THE BASICS: New York City FC

Eastern Conference

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New York City FC is the first Major League Soccer team within the city's five boroughs, a team that will play, and certainly wear a kit, in the likeness of parent club Manchester City. For better or worse, NYCFC is linked closely with the Citizens. Will they play an attractive and, more importantly, winning brand of soccer? Heading into their first season, that remains to be seen.

Rivals

If the sporting landscape of New York is any indication, there are clear rivals from the outset. The New York Red Bulls are just across the George Washington Bridge and are the most immediate foes. Philadelphia, New England and D.C. will also be geographical rivals, but perhaps the most intriguing will be Orlando City SC. Their fellow expansion side has already thrown down the gauntlet on social media. That they meet each other in their respective MLS opener doesn't hurt.

2014 Recap

The year started with a coach, a sporting director and dreams of who will don the jersey for the inaugural season. Over the course of the final seven months, the sporting side of NYCFC started to take shape. Big names — Designated Players David Villa and Frank Lampard, most notably — were among the first to sign and what followed were a host of players with MLS experience, many of whom were already familiar with head coach Jason Kreis.

TRANSACTIONS IN: New York City FC's roster TRANSACTIONS OUT: M Daniel Lovitz (traded to Toronto)

M Sal Zizzo (traded to New York)

F Omar Salgado (transfer to Tigres)

2015 Prospectus

The roster isn't quite finalized, but NYCFC finally went from concept on paper to an actual team on the field. NYCFC will look to play the a similar brand of possession-oriented soccer as employed by Kreis at Real Salt Lake, which featured a 4-4-2 diamond. Kreis said he learned at RSL the importance of building from the center of the park. After making Villa and Lampard two of the first six signings, Kreis acquired US international Mix Diskerud in mid-January.

There is still a third DP to be signed and the club will need to get their inaugural season off on a positive note to keep many of their first-time MLS fans in their corner.

CLUB SOURCE: "Kreis is a guy that knows the league. I think they nailed it taking a guy who is familiar with the league and not going the foreign coach route. He's pieced together a very good roster."

CLUB SOURCE: "Given the money spent on this team, results will be expected. It will be interesting to see what form of home-field advantage NYCFC will have, if any, playing at Yankee Stadium."

PROJECTED LINEUP: 4-4-2 Saunders; Williams, Mendoza, Hernandez, Wingert; Ballouchy, Jacobson, Diskerud, Grabavoy; Nemec, Villa Complete roster [nycfc.com]

FANTASY SOCCER SLEEPER PICKS: Sebastian Velasquez

Andrew Jacobson

Khiry Shelton On the backline, Jason Hernandez and Josh Williams (both $6.5) are your best bets. In the midfield, there are even better deals to be had, with Andrew Jacobsen ($6m) someone who could eat up minutes at a value and Velasquez in line to get a chance. Nemec remains a mystery up top, but there's international quality in Villa ($10m) and a couple kids in Taylor ($6m) and Shelton ($5.5m).

Armchair Analyst's Best Case Scenario

To borrow from Jon Chaney: dribbling is an individual skill. Shooting is an individual skill. Passing is a team skill. You put 11 guys out there, and the only thing that connects them is the ball and a shared understanding of what to do both with and without it.

That is why expansion teams struggle. Even expansion teams with successful head coaches, MLS Cup-winning 'keepers and World Cup-winning strikers.

In a perfect world, NYCFC will overcome all that from the start and create instant chemistry, riding Villa's (and eventually Lampard's) goals to a playoff spot in the East. But nobody should expect that to happen, unless the stars truly align over the Bronx.