The third in our four-part look ahead at the MLS season examines the New York Red Bulls, Orlando City, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake

New York Red Bulls



Players in: GK Kyle Reynish; D Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Damien Perrinelle, Ronald Zubar; M Sal Zizzo, Sean Davis, Leo Stolz, Felipe Martins, Sacha Kljestan; F Mike Grella

Out: GK Ryan Meara; D Kosuke Kimura, Damien Perrinelle, Ibrahim Sekagya, Richard Eckersley, Jamison Olave, Ambroise Oyongo; M Bobby Convey, Marius Obekop, Eric Alexander, Tim Cahill, Eric Stevenson, Ian Christianson; F Thierry Henry, Saer Sene

Summary: So much for continuity then. The Red Bulls enjoyed a surprisingly stable off-season before 2014, with rookie coach and Supporters’ Shield winner Mike Petke retained under sporting director Andy Roxburgh, and the core of the Shield-winning side held together too. Roxburgh even sat the players down pre-season and reminded them how nice it was for everyone to see so many familiar faces.

Smash cut forward a year and Roxburgh is gone, Petke is gone, Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill are gone. The 2014 team may have got as close to an MLS Cup appearance as it had done throughout the Henry era, but a first home playoff win and a series victory over DC United were not enough to save Petke’s job under new sporting director Ali Curtis.

Jesse Marsch wants his more modestly styled team to play fast, attacking soccer and the emphasis in the off-season has been on intelligent, technical midfielders – not dissimilar to what’s happening across the Hudson with NYCFC. Felipe Martins has come in from Marsch’s one-time home Montreal, college star Leo Stolz was sneaked from under the noses of others at a low draft spot and Sacha Kljestan was signed after some astute allocation order shuffling by Curtis – who as a league insider knows the rules as well as anyone.

Set in isolation, each decision looks fairly solid, astute and slightly uninspiring (though we might want to add “slightly worrying” when we look at the defense – Jamison Olave is gone too by the way). After the conference final elimination by New England, Petke had warned local press that the next phase after Henry would require “patience from everybody”, but when the holiday break came and went with him still in place, it seemed there was still a place for his emotional brand of leadership within the new muted reality for the Red Bulls. Instead his sacking reminded us that the only continuity at the Red Bulls is the recurring desire to rip it up and start again.

Marsch may well be a coaching upgrade, but as one heckler vociferously reminded him at a fiery town hall meeting after Petke’s sacking, “You’ve got a year.” “I’ll take it. I’ll take whatever I can get,” retorted Marsch, but he has a challenge on his hands to replace Henry’s assists and goals, or the Frenchman’s occasional timely ability to put the whole team on his back.

Last season: 4th in Eastern Conference; conference finalists

Prediction: The new rivalry with NYCFC might be inaugurated by a battle for one of the lower playoff spots. GP



Orlando City SC



Players in: GK Tally Hall, Donovan Ricketts, Earl Edwards, Josh Ford; D Aurelien Collin, Seb Hines, Conor Donovan, Sean St Ledger; D/M Brek Shea; M Tony Cascio, Amobi Okugo, Kaká, Lewis Neal, Carlos Rivas, Cristian Higuita, Eric Avila; F Danny Mwanga, Bryan Rochez, Pedro Ribeiro, Cyle Larin, Sidney Rivera, Martin Paterson.

Out: None to date

Summary: The league’s other newcomers (with New York City), the Lions have set lofty goals for their debut season, insisting it is playoffs or bust. That ambition is based on Brazilian designated player Kaka being at the centre of Adrian Heath’s fluid 4-2-3-1 formation, with plenty of attacking intent from the midfield and even the full-backs.

Adrian Heath has MLS debutants Orlando City SC ready to walk tall Read more

With just eight holdovers from their final USL Pro season, Heath has had barely five weeks to integrate practically a whole new squad, hence there are bound to be growing pains from trying to get everyone in sync around the former World Player of the Year, who has full license to attack from the centre of the midfield trio.

While City boasts the league’s highest-paid DP in Kaka, at a reported $7.2m a year, it also features one of the youngest in Honduran international Bryan Rochez, just 20 but likely to lead the line ahead of Northern Ireland’s Martin Paterson, with No1 draft pick Cyle Larin waiting in the wings.

Around Kaka, Heath has assembled a cast of proven MLS veterans – Briton and ex-DC United stalwart Lewis Neal, who started his US career with Orlando, Colorado and Houston’s Tony Cascio and five-year Philadelphia linchpin Amobi Okugo – and promising young talent, notably Trinidadian Kevin Molino, who bagged 20 goals at USL level last year, and Colombian imports Cristian Higuita and Carlos Rivas, the latter of whom might just be the speediest player in the league.

