Expansion Draft tonight
St. Louis CITY SC will select five players in the 2022 MLS Expansion Draft tonight at 7 pm ET. Here’s everything you need to know and streaming information. And if you’re wondering who’s available tonight, here’s the eligible player list.
Cushing named NYCFC head coach
New York City FC have removed the "interim" tag and named Nick Cushing as their full-time head coach ahead of the 2023 MLS season. The 38-year-old, who took the reins midway through the 2022 campaign after Ronny Deila departed for Belgium’s Standard Liège, led the Cityzens to an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs berth – reaching the Eastern Conference Final, where they fell 3-1 to MLS Cup 2022 runners-up Philadelphia Union.
Urso leaves Orlando due to personal reasons
Orlando City SC shocked fans on Thursday by announcing they've mutually agreed to terminate the contract of popular midfielder Júnior Urso, effective immediately. The club cited "personal reasons" for the decision, adding the player is returning to his native Brazil.
Sign up for The Daily Kickoff in your inbox! The Daily Kickoff is more than an article – it can be delivered to your email account as well.
It’s, once again, time for yet another Expansion Draft. That means a couple of things. It means you have another new team (29 total!) to get acquainted with, and it means any article we write about every team in MLS is somehow going to be even longer unless we give each team like five words apiece. Prayers for the editors at The Mothership.
Anyway, as we’ve learned over the years, Expansion Drafts are cool because it’s really the first tangible moment in an MLS team’s history. It’s the first set of actions that truly resonates with the rest of the league. I mean, all but five teams have to compile a whole list of players the newbies can just take. It’s like a new kid showing up to class and the teacher demanding you to give them your toys. You might have heard about a new kid coming before that, but now it’s real and personal.
The good news, though, is generally those toys aren’t your favorite. Teams can protect players from being taken in the Draft, but there’s a limit (12 total & homegrowns) to how many they can protect. Generally, that leaves expansion teams scraping the bottom of the barrel. This year though … man, I think it’s a testament to the growth of the league that you can look up and down the list of eligible players and see guys that have made genuine impacts for their team in recent history.
Now, part of that is because teams are being clever and listing players that are still technically under contract with their current team but are set to become free agents after the Expansion Draft. You could take ex-Columbus Crew winger Derrick Etienne Jr. tonight, but he’ll be a free agent in about a week so…probably don’t do that.
Teams have also wised up and realized you can dare teams to take on heavy contracts while protecting players more likely to be taken. I don’t think the New England Revolution truly think of DP forward Gustavo Bou as expendable, but he’s there on the list. He’s definitely one of the best players on that list, but St. Louis very likely aren’t going to use him in one of their three DP spots. It’s risky, yet smart. Other teams have gotten burned in the past by refusing to put high-profile contracts on the list and losing out on quality players they could have protected.
That being said, there are still some pretty incredible and plausible names on this list. Tom Bogert has a piece on it in “The Reading Rainbow” (it’s cool, LeVar is a friend) that you should read, but here’s the TL;DR: Philadelphia Union midfielder Alejandro Bedoya, Nashville SC midfielder Dax McCarty, Nashville SC winger Alex Muyl, Houston Dynamo FC center back Tim Parker, Charlotte FC forward Andre Shinyashiki and Bou.
Bedoya is older (turns 36 in April), of course, but just signed a one-year deal with the Union in September. You’d have him short-term, but who better to set a locker room culture in year one? The same goes for McCarty, who’s already done the expansion thing. The rest of the group is just solid players who have been productive in their MLS careers in some way. There are also a whole bunch of solid keepers who would make a ton of sense for most expansion MLS teams, but St. Louis gave a max TAM deal to Roman Burki… which, whoo boy, y’all should know how I feel about paying big money for goalkeepers in MLS.
Anyway, St. Louis have a chance to genuinely bolster their roster tonight and make waves at their coming-out party. That’s a big deal for a club that seems set to bring us the next great atmosphere in MLS. Tonight will help us get a little closer to figuring out if they’re set to bring us the next great expansion team too.
Charlotte FC star Swiderski makes Poland roster: Charlotte FC forward Karol Swiderski is part of Poland’s 26-man roster for the FIFA 2022 World Cup, as announced Thursday by manager Czesław Michniewicz. He’ll feature alongside FC Barcelona star Robert Lewandowski.
Orlando City's Torres, LA Galaxy's Cáceres make Uruguay roster: South American titans Uruguay are heading to the 2022 FIFA World Cup with two MLS stars in tow. LA Galaxy defender Martín Cáceres and Orlando City SC winger Facundo Torres have been included in Diego Alonso's 26-man roster for the tournament that kicks off in less than two weeks.
D.C. United acquire Williams in trade with LA Galaxy: D.C. United have begun addressing their backline issues ahead of the 2023 season, acquiring defender Derrick Williams in a trade with the LA Galaxy. The 29-year-old veteran, who's been capped three times by the Republic of Ireland, joins the capital city club in exchange for $180,000 in 2024 General Allocation Money (GAM).
Austin FC defender Gallagher signs contract extension: Austin FC have agreed to a multi-year contract extension with defender Jon Gallagher. The new deal includes four guaranteed years through the 2026 season, with a club option for 2027.
Nashville SC unveil name, crest & colors for MLS NEXT Pro team: Nashville SC announced Huntsville City Football Club, or Huntsville City FC, as the name of their MLS NEXT Pro team Wednesday night at a public event held in Huntsville's Mars Music Hall. Nashville also unveiled HCFC's new crest, inspired by the City of Huntsville's longstanding space industry, which is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Missile Defense Agency, Army Space and Rocket Command and more.
- You should watch a teary-eyed Cristian Roldan tell his parents about his USMNT World Cup spot.
- Patrice Bernier (!) made Csome Canada roster predictions for the 2022 World Cup.
- Here’s the latest on the MLS coaching carousel.
- Matt Doyle has some key takeaways from Gregg Berhalter's picks for the USMNT roster.
- Tom “St. Scoopus” Bogert picked out the best players available to St. Louis CITY SC in the 2022 MLS Expansion Draft.
- Meet the nine MLS players on USMNT's World Cup roster.
- Alyssa and Gisele Thompson have taken an unusual path to USWNT success via MLS NEXT.
Good luck out there. Gotta start somewhere.
