MLS starts in full on Saturday. Inter Miami are the consensus favorites, Lionel Messi and all. Still, there are other teams who have built - and built smartly - this offseason. Cincinnati, Atlanta, and LAFC will all surely threaten, especially with Miami spread thin across multiple competitions.
And Apple TV analyst Taylor Twellman, inevitably, has a take on what to expect.
"I think Miami naturally will take the headlines - as they should," Twellman says. "You set the record for most points in a regular season, and then you absolutely lay an egg in the playoffs. How do they redeem themselves? How do they deal with the congestion of the Club World Cup and the showcase of all of that, while [Luis] Suarez and Messi and [Sergio] Busquets and [Jordi] Alba are one year older."
And then there are the other teams to contend with. The Galaxy look a much-changed side from the one that rolled to MLS Cup just a few months ago. Meanwhile, the addition of an expansion team in San Diego FC only offers more excitement. Cavan Sullivan, barely 15 and soon bound for Manchester City, might play a role for the Philadelphia Union. His arc will make for great watching, Twellman says.
"At this moment, I like the hunger that I see in him, I like the humility that I see in him, while also being confident in what he wants to do," he says. "There is a fine line between cocky and confident. And I say he's still hungry and confident, and he's trying to prove something."
Twellman is now in his 15th year covering soccer in the U.S.. He has played for the USMNT 30 times, won MLS MVP and taken home the golden boot twice. There is arguably no one in this media landscape that understands American soccer better.
Twellman weighed in on MLS, Messi and Miami and Sullivan in the latest edition of Mic’d Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL US taps into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts, 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.