MLS The Daily Kickoff

By Anonymous (not verified), January 16, 2023
MLS Soccer

By Sam Jones
Good morning, y'all. Your pal Sam here. Let's soccer.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

SMALL-SIDED: RED BULLS RELOAD AND SOUNDERS VERSUS THE WORLD

MLS Kickoff Story
It felt a little quiet this weekend. Kind of like we were building up towards one of the most explosive weeks of the whole offseason, but only building up to it. I've got a pretty good feeling about this week offering up some season-defining moves though (prayers for the folks in Atlanta). Until then, we have a few things to address. Starting with…1. An excellent weekend for the Red Bulls on their way to another Red Bulls yearI won't act like they've really and truly done anything earth-shattering here. But by bringing back right back Kyle Duncan and locking down Lewis Morgan long-term, the Red Bulls have set themselves up for another very Red Bulls season. That's great news for fans with a keen interest in Energy Drink Soccer and the fate of Sisyphus.I'm genuinely not trying to be dismissive here. It's just that I, like pretty much everyone else at this point, don't know whether to celebrate the Red Bulls run of playoff appearances without a trophy or feel bad about the entire process.For Red Bulls fans here, you have to be excited about Duncan's return and Morgan being around for a while. Duncan has been excellent for the majority of his time in MLS, and Morgan has turned into an immediate inclusion when people ask about the league's most underrated players. Seriously, Lewis Morgan is kind of unreal. The 26-year-old spent his first season in MLS being the best player on Inter Miami's inaugural team, dropped off a bit the next year as the team cratered, then came to Red Bulls and put up 14 goals and four assists last season. Morgan will be torching defenses for the next few years and every time it happens, the folks who don't read The Daily Kickoff will turn to the person next to them and say "Who the hell is that?"Most likely anyway. Maybe he gains a little star power as he continues to put up numbers for New York. But it's kind of a bummer to know that he's going to be tasked with pushing the Red Bull-branded boulder up the mountain for a while. As good as Duncan and Morgan are, it still feels like we're looking at the same old New York Red Bulls. There's still time left in the offseason for that to change, but no one is expecting the kind of truly transformative moves or decisions that might lead to New York changing their fate.There's nothing wrong with a 14th-straight playoff appearance I guess. And it feels like they helped seal that this weekend. Plus there's always a chance Cory Burke and Elias Manoel have excellent seasons and New York make it to MLS Cup and my worrying about another good, not great season looks pretty dumb in the end. Like I said, I think Duncan and Morgan are excellent. I also think we probably won't see the Red Bulls try and truly capitalize on having them around.2. Rave green on the world stageSo. Uh. Kind of seems like Seattle are about to play Real Madrid. I don't really have any analysis here. It just felt important to point it out. An MLS team could be about to play Real Madrid and it's not a part of a cash-grab tour of scrimmages, it's a part of genuine competition with actual stakes.First off, this is awesome. Second, this is scary… what if they get boat raced? Third, kind of feels like there's a good chance this is the first of many of these kinds of appearances?I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here. So, real quick, let's talk about Seattle's path to face Madrid here. They only have to win one game. And that one game either comes against Al Ahly (Confederation of African Football runner-up) or Auckland City (Oceania winner). It feels likely that Al Ahly will make it through there and it feels possible that Seattle can pull out a win. That's not a gimme, of course. Al Ahly are Africa's most successful team in continental competition and will be eager to get the same opportunity to take down one of the world's biggest clubs. On top of that, all the normal caveats apply to a Seattle team that will not have played a competitive game before heading to the competition. In fact, the more I think about it, the more my "SEATTLE ARE GONNA TAKE ON THE WORLD" enthusiasm is weakening.Either way, I think the main focus here should simply be about preparing for an MLS team to be on the world stage in a way they never have before. No matter what happens, this is progress. MLS teams will probably get this chance pretty quickly again. It might even be Philadelphia or LAFC in the same situation next year. Just start preparing yourself for the start of something resembling a trend. And remember that Seattle invented MLS teams going to the Club World Cup.

AND OTHER THINGS

THE READING RAINBOW

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