It's been a pretty great holiday season and if you're anything like us, you take the time to get away from it all and recharge as we now sit just two and a half weeks away from the MLS SuperDraft and a little over three weeks away from the start of preseason. What offseason, right?
However, there were some big moves and news around MLS over the past couple of weeks that you might have missed in a food and football-induced coma. Here's a recap of five things to know from the last few weeks of the MLS and FC Dallas world.
1. Galaxy stalwarts transferred to Liga MX
Typically, the international signings coming into MLS don't really get going until mid-January, but we've had a couple big names transferred out of the league and they've come from the same team. The offseason transformation is underway for a Los Angeles Galaxy team that slid to a sixth-place finish and knockout round loss in the MLS Playoffs.
Within the last week, they've transferred US Men's National Team and former MLS Defender of the Year Omar Gonzalez to Pachuca in a bizzarely awesome Star Wars themed press conference. They followed that up with another big move sending midfielder Juninho to Club Tijuana on Christmas Eve.
Gonzalez, a Dallas native, leaves Los Angeles after seven years and more than 200 games with the Galaxy while Juninho spent the last six seasons with LA also amassing over 200 regular season and playoff games with the Galaxy. The moves certainly open up some serious money and salary cap space for the Galaxy and it will definitely be worth watching to see what plans they have for a Galaxy team that has lost six of their starting 11 from MLS Cup 2014.
2. New York goes Homegrown
The New York Red Bulls have been busy making moves this offseason, but all of them have come from within. Boasting one of the top academies in MLS for the last few years, they've made a stunning six Homegrown signings this offseason, all coming from their players in the NCAA.
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The majority of those signings were NCAA seniors who the Red Bulls had to sign or risk seeing them get selected in the MLS SuperDraft with the Combine just over a week away. Of the six players they've signed, perhaps the one to watch the most is dynamic winger Derrick Etienne. The Haiti youth international was impressive in his freshman season at Virginia.
3. Jesse's big decision
FC Dallas Homegrown goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez burst onto the scene in the second half of the MLS season with five shutouts in his first 11 MLS games as well as the dramatic penalty kick shootout heroics against Seattle Sounders FC in the playoffs and his international future looks just as bright.
A starter on the Mexico U-17 and U-20 World Cup teams, both Mexico and the United States are chasing Gonzalez for their first teams and Goal.com reported recently that Gonzalez would be giving the United States a look in the upcoming annual January camp. Much like Tesho Akindele last season who went to January camp before committing to Canada, this certainly doesn't mean that Gonzalez has committed to the United States as simply training with the US wouldn't tie him to Jurgen Klinsmann's side. Since he has played at the youth level for Mexico, Gonzalez would have to file a one-time switch if he wants to change allegiances which he has reportedly not made a decision on.
4. San Antonio throws their hat into the ring
A big shakeup in the San Antonio soccer scene happened last week as the San Antonio Spurs along with the city of San Antonio purchased Toyota Field announcing their intentions to operate a USL side in 2016 ending the run of the NASL's San Antonio Scorpions. However, they're not just in it for USL, the Spurs and city of San Antonio hope to have a vote in the future confirming expansion of Toyota Field contingent on MLS awarding a team to the Alamo City.
A third Texan team in MLS would certainly be welcomed news around here as the Texas trio in the NBA brings some great rivalry games and San Antonio coming to MLS would help replicate that here. But El Capitan isn't going anywhere.
5. Tesho gets married!
On a much different note, we want to congratulate Tesho Akindele who recently wed his wife Taylor in Colorado! Social media was full of great pictures from the ceremony and we certainly wish the newlyweds all the best!
Did we miss anything that happened over the last couple weeks? Let us know in the comments below!