{"id":3644,"date":"2024-01-18T00:15:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T00:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/?p=3644"},"modified":"2024-01-23T11:28:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T11:28:51","slug":"countdown-to-the-start-of-the-mls-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/countdown-to-the-start-of-the-mls-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown to the start of the MLS season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With the MLS (Major League Soccer) regular season set to kick off in just over a month, a<br>host of teams in North America and Canada will battle it out in order to crown themselves as<br>champions \u2013 a season on from championship wins for Columbus Crew, FC Cincinnati, and<br>the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kicking off on February 21. until October as part of the MLS regular season this year, the<br>franchise also features a playoff period from October to December \u2013 with the above-<br>mentioned, Cincinnati looking to defend their Supporters\u2019 Shield, while Columbus Cup look<br>to land a second consecutive victory in the MLS Cup.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Featuring 15 teams in the Eastern Conference and a further 14 teams in the Western<br>Conference, betting availability on the MLS regular season is already available across many<br>sportsbooks, with the Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami FC opening as impressive +350 betting<br>favorites to land the MLS Cup this season. And with the season spanning across two coasts,<br>as well as multiple cities in the United States and Canada,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.louisianabets.com\/promo-codes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">punters in Louisana can use<br>sportsbook promos<\/a>\u00a0to bet on the upcoming MLS season which kicks off as early as<br>February 21. \u2013 as punters are encouraged to get their bets in early to land early off-season<br>odds.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Early betting favorites in the United States to land the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-cup-playoffs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MLS Cup<\/a> this season amid the<br>backing of former Manchester United and Real Madrid winger, David Beckland, and led by<br>Argentine star and FIFA World Cup winner, Lionel Messi, Inter Miami FC look to be one of<br>the more promising teams to keep an eye on for bettors and punters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the addition of former FC Barcelona teammates, Jordi Alba and his Spanish<br>counterpart, Sergio Busquets to Inter Miami FC, up top, the above-mentioned former Paris<br>Saint Germain wide-man,&nbsp;Messi will be joined this season by former Blaugrana teammate,<br>former Liverpool striker, Luis Suarez&nbsp;as part of an eye-catching frontline for the Gerardo<br>Martion-led side.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also tipped to have a decent season in the Western Conference, Los Angeles FC will look to<br>veteran Italian center half and serial victor \u2013 UEFA EURO 2020 victor, Giorgio Chiellini to<br>lead the Californian side to a Conference victory, and potentially an MLS Cup victory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, further down the field, former Arsenal starlet and Real Sociedad forward,<br>Carlos Vera leads the line once again for Los Angeles FC \u2013 while also in the state of<br>California, former Manchester United striker and Mexican forward, Javier \u2018Chicharito\u2019<br>Hernandez leads the LA Galaxy to a massive and important regular season for them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In \u2018The Great White North\u2019 \u2013 Toronto FC can look to their expanding side and particularly<br>experienced wide players in the hope of success this term, as Italian winger and former<br>Napoli favorite, Lorenzo Insigne joins his compatriot and fellow European Championships<br>winner, Federico Bernardeschi in search of a Conference win for the Canadian side.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In last season\u2019s MLS Cup finale, Columbus Crew landed their first championship victory<br>since a 2020 victory \u2013 scoring twice before half time through goals from both Juan<br>Hernandez and Yaw Yeboah enough to beat out the West coast Conference side, despite a<br>late fightback through a goal from Denis Bouanga \u2013 who has hit scintillating form since the<br>Frenchman\u2019s move from Ligue 1 side, Saint Etienne.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Netting 25 times last season,&nbsp;Bouanga landed the MLS Golden Boot victory ahead of<br>Columbus Crew finisher Cucho Hernandez, as well as other notable names including the<br>likes of Georgis Giakoumakis, as well as former Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Crystal Palace<br>striker, Christian Benteke.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And following their MLS Cup finalist appearance last year, the above-mentioned Los Angeles<br>FC are current second betting favorites at +800 behind Inter Miami FC to win the MLS Cup,<br>with French shot-stopper, former Spurs goalkeeper and FIFA World Cup winner, Hugo Lloris<br>joining the Californian club for two seasons at least for the Western Conference side.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the MLS regular season kicking off in the coming month, the shocking move of the<br>above-mentioned serial winner, Messi from his Paris side to Inter Miami, as well as the<br>recent acquisition of Uruguayan striker, Suarez has only helped almost tenfold in terms of<br>immediate popularity for not just MLS but football \u2013 or soccer in North America as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Comparisons with Messi\u2019s stunning arrival to \u2018The Sunshine State\u2019 have already been made<br>with the above-mentioned former England national team captain, Beckham\u2019s massive arrival<br>at LA Galaxy in the mid-2000s from La Liga giants Real Madrid \u2013 as well as the late Brazilian<br>icon, Pele\u2019s period with the now-defunct New York Cosmos back in the mid-1970s.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Appearing in nine separate MLS Cup finals since their inception, the LA Galaxy have been<br>on a baron run without a finale victory since their 2014 triumph, however, a victory this year \u2013<br>although unlikely according to punters, would see them extend their record number of Cup<br>wins to six victories total, two more ahead of closest rivals, DC United.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the MLS (Major League Soccer) regular season set to kick off in just over a month, ahost of teams in North America and Canada will battle it out in order to crown themselves aschampions \u2013 a season on from championship wins for Columbus Crew, FC Cincinnati, andthe Vancouver Whitecaps FC.&nbsp; Kicking off on February&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[325,1],"tags":[154],"class_list":["post-3644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-soccer","tag-mls"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":325,"label":"News"},{"value":1,"label":"Soccer"}],"post_tag":[{"value":154,"label":"mls"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Columbus-Crew-MLS-Cup--1024x576.webp",1024,576,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Ross Markey","author_link":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/author\/rossmarkey\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":325,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":325,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":155,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":325,"category_count":155,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0},{"term_id":1,"name":"Soccer","slug":"soccer","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":504,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":504,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Soccer","category_nicename":"soccer","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":154,"name":"mls","slug":"mls","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":154,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3644"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3649,"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644\/revisions\/3649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soccerballworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}