Seattle Sounders got their MLS season off to a great start with a 3-0 win over the New England Revolution on Sunday night.

The undoubted highlight of the match was their third goal. In scoring it, they looked more like Barcelona than an MLS side. 

The Sounders produced some delightful tika-taka football before U.S. men's national team soccer star Clint Dempsey slotted home for his second of the game. 

[Seattle Sounders FC]

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The first week of action in Major League Soccer saw some players display a bit of rust as other stars pick up where they left off in 2014. 

A few of the new additions to the league also starred for their respective clubs, as Jozy Altidore and Kaka shone bright in key roles in the matches played by Toronto FC and Orlando City. 

The best performance from a specific position in Week 1 came between the pipes, as four goalkeepers made legitimate claims to be named in the first best 11 of the season. 

Our inaugural MLS Team of the Week of the 2015 season is shaped in a traditional 4-4-2 to accommodate a few strong showings at full-back, which is seen as the weakest position in the league. 

Continue reading for a look at which 11 players feature in the first MLS Team of the Week of the new season.

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It wasn't quite a Hollywood ending for Kaka's Major League Soccer debut, but the Brazilian legend showed he's still got the flair for the dramatics on the pitch. 

Kaka hit a late injury-time equaliser against the David Villa-led NYCFC from a set piece. 

OK, it wasn't perfect—it smashed off of the NYCFC wall, landing his opposing goalkeeper on his backside going the wrong direction, but the much-ballyhooed Orlando City SC signing made a poignant mark in his first MLS match and sent the sold-out crowd into a frenzy. 

[Vine]

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Major League Soccer returns for a new season on Friday with high hopes that it will be the most successful yet.

A couple of new teams and a whole host of new players contribute to the hopes that this will be the most exciting and entertaining season yet, with plenty of franchises looking well poised to succeed the Los Angeles Galaxy as MLS Cup holders come the end of the campaign.

The recently agreed collective bargaining agreement might have been, at its core, about the league retaining key elements of its insular structure, elements that help keep it separate from the completely free-market situation that operates around the world. Nevertheless, a number of highly paid foreign stars look set to be driving forces in events this season.

Designated players in Los Angeles and New York, along with plenty of other spots around the United States and Canada, come into the new season with huge numbers on their paychecks and consequently huge expectations on their shoulders.

Here are some of the new names and returning faces to watch out for this season. 

Shaun Maloney (Chicago Fire)

Shaun Maloney may not have as wide a profile as some of the other players debuting in MLS this season, but he could well be one of the players who make a significant impact.

A Scotland international (he recently scored a sumptuous winner in a crucial game against the Republic of Ireland) with top-flight experience in both his homeland and England, Maloney has played in some of the biggest games in Britain and has long had a reputation for having great technique on the ball, along with his vision.

Standing just 5'7" tall, the 32-year-old has perhaps always been too small to make a truly significant impact in the Premier League, but with a bit more room on the pitch to express himself in the U.S., he might prove to be one of the more astute signings of the offseason.

If Chicago Fire head coach Frank Yallop can find a way to give Maloney freedom on the ball and runners in front of him, the ex-Celtic and Aston Villa midfielder has the brains to both provide and score plenty of goals.

“I have always had an ambition to experience a different country,” Maloney said recently, per the Aberdeen Evening Express. He continued: 

I’ve played at the top level in Scotland and England. But everything just sort of happened in a whirlwind six days when I came to Chicago to look around.

When I met the manager, Frank Yallop, and what he said about his plans, it made me want to buy into what Chicago could become. It’s a fresh challenge, different county, different league and my heart was set on it.

David Villa (New York City FC)

Perhaps the biggest signing of the offseason, especially when factoring in the PR hype that surrounds the club he has joined, New York City, plenty of fans will be eager to see how David Villa fares in his first season in the United States.

With Thierry Henry having settled into retirement, there is certainly space in New York for a new star name, and Villa would certainly seem in pole position to fill that void.

The former Spain international may not quite be the player he once was, but his successful season at Atletico Madrid underlined that while he may have lost a yard or two of pace, he still retains an exquisite sense of timing and his unerring eye for goals—the two qualities that made him perhaps the most successful out-and-out striker to have played alongside Lionel Messi at Barcelona.

NYCFC are the big unknown quantity of the new season, and much will depend on the squad that Jason Kreis and Claudio Reyna have assembled to go around Villa (a fraught loan spell with Melbourne City suggested Villa may struggle if the fit with his team is not right).

Once Frank Lampard arrives, things may change, but perhaps in the initial stages much will depend on whether Villa’s team-mates are on his level, able to give him the ball at the right time or make the runs he is looking for.

If they are, Villa will be one of the league’s must-watch players from the off. As Kreis told Bleacher Report:

Being around David for the last six or seven months, seeing him work in some training environments where there are guys that probably don’t deserve to tie his shoes out there training with him, and he’s just going about it the right way, professionally and working hard, it’s unbelievable.

