The pressure for Sigi Schmid to produce a winner will be the Seattle Sounders' story to watch in 2014, but what additional storylines will complete the team's season preview?

In part 14 of our 19-part series, we will take an in-depth look at the most intriguing plots surrounding the Sounders this season. The number and player to watch, as well as the match that should immediately be circled on your calendar, will be delved into with great detail.

Read on for your comprehensive guide to 2014.

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, credit all statistics to Squawka. All data collected is licensed from Opta Sports.

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Replacing Juan Agudelo will be the New England Revolution's story to watch in 2014, but what additional storylines will complete your season preview?

In part 13 of our 19-part series, we will take an in-depth look at the most intriguing plots surrounding the Revolution this season. The number and player to watch, as well as the match that should immediately be circled on your calendar, will be delved into with great detail.

Read on for your comprehensive guide to 2014.

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, credit all statistics to Squawka. All data collected is licensed from Opta Sports.

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The English Premier League and other prominent football leagues around the globe may be heading toward a dramatic conclusion, but football in the U.S. is just about to get underway. 

Major League Soccer will return in March 2014 as 19 clubs begin the journey to what they hope will be a championship. Sporting Kansas City enter 2014 as the defending MLS champions, but they are set to face a stiff challenge from the rest of the league, starting on opening day in Seattle. 

With the recent announcement of an expansion franchise in Miami, things are clearly looking up for the underrated league. But as commissioner Don Garber points out, the MLS hasn't yet reached its destination, per MLSSoccer.com:

"I think the league is poised for more teams in time, but we're going to be careful about ensuring that we get them into the league at the right time and when the league can handle it from a player perspective and from a resource perspective."

Below, we'll highlight the key dates to remember ahead of the start of the 2014-15 season. 

*Click here to view the complete 2014-15 MLS season schedule via MLSSoccer.com. 

March 8: Season Kicks Off 

After months of anticipation, the 2014-15 MLS season will kick off on March 8 with a slew of matchups.

The very first match will pit defending MLS champions Sporting Kansas City up against the Seattle Sounders in the Emerald City. But that intriguing afternoon showdown is just the beginning. Opening day will also feature four matches in prime time followed by two clashes on the West Coast in L.A. and Portland. 

But as Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl highlights, the decision to open the season on March 8 won't be met without criticism.

By mid-March, all 19 clubs will have played at least one regular-season game. 

June 12-24: World Cup Break 

Similar to the NHL during an Olympic year, the MLS will take an extended break during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil this summer.

The break won't last the length of the tournament but will last nearly two weeks during the group stage. 

Although a handful of players could still be competing for the sport's top prize in South America when the break ends on June 24, a majority are likely to be ready to return to North America as only 16 of the 32 competing nations qualify for the knockout stage. 

The MLS regular season will pick back up on June 25 with one matchup: Vancouver vs. Montreal. 

August 6: MLS All-Star Game

It may not garner nearly as much attention as the NBA or MLB All-Star Game, but the MLS All-Star showcase is sure to thrill football fans this summer as the league's top players are set to face off against reigning European Cup champions Bayern Munich in Portland.

Unsurprisingly, Garber is excited about the opportunity to put the overlooked league up against one of the planet's elite clubs, per MLSSoccer.com:

The AT&T MLS All-Star Game is one of the premier soccer events on the North American sports calendar. We are pleased that Bayern Munich, one of the most prominent and successful clubs in the world, will be part of our All-Star celebration. This will be the first MLS special event in Portland since the Timbers joined the League in 2011.

One of the great stories in Major League Soccer over the last number of years has been the enormous fan passion, civic support and stadium atmosphere in Portland. We look forward to showcasing this phenomenon to the rest of the world.

The MLS All-Stars have struggled in their recent matchups against European powerhouses, falling 3-1 to Roma in Kansas City last summer. However, the MLS' best were triumphant against Chelsea in Chester, Pa. back in 2012. 

However, Bayern are a loaded juggernaut, and they are likely to steamroll assuming they field a quality lineup.

October 26: Regular Season Concludes 

The regular season will wrap up just a few days before Halloween on Oct. 26, with the playoffs set to begin a week later once the calendar flips to November.  

There are three matchups scheduled for Oct. 26, and that said, it's possible that each could feature playoff implications as clubs look to secure berths and position themselves for a run at a title. 

