The Designated Players

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we begin our not so deep dives into each MLS team ahead of the 2024 season, but this year with a twist! We are bringing in a guest who is an expert on the team, and for this episode we're joined by Tim from Club and Country! We say not so deep dive as there are too many teams to cover and not enough time, but this year with our guest specialist, we'll get a bit more detailed than in prior years. We will be looking into the transfer activity, ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we begin our not so deep dives into each MLS team ahead of the 2024 season, but this year with a twist! We are bringing in a guest who is an expert on the team, and for this episode we're joined by Bob from Designated Pundits: MLS on i80! We say not so deep dive as there are too many teams to cover and not enough time, but this year with our guest specialist, we'll get a bit more detailed than in prior years. We will be looking into the trans...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we begin our not so deep dives into each MLS team ahead of the 2024 season, but this year with a twist! We are bringing in a guest who is an expert on the team, and for this episode we're joined by OSG and Andres from NoodleTime! We say not so deep dive as there are too many teams to cover and not enough time, but this year with our guest specialist, we'll get a bit more detailed than in prior years. We will be looking into the transfer activ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we begin our not so deep dives into each MLS team ahead of the 2024 season, but this year with a twist! We are bringing in a guest who is an expert on the team, and for this episode we're joined by Chris from STL Soccer News! We say not so deep dive as there are too many teams to cover and not enough time, but this year with our guest specialist, we'll get a bit more detailed than in prior years. We will be looking into the transfer activity,...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we begin our not so deep dives into each MLS team ahead of the 2024 season, but this year with a twist! We are bringing in a guest who is an expert on the team, and for this episode we're joined by Michael from Away From the Numbers (AFTN Canada)! We say not so deep dive as there are too many teams to cover and not enough time, but this year with our guest specialist, we'll get a bit more detailed than in prior years. We will be looking into ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we begin our not so deep dives into each MLS team ahead of the 2024 season, but this year with a twist! We are bringing in a guest who is an expert on the team, and for this episode we're joined by John from Loud and Proud Orlando! We say not so deep dive as there are too many teams to cover and not enough time, but this year with our guest specialist, we'll get a bit more detailed than in prior years. We will be looking into the transfer act...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we're continuing off of the last episode and giving a more in depth review of the MLS Cup Final. We talk a bit about the atmosphere, as well as a deep dive into the big moments of the game, including the goals, controversial calls, and close chances. While this definitely wasn't as exciting as MLS Cup 2022, there was still plenty to talk about. Let us know what you thought about the Final! Recorded on: 12/12/2023 Let us know you...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we're talking about the hottest topics in MLS in recent news with the roster rule changes (or lack thereof), overall rule changes, and MLS' decision to back out of the US Open Cup. The recent announcement from commissioner Don Garber saw the league make very minimal changes heading into the 2024 season, and we're here to recap the changes and how it will impact the league in the current season and moving forward. Then we talk about a conseque...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, it's our 200th episode! What better way to celebrate than with a super special guest, Tom Bogert! We've brought Tom in to give us some insights from the MLS Cup Final and Crew's locker-room celebration, followed by some thoughts on potential upcoming MLS rules changes and recent transfer news. Stay tuned for next episode, where Andrew and Connor will give a more in depth breakdown of the MLS Cup Final. Recorded on: 12/12/2023 Le...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are making our 2023 playoff predictions, and this week we are making our predictions for MLS Cup Final! Before we do that, we recap the wild Conference Finals games played last weekend. Let us know what you think of our picks and let us know what your picks are! Recorded on: 12/4/2023 Let us know your thoughts and if we got it right or right! Send any emails with questions or comments to: [email protected] Foll...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series covering all things top 10, and as you know, there is nothing we like more than yelling at each other and being yelled at by you, so what better way to entice that then by rating top 10s. This week, we will be giving our picks for the top 10 MLS Cup Finals, from arguably the greatest MLS match of all time to the amazing comeback in the first ever MLS Cup Final ever. Let us know your top 10 and what you think of our pick...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are making our 2023 playoff predictions, and this week we are making our predictions for the conference finals. Before we do that, we talk about if the playoff format works and recap the first round games. Let us know what you think of our picks and let us know what your picks are! Recorded on: 11/28/2023 Let us know your thoughts and if we got it right or right! Send any emails with questions or comments to: the...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are back and this week continue the series where we talk about what went wrong for teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs. This week we are focusing on the Western Conference teams eliminated on the final day, that being Minnesota United and the Portland Timbers. We are going to come up with about 3 points we think drove the team to a lack of success this season and then expand on how it went wrong, and briefly what they can do ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are back and this week continue the series where we talk about what went wrong for teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs. This week we are focusing on the Eastern Conference teams eliminated on the final day, that being CF Montreal, NYCFC, and Chicago Fire. We are going to come up with about 3 points we think drove the team to a lack of success this season and then expand on how it went wrong, and briefly what they can do to fi...