Origin Story
I’m not sure how many people like me are out there, but there must be at least a few. I’m an USMNT fan, but I’ve never connected with a club team. I spend Saturday morning checking Bundesliga lineups and decide who to watch based on which American is starting.
I’ve gone through being a Fulham fan, Everton fan, Sunderland (that was a toughie), AZ Alkmaar, and a bunch of others. I followed Michael Bradley obsessively (via internet) from Heerenveen to Borussia Mochengladbach to Aston Villa (briefly – I still can’t believe they didn’t give him a real shot. In another universe Bradley is a Villa legend.) to Chievo to Roma and back to MLS. I’ve graduated from janky streams that probably gave my laptop a virus to an actual paid subscription to the Fox Soccer Match Pass.
And through all of it a club team has never stuck. Dortmund has been fun to watch, but when Pulisic leaves so will my feelings (I think). I follow players and root for the team and player to do well, but when the player leaves my attachment doesn’t last.
I grew up in Detroit and currently reside in Cleveland, so I don’t really have a local MLS team although Columbus is only a 3 hour drive. I watch MLS in much the same way I do European soccer. I look for interesting American prospects and pick the games I watch based on that. I’m gonna miss Tyler. I watched a lot of NYRB last year.
This is my attempt to rate how interesting each team is based on my own peculiar soccer watching tastes. Maybe yours are similar.
Atlanta – Interest Level: Medium-High-ish
Atlanta is a stylistically fun team to watch play, but their starters are kinda meh, from a USMNT fan point of view. That changes quite a bit if George Bello really is their starting left back. I’ve only seen him play a few times, but supposedly big teams from around the world are just waiting for him to turn 18. Andrew Carleton is fun to watch, but I doubt he’s going to play much and Miles Robinson is a 21 year old CB that looks like he’s going to start. Nagbe is still here, but he doesn’t look likely to feature for the national team.
Chicago – Interest Level: Drooping
I was pretty excited to watch Djordje Mihailovic take the reigns of the attack and go, but then the Fire went and signed Nicolas Gaitan this week. That either relegates Mihailovic to the bench or to an 8 role with Schweinsteiger going back to CB. Either way the Fire just got less interesting.
Colorado – Interest Level: Surprisingly medium
For most of last year I would have rather watched a baseball game than the Colorado Rapids…okay that’s a joke, but still they were awful and uninteresting. This year they are still pretty uninteresting, but have a 17 year old kid named Cole Bassett that is going to start at defensive midfield. I’ll definitely tune in a couple times to check his game out.
Cincinnati – Interest Level: Low
This team looks like they’re going to be pretty bad, and unless Frankie Amaya miraculously get some playing time…I think I’ll sit this year out guys. Sorry.
Columbus – Interest Level: Meh
I know Steffen and Trapp are there, but goalkeepers don’t really do it for me and Trapp feels like he’s been there for 20 years. If he ends up being the starting 6 for the USMNT then this goes up, but for now…meh.
Dallas – Interest Level: Really High 🤞
Dallas has been a tease for years. They have this great rep for signing homegrown players, having a great academy, etc. but then none of them actually play. This year feels different. Pomykal, Cannon, Ferreira, Servania, and maybe even Thomas Roberts look in line to get playing time. Sign me up. Also, their USL team, North Texas SC will be loaded with USYNT players and available on ESPN+. Giddy up.
DC United – Interest Level: Medium
Chris Durkin is the most interesting USMNT prospect-type player on this team to me and he’s probably not going to start unless Canouse or Moreno get hurt. Canouse and Arriola are both here too, but neither seem likely to feature for the US.
Houston – Interest Level: Poop emoji
DeMarcus Beasley is old jokes are about it here.
Kansas City – Interest Level: Medium-high
If CCL is any indication SKC are going to be fun to watch from a pure soccer perspective this year. From a USMNT perspective it’s going to depend on how much Busio, Lindsay, and Kuzain get to play, especially Busio. There are already rumblings of European interest and what’s more fun to watch than a young 10 prospect?
