Hey All,

Happy Thursday! MLS Playoffs are in full force and so is the offseason for some teams. Let’s get to it…

On Ode to St. Louis City SC

St. Louis City’s cinderella run came to an end in the first round at the hands of Sporting Kansas City. For the #1 seed to go out in the first round in two games of a best of three series is brutal. It’s not what fans we’re expecting. And for a city that has a new love affair with this team, it’s heartbreaking.

But let’s take a step back for a second. St. Louis City is the newest team in the MLS, a year old baby that’s supposed to be learning how to walk right…right? Not really.

St. Louis City just put together one of the most impressive inaugural campaign in MLS history. They became the first expansion franchise to finish the first regular season at the top of the conference. Not only that but only 8 of 21 MLS expansion teams have made the playoffs in their first season. Those 21 expansion teams averaged 1.1 points per match with only four of them eclipsing 1.5 points per match. St. Louis averaged 1.6 points per match this season.

They’ve qualified for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup, have flexibility in their cap space, and have an open designated player spot. And look at that sellout crowd. The future is bright in St. Louis.

Round One Game Two Recaps

Cincinnati FC (PK 8) 1 vs NY RedBulls (PK 7) 1 - This one was wild. RedBulls head coach got a red card, 20 total penalty kicks, but the better team comes out on top.

FC Dallas (3) vs Seattle Sounders (1) - Seattle dominates possession but FC Dallas gets 3 goals on 3 shots on goal. Game 3 on Friday.

Sporting KC (2) vs St. Louis City (1) - Sporting KC pulls the upset and sends St. Louis packing. This will be an incredible rivalry for years to come. More on St. Louis below.

LAFC (1) vs Vancouver Whitecaps (0) - Vancouver had their chances but the better team takes the series. Bouanga too much to handle.

Real Salt Lake (PK 5) 1 vs. Houston Dynamo (PK 4) 1 - RSL were lights out in PKs. This has been the tightest series of the MLS playoffs. All comes down to game 3 on Saturday.

Atlanta United (4) vs Columbus Crew (2) - Cucho scores again but Giakoumakis and Almada prove to be too much. Game 3 on Sunday.

Orlando City (1) vs Nashville SC (0) - Orlando score early and hold off Nashville in a game that had 9 yellow cards. Nashville have a lot of questions to answer this offseason.

Philadelphia Union (1) vs New England Revolution (0)- Mark-Anthony Kaye gets a straight red at the end of the first half (should’ve been a yellow in my opinion). Revolution hold strong with ten men until the 79’ minute when Philly score on a poorly defended set piece.

From Toronto FC to the Dallas Cowboys

Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, Deion Sanders, and Brandon Aubrey all have one thing in common. Each one of them competed at the highest level in 2 professional sports. The name you may not recognize though…Brandon Aubrey.

Brandon Aubrey is a rookie kicker for the Dallas Cowboys, and has been perfect 19/19 to start this NFL season, setting a new NFL record.

What tons of NFL fans don’t know is that Aubrey used to play in the MLS. Aubrey was a first round draft pick in 2017 by Toronto FC. After a short stint in the MLS, he took up computer software and hired a kicking coach, eventually playing in the USFL and later winning the Cowboys starting spot this year. Take a peek at his LinkedIn below.

This move from soccer to an NFL place kicker isn’t talked about enough. Other NFL kickers like Matt Gay have had similar career paths starting in soccer and moving over to kick in the NFL.

NFL kicking jobs are even garnering interest from top English players like Harry Kane. He makes a 50 yard field goal with no boots on look easy.

Los Angeles Out as World Cup Final Hosts

LA and FIFA have been battling it out over using SoFi as a World Cup 2026 venue. SoFi was a favorite to host the World Cup Final. Now, SoFi may not even host a single World Cup Game. You’re probably thinking, how does the biggest soccer city in the US lose a spot to host WC games.…the answer.

Stan Kroenke.

If you don’t know Stan Kroenke, he owns the LA Rams, Colorado Avalanche, and Arsenal among others.

The thing is, it’s not really Stan Kroenke who is stopping anything. Stan’s point is totally fair but let’s start with FIFA.

FIFA needs the stadium to seat 80k people, and the field size needs to be large enough for a soccer game. SoFi is primarily an NFL stadium which has a smaller field. Therefore in order to suit FIFA, Stan will need to make the field larger by taking out seats, then find a way to add 10k+ seats elsewhere to hit the 80k mark.

Stan’s main issue….money. He doesn’t see a reason to do all this just to host a group stage game. World Cup venues regularly lose money on hosting a game, and Stan doesn’t want to lose money hosting Ghana vs Iceland. Stan wants the final, but it sounds like that won’t be happening.

Goal of the Week

A cheeky chip from the MLS Young Player of the Year

Quick Hits

• Emma Hayes set to become USWNT Coach (Link)

• Several MLS teams are reportedly interested in signing Robert Lewandowski from Barcelona (Link)

• Portland hires Phil Neville after their supporters group strongly encourages against it (Link)

• NYCFC vs Inter Miami play a friendly tomorrow to celebrate Messi’s 8th Ballon d’Or (Link)

• CBS Sports announces a multi year agreement to broadcast 100 USL matches annually through 2027 (Link)

• 22-year-old Thiago Almada wins MLS Young Player of the Year (Link)

• U-17 World Cup kicks off Friday (Link)

• Charlotte FC parts ways with head coach Christian Lattanzio (Link)