And so it is upon us again. This wonderful, wild, and zany league known as Major League Soccer is set to kick off on Friday night, and the league's 20th season is primed to be its best and most successful yet. Players, owners, front office personnel and fans have all been sweating in recent days as it looked like a player strike was inevitable, yet that has been avoided with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement agreed upon at the 11th hour. So, the season will now commence as scheduled on Friday night at 10 PM ET when the Los Angeles Galaxy begin their title defence by hosting the Chicago Fire at StubHub Center in the season's curtain raiser.
The Galaxy now truly own the moniker of most successful club in Major League Soccer history, and although that would be hotly debated by any DC United fan the Galaxy have now won three of the last four MLS Cup Finals and have won five total, more than any team ever has. Yet, one thing will undoubtedly be different about this season, and that is the presence, or lack thereof, of Landon Donovan.
American soccer's greatest ever player has finally hung up his boots, and he leaves a massive hole in the Galaxy lineup. Whether he was deployed as an out-and-out striker, a true number 10 or as a winger he always brought something special to that team. Donovan will undoubtedly be missed, but the game in this country must and will go on.
Given that there will be no Landon Donovan in the starting lineup for LA, we will likely see a slightly different starting lineup. Gone are the days of Donovan and Robbie Keane dovetailing, but we will likely see Keane link up with young United States international starlet Gyasi Zardes.
Zardes was extremely successful last season, and scored 16 goals in 32 appearances. He entered the season largely overlooked in the attack but wound up playing a vital role in their playoff push and scored the opening goal in MLS Cup Final. His performances were noticed by United States Men's National Team manager Jurgen Klinsmann, and Zardes made his USMNT debut this winter. He will be expected to help Keane carry the scoring load.
If he were to be making his MLS debut in this match, it would warrant a bigger mention than this. However, it is still worth noting that Steven Gerrard will be making the move from Liverpool FC to the Galaxy in the summer where he will fill the designated player slot which was vacated by Donovan.
On the other side of the pitch we have the new-look Chicago Fire. The Fire, another of American soccer's most successful clubs, have not won a major trophy since 2006 and have missed out on the MLS Cup Playoffs for two consecutive seasons. Back in 2013, they only narrowly missed out largely because of the individual brilliance of 2013 MLS MVP Mike Magee. Unfortunately, Chicago did not have that same luxury in 2013 as Magee missed the majority of the season with various injuries.
They would up finishing second bottom in the Eastern Conference, and set an MLS record for most draws in a season with 18. For those keeping score at home, that does mean that they drew more than half of their matches, and given that it was blatantly obvious that they needed to retool during the offseason. And boy, retool they did.
Designated player disappointment Juan Luis Anangono headed off to Mexico with Universidad de Guadalajara, and three new DP's came to Chicago. Strikers David Accam and Kennedy Igboananike and attacking midfielder Shaun Maloney will join Magee, Quincy Amarikwa and 2014 MLS Rookie of the Year finalist Harry Shipp in what is shaping up to be one of the most exciting attacks in MLS.
It's likely that this match will prove to be scrappy and largely disjointed. This is the first competitive match both have played in several months, and in addition to being in preseason form most of the players will still be getting used to playing with each other. However, for the watching masses, the overall quality of play will not matter that much. What will matter most is that the 2015 MLS season is about to begin. Regardless of your colors, we can all raise a glass to that.