Hey friends,

10 days till a USMNT-friendly and 42 days till MLS soccer is back. We can make it! Until then…

• 🇺🇸 USMNT January Camp Analysis

• 💦 Rapids Make a Big Splash

• 🇲🇽 Does MLS have a Liga MX problem?

• 🚬 Vaping in an MLS Locker Room

USMNT January Camp

The entire 25-man USMNT January camp is comprised of MLS players. But it’s common for the annual winter camp to be primarily US-based talent. It’s the middle of the season for our European-based yanks and the camp falls outside the official FIFA window. So typically it’s used to get younger inexperienced players exposure.

This is one of the most interesting camps every year because of that. Nine players from the 2022 World Cup Squad earned their first or second cap from a January camp match so it’s not crazy to think that a few of these players might feature in the 2026 World Cup. 17 of these 25 players have not yet gotten their senior national team cap and another 5 have only one cap. There are even some very inexperienced MLS players like 18-year-old Revolution midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic who has only played 613 minutes in his short MLS career.

USMNT fans were once again scratching their heads when this roster was released (Is this just a bias against anything Berhalter does? …maybe). It seems like it’s meant to be more of a preparation for the 2024 Olympics than anything. The January camp’s relevance has declined in recent years with so many of our best young players leaving for Europe early in their careers.

Camp concludes with a friendly against Slovenia on January 20th at Toyota Field in San Antonio.

Colorado’s Big Splash

The Rapids are making moves??? Yeah… who woulda thought?

They’ve signed two USMNT players in the past week. The Rapids brought Zack Steffen over on a free transfer from Manchester City and paid a club-record $3 million for Djordje Mihailovic from his Eredivisie club, AZ Alkmaar. The Rapids have been one of the lowest-spending teams under owner Stan Kroenke (26th out of 29 teams in salary spending last season) so this is a needed change. Although some Rapids fans on Reddit are worried they paid too high of a price for Djordje.

Overall these are good signings for a team that finished dead last in the Western Conference last season. Stan Kroenke, who also owns the LA Rams, Arsenal, and several other high-profile sports teams has handed over the reins to his son Josh, who helped guide the massive change at Arsenal over the last few years. These first moves made by Josh show the ambitious style he’s been known for while operating at Arsenal. We can only hope the ambition in Colorado continues as we’d love to see them consistently at a high level again.

MLS to Liga MX

What if we told you that two young promising MLS players with USMNT experience signed with Liga MX sides over the past week? As MLS fans this is not a pipeline we want to see.

Cade Cowell, the 20-year-old San Jose winger completed a $4M transfer to Chivas Guadalajara. It’s a club-record transfer for the Earthquakes who also retain a sell-on clause if he is eventually sold for more to a European club. Cowell also had interest from European clubs but is headed across the border to play for Concacaf rivals.

Brandon Vazquez is the other. The 25-year-old FC Cincinnati striker will head to CF Monterrey for $7.5M with $1M in add-ons and a sell-on clause. Vazquez had several options in Europe including Brentford and Borussia Monchengladbach. Cincinnati acquired him for $150k TAM and got 37 goals over the last two seasons. That’s good business.

We don’t need to panic but this isn’t a good sign for the league. It’s understandable when young players bolt for Europe but more difficult to fathom when our neighbors down south steal them away. If the MLS is to become the king of Concacaf it needs to keep its young talent at home.

Bob Bradley’s Dysfunctional Lockerroom

“Bro, just stop vaping” Sapong mentions in his latest interview about the 2023 Toronto FC locker room. Everyone knew this team was a mess under Bob Bradley, but how bad did it get?

Sapong states “That was an Amazon Prime Series”. Early in the 2023 season, Federico Bernardeschi criticized Bradley’s tactics and coaching. Shortly after this news broke Bernardeschi was kicked out of the locker room for vaping again. A riff began to develop between Italians Bernardeschi and Insigne, and Bob Bradley…largely over vaping in the locker room, something the Italians weren’t willing to give up.

This episode of middle school drama is a large reason many folks don’t trust Bradley as a coach and locker room manager. Sure, the Italian players probably shouldn't be vaping in the locker room, but the response shows just how little control, respect, and authority Bradley had with his players. Bradley was finally sacked on June 27th, 2023.

Goal of the Week

We love seeing Daryl Dike back on the pitch scoring goals 😃 

Tweet of the Week

Bravo to the little man 👏 

Quick Hits

• Reigning Golden Boot Winner Denis Bouanga wants a move back to Europe (Link)

• FC Dallas is signing veteran CB Omar Gonzalez. Gonzalez will return to where he was born and raised (Link)

• NYCFC has shown interest in Carlos Vela (Link)