MLS fans got one more shiny gift to stash under ye olde tannenbaum on Wednesday, with the unveiling of the league\u2019s 2024 regular season schedule<\/a>. As many of us begin to plot out our approach to the new year\u2019s soccer smorgasbord, here\u2019s my first take on some of the most interesting fixtures.
Reminder No. 1: With MLS now up to 29 teams, and a 30th on the way in 2025 in the form of San Diego FC, there are just too many matches of note for any single rundown to encompass. So this is inevitably just a snapshot and not a snub of any particular club(s) or matchup(s).
Reminder No. 2: All games are viewable via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV<\/a>.
The earliest opening day in MLS history arrives on a rare Wednesday night in the tropical setting of balmy Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
No prizes for guessing the main attraction here: Lionel Messi<\/a> and his star-studded Herons<\/a> taking the first steps of his first full season with IMCF, carrying great expectations and the attention of many millions across the footballing world. Pablo Mastroeni\u2019s RSL<\/a> might just be the perfect foil for this occasion \u2013 a fiercely collective-oriented side who have repeatedly relished ruining the days of favored opponents.
Thanks to a Round One bye in the Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a>, Miami won\u2019t wade into continental competition until early March. So this is their opener, although they will already have logged many thousands of air miles via a round-the-world preseason tour<\/a> that will whisk them from El Salvador to Saudi Arabia to Hong Kong and on to Japan before their first MLS kick. They\u2019ll board a plane again after the RSL match, to jet out to Southern California to visit Riqui Puig<\/a> and the LA Galaxy<\/a> on Sunday, Feb. 25.
The Western Conference\u2019s elite clash again, this time on a \u201cwinter\u201d afternoon in sunny Los Angeles. We wrote in depth<\/a> about this matchup just a few weeks ago, when they dueled in a tense Conference Semifinal that many \u2013 including Vancouver Whitecaps<\/a> head coach Vanni Sartini, LAFC<\/a>\u2019s victim in Round One of the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs \u2013 correctly predicted would reveal the eventual MLS Cup finalist.
LAFC got the better of the Sounders<\/a> on that occasion thanks to a stunning solo run by D\u00e9nis Bouanga<\/a>. But with Giorgio Chiellini retiring<\/a> and questions hovering above several other key figures, Steve Cherundolo\u2019s squad might look quite different on opening weekend of 2024. Seattle, for their part, have already bid an emotional farewell to longtime playmaker Nico Lodeiro<\/a>. In any case, it\u2019s usually a high-level match when Black & Gold meet Rave Green.
This is TFC<\/a>\u2019s home opener, a key milestone at the dawn of the John Herdman era as the charismatic former Canadian national team<\/a> boss makes his first foray into club management. And he\u2019s got work to do.
After three MLS Cup trips in four seasons from 2016-19, Toronto fell off precipitously over the past few years, descending into Wooden Spoon territory last season as the league\u2019s top spenders in roster terms finished dead last in the overall standings, amid persistent reports of infighting and underperformance from their expensive Italian star duo of Lorenzo Insigne<\/a> and Federico Bernardeschi<\/a>.
Will the DPs still be wearing red at this point? That remains to be seen. Meanwhile, CLTFC<\/a> will be eager to show their progress in year three as their new head coach, Englishman Dean Smith, aims to stamp his influence on the Carolina club.
The first year of this cross-Missouri derby served up some memorable moments, none more so than SKC<\/a>\u2019s impressive Round One upset sweep of top-seeded STL<\/a> in the playoffs, the second and decisive match of which, a 2-1 Sporting win, unfolded at a frenzied Children’s Mercy Park just like this fixture.
As Armchair Analyst Matt Doyle put it<\/a>: \u201cSporting closed the first chapter of what already feels like one of the best rivalries in the league with an exclamation point.\u201d We\u2019re highly curious to witness the next round of fireworks \u2013 to say nothing of the spicy trash talk that\u2019s been flying back and forth in volume between the fanbases.
