It's over! 🇵🇦 Panama returns to the World Cup after 🇨🇼 Curacao makes its first-ever World Cup to become the smallest nation ever to make the tournament 🇭🇹 Haiti returns for the first time since 1974 despite not being able to play at home. 🇯🇲🇸🇷 to the playoff!

Quick vertical vid live with the news & some snap thoughts. Much more coming. www.tiktok.com/@jonarnoldfc...

Many Haiti players currently on IG live, which you'd expect. But as I wrote last week, comments & messages from fans on social media took on a special role during this campaign, with Les Grenadiers getting almost all their home support through screens. www.espn.com/soccer/story...

I went to Curacao in 2019 & wrote a Goal USA story in which the great vibes of the retrofitted school bus the team uses to get around the island was the big star. Getting to the Gold Cup was the big deal then. Now, Curacao is into the World Cup. Incredible. www.goal.com/en-us/news/n...

Current qualifiers: 🇵🇦 🇨🇼 🇭🇹 Current playoff: 🇯🇲 🇸🇷 I've seen enough! 0-0 in San Jose means HAITI is into the World Cup for the first time since 1974, SURINAME is into the playoff and neither Costa Rica nor Honduras will be in North America.

HAITI IN THE WORLD CUP AND ITS BEAUTIFUL

Alex Freeman’s story I feel like is almost underrated. Became a full time starter this season and not only was MLS Best XI but is also contributing to the national team. His ascendence in 2025 is remarkable

I know exactly what's going on in concacaf wcq because I subscribe to getting concacafed and listen to the hex. Invaluable resources for following the region.

Every section just keeps getting worse and worse for this guy

The LA Galaxy were in cap hell last season with the way their team was structured. They went from MLS Cup champs to bottom of the West. Is their cap healthy? Will they make many changes? For FAM:

Next up in the offseason preview is CF Montreal, who went through another tough season. They actually admitted to starting a rebuild in 2025. Can they continue building off the young players they’ve acquired? What’s their cap situation like? For FAM:

The LA Galaxy were in cap hell last season with the way their team was structured. They went from MLS Cup champs to bottom of the West. Is their cap healthy? Will they make many changes? For FAM:

Some of these takes about the schedule change are driving me fucking crazy. @drobertson27.bsky.social, @jonarnoldfc.bsky.social I'm saving my takes for the pod this week because I got some stuff to say.

If I see one more post about games in January in a cold-weather market I'm going to cry. I live in Chicago. I get it sucks going to games in cold markets in Nov, Dec and Feb. But the tradeoff of a handful more games in those months in a few markets is 100% worth it for what it means for MLS growth.

Another huge move as well. What a meeting these guys had

Next up, the league is going to have to renegotiate the CBA. It currently runs through 2027 and would expire during the 2027-28 season. If you’ve been reading FAM, I’ve been noting constantly how this gives an opportunity for teams currently to try and do moves anticipating this. Exciting times

Congrats MLS!

My favorite thing about the MLS schedule change is they had the perfect window and excuse to do it in 2026 and botched that for whatever the hell we will see in 2026 and the first part of 2027

Having so much trouble understanding people panicking about MLS being "up against the NFL and college football." Folks, the most important part of MLS's season goes up against the NFL and college football RIGHT NOW. This moves that inventory to May, but Aug-Dec is a current MLS reality.

MLS -Did none of this and now will have two awkward seasons before transitioning scheduled

The #JLeague: - Spent all of 2023 making a largely convincing public case for fall-spring - baked in two years to get ready plus a transitional tournament that it hopes will build enthusiasm ahead of the World Cup - Will start after the WC and hopefully capture momentum from strong Japan showing

Next up in the offseason preview is CF Montreal, who went through another tough season. They actually admitted to starting a rebuild in 2025. Can they continue building off the young players they’ve acquired? What’s their cap situation like? For FAM:

Yes to everything listed here. Love the concept of divisions and playing everyone in the league at least once per season. It’s the best way to do it with how vast MLS is

Zimmerman was on a huge DP deal. This move gives Nashville a bit more flexibility going into the offseason, with the potential to go 2+4 in roster construction and add to the base of the team. For Zimmerman, leads to a new start elsewhere. I can see a TAM deal for him with a team that is competing

I’m beginning some off-season previews of some team, starting with St. Louis City SC. They’re attempting to usher in a new era with CSO Corey Wray, but what options do they have? Is Burki’s new deal too much to overcome? Let’s dive in. On FAM:

I’m beginning some off-season previews of some team, starting with St. Louis City SC. They’re attempting to usher in a new era with CSO Corey Wray, but what options do they have? Is Burki’s new deal too much to overcome? Let’s dive in. On FAM:

NOT SO FAST ASSHOLE!!!!