I just couldn’t be happier about their character and what that’s going to mean for our young players and what’s that’s going to mean for them being extensions of myself on the pitch. 

Kaka (Orlando City)

If Villa is the big name in the Big Apple this season, then down in Florida, they have their own star name to lavish attention on. Brazilian star Kaka, for a brief period the most expensive player in history, headlines Orlando City’s own MLS bow, the former AC Milan and Real Madrid attacking midfielder shouldering the hopes of his new side this season.

At just 32, it is incredible to think this is where Kaka is at this point in his career. Just a few years ago, he was one of the biggest names in the world. However, since he won the Ballon d’Or aged just 25 in 2007, he has suffered an almost unprecedented slide, falling out of favour at Real Madrid and then failing to summon his old form at Milan.

Now, he is in Orlando, with some wondering whether he is there to resurrect his career or simply prolong it, hoping that the standard of play in MLS is sufficiently low that he can stand out once again.

The Brazilian might consider that an unfair inference, but it is not entirely unreasonable. What is certain is that Kaka was, at his peak, a player of almost unrivalled rhythm and poise, an attacking midfielder who traded in efficient brilliance a la Zidane rather than over-the-top showmanship of Ronaldinho.

As ever, fitness will have an impact, but if Kaka has the right players around him and is granted the time and space in the middle of the park to manipulate the ball, he could be a joy to watch.

Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto)

At 28, Sebastian Giovinco arrives in MLS as that rarity: a European star moving to North America in his prime.

Giovinco—an Italy international—might not have moved to Toronto for all the right reasons (his salary is believed to make him the highest paid Italian in world football right now), but the Atomic Ant would surely have turned down plenty of opportunities to stay in Europe in order to experience MLS.

Undersized, much like Maloney, but great on the ball and with a reasonable eye for goal, Giovinco might have failed to live up to the hype that originally surrounded him, but he was still a seasoned performer in Serie A, a player used with reasonable frequency by Juventus last season.

That pedigree stands him head and shoulders above many of the forwards in this league—when you consider the number of goals the likes of Bradley Wright-Phillips (a journeyman player in the English lower leagues) and Alvaro Saborio have scored in recent MLS seasons, you shudder to think how many goals Giovinco could end up netting.

After the unmitigated disaster that was the Jermain Defoe experiment, it is always worth tempering expectations by remembering that the change in culture can affect different players in different ways. If Giovinco embraces the challenge, however, and he sees the lucrative payment not as a case of “job done” but as a motivation to deliver, then Toronto could get full reward for perhaps the most ambitious of the offseason deals.

Also watch out for…

Steven Gerrard (LA Galaxy) and Frank Lampard (New York City FC) are both due to join up with their respective clubs at the conclusion of the Premier League season, although it remains to be seen whether the two former England internationals will be in physical shape to immediately contribute in the way many are expecting.

Lampard, in particular, will not have played 90 minutes on a consistent basis for the best part of two years by the time he arrives in New York, meaning a period of fitness adjustment will be required. But his value to City indicates the quality he retains, and he will certainly offer a huge goalscoring threat at a key point in the season.

As Kreis added to Bleacher Report:

When you get to the end of the season and there’s some real fatigue, injuries and suspensions, you need guys to be able to step in and not miss a beat. I think [Lampard’s late arrival] affords us that opportunity.

We’re gonna be having a player that’s gonna be at the top of his game, extremely fit, coming right out of a Premiership season, which hopefully will [give him] another medal to put in his pocket, and we can have a really significant, positive boost in the middle of the season.

While Lampard’s move to MLS is not a massive surprise, there is a general feeling that Gerrard is crossing the Atlantic sooner than perhaps necessary—that the Liverpool skipper still has something to offer at Anfield or another major European club.

On the other hand, that means LA are getting a player with plenty still to offer, and one who does not seem to have the mental make-up to coast along. Fitness permitting, he looks set to make a bigger long-term impact on the league than Lampard, although he may need a greater adjustment period depending on how heavily involved he is in Liverpool’s Premier League run-in.

Elsewhere, Philadelphia Union’s new DP, Fernando Aristeguieta, could be a less familiar face worth keeping an eye on. The Venezuelan arrives on loan from French side Nantes, where he sporadically showed a reasonable eye for goal. Just 22 but with a powerful frame, Aristeguieta has scored goals in pre-season for the Union and could find the league very much to his liking. 

Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy)

Stepping into a starring role following the retirement of Landon Donovan, Keane will be expected to carry the hopes of the league’s defending champions until Steven Gerrard arrives at LAX.

