2024 MLS season | What if your colleagues wanted to know everything?

Today, the official start day of the 2024 MLS campaign, La Presse puts you in the shoes of a scholar of the first North American soccer league. To your greatest pleasure, your colleagues want to know everything about your passion and are hot on your heels with questions!

[Votre collègue Guylain, portant le café brûlant et amer à ses lèvres] In any case, I’m really looking forward to seeing Lionel Messi and his former FC Barcelona friends Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets at work this season!

[Vous] Guylain, you forgot Robert Taylor! The 29-year-old Finn, a basic left winger, completely exploded when Messi became his offensive pass provider last year. He scored 4 goals and recorded 3 assists in the League Cup, the first competition in which the Argentine took part upon his arrival at Inter. Then, 2 goals and 3 more assists in MLS to conclude the season. Already, at the end of the first match of the 2024 season, last Wednesday, Taylor was brilliantly served by Messi and scored the winning goal. MLS is delighted to have Messi, but no one is happier than Robert Taylor, I guarantee it!

[Nour, arrivant sur l’entrefaite avec son gobelet de thé aux perles] I think Miami has a good chance of winning top honors this year. Who else can compete with these players? And I’m not talking about Taylor Thing !

[Vous] Taylor Swift ? [rires gênés de part et d’autre] Yes, Miami comes out of the blocks as one of the favorite clubs for the MLS Cup. But don’t forget, dear colleagues, Wilfried Nancy’s Crew. Columbus won the title after a football lesson offered to LAFC in the final. Cucho Hernández is still there at the front, the excellent young goalkeeper Patrick Schulte at the back as well. Quebecer Mohamed Farsi and former Montrealer Rudy Camacho should also be part of a starting lineup similar to the champion team, at least at the start of the season.

FC Cincinnati, despite the departure of prolific striker Brandon Vazquez to Mexico, should still be dominant. Yes, my friends, these three teams play in the East! This will be noted in the CF Montreal division. In the West, LAFC finds itself in this discussion again – although Carlos Vela may not be what he used to be, and Denis Bouanga has expressed an (unfulfilled) desire to return to Europe in the ‘between season. The Seattle Sounders will also hope to be at the top of the West, who think they have resolved their offensive shortcomings.

And I would also like to point out that the Colorado Rapids, after several years of impertinence, were one of the most active clubs this winter. The former offensive leader of the CFM, Djordje Mihailovic, is back in MLS after his European journey, in particular. We also went to get a goalkeeper from Manchester City, Zack Steffen. In Denver, we want to make a big splash this season. These supporters have been waiting a long time, in fact.

[Luc et Kim, inséparables criards] AND WHO ARE THE ROTTEN?

[Vous] Luc and Kim, always with questions as concise as their names! It’s very simple, comrades. And if you are fans of the Impact, I will please you by announcing that Toronto FC will once again be very bad in 2024.

And this, despite the arrival of John Herdman at the helm. We know the motivator qualities of the former Canada coach, but he will have in front of him a group which has seemed completely jaded the last two years. And it’s going to take more than one pep talk to get Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi out of their slump. What’s more, while Montreal added Martínez, Coccaro, Iankov and company to its group of players, Toronto… did practically nothing, except perhaps the addition of right back Richie Laryea. The Canadian international is well known to Herdman, in fact.

In the depths, they should be accompanied by Charlotte, among others, who saw their designated players Karol Swiderski and Kamil Jozwiak leave the club without being replaced in recent months.

[Nour, de retour parmi nous après s’être étouffée avec une perle de tapioca] Ahem. I seem to have seen that Portland had become the stopping point for several Canadians?

[Vous] Absolutely, Nour! Goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau moved from LAFC to the Timbers following the arrival of French international Hugo Lloris to his position in LA. James Pantemis, jailer released by CF Montreal last December, also found work there, and should support Crépeau as a reserve. Kamal Miller, former CFM defender, moved to Oregon after half a season spent alongside Messi in Miami. That doesn’t necessarily make it a title contender team, but it gives an additional flavor to this team which competes, every year, in the Cascadia Cup with the Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

[Guylain, qui a bu toutes vos paroles, mais aucune goutte de son café maintenant froid] In any case, I’m really looking forward to seeing CF Montreal at work this season!

[Vous, essoufflé mais heureux de l’intérêt qui vous est démontré par vos estimés collègues] And you are right to be impatient, my dear Guylain. CF Montreal is not seen by experts as a team that will sit at the top of the league. Far from there. But with a new head coach, Laurent Courtois, who advocates an aggressive and entertaining style of play, the summer at Saputo Stadium should be spectacular and enjoyable.

If all goes well, the club’s new acquisitions should raise the level of play on the pitch, and find the back of the net with more regularity than in 2023. At least, the atmosphere should be there, with the maximum number of subscriptions sold, which demonstrates unparalleled enthusiasm in the history of the club.

Nour, Guylain, Luc, Kim, it starts this afternoon, with a Crew-Atlanta at 2 p.m. CF Montreal will play its first match in Orlando, starting at 7:30 p.m. We’ll talk about it again!