LA Galaxy – Interest Level: Low
From a general entertainment perspective they would probably be much higher. They could be great or a train wreck. Either way that’s entertaining. From a USMNT perspective though…it’s Sebastian Lletget and nothing else. Which is sad since we could be watching Alex Mendez, Uly Llanez, and Efra Alvarez grow up together before they go off to Europe, but sadly the Galaxy couldn’t get their stuff together before Mendez and (maybe/probably Llanez?) left.
LAFC – Interest Level: Low
Another entertaining team to watch with no real interesting USMNT players or prospects on it. Zimmerman is probably 4-6 on the CB depth chart and that’s about it. Maybe Shaft Brewer or Josh Perez surprise?
Minnesota United – Interest Level: Nope
Next please.
Montreal – Interest Level: Non-existent
Moving on.
New England – Interest Level: Low
Justin Rennicks saves this team from being another wash. Please play him. Does Isaac Angking have any shot at all?
NYCFC – Interest Level: Somewhere between yawn and really exciting
Jonathan Lewis, Keaton Parks, Juan Pablo Torres, Joe Scally, James Sands, and Justin Haak are all USMNT eligible and on the roster. The problem is that only Lewis is expected to start out of all those guys. Hopefully a few of them get real minutes this year and this team is fun to watch for USMNT fans.
NYRB – Interest Level: High
Aaron Long is a possible starter for the USMNT. They also have a seemingly unending supply of young USMNT prospects, and that’s sexy. (I mean that as un-creepily as possible.) Omir Fernandez is an exciting young winger/forward type. Kyle Duncan is an interesting young right back and the team plays a fun style of soccer to watch.
Orlando – Interest Level: Staring at roadkill
The most interesting prospect playing for Orlando is Danilo Acosta, who maybe ended up in Petke’s doghouse last year for this…? I sorta hope it’s true. Lol.
Philadelphia – Interest Level: High to really high
Their starting CBs (McKenzie and Trusty) are both young and USMNT viable. Defenders don’t have quite as much juice as midfielders and attackers for me, but still cool. Also there’s a chance a young 10, 18 year old Brenden Aaronson gets some run. Throw in Picault, Real, Fontana, and Derrick Jones and there’s a fair chance one of those guys turns out to be USMNT relevant.
Portland – Interest Level: Narcoleptic
At least Ebobisse plays here now. Before that it was a total wasteland. Maybe he takes a leap this year and they get more interesting. Villafana plays here too. Meh.
RSL – Interest Level: Medium
I feel like this team should be more interesting because they have a lot of young homegrowns on the roster…it’s just that none of them seem to be high ceiling players. Glad, Saucedo, Baird, Herrera, and Lennon all look like they top out at “fringe player” for the national team. They would have been a lot more interesting if they’d been able to hold on to Soto or Ledezma.
San Jose – Interest Level: Better than it was
I was pretty excited about SJ a couple years ago, but the slow, painful death of the Tommy Thompson hype train eventually just left me aggravated. Nick Lima’s showing with the national team in January has piqued my interest, so that may get me to watch a few games. Thompson, Yueill, and Gilbert Fuentes (probably with their USL affiliate) are all there, but I’ll believe they’ll play when it actually happens.
Seattle – Interest Level: Medium but rising
At the moment Seattle has Roldan and Morris as potential national team types, but in a couple years… US youth national teams are littered with Seattle players. The Tacoma Defiance (their USL team) will be very fun to watch if you are a USYNT nerd.
Toronto – Interest Level: Low
Bradley and Altidore still play here and are maybe starters for the USMNT, but no prospects of any real note. Akinola could pop, I guess.
Vancouver – Interest Level: Bueller, Bueller?
No reason for a USMNT fan to ever watch this team.
Now we see who is actually going to be in the starting 11 or at least the matchday 18 for these teams. It’s easy to talk about playing the kids. Let’s see which teams actually do it.