At this point, every MLS fan surely knows what they are getting with Keane, who has increased his profile after initially being captioned as an “unidentified fan” in a picture alongside then-Galaxy team-mate David Beckham. Keane’s success—using his brain and experience to cover for diminishing physical attributes—is perhaps the blueprint for David Villa’s success, but the 34-year-old has every motivation to keep pushing himself with the Republic of Ireland looking to qualify for the 2016 European Championship.

Obafemi Martins (Seattle Sounders)

Just 30 years of age (we will leave that one well alone), Martins grabbed 17 goals in 31 games for Seattle last season and will be expected to contribute a similar number alongside the club’s main star, Clint Dempsey, this time around.

The Sounders’ ambition is obvious, and it would seem that nothing less than an MLS Cup victory will satisfy the club and its fans this time around. In Dempsey, Martins and Osvaldo Alonso, the club has decided to bring back the same DPs as last season, so it is clear they believe they have the star names they need to achieve that aim.

Fast, surprisingly powerful and capable (if occasionally profligate) in front of goal, an in-form Martins will be a daunting prospect for any MLS defence.

Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls)

Elevated to DP status after his 27-goal season last time out, those who never thought they would see the day when Bradley Wright-Phillips was asked to succeed Thierry Henry as the face of a franchise are also expecting pigs to start flying right around now.

Wright-Phillips is an example of what MLS can do for a troubled player who has failed to achieve his potential elsewhere; lacking in other offers, Wright-Phillips’ move to the MLS seemed motivated by desperation as much as anything else. Now, though, after learning alongside the great Henry, the 29-year-old enters the new campaign as a respected goalscorer earning good money on the understanding that he will produce similar heroics this time around.

The Red Bulls came close to MLS Cup glory last season but were ultimately unable to give Henry the Hollywood send-off he might have been hoping for. The Frenchman’s absence undoubtedly weakens the team (and the lack of any other DPs perhaps indicates a slight tightening of belts at the club), but with Sacha Kljestan, Peggy Luyindula and Ronald Zubar, there is experience and pedigree there—but Wright-Phillips and his goals will surely be crucial to any success the side have.

Also watch out for…

It is perhaps interesting that nearly half of the league’s DPs are forwards, with the other half consisting of players deemed to be midfielders. Portland Timbers defender Liam Ridgewell is one of the few exceptions, and it will be interesting to see whether paying for an experienced defender—Ridgewell has a wealth of Premier League experience and, at 30, is theoretically still near or at his prime—pays off for them.

The Timbers, who have opted to keep the same DPs as last season, also have Nigerian striker Fanendo Adi in their ranks. Adi is a veritable giant of a forward who enjoyed a fine debut campaign at the club last season. The 24-year-old has previously attracted interest from a variety of notable European sides and figures to be an even bigger attacking threat this time around.

Indeed, Adi might be an interesting test case for the league; if he continues to progress, it will be interesting to see if the league is able to keep hold of him or whether he will ultimately travel back across the Atlantic to the European game.

One player unlikely to make that switch at this point in his career is 32-year-old striker Alvaro Saborio. The Costa Rica international is back with Real Salt Lake, for whom he scored eight goals last season despite injuries limiting him to just 16 sides. Fitness will remain a problem, but if he can play on a consistent basis Saborio (who has scored 60 regular-season goals for RSL during his career) could be a strong contender to end up as the league’s top scorer.

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The 2015 Major League Soccer season gets underway on Friday night when the reigning MLS Cup champion Los Angeles Galaxy take on the Chicago Fire. That matchup kicks off a slate of weekend action that also includes the debuts of New York City FC and Orlando City SC.

There were some tense moments this week, as the threat of a player strike loomed over the league until Wednesday. That's when MLS announced an agreement with the players union on a collective bargaining agreement that will be in place through the 2019 campaign.

With the dark cloud lifted, it's time to look forward to the opening week of play. So let's check out the complete schedule for Week 1 followed by a preview for three of the most anticipated matchups as MLS enters its 20th season.

Week 1 Fixtures

Top Games to Watch

LA Galaxy vs. Chicago Fire

The Galaxy head into their title defense with most of the key players who helped them win last year's title. They edged the New England Revolution in the final thanks to a Robbie Keane tally in extra time. He'll take on an even larger leadership role this season with Landon Donovan retired.

Finding a way to replace Donovan in the midfield is one of the keys to the campaign. Phil Collin of Inside SoCal Sports passed along comments from head coach Bruce Arena, who said it will probably be a committee approach until Steven Gerrard arrives:

Chicago is a tough team to forecast at the outset. The Fire finished ninth in the Eastern Conference last term but made several changes to the squad in hopes of a quick turnaround. Kennedy Igboananike and Shaun Maloney should provide a nice attacking boost.

A road trip to face the champions as they celebrate their accomplishment is a tough opening draw, though. The Galaxy will want to secure all three points and start their journey toward another title on a positive note.

