The start of the 2015 MLS season is mere days away now. Or so the league hopes.
MLS is still locked in contentious Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, with the 11th hour approaching fast. If the league’s players and owners can’t agree on a CBA before the first game kicks off, the side that doesn’t give on some of its demands will force a work stoppage and bring the start of the MLS season to a grinding halt. With sold out stadiums across the league for team openers, neither side wants that.
Meanwhile, teams still gear up as though there were games to play. That’s the tact we take today in examining some of the most promising rookie of the year candidates for 2015. While it’s often the case that winners streak out of nowhere - that was certainly the case with FC Dallas’ Tesho Akindele in 2014 - often the winner is right under our nose.
Here’s a group of five rookies with serious ambitions of winning the trophy.
F Cyle Larin, Orlando City
A list of the forwards joining Larin on OC’s roster: Martin Paterson, Danny Mwanga, Sidney Rivera, Bryan Rochez. There’s talent there, but there’s also not a clear No. 1 either. That should play into Larin’s hands, even as he acclimates to a more physical league that his comfort zone at Connecticut. The good news for Larin is that he’s a physical specimen at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, so there shouldn’t be much of a physical learning curve.
