Is there a bigger cult hero in Major League Soccer than Tommy McNamara? 

FC Dallas faced something of a transition in 2019, with Oscar Pareja leaving the club after four years. Matt Hedges, however, is a familiar face, having played for the Texans for the past nine seasons. He is a stalwart at Toyota Stadium and so is in a good position to evaluate what has changed at the club over the past six months.

CINCINNATI — Gerard Nijkamp understands his new role as the general manager for FC Cincinnati will be one which has many moving parts.

What a difference a year makes. June 2018 saw the Philadelphia Union win just three of four matches. In fact, the Chester club won just three of nine matches played over June and July last year. 2019 has been very different for the Union, though.

It’s a Los Angeles-dominated affair at the top of the Western Conference with LAFC and the LA Galaxy occupying the top two spots. Guillermo Barros Schelotto has made quite the impact at Dignity Health Sports Park after his appointment in the offseason with Joe Corona one of the signings to have hit the ground running.

While FC Cincinnati has had a fair share of ups and downs in its inaugural Major League Soccer season, the Orange and Blue have had one constant manning the middle of the field. 

The Portland Timbers have spent so long away from home this season they might have forgotten what it looks like. Of course, Providence Park will look very different when Giovanni Savarese’s team return from a 12-game jaunt on the road for their first home game this year against LAFC this weekend, what with the shiny new main stand now finished.

He is the man with the never-ending smile who always acknowledges FC Cincinnati fans during games. 

The Philadelphia Union have enjoyed a strong start to the 2019 Major League Soccer season, with the Chester outfit (at the time of writing) sitting second in the Eastern Conference. Captain Alejandro Bedoya has been crucial to their early success and so FloFC figured this would be a good time to catch up with the former Nantes and Rangers midfielder.

After spending most of the 2018 campaign with Sporting KC’s USL affiliate, the Swope Park Rangers, center back Graham Smith has started the last two games for Sporting KC as the club fights through a number of injuries. 

D.C. United may not be reaching the type of offensive heights they’d like to so far in 2019, but there’s plenty to be proud from the first two months of the season as they currently sit level on points with the Philadelphia Union and Montreal Impact at the top of the Eastern Conference. Injury issues at the outside back positions have forced coach Ben Olsen to move away from his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation to a 3-4-3 and move several players around, but the glass is more than half full in his eyes.

Brad Smith is a 25-year-old Australian international left back who got his break at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp and is currently on loan at the Seattle Sounders from Bournemouth. His performances have been a major factor in the Sounders’ strong start to the 2019 Major League Soccer season, so now seemed like a good time to catch up with him.

In the modern game, it’s rare to find a player who has been at the one club their whole career. But that’s what Connor Lade is — a one club man. A cult hero of sorts for New York Red Bull fans who see the 29-year-old as the epitome of what their club is: homegrown, committed, proud of his local roots.

Just call him Maximus — at least when he isn’t enjoying another meal at Jeff Ruby’s or taking a nap...

The smile on Spencer Richey’s face is a permanent fixture these days.