Orlando City vs. New York City

The MLS' two expansion teams will begin with a clash against each other. Both sides will start with moderately high expectations thanks to rosters that should immediately be competitive. Orlando features Brazilian star Kaka, and New York City has David Villa.

Since they come into the league together and are in the same conference, a rivalry is likely to emerge between the sides. Orlando is clearly ready for that, as it sent a shot across the bow of NYCFC on social media involving Frank Lampard:

Lampard was originally expected to join Villa in New York to create a dynamic veteran presence for the new club. Instead, he's sticking with Manchester City through the end of the campaign after a contract ruckus before coming stateside.

New York City won't be at full strength until he joins the squad. Add the fact Orlando gets to play the first meeting at home, and it sets up well for Adrian Heath's side. It should be a highly entertaining debut match for both, regardless of the result.

Seattle Sounders vs. New England Revolution

The first match on the list features the champions, and the second involves the expansion teams. The match between the Sounders and the Revolution could very well be the best of the opening weekend, though, at least in terms of the level of play.

Seattle finished atop the Western Conference during the regular season last year, and New England reached the championship match. Based on the early odds provided by Paul Carr of ESPN, they are both strong contenders once again:

Clint Dempsey has been streaky since returning to MLS after an extended stay in Europe. Sometimes, he looks like the best player in the league. At other times, he fails to make even a minor impact. A more steady campaign could land him the MVP award and bring the title to Seattle.

For New England, the return of Juan Agudelo is a story worth watching. His potential is sky-high, but he's struggled to realize it so far. A consistent role with the Revs could allow him to find a comfort zone and lead the club to the top of the East.

All of the questions begin to get answered for these two teams and all the rest this weekend.

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Footballers are often negatively portrayed by the media, stereotyped as being reckless and morally questionable—unfit, some would say, to be role models to young, impressionable people.

From the Ched Evans rape conviction, to Luis Suarez and John Terry being involved in incidents of racial abuse, the case for footballers being good role models is becoming increasingly difficult to make. Not all footballers are the same, of course, but it’s easy to see why many feel there is a somewhat nasty undercurrent to the culture of the game. 

Jeb Brovsky, New York City FC’s attacking right-back, is certainly doing his best to challenge any negative preconceptions people may have of footballers. Educated at Notre Dame university, Brovsky graduated with a BA in Business Management and International Peace Studies, and upon leaving decided to set up Peace Pandemic, a charity aimed at using football to stamp out violence around the world.

The remit of the charity soon changed, though, focusing more specifically on trying to stop violence towards women, an issue close to Brovsky’s heart.

“I set it up while I was at university,” he said, during a preseason training camp at Manchester City’s new academy facility. “Basically, it was an accumulation of my passions: football and helping young people marginalised in society—a lot of orphans and under-privileged children.

"My wife joined me later on, helping me out, so we went to India and Guatemala, and the original focus was teaching football with the message of non-violence, but then it really morphed and narrowed into non-violence towards women, and so that is where we’re going with the entire organisation.

“For me, it’s about the way we raise young boys in society. Obviously, you want to take care of women who have been battered and beaten, but let’s prevent that from even happening, let’s raise better men and, for the girls, let’s teach them that they can actually be something in life.

"I think football is a good medium for that. It’s a good medium for a lot of things, but boys grow up thinking it’s a man’s world. If you’re a professional footballer, I think you have a platform to speak and say to these young boys there’s also a life outside of football. That’s what we try to do and hopefully it keeps continuing to grow."

Brovsky was impacted by violence at a young age, none more so than the harrowing events at Columbine High School, which happened near to where he grew up. Experiences like that, as well as the knowledge and interest he cultivated whilst studying, led to him to where he is now, with Peace Pandemic clearly a very important aspect of his life.

He feels there’s a macho image surrounding a lot of sports that propagates the wrong message, leading to young, impressionable boys who idolise athletes objectifying and undervaluing women.

“I think in every society there’s a view of professional athletes as stars that are almost untouchable, that make millions of dollars, they can get any girl they want, they can drive any car they want, and I think that’s skewed—especially in Major League Soccer, because if you watch a guy that is a professional footballer, he’s not living that lavish lifestyle and going out getting bottle service at clubs, because a lot of guys don’t have more or believe in that stuff.

"But kids have this vision growing up that when they become a footballer there’s gonna be cameras and lights and that women are the objects in that whole thing.

“We’re trying to teach boys that respect towards women is really what makes what type of man you’re going to be. A lot of the societies we go to, you can still beat girls and still rape girls, and it’s appalling to people in western culture, but it happens in the western culture as well. It happens in the UK and the United States every day.

“So I just wanna change that view a little bit, the stereotypes around professional footballers. More professional footballers have the platform to speak about it and young boys are listening and looking up to them with wide eyes and open ears, and so whatever they say is gold, so I hope that message gets to those boys.”