Lmao I hate this format so much. Minnesota should yank all of their players and just prep for Game 3. This is over

About to make a very strange analogy. Have noticed this a bit this year but FC Dallas play like the way many people think the OKC Thunder play defense. It’s always on the line and super physical in the box. If a ref lets that go, its advantage FC Dallas as we’re seeing so far through 45 minutes

Friday Stat Dump: Big Chances I've been told big chances are subjective. Meaning, the analyst coding the game identifies a "big scoring chance" from their perspective. Two analysts could disagree. Here are the big chances by MLS team in the 2025 season: 1/

That Vancouver-Dallas game was an absolute shellacking. And Vancouver was without Laborda and was starting Ralph Priso as a CB. I mean you gotta do better than essentially 0 xG

I’m sorry so FC Dallas paid $100k for Orejarena’s HG rights and he’s cut in two years at 17 (turning 18 soon)? And they only played him 9 times? Seems really bizarre

Did something fun this week and made my MLS Best XI and 2nd Best XI. We’ll do some more salary cap stuff later on as the off-season begins but for now, enjoy the teams I made!

Did something fun this week and made my MLS Best XI and 2nd Best XI. We’ll do some more salary cap stuff later on as the off-season begins but for now, enjoy the teams I made!

We need to talk about Michael Collodi, the most in-form goalkeeper in MLS right now. Per ASA, he's saved 5.24 goals above expected in 837 minutes. That's 6th in MLS right now in a short time. Per 96? He would jump to first in the league with some minutes filters. He's flown under the radar for FCD

This is almost exactly like the Miles Robinson situation in Cincy. Max TAM players clog the cap. If you're going to keep Burki (who I like quite a bit), it makes sense to make him a DP, opening up $1M in space regardless of roster construction model. Not mad at it at all

MLS Playoff Format is hilarious. Some teams have a week off in between games while Austin/LAFC are playing Liga MX style Wed/Sun. BO3 Format is dumb and drags on this first round for no reason

Is it just me or is MLS just really slowing down going into the playoffs? Shouldn’t be with all of the great storylines but it sure feels like it’s dragging on compared to other seasons

An answer to a question I asked in a news conference yesterday earned a round of applause from journalists here in Suriname as Shaquille Pinas described manager Stanley Menzo. Here's profile of Menzo, who has every right to feel bitter but chooses joy: getconcacafed.substack.com/p/menzo-move...

Love this from Tony. I’m looking at the 7 teams that have a positive xGD vs playoff teams. Seems like most teams will beat bad teams, but very few teams will consistently perform vs playoff level teams. The East is looking like a bloodbath

I analyzed some of the more interesting storylines from the latest roster profiles and GAM release as we enter the end of the MLS regular season. How will the new rules about carrying over GAM impact teams in 2026? Seems like a bit more than we expected.

Marcel Hartel was a great player joining MLS from St. Pauli and again, like we say with Musa, has been wasted at St. Louis. Legit a great player imo that’s been stuck on mediocre STL team

I analyzed some of the more interesting storylines from the latest roster profiles and GAM release as we enter the end of the MLS regular season. How will the new rules about carrying over GAM impact teams in 2026? Seems like a bit more than we expected.

One thing that I've been looking at is the roster construction mechanisms for the teams that are in the Supporters' Shield Race. -PHI (3+3 but could be 2+4) -CIN (2+4) -SD (2+4) -VAN (2+4) -NYC (2+4) -MIA (3+3) -MIN (2+4) -CHA (2+4) -NSH (3+3) -LAFC (2+4) 7/10 are 2+4

I'm sure FC Dallas would want a big-time fee, but I'd be shocked if MLS teams weren't sniffing around Petar Musa this winter in hopes of acquiring him in a cashfer.

If FC Dallas wasn’t so low in the table, we’d be talking about Petar Musa as an MVP candidate. When it comes to the definition of MVP for a team, he’s almost the perfect example. Leads the team in scoring by an insane margin, leads them in npxG, basically leads the team in xA.

Assume that every club will carry this total over to 2026. Holy shit Minnesota

I uhhhh... have a podcast now (it's about women's soccer though so it's ok)

Add a game-winning assist to the list

Hypothetical I’m throwing out to the BlueSky MLS community. Would you rather sign Petar Musa away from FC Dallas for $20M or sign a forward from another league for $23M (think Latte Lath like profile)?