It is in defense, though, the Lions might struggle, with a back four that is a distinct work in progress. Former Kansas City standout Aurelien Collin has been recruited as the cornerstone at center-back, and his pre-season partners have been a mixture of free agents – Sean St Ledger and Seb Hines, both fresh from Championship spells with Ipswich and Middlesbrough – and untried hopefuls in second-round draft pick Conor Donovan and homegrown US youth international Tommy Redding.

US international Brek Shea has been reclaimed from a fruitless spell with Stoke City and is the designated left-back – continuing Jurgen Klinsmann’s experiment to convert him from the left wing – which adds to the learning-as-they-go theme, while right-back is another young prospect in Benfica 20-year-old Rafael Ramos, who has impressed throughout the pre-season.

Goalkeeping duties will be handled initially by Jamaican veteran Donovan Ricketts, with ex-Houston capture Tally Hall still recovering from ACL surgery last season.

Much will depend, though, on Kaka’s 32-year-old body standing up to the weekly demands of carrying the load – and being the target for teams bidding to take him out of the equation. Sunday’s big kick-off against New York City also promises to be the biggest sports event in Orlando since the 1994 World Cup, with a Citrus Bowl sellout crowd of 60,000 anticipated.

Last season (USL Pro): Commissioner’s Cup winners; USL Pro playoff quarter-finalists



Prediction: While the Eastern Conference is far from wide open, with each of DC United, New England and New York Red Bulls still looking strong, there should be scope for Orlando to challenge for a playoff spot – if the Lions’ defensive experiment can be more Jekyll than Hyde. SV



Philadelphia Union



Players in: GK John McCarthy; D Steven Vitoria; M Fred; F Fernando Aristeguieta, Dzenan Catic, CJ Sapong, Conor Casey

Out: GK Zac MacMath; D Carlos Valdes, Austin Berry; M Corben Bone, Fred, Amobi Okugo, Leo Fernandes; F Pedro Ribeiro, Brian Brown, Cristhian Hernandez, Aaron Wheeler

Summary: The Union have had a very, very quiet off-season, as Jim Curtin, now freed from the ‘interim’ tag as head coach, plots for his first full season.

But while there’s been a certain amount of doubt about what the Union can do this year based on that lack of movement, those who’ve watched them more closely, especially in their revival after Curtin took over, suggest that the Union could be sleepers to watch this year.

Andrew Wenger, the is-he-a-defender-is-he-an-attacker No1 draft pick from a couple of seasons back, is beginning to find his niche out wide in a three-man attack, where his power and speed are becoming a potent weapon. Alternately, Sebastian Le Toux’s intelligence offers another type of wide option for the Union counter-attack. Perhaps most intriguing to watch is whether CJ Sapong is ready to make the step up to truly being his own man after his arrival up front from Sporting KC.

There’ve been some key departures – Carlos Valdes and Amobi Okugo will need to be replaced, though Steven Vitoria’s arrival on loan from Benfica should help out the defense, while Fernando Aristegueleta will have a lot of expectation heaped on him up front after his loan deal brought him in from Nantes.

Finally, Zac MacMath’s ongoing vulnerability as starting goalkeeper had never quite looked like it was going to reach a satisfactory end at PPL Park, and his departure on loan to Colorado is perhaps no surprise.

In the end though, the sense from assessing this Union team is less about looking at the key individuals coming in (few) or out (several) than looking at how well-drilled Curtin had begun to get his side at the end of last season. Will that carry through to an even greater coherence this time round?

The pre-season signs are positive – the Union ran out comfortable 3-1 winners over the Red Bulls in their final warm up game, with Wenger grabbing a couple of goals and Aristegueleta scoring one to keep his pre-season form going. A solid start and some momentum could make the Union a surprise package in the East. They could certainly complicate the playoff picture if any of their rivals show any complacency.

Last season: 6th in Eastern Conference

Prediction: The same position would score the Union a playoff spot. But with Sporting KC and Houston gone and the expansion teams facing a learning curve, the Union should do better. GP



Portland Timbers



Players in: GK Adam Larsen Kwarasey; D Nat Borchers, Jeanderson Pereira, Andy Thoma; M Dairon Asprilla, Nick Besler

Out: GK Donovan Ricketts; D Michael Harrington, Bryan Gallego, Pa Modou Kah, Rauwshan McKenzie, Danny O’Rourke; M Steve Zakuani, Kalif Alhassan, Steven Evans; F Jose Valencia

Summary: Portland took a major step back last season after looking poised to finally establish themselves in the league’s upper echelon in 2013. Although they missed the playoffs by only one point, a slow start (just one win in their first 10 outings) meant a furious finish of three wins in their final four games would not be quite enough.

