's tough to sustain top-tier success in this league. For example, a lot of folks have been talking about CF Montréal's championship window slamming shut after their loss to NYCFC in the quarterfinals. They're losing Djordje Mihailovic at the very least and possibly saying goodbye to Victor Wanyama and Ismaël Koné as well. Those are huge blows. It's going to take a heckuva offseason from CFM and Wilfried Nancy to keep the team at the same level. That is, if Nancy is even around next year.
I'm not trying to pick on CF Montréal there, I'm just trying to point out that some teams enter the playoffs with a sense of urgency surrounding what they do. Yeah, Philly and LAFC will both be giving 110% and all that this Saturday and it's very, very tough to get this close to a title in the first place. But you don't really get the sense that whoever comes up short will be looking back years from now and wondering what went wrong at their one and only shot at MLS Cup.
You never know exactly how an offseason will to play out, but how many players from this game are likely moving on at the end of the year? And how many are irreplaceable for two of the best front offices in the league?
It doesn't feel like many right now. LAFC is so deep that it's hard to see someone leaving who would have a critical impact. Philadelphia is so adept at finding players to fit their system or just plugging in kids from their outstanding academy that it's hard to see exactly where a major dropoff might be coming. And we know that both teams will be itching to become the second MLS team to win CCL.
There's a reason that both of these teams have the first (LAFC) and second-most (Union) points in MLS since 2018. Everything is set up for that success to continue. It's hard to predict anything in MLS, but don't be surprised if we're talking about an MLS Cup rematch this time next year. And maybe the year after that. And maybe even the year after that.
THE READING RAINBOW
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