Uncategorized
A Guide to This Week’s Major League Soccer Player Acquisition Mechanisms
With MLS Cup over with, the league is officially looking ahead to the 2018 Major League Soccer season. Player movement within the league begins this week with a slew of the complicated mechanisms that will allow teams to start building their rosters for next season, starting with today’s half-day trade window, which opened at 9 a.m. ET this morning and runs through 1 p.m.
Following a roster freeze about three months in length, teams may sign and trade players for a four-hour period. Why a four-hour period? That’s a great question to which I have no answer. Why not a full day? Hey, we’ve warned you repeatedly that MLS gonna MLS, and apparently all of the teams in the league can get this done in four hours or forever hold their peace.
The Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC must turn in their list of players with options either exercised or declined by noon today as well. All other teams have already done this, so now it’s the MLS Cup participants’ turn.
Finally, by 1 p.m. today, we’ll be in a blackout period. MLS clubs clubs will no longer be able to sign and/or trade their own draft-eligible players until the conclusion of the Expansion Draft on Tuesday.
That brings us to this week’s schedule of events. Since we follow a league with complex player acquisition mechanisms I thought I’d try to explain them a bit.
2017 MLS Expansion Draft (2 p.m. Tuesday)
Los Angeles FC will be entering league play in 2018 and the club needs a roster of players. Much like the Uniteds in Atlanta and Minnesota did last year, and Orlando City and New York City FC did the year before, LAFC will get to raid other teams’ rosters for players. LAFC may only take up to five players in this year’s Expansion Draft, and no MLS team may lose more than one unprotected player to LA.
Orlando City — and all other existing MLS teams — may “protect” up to 11 players from being selected. Generation Adidas players who have not yet graduated from the program, and Homegrown Players currently on the club’s reserve or supplemental roster are exempt. This means they don’t need to be protected but still may not be selected by LA. Examples of these players are Richie Laryea (GA), Tommy Redding and Mason Stajduhar (both HGPs on the reserve/supplemental roster). Here is a complete list of who is on Orlando City’s senior and reserve rosters.
What else do you need to know about the Expansion Draft?
- Designated Players can be selected if they aren’t protected.
- If the player’s contract expires at the end of 2017 (say, Kaká), he is still considered part of the club’s Senior Roster and his rights may be selected by LAFC if he’s not protected.
- If a club protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player’s option. It may renegotiate a new budget number for the player as in previous years, subject to the CBA.
- Option Decline Free Agents and Out of Contracts Free Agents are part of the Expansion Draft and are not automatically protected. In other words, LAFC could select Giles Barnes if unprotected, even if Orlando City was trying to renegotiate a new deal with him.
- If LAFC selects a Supplemental/Reserve Roster Player, it must offer him a Senior Roster position and he must remain on the Senior Roster as of Roster Compliance Date. For example, if Orlando City didn’t protect Pierre Da Silva, he would qualify for this rule.
- Clubs are restricted in the number of international player(s) that they may make available. That number is equal to the club’s total number of international players minus three. If it has three or fewer international players, it may not make more than one international player available.
- Finally, if a player retires, he is not part of the Expansion Draft, however, his club will lose the right of first refusal if the player changes his mind and decides to play.
Free Agency Begins (Tuesday 3 p.m. ET)
Players who are out of contract or have had their contract options declined, and who were both at least 28 years old during the 2017 season and have a minimum of eight years of MLS service, are eligible for MLS free agency. If that previous sentence isn’t confusing to you on first reading, you are quite attentive and I applaud you. Kevin Alston and Josh Saunders would be eligible for free agency under league rules, while Servando Carrasco and Giles Barnes don’t have enough years in MLS to be eligible. Servando is one year shy and Barnes is two.
When this window opens, clubs may engage players other than their own who are eligible for free agency. The league will make the complete list of free agents available today. Teams may add up to two out-of-contract players via free agency in a given year. may re-sign with their current team at any compensation subject to league approval in its discretion at any time prior to the beginning of Stage Two of the Re-Entry Draft.
2017 MLS Waiver Draft (Wednesday, 3:30 p.m. ET)
Players eligible for the MLS Waiver Draft have been waived by their clubs but lack the minimum years of service requirement for the Re-Entry Draft (3 or 4, depending — more on that later) or Free Agency (8). These are generally young players who haven’t spent much time in MLS.