Scoring goals wasn’t the main problem last term but keeping them out of their own net was, with only five teams conceding more than the Timbers, so third-year coach Caleb Porter has focused on rebuilding defensively in the off-season.

Out have gone more than half of last year’s backline and in have come Ghanaian international keeper Adam Larsen Kwarasey from Norwegians Stromsgødset, Real Salt Lake stalwart Nat Borchers as a new partner for Liam Ridgewell at center-back, and Brazilian hopeful Jeanderson, along with second-round draft prospect Andy Thoma, another promising left-back.

Porter has backed that up by acquiring 22-year-old livewire right-winger Dairon Asprilla from Colombian outfit Allianza Petrolera as several teams looks to mine an increasingly lucrative source of talent in that part of South America (notably Real Salt Lake, Dallas and Orlando as well as Portland).

Top draft pick Nick Besler – brother of Kansas City’s US international Matt – will battle with 2014 choice George Fochive for midfield playing time this season, but the team’s attacking quotient will be largely the same.

Well-tried pair Jack Dewsbury and Diego Chara will continue to anchor the midfield while lanky Nigerian Fanendo Adi will again lead the line up front after a promising half-season in 2014 following his arrival from FC Copenhagen.

If the Timbers can reverse last year’s painfully slow start, they can also expect reinforcements after a few months as midfielder Will Johnson is scheduled to return from his broken leg and Argentine playmaker and designated player Diego Valeri should be back from the torn ACL he suffered last October.

That means Porter will need some of the lesser lights to hold the fort in midfield while Argentinians Maxi Urruti and Gaston Fernandez and the increasingly impressive Darlington Nagbe back up Adi as they did through the second half of 2014.

Ultimately, it will be down to the rebuilt defence to give the team a solid foundation this time out – an issue highlighted by an impressive pre-season campaign conceding just three goals – and a return to their 2013 ways would make them hard to beat, especially with their boisterous home support.

Last season: 6th in Western Conference

Prediction: A playoff place should certainly be within the Timbers’ powers, even in the new-look Western Conference, and, if they start 2015 in the way they finished 2014, they could well be a force to be reckoned with. Fanendo Adi could hold the key if he finds his goal touch early on. SV



Real Salt Lake



Players in: D Jamison Olave, Boyd Okwuonu, Phanuel Kavita, Demar Phillips, Aaron Maund, Elias Vasquez; M Sebastian Saucedo, Wellington “Pecka” Paeckart

Out: D Rich Balchan, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert, Carlos Salcedo; M Cole Grossman, Ned Grabavoy, Sebastian Velasquez; F Robbie Findley, Benji Lopez

Summary: It’s hard not to look at the RSL comings and going as the further dissolution of the house that Jason Kreis built. After the humbling playoff thrashing by LA Galaxy that ended 2014, the early season record-equalling unbeaten streak that seemed to indicate a seamless transition to the Jeff Cassar era began to look more and more in retrospect as if the team had been running on fumes from the previous era.

That’s unfair on Cassar of course, who deserves a lot of sympathy for the hit he took when injury and the World Cup robbed him of the likes of Alvaro Saborio, Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando from the spine of his team in the middle of the season. But in the end, even if it was another 50-point season, the sense that the team was drifting slightly by the end of the year was a palpable one.

As for the off-season, well, Jamison Olave making a surprise return from New York rather bucked the trend for Kreis-era RSL players. Indeed three of them – Chris Wingert, Ned Grabavoy and Sebastian Velasquez – joined up with their old boss at New York City, while fellow veterans Nat Borchers and Robbie Findley also departed. In their wake, the emphasis has been on defense, with a raft of players arriving, while further forward Saborio and the exponentially improving Joao Plata will have a lot riding on their shoulders.

They’ll need supply and supporting runs of course, and while Beckerman’s still there at the base of midfield and can expect to shoulder even more expectation for his team this season, Grabavoy was an under-rated worker for the team and his industry will be missed.

That said, if there’s a team built for what at another club would be a traumatic transitional season, its Real Salt Lake, with their pride in continuity and what’s still their working archetype of technical, versatile players ready for all the plug and play contingencies of a typical MLS campaign.

Last season: 3rd in Western Conference; conference semi-finalists



Prediction: Could struggle to achieve their usual heights in the competitive West. Another 50-point season would represent them punching above their weight. GP

