It’s a new year, which means a new Major League Soccer season is right around the corner with players reporting for preseason camp in the coming days.

 

A week removed from looking back at a memorable 2023 soccer season, it’s time to glance forward at some of the big storylines and events in this new year of American soccer. 

 

LIONEL MESSI’S FIRST FULL SEASON 

 

The MLS regular season schedule is out and fans can map out when and where to watch Lionel Messi conjure up his magic in a town near you. The GOAT arrived in Miami last July and made an immediate impact, scoring a stunning free kick winner in Inter Miami’s Leagues Cup opener. 

 

Messi continued to amaze and dazzle until an injury slowed him down and effectively ended the Herons’ playoff hopes. 

 

Now we get a full season of Lionel Messi and friends, which now includes Luis Suarez, who joined former Barcelona teammates Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets in South Beach. 

 

What will a full season of a (hopefully) healthy Messi look like? How many goals will he score? How many games will he play? How many games will Miami win? How much will tickets cost? 

 

One thing is certain, all of it is must-watch. 

 

COPA AMERICA COMES TO THE US 

 

Speaking of Messi, he’ll stay on US soil and trade in his Inter Miami pink kit for the traditional blue and white stripes of Argentina for this summer’s Copa America. 

 

It’s a tournament to determine the best teams in South America, but the tournament is expanded this year to include some Concacaf squads, including the United States and Mexico, similar to what we saw in 2016 for the Copa America Centenario. 

 

With big teams and big players playing in front of big crowds in big stadiums, the event, which runs from June 20 to July 14, when the final will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, it is very much the precursor to next summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

 

In addition to Messi’s Argentina, Brazil, an improved Colombia, Uruguay and more from South America, the tournament is a good chance for the United States to test themselves against some of the best teams in the world. 

 

The USMNT has been placed in a group with Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia. 

 

SUMMER OLYMPICS 

 

Staying on the international tournament theme, the Summer Olympics in France will be huge for American soccer fans where the U.S. will have a team in both the men and women’s tournament for the first time in years. 

 

For the USWNT, it’s a chance at redemption from a disappointing World Cup performance last summer, which saw the team’s earliest exit from that competition ever. 

 

Gone is Vlatko Andonovski, who stepped down as head coach immediately after the World Cup, and Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz, who both retired. 

 

Enter Emma Hayes, who will get her first real test as the new manager in France. And it’s an opportunity for some of the younger players in the program, including Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman, to perhaps solidify elevated roles. 

 

The USWNT have won gold four times — in 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012 — while claiming silver in 2000 and bronze in 2020. 

 

The US men will be competing in the Olympics for the first time since 2008, when they were eliminated in the group stage. 

 

Unlike the women’s tournament, the men’s tournament in the Olympics is largely a U-23 event, with only three overaged players allowed per team. 

 

Also the Summer Olympics soccer tournament, which will be played from July 24-August 10, isn’t a FIFA-sponsored event, meaning players do not have to be released by their club teams. 

 

So don’t expect any age-eligible A-list USMNT team players like Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah, Folarin Balogun or others to be competing in France. 

 

As such, the USMNT January Camp, where 15 age-eligible players have been invited, could be huge for those looking to make the squad. 

 

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP

 

It has a new, old name with Concacaf shelving Champions League for a Champions Cup revival, but whatever it is called, like the European competition, this is an annual battle of the region’s best teams that never fails to produce memorable, and sometimes bizarre moments and a whole lot of heartbreak for MLS clubs. 

 

This year’s expanded knockout tournament begins in a month’s time and there’s 10 MLS teams looking to match what the Seattle Sounders did two years ago when they became the first MLS team to win this current iteration of the competition. 

 

Last year, LAFC made a second run to the final, only to again lose to a Liga MX side. 

 

And keeping with the Messi theme, Inter Miami, courtesy of their League Cup title, have a first-round bye and enter the competition in the Round of 16. 

 

The final will be a single-legged match on June 2. 

 

LEAGUES CUP

 

The first-of-its-kind Leagues Cup last summer was by all measures a resounding success with Inter Miami edging Nashville SC on penalty kicks to win the title. 

 

Again this summer, MLS and Liga MX will put their seasons on half as all 47 teams in MLS and Mexico’s top flight will compete. 

 

The tournament will take place from July 25 to August 25, and while the draw hasn’t been announced yet, it promises some mouth-watering matchups. 

 

All indication is that this year’s tournament will again be exclusively competed in MLS stadiums, which is a shame. Hopefully in the near future, there’s matches also played in Mexico to make it a more fairly balanced tournament.