2026 MLS Regular Season

I've been thinking about this myself. My guess is, MLS wanted to gain traction with some high-profile matchups right out of the gate. Then they still have the reverse fixture for later in the season after the standings start to gel.
Thought the same, but there’s plenty of teams for Messi to play against that would be high profile, but I suppose it’s easier said than done when scheduling all these teams
 
That was extraordinary. Pinpoint. Even at this age, the dude is amazing.
For those who missed it - the goal came at the end of a sequence where 2-3 Miami players carried it across the top of the box looking to get a shot off but not seeing a way through. Finally, Messi gets it going right to left, takes a cut, and the ball knifes through half a dozen guys and into the side netting.
 
Not sure where to put this but Doyle did an interesting AMA on reddit the other day, thought it was worth sharing:
For those that don't use reddit below are some of the NYCFc related things and some other generally interesting snippets

About the situation on SKC:

The behind-the scenes stuff is that PV was the entire club. Nobody ran a thinner org, and the reason they're so far behind everyone else in building out the roster is that Lee wanted to build out the org first. St. Louis is similar with Corey Wray (not as thin an org, but more muddled – lots of stuff needed undoing).

That's what's been whispered around the league, and I buy it. At the same time, it sure has taken Lee a long time to get basic stuff done, which doesn't bode great.

I would keep my expectations very low for 2026. Enjoy Joveljic, and hope Bartlett (how does he not have a wikipedia page yet???) and James develop.

In response to being asked if NY is red or blue:

Green. It'll always be a Cosmos town.

I'm 100% serious. I don't think either RBNY or NYCFC will truly capture the town the way the Cosmos did b/c New York's never truly going to get behind a feeder club.

Insight about why the Media might not like Orlando:

  1. I don't think I've treated Orlando fans any differently than I've treated other fanbases. Maybe it seems like I've been kind to you because of that, because... look, among media members, you guys have probably the worst reputation in the league. The only time I've actually had a fan threaten to kill me, it was an Orlando fan. And I know I'm not the only one. So maybe that has bled into how you're treated generally, and I've somehow not let that bleed into my coverage, and you're reading that as me being overly nice to you guys.

Another NY related comment in response to an RBNJ question:
Question: How do you feel about RBNY's philosophy/club management style in the league? We're always having young guys break through (which is great!), selling them before the team really can benefit from them (not so great), and then not investing in enough top end talent to really ever be strong contenders.

I feel like we're permanently destined to oscillate between a good team short a few key players, a young team that will sell off the difference makers before they can contend, or in rebuild. I have no hope of an MLS cup in the next 5 years because of that, although I am happy with their start this year (although I don't think it's sustainable against better teams). What are your thoughts?


Doyle Answer: I largely agree with your perception, and don't think MLS can/will "make it" in NY until one of the two teams (preferably both) starts doing everything in its power to win. And is not a red-headed stepchild of a corporate conglomerate.

MLS tidbit
Question: Now that you are off of MLS’ payroll, what are some of the legitimate moments over the past 15 years where you either wanted to say something you couldn’t, or were reprimanded for saying something that went against the corporate interest grain?

Answer: I'm off the payroll but not outside the scope of the NDA!

I will say that I was always given remarkable leeway to speak my mind about what I saw happening on the field. On the field. On the field. You get what I'm saying, right? About speaking my mind about stuff on the field?
 
