by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, Mar 4, 2015

By Ridge Mahoney

Kaka

Frank Lampard

David Villa

Sebastian Giovinco

Shaun Maloney

Mix Diskerud

Sacha Kljestan

1. NEW ENGLAND.

Jay Heaps

A.J. Soares

Andrew Farrell

Jose Goncalves

Juan Agudelo

Diego Fagundez

Jermaine Jones

Lee Nguyen

2. COLUMBUS.

Gregg Berhalter

Steve Clark

Ethan Finlay

Waylon Francis

Justin Meram

Tony Tchani

Wil Trapp

Kei Kamara

Kristinn Steindorsson

Cedrick Mabwati

Hernan Grana

Chris Klute

3. D.C. UNITED.

Steve Birnbaum

Jeff Parke

Ben Olsen

Markus Halsti

Jairo Arrieta

Miguel Aguilar

Bill Hamid

Perry Kitchen

4. ORLANDO CITY.

Brek Shea

Aurelien Collin

Amobi Okugo

Bryan Rochez

Donovan Ricketts

Tally Hall

Adrian Heath

5. NEW YORK CITY.

Andrew Jacobson

Ned Grabavoy

Thomas McNamara

Jason Krei

Josh Saunders

6. TORONTO FC.

Jozy Altidore,

Benoit Cheyrou

Marco Delgado

Robbie Findley

Eric Zavaleta

Michael Bradley

Jonathan Osorio

Daniel Lovitz

7. NY RED BULLS.

Jesse Marsch

Mike Petke

Ali Curtis

Thierry Henry

Tim Cahill

Jamison Olave

Sal Zizzo

Felipe Martins

Ronald Zubar

Luis Robles

Mike Grella

8. MONTREAL.

Frank Klopas

Laurent Ciman

Nigel Reo-Coker

Eric Alexander

Bakary Soumare

Dominic Oduro

Danny Toia

Cameron Porter

9. PHILADELPHIA.

Rais M’Bolhi

Fernando Aristeguieta

Steven Vitoria

C.J. Sapong

Maurice Edu

Vincent Nogueira

Cristian Maidana

Andrew Wenger

Sebastien Le Toux

10. CHICAGO.

Mike Magee

David Accam

Kennedy Igboananike

Jeff Larentowicz

Quincy Amarikwa

Adailton

Harry Shipp

The departures of Houston and Sporting Kansas City to the Western Conference give MLS two expansion teams, in this case, Orlando City SC and New York City FC, arriving in the same season -- and in the same grouping -- since Portland and Vancouver joined as Western teams in 2011.Big names abound:andhead the incoming foreign brigade, and the New York derbies between the Red Bulls and NYCFC will feature USA internationalsandgoing head-to-head.Six teams in each conference make the playoffs and just about every Eastern team has a shot. Here’s a forecast of how the teams stack up as the league’s 20th season, hopefully, is about to start.Steady improvement in three seasons under head coachfell agonizingly short of a title in the MLS Cup final, and thus the Revs should be anxious to atone. The loss of centerback, named the team’s Defender of the Year and Players’ Player, has movedfrom right back into the middle alongside, who like his teammates struggled during an eight-game losing streak but finished the season in excellent form. An already potent attack has added, andhas looked sharp in preseason as he tries to bounce back from a lackluster 2014. Heaps will need to monitor minutes closely forandand a few other players during a summer crammed with competitions for club and country.In the first year of his first MLS head-coaching gig,steered Crew SC in the right direction. Can he and it stay the course in the wake of a 7-3 aggregate playoff thrashing by New England? Four players who started 10 or more games were traded or lost in the Expansion Draft, but a tough core returns.andall proved their worth last year, andcomes back to MLS at 30 with 52 league goals on his ledger.and(summer arrival) are wide midfielders andis penciled in at right back.was a revelation for the Rapids two years ago.What could be worse than a playoff loss to the Red Bulls? Answer: Stumbling against that rival after an historic 43-point turnaround that snagged an Eastern Conference title. Last year United was fairly solid in all departments, and also got a few breaks, such as the remarkable showing of rookieafter an injury ended the season for centerback, who departed during the winter. To upgrade his roster, Coach of the Yearhas signed Finnish midfielderto bolster the middle and ex-Crew SC forwardto add punch up front, and drafted winger. Ifandmiss significant time to play for the U.S., United will need reliable reinforcements.Kaka is one of the league’s top signings in recent years and demonstrates that OCSC is