2024 MLS preview: Four favorites to win league title
Major League Soccer returns next week after a two-month hiatus with competition never more fierce. Twenty-nine teams will compete for the 2024 MLS Cup, but what team will win it all?
Here are the title favorites as the MLS season nears:
Atlanta United
Last season: Sixth in Eastern Conference
Atlanta is one of the few MLS franchises that draws significant support from outside its metro area. What is it about the Five Stripes that resonates with fans across the country? Is it the breathless, high-pressing play? Eye-catching players such as Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis? Or the underdog spirit?
It's all that and more. With a solid 2023 behind it and an exciting 2024 on the horizon, Atlanta isn't merely a fan favorite. It's a title favorite, too.
In the offseason, Atlanta retained Argentine star and World Cup winner Almada. He may yet depart, as MLS' transfer window will stay open until April, but he's expected to be ready as the season starts. Almada, one of MLS' best players, should keep the goals flowing with his impish creativity.
But Atlanta also solidified its weak spots, bringing in goalkeeper Josh Cohen from Maccabi Haifa, defender Stian Gregersen from Bordeaux and midfielder Dax McCarty from Columbus. This was a great team in 2023 and it's significantly better in 2024.
Cincinnati FC
Last season: First in Eastern Conference | Supporters' Shield winner
What a year 2023 was for Cincinnati FC. Head coach Pat Noonan's team stormed the Eastern Conference, bringing home the Supporters' Shield, awarded annually to the team with the most regular-season points. It was Cincy's first major sports trophy in decades and well deserved. Attacker Lucho Acosta lit up the league all season and earned MLS MVP.
Cincinnati's offseason was defined by three crucial moves: a sale, a signing and a contract extension.
The sale was Brandon Vazquez to Monterrey in Liga MX, a difficult but necessary move that freed money for Cincinnati to spend elsewhere. The signing was Miles Robinson, a league-leading center back who should add stability to Cincinnati's back line. The extension was for Acosta.
"Lucho is a pain in the ass," Noonan said last season, per The Athletic, "but he's a good pain in the ass."
He's the kind of player you love having on your team and hate playing against. Cincinnati did well to keep him.
Columbus Crew
Last season: Third in Eastern Conference | MLS Cup winners
Columbus isn't one for dramatics. While the media cooed over Miami and Lionel Messi in 2023, the Crew quietly plugged away under the radar. By the time the MLS Cup came around, though, it was easily the most dangerous squad in the league and won the Cup convincingly.
Most of Columbus' victorious Crew opted to stick around for the 2024 season. The only major departure is left back Julian Gressel, who joined Miami's circus.
Gressel's departure makes room in the starting lineup for Mo Farsi, a Canadian defender who came to MLS from the world of futsal. He has better on-the-ball skills than just about anyone, and if he listens to coach Wilfried Nancy and locks down his positioning this season, he'll be a player to watch.
Los Angeles FC
Last season: Third in Western Conference
The Western Conference is, in a word, nuts. Last season new franchise St. Louis City SC stormed into first. The unpredictability of the West makes for some excellent storylines, but it throws preseason guesses into chaos. How do you make predictions amid all that mess?
LAFC is traditionally the steady ship of the West, making calculated, defensible moves in the transfer market and earning respectable results even when it's not at its best.
Even LAFC caught the chaos bug this offseason, shuttling off stars like Giorgio Chiellini (retired), Chicharito (Guadalajara), Maxime Crepeau (Portland) and Kellyn Acosta (Chicago.) Into their places come a variety of MLS newbies, from Hugo Lloris in goal to Tomás Angel in attack. These new hires aren't necessarily upgrades, but they give coach Steve Cherundolo plenty of options.
LAFC's most important player is an old face: striker Dénis Bouanga. He was expected to leave MLS for Europe over the winter, but LAFC convinced him to stay. His 20 goals last season earned him the Golden Boot, the award given annually to the league's top regular-season goalscorer.
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