Photo by ISIPhotos.com
The first day of March doesn't just mean we are a step closer to the end of a brutal winter (at least for those of us on the East Coast). It also means we are now in the same month when the 2011 Major League Soccer season will begin.
The Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle Sounders will kick things off in two weeks time, and the league's other 16 teams, including expansion sides Vancouver and Portland, will follow suit soon after. As all 18 teams move closer to finalizing their rosters, we can really start thinking about the new season and everything that comes with a new campaign.
SBI will be offering extensive season preview coverage in the comings days so stay tuned for that. What I would like to know is what are you most looking forward to from the 2011 MLS season? The expansion teams? The blossoming of new talent? The impact of new international players?
Share your thoughts below.
After the success of the World Cup in moving the needle, MLS should be capitalizing more by bringing in big name players. Overall talent has improved a lot, even with expansion, but there has to be more marquee signings for attendance and TV ratings. It looks like we’ll have to wait for the 2nd Transfer Window…
How about N’Kufo and Fernandez with a full pre-season with the squad? Gotta be excited about that.
Wow that’s a lot of spelling errors!
As a former quakes fa (I moved to Utah shortly after the became the dynamo) I can understand why you may have ig ores MLS in past. I felt betrayed and disenfranchised by the city when they didn’t give the o ly winning team in the state the chance to build a stadium. I’m so gla they’re back and playing well so quickly.
Don’t get frustrated with early season play. It starts to get better after the first month, then MLS hits the summer and things bog down a bit in some cities due to the heat, but things build and build towards seasons end and MLS cup. Taken as a whole it’s a great ride. Different every yehave as an MLS fan I’ve have learned to appreciate the good times all the more because they never last (just ask DC or LA) but the struggle to get there is everlasting.
Soccer
mfls…is there gonna be a SBI division?
Man I can hardly wait, don’t make me choose.
Everything everyone else has mentioned ( only apply to a Sounder’s fan ),
plus
A Three in a Row USOC Champion would be incredible.
Hurry up !!!!
Looking forward to riding the Amtrak Cascades for long weekends in the beautiful cities of Portland and Vancouver, Thierry Henry blowing up the league, and watching domestic soccer in even more wonderful new stadiums.
I would agree with you, except for one point.. I think Boss has the highest ceiling.
This is going to be a fun year for soccer!
I just hope that you realize as a former eurosnob, you realize you will probably be disappointed going into the season. The first couple games of the season are usually pretty bad, but the quality of play raises significantly towards the end of the season. As a Rapids fan, I plan to watch the first few games from the terrace (where it’s hard to see what’s going on) and then move out more towards the middle of the field later in the season.
Yes a stadium in DC would mean more to me than the MLS Cup.
Also, I would like to see another player hit 25+ goals.
Looking forward to a great race for the golden boot and hopefully more goals (would rather have a high scoring league than a defensive one: I could imagine a lot of different guys winning this year:
Thierry Henry
Juan Pablo Angel
Kenny Cooper
Charlie Davies
Conor Casey
Alvaro Saborio
Danny Mwanga
…to name a few
Yes I am excited to reorder my MatchDay subscription. It is only like $39 for the whole season with every game plus extras like superligq and summer friendlies. Definitely worth it. I’d say its better then Foxsoccer.tv in terms of video quality and price. The British announcer for the Seattle games is great.
I am a two year soccer fan and am excited to get to my first MLS game this year. If I graduate college and land a nice job, I will try and go to Philly, DC and NYRB this year. My Harrisburg City Islanders in the USL PRO league are gonna kick butt also.
which new pickup in chicago is going to do the most on the offensive side?
I am just looking forward to games. I am fine to watch euro teams but, at the end of every game, I think, man, I can’t wait to get back to qwest. The boys on the field, a beer in hand, a sore throat the next day…march 15 cannot get here soon enough.
Interesting that you’re reporting that rosters will be finalized today. Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson said they are hoping to have more trialists coming in for the games this weekend.
(SBI-Rosters won’t be finalized today, but teams have to be in compliance by today, meaning they have to cut down to the roster limit. Portland probably has some spaces to work with at this point.)
Ferrari made the cut down to 31 and his height is gonna give him the edge on the final cut. All our forwards are small. He should be alright.
called match day live. i subscribed last year and was very pleasantly surprised. the streaming quality was quite good. but, what i like the most was connecting my mac to my LCD and watching it on the large screen. it was totally worth it. i enjoyed hearing the home team announcers as opposed to the espn guys.
and finally, i am most excited about DC United, CD9, expansion teams, and new talent in the league this can’t wait for the home opener on espn and can’t wait for the DCU home opener at RFK.
MLS MatchDay Live is worth every penny. All the matches live or on replay for the year. I still have access to ALL of last year’s matches.
A lot of people are sleeping on Ike Opara. I beleive he has the highest ceiling of any US prospect at the moment. Had he not been injured half of last season, he would be farther along than Ream or Gonzalez.
Welcome to the club Kevin! Lenhart should take a lot off Wondos plate and provide a more balanced attack.
It’s called MatchDay Live. I think you can get it with your Direct Kick subscription, but I always ordered it as a stand-alone, internet-only option (worked great for my last year as an undergrad taking 6pm classes).
Agreed with stpauljosh… totally worth it.
