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| On playing the hand one is dealt. |
If you’re like me, you checked out from most things Major League Soccer after MLS Cup 2021 wrapped up and, let’s be honest, disappointed fiercely (if only locally). And, if you’re like me, you’ve started the cat-herding labor of catching up on what you’ve missed going into the 2022 season. And away we go.
The thrust of this first MLS Weakly of 2022 will view developments around MLS from a vantage both high and narrow - i.e., it will be neither encompassing nor granular, except in re the doings around the two teams this space follows, the Portland Timbers and FC Cincinnati. I tucked those notes at the bottom and will start instead with the most general of generalities: picking through points of interest in the first quarter of the 2022 domestic/domestic-international calendar. Just to note it, the article linked to just now covers all of 2022, so go as deep as the spirit moves you. A quick run-down:
MLS Preseason starts between January 10-16 - depending on the team - which I’ll care about to the extent I can actually see the games…and without straining; the MLS SuperDraft is on January 11, but the past decade or so has trained me to give zero shits about it; the penultimate CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying (“WCQ”) falls between January 24th and February 2nd…interest pending*; the FIFA World Club Cup plays between February 3rd and 12th, and, based on the teams involved, NEXT; that brings us to the first (personal) hot ticket of the year, the CONCACAF Champions’ League, which starts on February 15th-17th, and I love that perennial heartbreak like a teenage child who has grown to hate me, even if neither of my teams participates (the MLS participants, for the record: Colorado Rapids, Club du Foot Montreal, New England Revolution, New York City FC, and Seattle Sounders), which is to say, take me, I'm yours.
The MLS regular season starts earlier than it ever has, of course, on February 26, so that’s an early Christmas for us all and I’m looking forward to some snow games. That’s also when I plan on regular service resuming in this space. [Related: As an alternative to shutting down this site for the third time(/perhaps a psychological need for attention), I’ve committed to checking out to some extent at the middle of the season - i.e., around the time I feel like narratives have solidified and/or I feel like I’m repeating myself - but I’ll re-engage about 10-12 games before the stretch run.]
The thrust of this first MLS Weakly of 2022 will view developments around MLS from a vantage both high and narrow - i.e., it will be neither encompassing nor granular, except in re the doings around the two teams this space follows, the Portland Timbers and FC Cincinnati. I tucked those notes at the bottom and will start instead with the most general of generalities: picking through points of interest in the first quarter of the 2022 domestic/domestic-international calendar. Just to note it, the article linked to just now covers all of 2022, so go as deep as the spirit moves you. A quick run-down:
MLS Preseason starts between January 10-16 - depending on the team - which I’ll care about to the extent I can actually see the games…and without straining; the MLS SuperDraft is on January 11, but the past decade or so has trained me to give zero shits about it; the penultimate CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying (“WCQ”) falls between January 24th and February 2nd…interest pending*; the FIFA World Club Cup plays between February 3rd and 12th, and, based on the teams involved, NEXT; that brings us to the first (personal) hot ticket of the year, the CONCACAF Champions’ League, which starts on February 15th-17th, and I love that perennial heartbreak like a teenage child who has grown to hate me, even if neither of my teams participates (the MLS participants, for the record: Colorado Rapids, Club du Foot Montreal, New England Revolution, New York City FC, and Seattle Sounders), which is to say, take me, I'm yours.
The MLS regular season starts earlier than it ever has, of course, on February 26, so that’s an early Christmas for us all and I’m looking forward to some snow games. That’s also when I plan on regular service resuming in this space. [Related: As an alternative to shutting down this site for the third time(/perhaps a psychological need for attention), I’ve committed to checking out to some extent at the middle of the season - i.e., around the time I feel like narratives have solidified and/or I feel like I’m repeating myself - but I’ll re-engage about 10-12 games before the stretch run.]
