Toronto FC defeated Seattle Sounders to win MLS Cup last Sunday. Meanwhile, New York City FC failed to advance to the conference championship game this season. Surely with one of the four best starting XIs in the league, they should have made it that far. Right?!
Sadly, this assumption is incorrect. When it comes to the playoffs, you have to rely on depth. As I have highlighted before — and will continue to do so until NYCFC does it — depth is created through United Soccer League (USL) teams. It’s great to have a player who can jump straight into the first team, like James Sands, but that doesn’t mean everyone can do it.