What I Learned From Week 1 of the 2020 MLS Season
This Will Have To Be The Season Of Pity:
It was an amazing week in week one of the 2020 MLS season, but with good always comes the bad. We saw arguably THE star of MLS go down with a torn ACL in Josef Martinez. Atlanta United went out and won their game in Nashville to ruin their party, but their party was ruined with this huge injury. We all know who Josef is; a character, a stud on the field, a former golden boot winner, and a former MVP. Now for Atlanta to keep up expectations I think all eyes need to turn on one player, Pity Martinez. Pity was brought in for a reported $14 million last season, now it’s his time to show he was worth that large price tag. Whether Pity is playing on the wing, in the middle, or even up top… he has to take over every single game. Pity has been hot in CONCACAF Champions League but now that “heat” needs to continue to some MLS action. Pity needs to score some big time goals, but outside of that, he needs to make everyone else around him better. Pity needs to up his play, be the LeBron out on the field, and make his Dwayne Wade better… Ezequiel Barco. We also need to see the star teen step up his game too, but I think that it comes in with combination play with Pity. Atlanta needs leaders now. And to Josef, I hope you come back in 2021 ready to score 40 and light the league up!
Jordan Morris Is Taking That Next Step:
In our Western Conference Preview episode of the MLS Aces Podcast, YA BOY (me) named Jordan Morris as his 2020 MLS MVP. I believed and still believe that this is JoMo’s season. If you saw Jordan in week 1 vs Chicago, then you know he’s ready. Seattle went down early at home when Chicago’s new DP Robert Beric opened the scoring in this one. Being down one in the second half, we saw a clutch goal scored by Jordan to get the game level for the home squad. Then for what looked like a draw at home, Jordan Morris changed that. Morris scores the game winner in stoppage time to make week 1 a continuation of MLS Cup! A week 1 brace and clearly looking like the best player on the field, Jordan Morris is going to take charge to lead his squad back to another MLS Cup. Calling my shot!!!
NYCFC Are The Team Of The East:
As said earlier, it looks like Atlanta could be out of the running for top dogs in the East. Also with a generally weaker conference, NYCFC are prime targets to win the Eastern Conference back to back. NYCFC went down a man just 3 minutes into their season opener vs the Columbus Crew. But looking at the end result; a 1-0 loss, on the road, down a man for 87 minutes, and playing in CCL… City is good. Outside of the result from week 1 NYCFC also just went out to sign an Uruguayan youth international in Nicolas Acevedo. The depth on this team is amazing outside of their starting XI. Even looking on the bench this team has the likes of; Tati Castellanos, Gary MacKay Steven, James Sands, Sebastien Ibeagha, and more!
The Liga MX Imports Are Alright:
My final take from week 1 of the MLS season is the imports are alright! First let’s start with a game that was already mentioned here, Columbus vs NYCFC. We saw the Crew’s record breaking signing Lucas Zelarayan starting his MLS career off with a game winning goal in the 56th minute. Zelarayan outside of the goal was on the ball all day for Columbus. Next, I think you have to go over and look at Sporting Kansas City vs Vancouver Whitecaps. We saw Alan Pulido square off against Lucas Cavallini, and Pulido won the matchup. Pulido started the scoring in this game with a nice chipped header early on. Even though that was it with the scoring form them, both where highly energized and being in the center of every attack for both squads. Finally but I think most impressively was Oswaldo Alanis. Alanis came into San Jose as a starting center back and came out as the team’s most impactful attacking piece. Alanis had a secondary assist later in this game after he hit a PERFECT long cross field ball to Cristian Espinoza who played it amazingly into the box. Outside of that, he hit probably the goal of the week for me in a game tying set piece goal! It was a god damn beauty!
