McCarthy's Musings: First Month Headlines

By Kyle McCarthy

Stories haven't been hard to find during the MLS offseason. Perhaps you've heard the little ditty about an English heartthrob, a European vacation and a high-profile transfer deal?

Brand Beckham isn't the only high profile story floating around in MLS circles as 2009 gets ready to kick off in Seattle on Thursday.

In fact, the Pacific Northwest is exactly the place to launch the Friday Five's review of the most interesting stories heading into the first month of the MLS campaign.

1. The debut of Sounders FC

Sigi Schmid's new team debuts in front of a sold-out crowd at Qwest Stadium and in front of a national television audience. The buzz around the Emerald City is at a fever pitch and the expectations are high for the club's inaugural campaign. Can the nascent Sounders FC satisfy the hype?

Best case scenario: A bumper opening-day crowd inspires Seattle to victory over New York and Sounders FC carries that momentum through a forgiving slate of four home games in their first six contests.

Worst case scenario: Seattle's downtrodden fans are disappointed and discouraged by another losing sports team.

2. Defending a Galaxy

When the Los Angeles Galaxy finished 2008, David Beckham was disgruntled, Landon Donovan was ripping apart opposing defenses and Bruce Arena was tearing out his hair over a ramshackle defense. While Arena can't change Beckham's attitude and doesn't want to change Donovan's form, he will want to see his totally revamped Galaxy defense -- with the still unsigned 37-year-old Tony Sanneh marshalling a kiddie corps -- keep out the opposition better than they did last year.

Best case scenario: Sanneh recaptures his 2002 form and tightens up the leaky Galaxy defense.

Worst case scenario: Remember that 2008 defense? Imagine its 2009 equivalent.

3. Defending a championship

Columbus may have lost Schmid in the offseason, but nearly all of the team's core players return from last season's double. Can new coach Robert Warzycha keep a steady hand on the wheel and lead the Crew towards a repeat?

Best case scenario: Full steam ahead as Columbus wins in Houston and at Crew Stadium against Toronto to get the title defense started off on the right foot.

Worst case scenario: Three difficult Western Conference road games (@ Houston, @ Real Salt Lake, @ Chivas USA) in the first four matches lead to dropped points and stunted momentum.

4. Holden' on in Houston

With Dwayne De Rosario now in Toronto, Stuart Holden has large shoes to fill in the Dynamo midfield. The U.S. Olympian has shown flashes of his quality over his first three seasons with Houston. Can he raise the level of his game to influence matches consistently?

Best case scenario: New blood invigorates Houston's midfield and the Dynamo doesn't miss a beat.

Worst case scenario: A power outage heaps too much pressure on Houston's aging and injury-riddled defense.

5. The expansion race ends?

Vancouver, Portland and St. Louis have all made strides to seal one of the two available expansion berths. With a deadline scheduled for the end of the month, the time to award the golden tickets isn't far away. Which two prospective franchises will get the nod?

Best case scenario: Portland closes a $15 million shortfall in the financing package passed by the city council on Wednesday and joins Vancouver as the 17th and 18th MLS franchises.

Worst case scenario: Portland can't close the gap, St. Louis can't find additional financial backing and Vancouver is named as the 17th team with number 18 listed as TBD.

Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. He also covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSnet.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.