MLS

Here it is: your complete guide to the 2017 summer soccer schedule. 

For most sports, the offseason is a time of respite. Once the Super Bowl ends in February, NFL teams don’t suit up for another game, scrimmage or otherwise, for six months. Soccer, fortunately, doesn’t abide by such silly rules.

The European soccer season technically ends after the Champions League final around late May or early June, but preseason exhibitions pick up in early July. Then there are also international matches (friendlies and cups) to also fill the void. 

In 2016, the Chicago Fire were awful. They finished last in all of Major League Soccer with 31 points from 34 games. The foundations for that pathetic season had been laid in 2015, when they finished last in MLS with 30 points from 34 games.  

2017, however, has been a different story. The Fire have already matched their point total from last season, and surpassed their total from 2015, with 18 games still to play, and they're riding an eight-game unbeaten streak in league play.

It happens every year. Like a Johnny Unitas haircut, you can set your clock to it.

When MLS teams hop into the U.S. Open Cup, inevitably some are immediately chopped down. On Wednesday night, three MLS clubs were swept aside by lower-level squads. 

An impressive 30,160 fans showed up at Nippert Stadium for USL side FC Cincinnati’s 1-0 home win over Ohio rival Columbus. For the record, the Cincinnati Reds are averaging 22,063 fans per game.

The race for the next round of MLS expansion spots is easily the most contested to date. Twelve cities placed bids back in January. As usual, stadium designs, funding, ownership, star players, supporters groups and local government support are all chased and announced in pursuit of staying ahead of the pack. On Tuesday FC Cincinnati took the spotlight,revealing a beautiful stadium design, but we will ever get to see it? 

2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup action resumes today and tomorrow with the fourth round, and I'll forgive you for not knowing that, but I'll never forget. Founded in 1914, the competition has overcome some turbulent times in American soccer, as evidenced by the fact that the tournament’s two most successful sides, Bethlehem Steel FC and Maccabi Los Angeles, no longer really exist.

The epic saga that is David Beckham’s Miami MLS franchise is now a decade old, but it finally appears to be clearing some of the final major hurdles. When Beckham joined MLS in 2007, part of his incentive package was that after he retired he could launch a new team with a discounted franchise fee of only $25 million. 

I love soccer. I can’t get enough of it. So this is always a bittersweet time of year. Domestic leagues are coming to an end. Cup competitions are finishing up. In fact, many of Europe’s top leagues had been settled for the past few weeks and lacked final-day drama. So in order to get my fix of intense, competitive league football, I turned my attention to Mexico and the Liga MX Liguilla playoffs. 

And I fell in love.