Alright, alright, alright,

It was a quiet week for our Americans abroad but plenty of MLS news to update you on. Plus a ton of quick hits at the bottom. Let’s get it…

• 🏆️ THE GALAXY ARE BACK

• 📊 San Diego FC Expansion Draft Details

• 🏟️ MLS Attendance Record

• 🇺🇸 USMNT Youth Movement

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet of the Week

THE GALAXY ARE BACK

Exactly 10 years from the day they last won the MLS Cup, the LA Galaxy won their record-extending sixth league title. The league's most successful franchise is back on top.

The home team got off to a blazing start scoring two goals in the first 13 minutes. Gaston Brugman did his best Riqui Puig impression, slotting a through ball to Joseph Paintsil who opened the scoring in the 9th minute. Then minutes later Dejan Joveljic took the ball just past midfield, dribbled his way into the box, and put home the second past Carlos Coronel. And just like that you thought a route was on. But the Red Bulls bunkered in and fought back. Sean Nealis scored in the 28th minute to pull them back into the game.

The second half was more of a dogfight. Both teams had their chances but nothing materialized. Surprisingly the Red Bulls controlled 59% of possession but had .91xG to the Galaxy’s 1.82. The better team ultimately won the game.

Yes, it was the typical stars Paintsil and Joveljic who scored the goals. But role players like Brugman (MLS Cup MVP), Mark Delgado, and Edwin Cerrillo were the ones who stepped up in the absence of Riqui Puig. It’s a testament to how quickly this team rebuilt. After a 13th-place finish in the Western Conference last season, they splurged on Pec ($12M) and Paintsil ($10M) and added Reus during the summer. All were perfect fits. The Galaxy not only broke the record for most goals in a postseason (18) but also scored the third most (87) through the regular season and playoffs by an MLS Cup Champion. A franchise riddled with past stars added their newest additions to bring them back to the top. It’s remarkable that GM Will Kuntz didn’t win MLS Sporting Executive of the Year.

The day ended with Riqui Puig blowing O’s with his teammates — teammates who repeatedly said they won it for Riqui. It’s a fitting end to one of the best seasons in MLS history.

San Diego FC Expansion Draft

The MLS Expansion Draft for San Diego FC is tonight at 7:30pm PT. Here’s how this will work:

San Diego FC will select up to five players from the eligible player pool, with a maximum of one player taken per club. All 29 clubs are able to protect 12 players each. Here is the full list of players from each club that are unprotected.

Expansion teams typically use this draft to acquire cheap players that are fringe starters or role players rather than going after big name DPs. So yes, Lorenzo Insigne is unprotected. And no… San Diego will not be taking on that contract 😂. A few interesting players that are available to be selected are Julian Gressel (Miami), Xande Silva (Atlanta), Jovan Mijatovic (NYCFC), and Gaston Brugman (Galaxy).

Prior to the Expansion Draft, San Diego acquired an international slot from the Crew for $100k GAM, which Tom Bogert points out is likely a handshake deal to avoid grabbing a Crew player in the Draft. San Diego also acquired LAFC player Tomas Angel, the son of former MLS star Juan Pablo Angel.

With rumors swirling around International superstars like Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Ramos, that extra international slot could prove crucial to SDFC this offseason.

You can watch the expansion draft live on San Diego FC’s website.

MLS Attendance Record

Major League Soccer’s total attendance for the 2024 regular season and playoffs ranked second in the world, according to Opta.

Yup, that’s right. Only the Premier League had more fans attend games this past season. It’s a tremendous sign for one of the worlds fastest growing leagues. But there’s one major caveat we can’t ignore — MLS has 29 teams while most of these other major leagues only have 20. So while it might not be the perfect metric to compare the leagues it is without a doubt still a good sign of growth.

Opta also had MLS ranked as the 9th Best League in the World. Every sign points to MLS being one of the World’s elite leagues within due time.

A Youthful USMNT

Of the 144 FIFA-sanctioned countries in the world, the USMNT had the 13th youngest average age of lineups fielded in 2024. This reinforces something we already knew — our squad is young. But it’s remarkably young compared to the rest of the competitive footballing nations.

With an average age of 25.35 we’re considerably younger than; Argentina (28.89, 12th oldest), Germany(28.56), Croatia (28.32), France (26.79), Belgium (26.72), The Netherlands (26.63), and Brazil (26.56).

Almost 50% of the USMNT minutes played this year were by players aged 22-25. It’s entirely possible that the 2030 World Cup will be our peak year instead of 2026.

Whatever the case, this is a tremendous sign for the USMNT and its future goals.

Goal of the Week

Future San Jose Earthquakes striker??

Tweet of the Week

Only the real MLS fans will understand 🤣🤣 

Quick Hits

• The most viewed soccer team pages on FBREF in each state in 2024 (Link)

• MLS in talks to allow cash-based internal trade market, other wise known as transfer fees (Link)

• FIFA Club World Cup Group Stage is set (Link)

• Leeds United are interested in signing Real Salt Lake star Diego Luna (Link)

• Christian Pulisic was forced off due to a calf injury in his AC Milan game, he’s expected back in January (Link)

• Bournemouth signed DC United/USYNT center-back Matai Akinmboni for $2.5M (Link)

• LAFC resign Aaron Long (Link)

• Orlando City agree to club record fee with Palmeiras for Facundo Torres (Link)

• Diego Gomez completes $15M transfer to Brighton (Link)

• USMNT announces January 22nd friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando (Link)

We’re out! Give us some feedback below and see you next week.

Max & Mason