Definitely looking forward to the new PNW rivalries. On a related note, I am really hoping I can make it to an away game this year (the drive from Seattle to Portland is very doable). Hopefully the atmospheres in Portland and Vancouver are as great as people hope they will be.
But I’m also looking forward to (or should I say hoping to see) a continued improvement in technical ability. I don’t particularly like watching a “physical” league, but I appreciate the fact that fouls don’t get called every time a player hits the ground. I think the league can take more steps towards protecting its skill players, but hopefully never lose the aspect of toughness that most Americans bring to the game.
To add, I’m excited about the underrated Fire attack that will shock those that chose to not follow the Fire offseason acquisitions. It’s all about Chavez, Puerari, Nyarko, Pappa. I’m excited!
He’d better, since Donovan (and possibly others) will be gone for Gold Cup duty. It’ll be Beckham’s show for a few weeks at least.
I want to see if Ferrari makes the Fire’s roster, and I can not wait to see Davies play for DC.
Looking forward to Union running out a 3-5-2.
Most looking forward to:
1. Fire New Look Defense
2. Beckham’s First Excuse to leave LA
3. New Stadiums
4. US Open Cup v Rapids
5. Gold Cup with Agudelo, Bunbury, and Davies
Any word on if the Fire will have a Jersey sponsor? Anyone? …Bueller?
Go Earthquakes and also most excited for
1. expansions teams
2. stadiums
3. supporters shield
4. champions league
5. us open cup
6. mls cup playoffs
7. charlie davies
8. summer transfers
9. MLSers in Gold Cup
10. Academy developements
Don’t forget about Ream too. I’m kinda like Kevin above…for the first time, MLS matters to me. Not only because I recently moved to a city that has a team (RBNY stand up!), but mainly because I’m a USMNT fan first and there is finally plenty of young national team talent in the league and I gotta watch it develop! (and nat fans shouldn’t sleep on the guys in the long term development stages in the MLS too like Kitchen, Gill, McIrneny, etc)
2 WEEKS BABY!!! 2 WEEKS!!!
I echo those. I’d also hope for a timeline — a new stadium — for us to talk about RFK in the past tense.
Also — showing off my new — very form-fitting — third jersey with Davies’ name and #. Thanks, DadRyan.
Yes I believe MLS is offering it this year (Direct Kick?), but its not quite available yet. I purchased it in the past and for the price, it was worth it. I can’t say the the video was 100% all the time, but at least 75-85% of the time. Hopefully some of the bugs have been worked out and it delivers at least 90% of the time now.
Either way- totally worth it.
2011 is the year of the SOUNDER
Take em all
Most excited about (in no particular order):
1. Expansion teams.
2. New stadia.
3. Charlie Davies.
4. Dax McCarty.
5. Perry Kitchen.
6. Booing Beckham at RFK.
7. Traveling to NY and Philly for the first time for DC United road games (fingers crossed on this one with a baby on the way).
8. Announcement of 20th MLS team?
9. Pre-game tailgates in the sun.
10. Playoff games at RFK.
Side note that is mostly related:
Is MLS offering that service that allows you to stream games live through their website this year? I forget what it’s called but I don’t see anything about it on the site. And do you have to watch them live or can you replay them like on ESPN3? I’ve never bought it before but am planning to this year if it’s available.
Thanks for any insight.
Ives,
I don’t twitter
I see your “Fredo style” comment and have to say, at least Fredo betrayed the family.
Williams and McAleenan just got used up and thrown out.
Haha, pleasant surprise*
As a USMNT fan its really all about 4 people: Mwanga, Davies, Agudelo & Bunbury. (In that order)
I am happy to say that I’m a recent convert from being just a european fan/snob. I’ve paid more attention to MLS this offseason than ever before and was stoked about the draft. For the season to finally start again, I’m getting even more pumped. All I can hope is that the Quakes can become a perennial playoff team and that others in the squad can take a little bit of the burden off of Wando’s shoulders. I’m hoping Ampai will be a present surprise as well.
All in all, the young talent in the league combined with the intn’l players coming in, it’s shaping up the be the best year yet. C’mon you Quakes. We piss on the Galaxy!
I’m looking forward to seeing a couple new stadiums this year.
Got FCFrisco lined up for opening weekend (hoping more people start supporting them) and hopefully be able to get down to Philly at some point this season.
I also want to try and get a few new people out to some games this year.
i’m most excited for the young talent. MLS is finally becoming a league that develops quality homegrown talent, and has a good track record of feeding European leagues. there are many bright prospects for the USMNT and it’s hard to pick the most exciting team to watch in that regard, if you ask me
The development (or reestablishment) of the Pacific Northwest rivalries between Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver should be great for the league.
18 teams, PDX and VAN, sss stadiums are the norm…I am so, so pumped for this season. It’s my first season with a very large tv screen… i’ll be ordering MLS direct kick and I plan on flying to Portland to catch a match. Plus, I think I’ poised to make a run in MFLS.
Things are looking good. Not that 1996 wasn’t exciting, but this year, for me, surpasses any other year in anticipation.
One thing I am looking forward to is finally observing how Beckham impacts the Galaxy over a full season (barring long-term injuries). This could be the season that Beckham truly becomes an MLS star based on his play, not just his celebrity.
Also, the same can be said for Henry–I am interested to see how he performs this season.
Any further details on the Williams / McAleenan situation?