It’s oh-so tempting to make big, sweeping conclusions about what happens on the field in the first game of the season.
During the offseason, we have tons of time to play things out in our heads, building potential lineups, mulling over breakout stars, and predicting where teams will land in the standings.
So when the first full slate of actual games kicks off, that’s when we get to see how spot-on our winter musings were.
…right?
In reality, nearly half of the teams in MLS started their matches over the weekend either missing a returning star or missing a major offseason addition. With so many key players unavailable due to visa issues, limited training time, or injuries, the first full weekend of MLS play doesn’t serve as a one-size-fits-all testing ground for our offseason theories. Instead, it produces a bunch of overreactions.
Today, we’re here to judge some of those potential overreactions to determine if they’re rooted in truth.