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are making our 2023 playoff predictions, and this week we are making our predictions for the conference semi-finals. Before we do that, we talk about if the playoff format works and recap the first round games. Let us know what you think of our picks and let us know what your picks are! Recorded on: 11/14/2023 Let us know your thoughts and if we got it right or right! Send any emails with questions or comments to...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about Ben Olsen's first ever hattrick against the New York Red Bu...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are back with another reaction episode. This time we're reacting to our top 5 players at each position ahead of the 2023 season, except we did it draft style. We took turns picking our top 5 players at each position, with no repeat picks. There are some really good picks, and there are some really really bad picks in this list, so definitely listen in and let us now how smart or dumb we are. Recorded on: 10/29/2023 Let us kn...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, the guys are back and this week we're reacting to our beginning of the season awards predictions, bold predictions, and standings predictions! If you haven't checked out our predictions, no worries, we go over our picks here, but if you want to hear more of our thought process, we suggest you take a listen to our earlier episodes on this topic. We've just wrapped up the regular season, so we wanted to check in and see how our predictions pann...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are making our 2023 playoff predictions, and this week we are starting with the first round and play in games for the 8 and 9 seeds. The playoff format is brand new this year, will it have an impact on who advances? Let us know what you think of our picks and let us know what your picks are! Recorded on: 10/23/2023 Let us know your thoughts and if we got it right or right! Send any emails with questions or commen...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are doing our version of the MLS 22 under 22 after MLS released their list recently. There are some big snubs from MLS' list and there are some guys a bit overrated, so we want to fix the list in each of our opinions. Let us know what you think, and let us know what your 22 under 22 list would look like! Recorded on: 10/18/2023 Let us know your thoughts and if we got it right or right! Send any emails with questi...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we get inspired by the great Tommy Scoops's (Tom Bogert) idea to include multiple Best XI teams for MLS, similar to the NBA's All-NBA teams. So we've gone ahead with the idea and have made our list of our first, second, and third MLS Best XI teams, recognizing some of the best from the 2023 season. We back up each our picks with tons of stats, and because of that, this is a looong episode, apologies from two stats nerds. Let us know what you ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are back and this week continue the series where we talk about what went wrong for teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs. This week we are focusing on the Western Conference teams eliminated by gameweek 32, that being Colorado Rapids, LA Galaxy, and Austin FC. We are going to come up with about 3 points we think drove the team to a lack of success this season and then expand on how it went wrong, and briefly what they can do to...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are back and this week we're starting up a new series where we talk about what went wrong for teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs. This week we are focusing on the Eastern Conference teams eliminated by gameweek 32, that being Toronto FC, Inter Miami, and DC United. We are going to come up with about 3 points we think drove the team to a lack of success this season and then expand on how it went wrong, and briefly what they c...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are back and this week, with only a couple games left in the season, we're discussing who will make the MLS playoffs. We are going to go team by team and look at their remaining schedule to determine if they can either hold their position in a playoff spot, or will someone come and take their spot. This episode we are focusing on the Western Conference so if your favorite team is in the Eastern Conference, make sure to check out our last e...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are back and this week, with only a couple games left in the season, we're discussing who will make the MLS playoffs. We are going to go team by team and look at their remaining schedule to determine if they can either hold their position in a playoff spot, or will someone come and take their spot. This episode we are focusing on the Eastern Conference so if your favorite team is in the Western Conference, make sure to tune in next episode...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series covering all things top 10. We'll just be honest with you here, this episode is a mess. Lists are wrong, data is wrong, but hopefully the humor in it all is right. And as you know, there is nothing we like more than yelling at each other and being yelled at by you, so what better way to entice that then by rating top 10s. This week, we will be giving our picks for the top 10 homegrowns in MLS history, from eurosnob lege...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about Jorge Villafaña winning the first edition of Sueño MLS and ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about Dario Sala's punch on Hunter Freeman following FC Dallas' p...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about Alecko Eskandarian's iconic celebration against the newly n...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we're recapping the Leo Messi Cup... sorry I mean League's Cup! This tournament was extremely exciting and brought memorable moment after memorable moment, and we want to try and cover it all. We talk about the most surprising team, most disappointing team, what can be improved for next year, and we talk about whether League's Cup was a success. In addition, we read through some HOT takes on Twitter about League's Cup and give our thoughts on...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about San Jose being taken over and moved to Houston, birthing th...