Players under contract players selected in the Waiver Draft are automatically added to the roster of the club that selects them. Clubs that claim out-of-contract players must issue a genuine offer to the selected player.
The order of the draft is reverse of finishing order in 2017, taking into account the depth that clubs reached in the playoffs, so Orlando City would be fifth. The exception is LAFC, which will select 23rd. Don’t expect a lot of players to be taken with this mechanism. Most teams pass.
2017 MLS Re-Entry Draft: Stage 1 (Friday, 3 p.m. ET)
Like the Waiver Draft, both stages of the Re-Entry Draft are conducted in reverse order of 2017 season finish, taking into account postseason performance, with LAFC selecting last.
The purpose of the Re-Entry Draft is to give clubs an opportunity to pick up players who haven’t agreed to a new contract with their current club but want to stay in the league. The list of the eligible players is typically released the day before the draft takes place.
Those eligible to be selected for Re-Entry fall into two categories:
- Players who are at least 23 years old and have a minimum of three years of MLS experience whose contract options were not exercised by their clubs are available at their option salary for 2017. This would include players like Seb Hines, who has only three years of MLS experience.
- Players who are at least 25 years old with a minimum of four years of MLS experience who are out of contract and whose club does not wish to re-sign them at their previous salary are available for at least their 2017 salary. This would include the likes of Dillon Powers, Giles Barnes, and Servando Carrasco.
For players taken in Stage 1 of the Re-Entry Draft, the selecting clubs must exercise the player’s option for or extend that player a "Bona Fide Offer." Clubs may not select their own draft-eligible players. A player can reject the offer and in that case the drafting club will hold the right of first refusal for that player in MLS. Players with option years left on their contract are automatically added to the drafting club’s roster.
2017 MLS Re-Entry Draft: Stage 2 (Dec 21, 2 p.m. ET)
Stage 2 works mechanically like Stage 1. All players who were not selected in the first stage will be available again. The difference between this and the first stage is that teams who select a player in Stage 2 will have the right to negotiate with the player for a new contract and are not compelled to exercise the existing player option or extend a “Bona Fide Offer.”
As with the Waiver Draft, there are typically few players taken in the two stages of the MLS Re-Entry Draft.
If you think these player mechanisms are a bit more complex than they need to be, you’re correct. Major League Soccer has some rules that mirror those in other U.S. sports and due mainly to the single-entity status of the league, it rarely operates like other leagues around the world. Still, at least it gives us plenty to talk about.
Hopefully this explainer helps you understand the various mechanisms, who is eligible for them, how they work, and what they mean. And hopefully I didn’t mess anything up. There are a lot of rules to remember.
Orlando City
Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.
Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.
History
Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.
The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.
The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.
Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.
The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.
The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.
In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.
The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.
Overview
The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).
Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.
But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.
Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).
The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.
To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.
The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).
Match Content
- Our most recent PawedCast includes our key matchups and score predictions for tonight’s match.
Official Lineups:
Orlando City (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.
Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.
Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.
Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.
Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer
San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.
Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.
Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.
Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.
Forwards: Preston Judd.
Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.
Referees
REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.
How to Watch
Match Time: 10:30 p.m.
Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.
TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.
Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).
Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.
Enjoy the match. Go City!
Podcasts
PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More
Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.
Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.
Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.
Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.
Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.
After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.
Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.
Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.
If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.
Here’s how No. 542 went down:
0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.
28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.
36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.
Podcasts
SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More
The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.
It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.
Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.
Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.
After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.
If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.
Here’s how Episode 119 went down:
0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.
9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.
19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.
Orlando City vs. Club León, Leagues Cup: Photo Gallery
Zoe Matthews, Gabi Nunes Look to Give Orlando Pride Attack Much-Needed Boost
Lion Links: 8/10/26
-
Orlando Pride2 weeks agoOrlando Pride vs. North Carolina Courage: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
-
Orlando City2 weeks agoIntelligence Report: Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls
-
Orlando City2 weeks agoOrlando City vs. Nashville SC: Player Grades and Man of the Match
-
Orlando City1 week agoOrlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
-
Orlando City6 days agoOrlando City vs. Monterrey, Leagues Cup: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
-
Orlando City1 week agoOrlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Final Score 3-2 as Poor Start Sinks Lions
-
Orlando Pride1 week agoOrlando Pride vs. North Carolina Courage: Final Score 5-0 as Pride Destroyed Away From Home
-
Lion Links2 weeks agoLion Links: 7/28/26