U.S. Soccer's biggest winners & losers of 2023: Lionel Messi's arrival takes MLS to new heights but USWNT stars suffer year to forget

Probably the big winner of 2023, and that's what happens when you sign Lionel Messi. The Argentine's arrival sent MLS into a new stratosphere, with fans all over the world keeping an eye on Messi's exploits. Inter Miami did the impossible, and now every team in the league will reap the rewards.

It wasn't just Messi, though. He's brought the Barcelona all-stars with him to Miami, turning the Herons into a true MLS super-team. Even so, they'll have to prove in 2024 that they can go toe-to-toe with the league's best, as the Columbus Crew and LAFC, this year's MLS Cup finalists, don't seem to be going anywhere.

Now, it's all about capitalizing on Messi's arrival, both in the short and long-term, as the 2026 World Cup prepares to create even more interest in the game on U.S soil. What happens next? Who knows, but it should be a heck of a ride!

The USWNT fell well short of expectations at the World Cup and, as a result, Andonovski paid with his job. Rightfully so, it's fair to say, as the USWNT always looked like a team that was less than the sum of its parts with Andonovski at the helm.

In attack, the USNWT never looked like a team that had any ideas. Roster selection was questionable, to say the least, and, in the end, Andonovski didn't react until it was too late. The U.S. could have, and maybe should have, escaped from their last-16 loss to Sweden, but there was no way this team was a World Cup contender.

Andonovski has landed on his feet after being handed the controls at Kansas City Current. With the USWNT, it was a case of a wrong fit for the wrong team and, as a result, it all went wrong this summer, too.

The silver lining for the USWNT is that the next generation is on its way, and you could argue it has already arrived. Trinity Rodman, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith and Alyssa Thompson were at the World Cup. Meanwhile, Jaedyn Shaw, Mia Fishel and Olivia Moultrie are right behind them and have already made their debuts over the fall.

There's an insane amount of young talent in this pool, and it seems the program hired the right coach to help that young talent grow in Emma Hayes. The opportunity to work with those young stars is probably what brought over from Chelsea to begin with.

It won't be a finished product immediately, as Hayes will likely need some time to figure things out even with the Olympics on the horizon, but she has an incredible amount of quality at her disposal, and those young stars will only get better in the years to come.

She described it herself as "a sick joke", but how could Rapinoe's career end like this?

Both the legendary forward's club and international careers concluded in the worst ways possible. Her last kick for the USWNT was that infamous missed penalty kick against Sweden, while her final club match was over before it could even begin after she suffered a torn Achilles early on in the NWSL Championship game.

This wasn't the send-off that Rapinoe deserved after her years of serving not just the American game, but women's sports in general. This won't be the last we see of her, soccer or no soccer, but her playing career deserved much, much more at the very end.

A year of two halves, for sure, for McKennie.

The first half was about as bad as can be. His loan move to Leeds United was nothing short of a disaster, the type of transfer that could alter the trajectory of his career. McKennie marched back to Juventus with his tail between his legs and his future uncertain.

Since returning to Juve, though, McKennie has been among the team's best players. Whether out wide or centralyl, McKennie has been a monster for the Bianconeri, keeping them right near the top of Serie A.

From a crossroads to indispensable, all in a matter of months; McKennie is back where he belongs, and it seems he's on a path towards even more now that he's back to his best.

Unlike McKennie, his two USMNT team-mates that played alongside him for Leeds during the 2022-23 season have not enjoyed similar renaissances...

We'll get to Aaronson first, who after a bright start to life in the Premier League at Elland Road soon struggled to deal with the physicality of the English game, and ended up being dropped from the line-up once Jesse Marsch was sacked and Leeds slid towards what became their inevitable relegation.

A summer loan move to Union Berlin promised to get his career back on track, with the opportunity to play for a Bundesliga contender and in the Champions League on offer in the German capital. But after getting himself sent off after just 21 minutes in his second appearance for the club, things have got little better for Aaronson.

He was part of the team that lost 12 successive matches through the fall, with that run leading to their early European exit as well a likely fight against relegation during the second half of the campaign.

Throughout the whole of 2023, Aaronson failed to score a club goal and registered just one assist. Despite having only just turned 23, it feels like the attacking midfielder's hopes of a career at the very top of the European game are already slipping away.

Given what we all saw unfold in the early months of the year, who could have fathomed that Berhalter would somehow be back with the USMNT.

He returned after a busy summer, one which saw the U.S. win one of the two trophies on offer. The results since have been largely okay, with the U.S. qualifying for the Copa America next summer during the most recent international break.

Berhalter still has so much to figure out. He needs to continue to rebuild trust with Gio Reyna, figure out how to get the best out of Folarin Balogun, and usher in new faces.

