Kaylyn Kyle is Canadian and proud. It's no secret that the former Canadian women's national team star, who was born not too far from Vancouver, has a soft spot for her countrymen in MLS. After all, there's a special bond there. Canadians stick together, and Canadian soccer is on the rise. Kyle put in the hard yards for the past generation. Now she gets to watch the successes unfold.
"I've gotten in trouble so many times, and I actually don't care. I'm unapologetically Canadian. I don't care. I love Vancouver. I grew up with the Vancouver Whitecaps," she tells GOAL.
And it's a good time to be a fan now. The Whitecaps played in the MLS Cup final last year and were a Lionel Messi masterclass away from lifting a well-deserved piece of silverware. That would have been a fine achievement for a franchise that could be about to move cities. The good news for Kyle and her fellow Canadians? Vancouver are here again, and they might just be a little bit better.
"They play, for me, one of the most beautiful brands of football in Major League Soccer, because they can go route one. But then they also have multiple different ways to build up with different players. You have Andres Cubas and Sebastian Berhalter, who are arguably two of the best double pivots in the league. You have Thomas Muller who hasn't hit yet, so that's going to be scary when he does hit. You have a Ryan Gauld who hasn't featured due to injury. You have Brian White, who's pushing his way into the US Men's National Team. So there are so many good question marks around Vancouver," she adds.
Good thing, too, because the Western Conference, which the Whitecaps currently top, is absolutely loaded. LAFC are good, but so too are the surging San Jose Earthquakes. The best teams are strong, and the middle class is better than it has been in a while. Kyle believes that is undoubtedly a good thing.
There's other business, too, in this chaotic league. There was chatter that Neymar could come to MLS and suit up for FC Cincinnati. That would be an interesting plot twist but also, Kyle thinks, a good fit. After all, Neymar still has plenty to give.
"Neymar anywhere makes sense. I think Neymar's off field antics have taken away from Neymar as a soccer player. But let's be completely honest, when Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were at their peak, Barcelona, Real Madrid days, Neymar was right there. He is arguably, and still arguably, a top three or four player to come out of Brazil, like he's that good," she adds.
It's a frantic setup, and Kyle analyzes it week in, week out for Apple TV. She sat down to talk MLS, the World Cup, Neymar and more in another edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL taps into the perspective of analysts, announcers and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