It’s clearly an issue Brovsky is passionate about. He speaks with an openness and enthusiasm that cannot be manufactured. It’s both inspiring and refreshing.

He speaks with similar fervour about his professional life. He’s about to embark on a new challenge, playing for NYCFC, a brand new MLS franchise, who begin their league campaign on Sunday with a trip to fellow new boys Orlando City. So what’s he most excited about ahead of the new season?

“Just the city of New York and joining this new club...the buzz is fantastic so far.

“Playing in Yankee Stadium is going to be incredible, just a unique venue for a football match. I think the boys are ready to represent the club and the City Football Group, and we have all the support we could ever wish for. We have all the tools and all the resources, and now it’s just about us putting the product on the field and go with it.”

Being part of City Football Group, a conglomerate of clubs across the world owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, who first acquired Manchester City in 2008 but have since added Melbourne City FC, Yokohama F. Marinos and NYCFC to its portfolio. It’s a new, exciting venture, the first of its kind in the world of football.

There are myriad benefits for NYCFC of being part of the collective. They can loan City’s youngsters, share data and scouting reports and also make use of the state-of-the-art facilities in east Manchester. Indeed, as part of their preseason preparations, they played two warm-up matches at City’s new football academy centre, and trained there for 10 days. It’s an experience Brovsky feels he’s benefitted from hugely.

“It’s been incredible. Just seeing the world-class facilities, the level of professionalism, on and off the pitch, is something I can attest as a young American that most guys in America want to experience at some point in their life. I think all the guys are walking away from this experience taking something away from it, knowing, somehow, they’re a better player.”

When NYCFC were formed, Jason Kreis was the man headhunted to take over, a man who has tasted MLS success with Real Salt Lake and garnered a reputation as a Head Coach who likes to play attractive, attacking football. It’s an appealing prospect for Brovsky.

“It’s fantastic. As an outside-back, he really wants you to get on the ball and be a part of the attack. I love to attack, but the past few years maybe that part of my game has been in the background a little bit, so I think with this system, with the midfielders that we have, I think we’re gonna be a very dangerous team.

“We haven’t really sat down and had a goal meeting yet, but every guy in the locker room sees where the quality is going in this club and where the expectations from the outside organisation is.

"From the staff, the feeling we’re getting is they’re expecting us to be fighting right there at the end of the season for a cup, and I think every guy in the locker room has no doubt in their minds that we could be there, we just need to make sure we get an identity, we stick to it, we all buy in to it, and it’s a game-by-game thing but, overall, you need have a vision of where you’re going and I think we all have that same vision.

“I think having a diamond in the midfield, with four very creative, technical players, we’re gonna want the ball all the time. We wanna be a team that attacks quickly but also keeps the ball from the back going forward. Every guy on the pitch needs to be ready to have the ball at their feet at any given moment, and I know that Jason respects the ball, he loves the beautiful game, and as a player that’s what you want."

Brovsky is impressed with the recruitment drive at NYCFC, with the quality of the players they’ve signed, particularly their big-name designated players Frank Lampard and David Villa, exciting to play alongside.

“Being an expansion club gave us the opportunity to hand-pick some of the guys to really fill those roles. The staff has done an incredible job of getting a mixture of guys in with the same mentalities and the same outlooks.

"There’s a cohesiveness already in the group that’s unlike I’ve seen. This is the third expansion club for me and I’ve already seen more cohesiveness than the previous two, and I think we’ve got the talent. If you look at our midfield alone, especially with Frank [Lampard] coming in, and Mix [Diskerud], and guys like [Ned] Grabavoy and [Andrew] Jacobson who have been in the league for years and years, it’s just incredible. It’s exciting for any young guy at the club.

“As fantastic a player as David Villa is on the pitch, he’s just as fantastic a guy off it. I can tell the staff really did their homework when they were looking at designated players—what type of guys they’re going after—because Frank’s the same way. These guys are great guys off the pitch, they want success for the club, they want to teach young players, and that’s what you want out of a designated player coming into this league.

“They’re making millions of dollars, so maybe it’s easy for guys to say 'I’ll coast out my career out in the United States,' but David’s here to win, David’s here to teach and also get better himself. I can see that he wants to get better and make the team better, and we’re excited to have him.”

NYCFC may be an expansion club, but Brovsky insists they’re thinking big ahead of their debut MLS campaign.

“It’s always funny with an expansion team because, you know, the league maybe isn’t expecting as much from a success point of view, but I can firmly say with this club we’re expecting success from the beginning, and we don’t see ourselves as an expansion club, we already feel like we’ve played together for years.

You can see it in training, and you could see it in our first match that the guys were comfortable with each other. Expansion seasons mean you have to feel the league out, but we have enough experienced guys who have been in Major League Soccer for a long time that they know how to weather those ups and downs, and the world-class talent sprinkled in is a recipe, possibly, for a perfect storm."