While the heart of Rivalry Week also features an Atlantic Cup classic between D.C. United<\/a> and the New York Red Bulls<\/a>, we\u2019re giving Lions-Herons the nod. That\u2019s in large part because of the volume of spite in their Leagues Cup<\/a> Round-of-32 match on Aug. 2, which proved a key signpost on Miami\u2019s march to that tournament\u2019s trophy, one angrily labeled a \u201ccircus\u201d by Orlando<\/a> boss Oscar Pareja.
El Cl\u00e1sico del Sol? SunPassico? Tropic Thunder? Whatever moniker we eventually settle on, there\u2019s no denying the heat of Florida\u2019s in-state MLS rivalry, and it got cranked up a few notches that night, as Messi clashed angrily with OCSC holding mid C\u00e9sar Ara\u00fajo<\/a> and IMCF needed a contentious penalty-kick decision to squeak past Orlando\u2019s rugged resistance by a 2-1 scoreline.
Two days after Memorial Day, the unofficial start of North American summer, the reigning MLS Cup champions welcome their former leader Caleb Porter back to central Ohio for what could prove a heavyweight bout between Eastern Conference contenders.
Porter led Columbus<\/a> to the 2020 league title, making him one of only three head coaches in league history to win a Cup with two different teams (he also hoisted the 2015 trophy with Portland<\/a> alongside Darlington Nagbe<\/a>, who today is the face of the Crew). Now he\u2019s in charge of a Revs<\/a> side packed with talent and keen to prove in 2024 that they\u2019ve vanquished the malaise that marked the end of Bruce Arena\u2019s tenure at the club.
This one doesn\u2019t need too much explanation, does it? El Tr\u00e1fico is always appointment viewing, and an all-time MLS attendance record-setting crowd of 82,110<\/a> turned up last Independence Day when SoCal\u2019s antagonists took their show to the Rose Bowl, where the Galaxy produced one of the highlights of an otherwise disappointing 2023 by beating the then-MLS Cup holders 2-1.
The gridiron bowl game in Pasadena has long been dubbed \u201cThe Granddaddy of Them All,\u201d and we may soon be applying a similar honorific to this new MLS tradition.
The season\u2019s first installment of the Hell is Real rivalry \u2013 which now boasts the reigning MLS Cup and Supporters\u2019 Shield holders \u2013 takes place at Lower.com Field in May. Yet we\u2019ve got our eyes on Cincy<\/a>\u2019s home date later in the year, because of what went down there in the 2023 playoffs.
In an Eastern Conference Final for the ages, the Crew rallied from a 2-0 deficit to stun FCC and their supporters with a 3-2 extra-time victory<\/a> that set the stage for their MLS Cup triumph a week later. It was both a delirious vindication of Wilfried Nancy\u2019s game model and his team\u2019s resilience, and the latest on a list of gut-punch comeback losses for Cincinnati. Will those ghosts haunt TQL in \u201824?
As Ohio\u2019s MLS clubs fight for bragging rights, two Southern sides with legitimate trophy ambitions will concurrently lock horns on what promises to be a lively Saturday night in downtown ATL<\/a>. While no precise name, branding or hardware has yet been bestowed upon the backyard brawls among MLS\u2019s growing contingent in the South, you need only glance at the region\u2019s wider sporting landscape to know that \u201cit just means more,\u201d y\u2019all.
With a modest four-hour drive between the cities, Nashville<\/a>\u2019s traveling support usually show out on their team\u2019s visits to The Benz, one of the league\u2019s showpiece venues and a lovely place to catch a big game, as organizers of both the 2026 World Cup and 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica have agreed.
There\u2019s nothing quite like Sounders-Timbers, and the schedule makers have given us an extra treat by dropping this edition on Decision Day, the final date of the regular season, where playoff fates are decided and simultaneous start times for each conference\u2019s matches dial up the drama.
Really, any Cascadia Cup game is a must-watch \u2013 and that\u2019s multiplied when the particularly flavorful bitterness of Seattle vs. Portland plays out with what might well be massive stakes on the line.<\/p>\n