The 11 biggest MLS stories to follow as the 2020 season restarts | Charles Boehm

MLS is back. 

No, not that MLS is Back — MLS's regular season really is back, as the league's 26 clubs embark on their reconfigured 18-game schedule this week. Here are the key stories to follow as things get back underway this week.

Can LAFC walk the tightrope?

Given how irresistible they’ve been when at or near their best, it’s hard to deny that Los Angeles Football Club are the favorites to defend their Supporters’ Shield and win MLS Cup. In terms of the allure and execution of their philosophy and talent at their disposal, Bob Bradley’s side are a fearsome beast indeed.

But they’ve yet to reach the summit of a knockout competition in their two-plus seasons of existence — including a painful quarterfinal exit from the MLS is Back Tournament — so the doubts will linger until they get over that hump. And LAFC’s determination to win their way, on their terms, without compromise… as admirable as it is, it also trims their margin for error.

Navigating the new

Deadly viral pandemic, economic recession and international dialogues about systemic racism and policing aside, everyone’s clearly hopeful of getting back to some semblance of a “normal” season as the first of MLS’s three six-game schedule pods kick off.

Yet in some important ways, this all remains a deeply unprecedented scenario. With day-of-game travel, mostly-empty stadiums and distancing/sanitation protocols, matchdays will retain an unfamiliar vibe in the near term. We got glimpses of the mental aspects of this reality during MLS is Back and different groups and personalities will navigate these challenges in different ways going forward.

Cascadian contenders

Pop quiz: What do the last five MLS Cup finals have in common?

Here’s the one that tops my list: Every title bout of the past half-decade has featured either the Seattle Sounders or Portland Timbers, and at the time of this writing the Cascadian duo own the league’s most recent pieces of hardware, with the Rave Green reigning league champs and PTFC freshly crowned MLS is Back winners.

Even in the wake of Seattle’s four-and-out slate in Orlando, the Timbers and Sounders look like two of the most likely bets to outpace LAFC over the next few months, with savvy management and clutch performers dotting their battle-tested rosters. They’ll face off this weekend in the first of two head-to-head derbies over the first phase of the season’s resumption. Sunday at Providence Park should provide us with a few more data points (10 pm ET | FS1 in the US, TSN 1/3 in Canada).

Loons aim to keep soaring

Few teams benefitted more from their time in the Orlando bubble than Minnesota United, who sharpened both their defensive solidity and outsider identity on a steely run to the MLS is Back semifinals that unfolded without Ike Opara, the reigning MLS Defender of the Year. Now, coach Adrian Heath will want to sustain that momentum down the stretch in hopes of consolidating a place among the MLS elite.

Galaxy quest for answers

Los Angeles’ OG club find themselves rock-bottom in the Western Conference standings as the regular season resumes, winless in 2020 and staring at a hefty list of concerns around the pitch.

Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez has scored one goal in his first three MLS matches and limped out of MLS is Back with a calf issue after the Galaxy’s first game. His countryman Jonathan dos Santos – crucially influential in LA’s midfield – has been sidelined by injury, too. The defense remains leaky, their buildup play has been labored and coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto admitted that his team packed it in at the tail end of last month’s 6-2 mauling at the hands of LAFC. A dramatic turnaround is required to rescue their year.

Underdogs and ambushes

An all-time high of 18 clubs will qualify for this year’s postseason, a shift framed as a concession to the unprecedentedly unbalanced schedule and overall COVID-19-imposed upheaval. Pair that with the single-elimination format and a diminished home-field advantage (assuming mostly empty stadiums), and you have a recipe for at least a few upsets.

At least that’s got to be what the likes of FC Cincinnati and Nashville SC are thinking. Those two fall into a category of MLS teams that don’t quite have the horses to climb into the Shield race. But with their defensive rigidity and upstart mentality, they could wreak havoc in one-off situations if they can just clamber into the playoff bracket. Need proof? Consider how much trouble FCC gave eventual MLS is Back champs Portland in that tournament’s round of 16.

Soul searching in Gotham

Two generally well-run sides accustomed to living in the uptown district of the Eastern Conference table, the New York Red Bulls and NYCFC resume this campaign with their credentials a bit dented by the events of the past few months. The Big Apple’s blue half are still finding themselves under first-year boss Ronny Deila and while their talent remains, were really only convincing in one of their five MLS is Back matches. Meanwhile, RBNY looked a pale shadow of their intimidating old selves as they went three and out in Florida.

Can the New Yorkers find themselves in time to return to the reckoning?

Movement in Miami

To borrow a cliché from elsewhere in the North American sporting cosmos, Inter Miami might be the best 0-5 expansion team in MLS history.

The Herons have been bitten hard by the game’s finer margins in their string of one-goal losses and by their own admission their squad is still incomplete. They’ve also been deprived of the boost of their inaugural home match and will be thrilled to finally check that box when Orlando City stop through Fort Lauderdale on Saturday (8 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in the US; MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada).

We know two potent reinforcements are already in the fold with Blaise Matuidi and Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and that third Designated Player slot remains open. Will Inter entertain us neutrals at the very least, and perhaps even muster a charge up the standings?

Back to square one in the ATL

Extratime debates who Atlanta United should look for as their next coach.

Atlanta United finally had to eat some humble pie this summer as the wheels fell off Frank de Boer’s bespoke Dutch bus with a winless, goalless flameout at MLS is Back. The club that’s become the league’s gold standard for ambition, investment and showmanship over the past three years was suddenly pedestrian — and worse, boring.

To their credit, the Five Stripes moved swiftly with a coaching change and must now find their feet under interim boss Stephen Glass as the search for a new permanent manager unfolds. Can they get back to their old selves somehow?

Who’s selling?

The international window is wide open, and as most readers will have noticed by now, several of MLS’s top young talents are very much on the radar of clubs across Europe’s biggest leagues. FC Dallas’ Reggie Cannon and the Philadelphia Union duo of Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie currently headline the transfer gossip, though they’re certainly not the only ones.

There are myriad viewpoints on this. The selling clubs must craft succession plans and tabulate their bargaining equations. Some fans prefer deals to be made in the winter to allow for trophy hunts to play out, while others want to see their players cross the pond as soon as possible. And the league as a whole stands to benefit from more high-profile outbound moves as it aims to build a reputation for player development.

Beware The Bruce

The New England Revolution’s pronounced resurgence under Bruce Arena was one of last year’s leading plot lines and the wily veteran coach has more or less kept things on course in year two – at least until an Achilles injury ruled out playmaker Carles Gil for three to five months.

The Revs are responding to that setback with the arrivals of Matt Polster, Kekuta Manneh and Tommy McNamara and seem to have already crafted a sturdy locker-room vibe. If the newcomers can contribute meaningfully and Arena flashes his winning touch of old, a Nor’easter could blow through the East.