So, finally, how would he sum up NYCFC’s style ahead of the new season?

"Beautiful football. We all wanna play beautiful football.”

Follow Jeb Brovsky on Twitter

For more information on NYCFC, visit their website

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.

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Defending champions LA Galaxy kick off the 2015 Major League Soccer season on Friday at the StubHub Center against Chicago Fire, the start of a new term which sees two new clubs enter the division.

Newcomers Orlando City and New York City FC face off against each other on Sunday for the start of their maiden MLS campaigns, with each side looking to make an early impact.

With 20 teams competing in 2015, MLS is bigger than ever, and there will be some appropriately world-class talent on show, with the likes of Kaka and David Villa set to participate from the word go.

Here is the full schedule for Matchday 1 of action in MLS 2015:

A full season fixture list can be found at MLSsoccer.com, with live streaming available via ESPN Player, Fox Sports Go, Univision Deportes and Sky Go.

A key absentee will be Landon Donovan, MLS' most successful ever player, and a US soccer legend per ESPN's Paul Carr, the 33-year-old having retired after his final Galaxy triumph last season:

Not only will he be missed by his LA teammates and coach Bruce Arena, but by the entire league in which he starred for so long.

However, Galaxy still have star forward Robbie Keane on their books—the Irishman netted 19 times last season per MLS—and will welcome Liverpool and England legend Steven Gerrard in July, with three months of the regular season remaining.

Another Premier League star, Frank Lampard, is also set to join up with New York City FC come the end of the English season, adding genuine world-class quality to the new outfit.

USMNT stars Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore and DaMarcus Beasley will all be looking to make an impact in the coming season, and they are included in the list of designated players, per MLS:

LA Galaxy are the favourites to lift a sixth MLS Cup this term, and despite losing Donovan and Marcelo Sarvas, they are still a very strong outfit who will be a match for anyone in 2015.

Seattle Sounders are similarly fancied to certainly make it to the playoffs at the end of the year as they return as defending Supporters Shield winners.

Brazil star and former AC Milan and Real Madrid player Kaka will draw much attention as a key part of Orlando City's team, and the 32-year-old is clearly expecting a significant test in MLS, per CNN:

There's a lot of good players that could have another team in Europe but they chose to come here. I think it's a good moment to be in this league. In a few years, we will listen a lot about the MLS. 

Last season's league top-scorer, Bradley Wright-Phillips, will be looking to match his contribution from last year when he bagged 27 goals as New York Red Bulls reached the conference final.

However, the New York outfit will be relying heavily on the 29-year-old Englishman, Thierry Henry having departed MLS last season, and it remains to be seen whether he can take up the mantle of being the go-to man.

There is set to be huge quality on show in this year's MLS, with a number of top-class players from abroad and at home in all 20 sides.

A quick start could be key for building momentum early in the season, and this weekend's matches are sure to be full of action and incident as play gets underway ahead of an exciting season.

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Now that Major League Soccer and the players' union have agreed in principle to a new collective bargaining agreement, it is time to fully focus on the 2015 season.

The 20th installment of MLS will feature two new clubs, Orlando City and New York City FC, as well as a new conference structure to accommodate the additions to the Eastern Conference. 

While there are plenty of storylines worth following throughout the next nine months, we opted to select five key ones that fans should have their eyes on.

Here's a look at the five key storylines to follow in the 2015 MLS season. 

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One of the most interesting developments at Manchester City in recent times has been the creation of the City Football Group, a collective of clubs across the world that bear the City name and wear the famous sky blue shirts.

City Football Group have acquired Melbourne Heart in the Australian A-League and rebranded them as Melbourne City FC, and Yokohama F. Marinos in the Japanese J-League. Perhaps the most well-known addition to the group, though, is New York City FC, a brand new franchise that will begin competing in this season’s MLS when it gets under way in March.

Jason Kreis was the man headhunted to take the role of head coach at NYCFC. He is known for his work at Real Salt Lake, where he enjoyed a successful seven-year stint in charge, winning the MLS Cup in 2009 and finishing runner-up to Sporting Kansas City in 2013.

He plays an attractive, possession-based brand of football, in keeping with the style and ethos City said was such an integral part of the club’s “holistic” approach when Roberto Mancini was sacked in 2013. It seems their holistic remit has been expanded to encompass all aspects of the City Football Group.

Since his appointment there’s been a real excitement about the club’s prospects in their debut year. They have signed David Villa and Frank Lampard, with the latter involved in a controversial decision to delay his move in order to continue at City and try to help Manuel Pellegrini defend the Premier League title, as well as Mix Diskerud, a USA international midfielder with an ability to dictate play from deep.

Despite the rancour over Lampard’s decision, it’s clear they have secured some fine players capable of having a significant impact in the MLS. And now, with the Expansion Draft complete, NYCFC are in the midst of their preseason preparations ahead of their MLS opener against Orlando City on March 8.