Not sure where to put this but Doyle did an interesting AMA on reddit the other day, thought it was worth sharing:
For those that don't use reddit below are some of the NYCFc related things and some other generally interesting snippets

About the situation on SKC:



In response to being asked if NY is red or blue:



Insight about why the Media might not like Orlando:



Another NY related comment in response to an RBNJ question:


MLS tidbit

he's not wrong about feeder club status. motivated , single club ownership with no ties to a corporate mothership would go a long way. Much like LAG and LAFC have done. RBNY and NYCFC should be like our LA counterparts going after big names while still developing and signing young talents.
 
he's not wrong about feeder club status. motivated , single club ownership with no ties to a corporate mothership would go a long way. Much like LAG and LAFC have done. RBNY and NYCFC should be like our LA counterparts going after big names while still developing and signing young talents.
Agreed.
Also, I saw and interesting juxtaposition. When asked about what he could not previously say he mostly deflects despite the coy answer about being able to say anything about on the field matters. wink wink

But he also gave pretty direct answers about why MLS media hate Orlando fans (which I did not even know was a thing) and the problems with having two corpglomerate teams in NYC, which has been a running complaint on my part for years. I never noticed he said anything like those points while part of MLS, and that's consistent with his "on field/off field" answer.
 
he's not wrong about feeder club status. motivated , single club ownership with no ties to a corporate mothership would go a long way. Much like LAG and LAFC have done. RBNY and NYCFC should be like our LA counterparts going after big names while still developing and signing young talents.

sure ( although aint no one starting a team with no stadium and nyc was not going to pony up tax money for one ever imo) so the feeder club was only truly viable option.
However, no way nyc is "green". Their peak was 40+ years ago and its true neither team will capture like they did because neither will get a pele level player now ( honestly there arent many options now that will push it that level, as messi in miami and cristiano aint coming here) the more time passes by the more its forgotten. LAG had beckham and that was the closest but no one else has come to that level since.

This is why The city is now more (inset foreign club team) than they are cosmos.
 
sure ( although aint no one starting a team with no stadium and nyc was not going to pony up tax money for one ever imo) so the feeder club was only truly viable option.
However, no way nyc is "green". Their peak was 40+ years ago and its true neither team will capture like they did because neither will get a pele level player now ( honestly there arent many options now that will push it that level, as messi in miami and cristiano aint coming here) the more time passes by the more its forgotten. LAG had beckham and that was the closest but no one else has come to that level since.

This is why The city is now more (inset foreign club team) than they are cosmos.
You're right, but I took his comment to mean that the Cosmos once owned the city (as much as a soccer team could 40-50 years ago) and and it remains nominally theirs until someone else takes it, which hasn't happened. and maybe never will.

You're also right about the stadium problem forcing MLS's hands and leading them to CFG.
 
You're right, but I took his comment to mean that the Cosmos once owned the city (as much as a soccer team could 40-50 years ago) and and it remains nominally theirs until someone else takes it, which hasn't happened. and maybe never will.

You're also right about the stadium problem forcing MLS's hands and leading them to CFG.

I think the Green answer was more an attempt to stay neutral than anything meaningful. Someone else tried to get him to admit he used to be a RB fan in another question and he dogged it. I believe he truly us just a massive MLS fan and I also understand that he now needs to earn a living through subscriptions so he needs to remain as natural as possible.

On the ownership front I think MLS could have found an independent ownership group, especially if they waited a few years and people saw the sky rocketing team values. LACF has local ownership and funded a stadium in an expensive city, not sure why the same wouldn't be possible in NYC. I think MLS saw what CFG did for Man City and thought they'd be a huge boost for MLS. At the time CFG only owned Man City, it was reasonable to assume NYCFC could be their next vanity project. Don't think anyone could have seen this move where NYCFC was just the first step in CFG building out a giant network of feeder clubs and shifting to treating NYCFC as just another cog in the machine.
 
You're right, but I took his comment to mean that the Cosmos once owned the city (as much as a soccer team could 40-50 years ago) and and it remains nominally theirs until someone else takes it, which hasn't happened. and maybe never will.

You're also right about the stadium problem forcing MLS's hands and leading them to CFG.

is it really theirs though? I feel its more leaning to forgotten since they went away for almost two decades came back in NASL in 2010's left and now back in NJ. if anything the city belongs to no one imo,. or like i said people have their foreign teams they love and follow.

that said. again the city wont ever be take by storm like they were back then, at least not in our lifetime
 
Back
Top