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, the guys are back and this week we're diving into the silliest of summer seasons! Yes, it's the 2023 MLS summer transfer window and we're diving into all of the confirmed trades and transfers from this window. There are some really awesome names on this list, aka this Messi guy, and we are super excited to talk about it. As there are a lot of transfers to go over and a lot of teams in the league (thanks Donny boy), we are going to be splittin...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, the guys are back and this week we're diving into the silliest of summer seasons! Yes, it's the 2023 MLS summer transfer window and we're diving into all of the confirmed trades and transfers from this window. There are some really awesome names on this list, aka this Messi guy, and we are super excited to talk about it. As there are a lot of transfers to go over and a lot of teams in the league (thanks Donny boy), we are going to be splittin...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about Chivas USA using FIFA to scout for players to sign in their...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series covering all things top 10. We'll just be honest with you here, this episode is a mess. Lists are wrong, data is wrong, but hopefully the humor in it all is right. And as you know, there is nothing we like more than yelling at each other and being yelled at by you, so what better way to entice that then by rating top 10s. This week, we will be giving our picks for the top 10 penalty kick takers in MLS history, from the ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we discuss Cristiano Ronaldo's recent claim of the Saudi Pro League being a better league than MLS. The Saudi league has often been in the spotlight this summer transfer window as lots of big names have made the move over from Europe. We discuss which league is better and if MLS should be concerned. Commissioner Don Garber doesn't seem to be worried. Let us know what you think on this debate! Recorded on: 7/22/2023 Let us know y...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we are finally covering the topic of all topics, pro rel in the USA. With USL recently being rumored to be considering a promotion relegation system with the multiple USL levels, we are having a chat as to how it will work. We go over the pros and cons of implementing it with USL, and whether or not a similar structure could be in MLS' future. Listen in and let us know what you think on the massive pro rel debate! Recorded on: 7/22/2023 &nbs...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about the final golden goal MLS history scored by the KC Wizards,...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we're preparing for the upcoming first edition of the Leagues Cup between MLS and Liga MX! Said preparation includes predictions of course, and in this episode we will be making predictions for the group stages. We've gone through each team and listed their current position in the standings and one key player to keep an eye on. Let us know what you think of our predictions! Also, keep an eye out for the knockout stage predictions coming soon....

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we talk all things recent USMNT events including the Gold Cup performance (so far), the state of CONCACAF, Jesus Ferreira's place in the striker depth chart, Gregg rehiring, USMNT Twitter being toxic, and Landon Donovan's comments about Christian Pulisic. Listen in and let us know what you think! Recorded on: 7/10/2023 Let us know your thoughts and if we got it right or right! Send any emails with questions or comme...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series covering all things top 10. There is nothing we like more than yelling at each other and being yelled at by you, so what better way to entice that then by rating top 10s. This week, we will be giving our picks for the top 10 #1 overall MLS Superdraft (or equivalent) picks, from Maurice Edu to Freddy Adu. Let us know your top 10 and what you think of our picks! Recorded on: 6/25/2023 Let us know your though...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about Demarcus Beasley playing 90 min for the USMNT and 30 min fo...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series covering all things top 10, but this week we're joined by a very special guest, Eli Lesser, otherwise known as ThisWeekinMLS! There is nothing we like more than yelling at each other and being yelled at by you, so what better way to entice that then by rating top 10s. This week, we will be giving our picks for the top 10 Worst Designated Players of All Time, from Andre Horta to he who shall not be named. Let us know you...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about we're talking about the 2003 MLS Cup playoffs, followed by ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about we're talking about Bob Bradley's brilliant 4th sub which i...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series covering all things top 10. There is nothing we like more than yelling at each other and being yelled at by you, so what better way to entice that then by rating top 10s. This week, we will be giving our picks for the top 10 MLS Goalkeepers of all time, from Nick Rimando to Luis Robles. Let us know your top 10 and what you think of our picks! Recorded on: 6/6/2023 Let us know your thoughts and if we got it...

When news like this breaks, there's no time for edits. Here our UNEDITED thoughts on Leo Messi joining Inter Miami in MLS! Recorded on: 6/7/2023 1:49 - Details of the move 3:52 - Why he chose MLS over others 12:16 - Is this a retirement signing? 18:17 - Initial Reaction to the News 23:52 - How does the league change with Messi? 31:35 - How does soccer in the US change with Messi? 38:00 - David Beckham vs Leo Messi 46:07 - Closing thoughts Let us know your thoughts and if we got ...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about the KC Wizard's... rather interesting Zardmeister during th...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we begin a new series covering all things top 10. There is nothing we like more than yelling at each other and being yelled at by you, so what better way to entice that then by rating top 10s. This week, we will be giving our picks for the top 10 MLS MVP seasons, from 2023 Hany Mukhtar to 1996 Carlos Valderrama. Let us know your top 10 and what you think of our picks! Recorded on: 5/30/2023 Let us know your thoughts and if we go...

In this episode of the Designated Players Podcast, we continue our series where we retell the stories of MLS history. We've gone through all the team's subreddits and asked for different stories they remember about their teams, and we've got a list of almost all of them. We are going to do our research and then come together to retell everyone about those stories and give them the spotlight they deserve. This week we're talking about Jaime Moreno's brief, but disastrous spell following his tr...