As part of those preparations, the squad headed over to Manchester to make use of City’s £200 million state-of-the-art academy and training facility, playing matches against St Mirren and Brondby as part of their programme of fine-tuning. They beat St Mirren 2-0 and impressed with the pace of their attack, but a 2-0 defeat to Brondby, who are in the middle of their domestic campaign, highlighted the lack of match sharpness in their squad.

It may be early in their preparations, but Kreis feels his side are making real progress. During a long conversation at City’s wonderful training complex, he said:

"I think we’re in a good place, I certainly do.

"The team is working extremely hard in the training sessions. The team seems to be coming together from a team chemistry point of view and bonding well together and the team seems to be showing some understanding of what our path should look like and how we want to try and play. So from those three perspectives, I think we’re in a really good place."

It’s refreshing to hear Kreis talk. Clearly buoyed by his new challenge and being part of a growing organisation, his enthusiasm is infectious. He can’t wait to get the new season under way, but he’s under no illusions just how tough their opener against fellow new franchisers Orlando City will be and believes there are a number of sides who start the season as favourites to win the MLS:

"I don’t think there are any easy trips, I really don’t. In our league I don’t believe there are any places or opponents that you would say I prefer this one over another. So, from my point of view, it’s terrific, because it’s two brand new teams coming together in front of what should be an excellent crowd, so I think it’s a positive thing.

"You would have to talk about the likes of DC United and the New England Revolution on our side of things [as strong sides], certainly with the Revolution making the final and DC having such a strong year in the regular season last year.

"Then you have to look at Toronto with all the additions they’ve made and what should be an extremely talented team. Then on the Western Conference, everybody’s good, but you can’t look much past the Galaxy and Seattle Sounders for all their accomplishments last year and, really, no changes to their group [of players]."

It would be easy for Kreis to get carried away. After all, he has resources to fall back on that other MLS sides could only dream of, and there’s a real excitement about what NYCFC can achieve in the coming months and years, but he’s refusing to set targets for himself or his players ahead of this campaign:

"That’s not something that I do, and it’s not something that I prefer to do. What I will say is that I expect this team to compete every single week. I will expect that these guys will come out and give their best effort every single week. I would expect that we’re trying to improve every single week. And I expect that we will be looking for the same things in our performances every single week."

For those not used to the idea of a new franchise springing up from seemingly nowhere, it’s fascinating to observe the process a manager goes through to put together a team from scratch. Would formation and tactical ideas come first, or is it a case of finding the players you like and coming up with a system to suit them?

"This is my second club I’ve been with as a head coach and I can tell you that the first one we nearly started from scratch. I took over a team sort of in the middle of the season, but that very next offseason we changed about 20 more players. During that season and the offseason following it, it was literally 25 of 28 players were new. So in some ways we have kind of done that twice now.

"But with the first job at least there was five or six guys that we said: OK, these are the guys we’re gonna build the team around. Here, we didn’t have that, we literally had a clean sheet of paper and had to decide, first and foremost, who are the guys that we’re gonna try and build the team around.

"So to be able to make the signings of Villa and Lampard really gave us some direction and we were able to start to think about what are the pieces we can add around those guys. But a big chunk of our team, actually, the ones that are the experienced guys, are the ones, I would say, are going to be the leaders at the core of this group, came through the Expansion Drafts. And with that process you literally have no idea until it’s over who exactly you’re going to have in your group.

"That did change a lot of things about how we had planned to build a team because we got a lot more guys out of that that we really, really liked than we thought we would have.

"My thinking was to find the right style of players who had the right attributes to play the way we want to play and then decide what’s the best system for all the players. And we’re still not there yet. I really think this needs to be a group that can play a few different ways—a few different tactical systems—and I think we’re going to try to play the same way, with the same methodology, all the time."

The development of MLS over the last 10 years has been remarkable. The speed and technical quality of the league has improved so much Kreis isn’t even sure he would have made a career if he was a player now.

"It’s coming on leaps and leaps and leaps and bounds. If you’d looked at it 10 years ago compared to now, we’re in two different stratospheres. The easiest way for me to say it is I was actually a successful player 10 years ago, I’m not sure I could even get a minute now in this team [laughs]."

For Kreis, one of the most significant benefits of being part of City Football Group so far came last year when he spent a six-month period shadowing Pellegrini and City’s Elite Development Squad coach, Patrick Vieira.

It’s a unique position for an MLS manager to be in, and Kreis feels he benefitted hugely from the experience.

"It involved observing and being a part of all the training sessions with Pellegrini for a long spell, and also with the EDS squad with Patrick for a long spell. I kinda split my time amongst the two. There were some great things about seeing the way other coaches run their team, and the different exercises they’re trying to do.

