Saturday brings the start of the 2021 regular season for Sporting Kansas City and the New York Red Bulls. Sporting KC haven’t played a competitive match since December 3, 2020. That’s 135 days, or over four months. The Red Bulls are even worse, having been bounced in the playoffs by the Columbus Crew, the eventual MLS Cup winners, about two weeks prior. Because of COVID and CBA negotiations, the start of the season was delayed and the competitions will be somewhat compressed throughout 2021 (MLS, US Open, CCL, Leagues Cup).
If you’ve spent the last few months completely checked out of soccer, the roster is going to look a lot different.