The USMNT boss has been given a second chance, one that seemed almost unfathomable just a few months ago. He, and U.S. Soccer, can't afford to waste it as the program heads into a massive runway toward the 2026 World Cup.

Back to the former Leeds trio, and Adams' horrendously unlucky 2023. The USMNT captain was the team's standout performer at the 2022 World Cup and looked set to take his game to the next level, but has instead spent most of the past 12 months watching on from the sidelines.

Leeds' season tanked after the midfielder suffered a serious hamstring injury in March, and it soon became clear that he would require surgery to fix the problem. That did not put off potential suitors in the summer transfer window, though, and after a move to Chelsea collapsed, Adams joined Bournemouth in a $25.5 million (£20m) deal.

He has appeared just once for the Cherries since arriving, however, with his 20-minute cameo in the Carabao Cup in September leading to a recurrence of the same hamstring injury which has ruled him out ever since. There must be real concern now for Adams' long-term prospects in the game if this becomes a chronic issue.

On and off the field, the NWSL just keeps on growing. The league's two newest clubs, Angel City and San Diego Wave, continue to thrive. while two more are on the way in Bay FC and Utah Royals. And, on top of that, one of the league's legacy clubs, Gotham FC, won an NWSL final this year against another powerhouse, OL Reign.

Interest has never been higher in the women's game, not just in the U.S. but around the world. The NWSL will face a fight, for sure, as leagues in Spain, England, France and Germany continue to grow, but a rising tide lifts all boats, right?

This story is still unfolding, but the message has been heard loud and clear: MLS doesn't give a damn about the U.S. Open Cup.

MLS' attempt to pull their clubs out of this country's oldest soccer tournament painted a clear picture. The league wants to focus on its own tournament, the Leagues Cup, and its partnership with the top clubs of Liga MX. It doesn't see a benefit in giving the spotlight to the lower leagues, to playing in stadiums and a competition that they don't own.

That belief will radically change American soccer, a country that is still very much the Wild West, compared to its European counterparts. There's still so much being figured out, but, through it all, the Open Cup was the one constant. Now, it faces an uncertain future.

We'll have to see how this all shakes out, but if those at the top of MLS don't care about the Open Cup, it's hard to imagine that many fans will, either.

It has not been a perfect year for Pulisic, but the green shoots of the past six months suggest that the face of U.S. Soccer can get back to his best in the not-too-distant future.

Pulisic's up-and-down Chelsea career finally came to an end over the summer after the most forgettable of his four seasons at Stamford Bridge, and it was AC Milan who won the race to sign the 25-year-old former wonderkid.

The Rossoneri are not enjoying that strong of a season, with their Serie A title hopes likely already over while they suffered an early exit from the Champions League, but Pulisic has shown signs that he can become a star once again at San Siro. The winger has scored six goals and provided four assists through the first half of the campaign, and we may well look back on 2023 as the year Pulisic got his mojo back.

The definition of a nightmare year. From the post-World Cup controversy that engulfed him early in the year to the lack of minutes that have defined his 2023-24 season so far, it hasn't been Reyna's 2023 on or off the field. The hope is that he'll come out of this a better player and person, and he's shown plenty of signs of that already, but this wouldn't have been the year anyone would have dreamed of for Reyna.

Could a transfer be on the horizon? Maybe. Can he carry his good USMNT form into 2024? Hopefully. Regardless, Reyna has survived a year that was about as bad as it could have been.

At 21, he still has the world at his feet, just as he did when he was 20 or 19. But the Reyna we see now has been run through the ringer - let's see how he emerges from it.

The world is starting to notice the talent coming out of MLS, but the next big export may not be a player, but a coach.

Nancy's transformation of the Columbus Crew was overshadowed by Messi-mania, but there's no arguing with how effective he was as a manager. The Frenchman's style is easy to explain: attacking, aggressive, energetic and, most importantly, fun. Nancy believes that the beautiful game should be played beautifully, and it's nice to see a team with that mentality rewarded with the MLS Cup at year's end.

The world will have seen what Nancy has achieved, and will continue to achieve as he looks to take the Crew into 2024. His stock is high as can be, though, as he helped build this Crew team into a title winner.

While 2023 officially brought Rapinoe's career to an end, it may also be seen as the year that all-but ended Morgan's time at the very top of the game to a close.

After netting in her first two international appearances of the year, Morgan has since embarked on a 13-game goal drought for her country, with her underwhelming performances at the World Cup coming in for intense criticism.

She was then left off the roster completely for the USWNT's final friendlies of the year in December, and with a wealth of talented, young attackers having already made their mark on the national team, Morgan's place at next summer's Olympics is now in serious doubt.