"But probably the biggest thing I gained by being here was learning about myself and learning about what I really like to do and what I like to be a part of, and being able to take a step back and reflect on the prior seven years before that, coaching a team and thinking about how I could improve.

"You would think you would come over here and there would be egos everywhere, because these are obviously the elite people in the world in their respective fields, but what I saw was that everybody here at the very base of it was a really good person, and that was excellent to see.

"It had been my belief for a long time that you can build successful teams if you start with good people, so it's really humbling and rewarding to see this club, one of the best clubs in the world, and have all these incredible people part of it."

But it isn’t just his own insight that the City Football Group supports and develops. His squad and staff are set to benefit from the collective in myriad ways.

"Look at the first six months of my job—I had the opportunity to come over here and be involved with a Premiership team. This doesn’t happen for most coaches, usually. For the prior five years before that I had been spending time just trying to get to observe a Premier League team, or a team in Germany, or a team in Spain, for a week, and those opportunities don’t even exist. So to have the ability to spend six months with a team behind closed doors was amazing.

“I think there's gonna continue to be learning opportunities like that every single year going forward for the coaches and the players. In December, we sent two of our players over here to train for two weeks, to get some physical fitness work done with the sports performance team here. There’s going to be opportunities to go down and see what it’s like in Australia, to go and see what it’s like in the J-League, so those opportunities are immense for us to learn in our  individual fields.

"Then from a scouting and performance-analysis perspective, we have all of this support that we can lean on. If we can’t get something accomplished that we need accomplishing in New York City we just pick up the phone and talk to City Football Group and say here’s some things we need help with and it’s right there for us."

And what a boost it must be for the rest of the squad to line up alongside Villa, a player who made his name as one of the most feared marksmen in Europe during his time with Valencia and Barcelona, as well as with the Spanish national side.

"I’m thrilled, I’m absolutely thrilled [to have signed Villa]. I mean, to have the opportunity as a coach to think about signing David Villa and Frank Lampard—from a soccer perspective you’re just over the moon.

"You’re over the moon about having the opportunity to work with some of those guys as a young coach. But when you actually sit down and meet them, from a character point of view, again, just blown out the water that these top world talents are just good guys.

"Being around David for the last six or seven months, seeing him work in some training environments where there’s guys that probably don’t deserve to tie his shoes out there training with him, and he’s just going about it the right way, professionally and working hard, it’s unbelievable.

"I just couldn’t be happier about their character and what that’s going to mean for our young players and what’s that’s going to mean for them being extensions of myself on the pitch.”

The only sour note of NYCFC’s existence so far has been the furore surrounding Lampard’s move. Initially it seemed Lampard had signed for NYCFC and then loaned to City, but it transpired his deal at City was a short-term standalone deal, which was then extended after he had scored six goals and played a key part in their season.

So has that disrupted Kreis’ plans?

"You know, I think we could look at that from a very negative point of view and say this is going to be really difficult and we had him pencilled in one way or another, or we can look at it from a positive point of view and say, OK, well, this means that some other guys are going to get meaningful opportunities to make significant contributions in his position for the first four or five months of the season, and you need that in our league.

"When you get to the end of the season and there’s some real fatigue, injuries and suspensions, you need  guys to be able to step in and not miss a beat. I think this affords us that opportunity. We’re gonna be having a player that’s gonna be at the top of his game, extremely fit, coming right out of a Premiership season, which hopefully will he will have another medal to put in his pocket, and we can have a really significant, positive boost in the middle of the season."

All the signs are that Lampard will go there and provide the boost Kreis wants. He has excelled at City. What initially looked like a deal to provide Pellegrini with some experienced cover and allow the player to remain fit has turned into something altogether more positive thanks to the technical quality the 36-year-old still possesses.

Villa and Lampard can bring qualities and hopefully take some opportunities to gain us points. That’s clear and simple, but a lot of time what’s even more important is what they can give you on a day-in-day-out basis on the training pitch, teaching the younger players around them, making all the players better.

Finally, I ask him what makes a good head coach, and, as was the case throughout our time together, his humility and desire to continue learning was at the centre of his answer:

"Honestly...I don’t know that I know what it is to be a good head coach, I only know what it is to be myself, and I’m hopeful that some of the qualities I bring to the table are regarded by other people as qualities which make up a good head coach.

“I will say that one of the great things about being here last year was to be around what is clearly a fantastic head coach in Manuel. And one of the things that really struck me was that they went through some really difficult patches while I was here. Right after I got here, it seemed like they were going in a very negative way, so much that I thought it was a little bit my fault, but to see how calm he was, and what a calming influence he was for the entire group, was eye-opening for me.

"And I think I learned quite a bit about that and how the lead guy, if he’s all over the place and frantic and visual about the pressures upon him, that can really spread out to the rest of the team. I think that’s one of many fantastic qualities about Manuel Pellegrini and the best coaches in the world.”

For more information on New York City FC, visit their website.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.

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