In the first of a new weekly series, NYCFC.com takes a look at what’s been happening elsewhere in Major League Soccer over the last seven days.
We begin with the latest on David Beckham’s plans to get a Miami-based MLS franchise off the ground.
Commissioner Don Garber gave an address on the subject of expansion on Thursday and provided an update on where MLS are up to with the venture.
"I remain a big believer in the importance of Miami to extend MLS's reach to south of the border and to connect with a very diverse and culturally important city in our country," Garber said.
"We have a lot invested in this ... sometimes you have to take a step back before you move on.
"Everybody needs to understand, including David and his partners, the league and everybody else, that we've worked hard and it is time for us to reach a conclusion."
In the same speech, Garber also outlined the timeframe and process for further expansion teams, revealing that Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, Raleigh/Durham, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa/St Petersburg have all expressed interest in becoming teams 25, 26, 27 and 28.
Atlanta United and Minnesota United both join the league in 2017 before LAFC follow in 2018.
In other news, draft season is well under way and teams up and down the nation have been fine-tuning their rosters.
The Expansion Draft came and went with NYCFC unaffected (full details here) but Atlanta were active, bringing in Zach Loyd, Mark Bloom, Mikey Ambrose and Alec Kann, while Minnesota captured Chris Duvall (later traded for Johan Venegas), Collen Warner, Mohammed Saeid, Jeff Atinella and Femi Hollinger-Janzen.
FutbolMLS.com also announced the results of the Latino of the Year vote, where NYCFC’s Ronald Matarrita narrowly missed out to Roman Torres.
Mata took 36% of the vote, reaching the final where he was edged out by the Panamanian MLS Cup winner.
In USMNT news, returning Head Coach Bruce Arena has lifted the lid on his plans for the January training camp.
The Brooklynite took part in a Facebook live Q&A on Friday where he hinted at a few names who will be getting the call.
Arena said: “An example would be Benny Feilhaber, Juan Agudelo, Gyasi Zardes, Darlington Nagbe, Jordan Morris, Chris Pontius, Dax McCarty, [Keegan] Rosenberry from Philadelphia, the two center backs [Matt] Hedges and [Walker] Zimmerman from Dallas … We're excited about looking at some of these MLS players to see if they're going to be in position to help us in 2017.”
He also mentioned DaMarcus Beasley, Clint Demspey and Kekuta Manneh,
Finally, for this week, Orlando City issued a tantalizing glimpse at their new stadium which is currently in construction.
“The Purple Wall” will offer safe standing in MLS for the first time and is sure to make Orlando’s new home an intimidating place to visit in 2017.
More next week!
