When I was in NYC I went to see the Redbulls when Beckham, Donovan and the LA Galaxy came to town. Was a great atmosphere in their new soccer specific stadium. So raucous that some Jersey Guido's (It's ok I'm part Italian American) a few rows in front of us got in a brawl and had to be escorted out. Then there was Pirlo with NYCFC, saw them at LaGuardia.
Then Atlanta got that new stadium, I think Dallas won a title? Giovinco in Toronto and Ibrahimovic in LAFC. That pretty much sums up my MLS experience and I never really bit too hard on the MLS bait. Until now.
I could not be more excited for Austin FC's inaugural season. As an Austinite who is now back in Austin, we never had a pro team growing up so this has been a long time coming. Will be getting a Pochettino jersey soon now that he finally got a kit #. First game to be nationally televised on Fox against LAFC.
Alex Ring a Finnish defensive midfielder(widely regarded as top5 in MLS at his position) from NYCFC will probably be captain while the Dutchman Danny Hoesen will don #9 (He has a champions league goal against Barca on his resume). A couple of young exciting Paraguayans, Dominguez and Redes will support Hoesen on the wings. Daniel Pereira was the #1 overall MLS SuperDraft pick out of VT and the Irishman from Notre Dame Jon Gallagher should provide strong depth off the bench if not as starters. The consensus is that their D will be solid and Claudio Reyna has done a good job building a roster from scratch and now it's time to see what Josh Wolff will accomplish as head coach.
So with a partial schedule released and pre-season just getting underway I thought it would be nice to get an MLS thread going.
MLS Preseason 2021: Sporting Kansas City roll over Phoenix Rising, Atlanta United knock off Tormenta, FC Cincinnati fall to Louisville City SC
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2021/03/13/mls-preseason-2021-sporting-kansas-city-roll-over-phoenix-rising-fc-cincinnati-falls
National TV
The 2021 opening weekend will be the first time all five national broadcast partners showcase MLS matches on their over-the-air networks, including ABC, FOX, and Univision's UniMás in the U.S. and CTV and TVA in Canada.
ABC and ESPN networks will kick off their 26th season of national coverage on Sunday, April 18 as
Inter Miami CF host David Beckham’s former club, the
LA Galaxy (3 pm ET | ABC, ESPN Deportes). ESPN+ will stream all regional broadcasts nationally, out-of-market, including 17 club home openers.
FOX Sports will showcase three matches opening weekend, headlined by Austin FC’s inaugural match against LAFC on FOX, and two additional matches on FS1. All three matches will also be broadcast nationally in Spanish on FOX Deportes. Univision's coverage will begin when UniMás spotlights
Orlando City SC hosting rivals
Atlanta United, with new coach Gabriel Heinze, on Saturday, April 17 at 3 pm ET.
Any nationally televised matches not aired by a national English-language network will be streamed live in English on Twitter.