perhaps following a formula similar to that of Seattle in 2009 when it made the jump to MLS: retain a core of USL players and sign as much talent as possible.is among the league’s more intriguing reclamation projects, defenderand midfielderare proven at this level, and forwardis another of those young foreign players (in his case, a 20-year-old Honduran) eager to use MLS as a launching pad. Keepersandbuttress a roster that gives head coacha lot to work with.The players and fans may learn to love Yankee Stadium, and that’s a good thing, since it’s likely that will be this team’s home for this decade. Regardless of circumstance or environment, it would behoove NYCFC to win early, since the backlash ofLampard’s midseason arrival will roil the organization yet again. By then, Villa and Diskerud could be tearing up MLS. The midfield blend, keyed -- at least initially -- byand, will be essential if the attackers are to thrive.has skills highly prized by head coachs, who won’t hesitate to make changes if necessary. Keeperhas a short resume as a starter in MLS (59 starts in nine seasons) and there doesn’t appear, as yet, to be sufficient quality at centerback.Of all the puzzling teams in MLS, TFC is the most enigmatic, the epitome of spending a lot but not too wisely. The big gamble is the Sporadic Striker, a.k.ayet Italian international Giovinco just might be the perfect melding of busyness and brio. On his good days, French midfieldercan play with anyone. TFC needs about two dozen of those days from him as well as Altidore. The MLS retread crew ofandisn’t very inspiring, but the prospect ofandmeshing with Cheyrou and Giovinco certainly is. Why did TFC give up allocation money to get backfrom NYCFC? Maybe this year we’ll find out.Through no fault of his own, head coachis the ogre who replaced, so he and the overseer of that change -- sporting director– have miles of goodwill ground to make up. Also gone areandand, men of both quality and MLS experience. Kljestan returns to the league after five years with Anderlecht and at 29 is primed for several dominant seasons but just as important is how well Marsch utilizes veterans such asandalong with newcomer. Keeperwill be tested as NYRB refines and tweaks its new elements. Now with his 11th club, can forwardfind success?Knocking off Pachuca in the Concacaf Champions League is an historic feat that counts for nothing in the league standings yet it injected a badly needed dose of confidence. A rough first year under head coachdid include advancement out of the CCL group stage, and for Season 2 he’s added an eclectic array. Belgian centerbackhas been impressive in preseason, and there’s a long line of intra-MLS additions that give the team a completely different persona from 2014:andhave all shown flashes of excellence along with stints of struggle. What will the team look like once the glow from’s incredible stoppage-time strike fades away?The team with too many goalies in 2014 has decided to go with the guy whose errant kick to an opponent produced a tying goal that cost the Union two points.wasn’t the only reason Philly stumbled down the stretch and missed postseason play, but he’ll be the center of attention if things start poorly in 2015. Philly is putting a lot of faith in loanees: forwardshowed some goalscoring flair in preseason, and centerbackis the centerpiece of a back line that is crying out for some stability. The addition ofgives him a fresh start. A team withandis playoff-caliber, right?The Fire has jettisoned more than a dozen players from the squad that set a league record last year by tying 18 games. Guess what? The preseason record was 1-0-4.is still recovering from offseason hip surgery and new DPmissed part of preseason because of groin problems, so the other DPs -- forwardand midfielder Maloney -- along with returneesandwill be under pressure to start the season strongly. Centerbackis part of a rebuilt back line that needs to support Maloney and one of last season’s top rookies,, if the Fire is going to improve its 2014 goal difference of minus-10 and get more than six wins.