Luckily for fans, while the regular season will come to an end on Oct. 26, the postseason will just be getting started.

Follow Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Patrick Clarke on Twitter. 

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In perhaps no other season has Major League Soccer seen so many talented players flood into the league during the winter.

Both Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe decided that playing regularly for Toronto FC was better in a World Cup year than starting sporadically for Roma and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively. Michael Parkhurst and Maurice Edu returned to MLS after spending years abroad.

And who knows what's going to happen after the World Cup, when aging players may feel more welcome in taking the perceived step down?

Of course, not every big-name offseason move works out. For every David Beckham, Robbie Keane, Cuauhtemoc Blanco or Marco Di Vaio, there's a Rafael Marquez, Mista, Blaise Nkufo or Kris Boyd.

Looking at the list of transactions heading into the new season, these four stand out in terms of how well they should work out for their respective clubs.

Michael Parkhurst, Columbus Crew

Out goes Chad Marshall, in comes Michael Parkhurst.

Marshall will go down as one of the best centre-backs in Columbus Crew history, but it was probably the right time for him to go. Gregg Berhalter stamped his authority on the team by trading him to the Seattle Sounders, and the trade helped to open up some cap space for the team.

Even better is that the Crew were able to acquire a player of Parkhurst's quality. The 30-year-old did little at Augsburg but appeared in over 100 matches at Nordsjaelland. Prior to that, he was a fixture of the New England Revolution back four.

Although Parkhurst featured more at right-back since leaving MLS in 2008, he's more than capable of filling Marshall's shoes at centre-back. Pairing him with Josh Williams at right-back will be nice for the defense, as the two have such complementary styles and won't have any trouble playing out from the back.

Teal Bunbury, New England Revolution

It's good to see that Teal Bunbury is in new surroundings. He showed promise in 2011 and played well in 2012. Then an injury derailed his season, and by the time Bunbury returned in 2013, there wasn't any room for him in the team.

Speaking to Paul Kennedy of SoccerAmerica, he said a move away from Sporting Kansas City was expected, and he's excited for the future.

"I was not surprised about the trade," he said. "I was ecstatic after I heard about it. I couldn't be happier to be here. I keep smiling. It's a young, youthful group and I'm building friendships already."

With the Revolution saying goodbye to Juan Agudelo, the chance is there for the 24-year-old to nail down a regular first-team spot and fulfill the promise he showed a few years ago.

Even if Bunbury doesn't lead the Revolution in goals this season, having him there will help the entire attack. By adding both Steve Neumann and Patrick Mullins in the SuperDraft, the club needed some sort of veteran presence, so having somebody with MLS experience will be a major asset.

Marco Pappa, Seattle Sounders

What a disaster Marco Pappa's move to Heerenveen was. He appeared in 11 total matches during the 2012/13 season, and only two of those appearances were starts.

If this is still the Chicago Fire Marco Pappa we're talking about, though, the Seattle Sounders have a tremendous player on their hands.

It's no coincidence Seattle brought in Pappa during the same offseason it traded Mauro Rosales. Writing for MLSSoccer.com, Benjamin Baer said the 26-year-old can pick up right from where the 33-year-old left off.

While conceding the two are carbon copies of one another, Baer argued the presence of Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins and Kenny Cooper will allow Pappa to play more of a facilitator role than he was used to with the Chicago Fire.

With the attacking strength of those three aforementioned stars, all Pappa has to do is get the ball in the general vicinity of the box, and he'll get rewarded with an assist.

Julio Cesar, Toronto FC

Between all the moves Tim Leiweke has been making at Toronto FC, you knew one of their major acquisitions would crack this list. Jermain Defoe, Michael Bradley and Gilberto all improve the squad, but Julio Cesar may be the best of them all.

The 34-year-old goalkeeper is coming to MLS at a low point in his career, as his place in the Brazilian national team is threatened, and he fell behind Rob Green in Queens Park Rangers' pecking order.

However, knowing he needs to perform in order to start at the World Cup, Cesar should be motivated to perform in Toronto. If he can find the form of last season, TFC would have one of the best GKs in the league on their hands.

In addition to his performance on the pitch, there's also the added bonus of bringing in a player who's done as much as Cesar has. Steven Caldwell told TSN's Luke Wileman that that could prove invaluable:

"It's fantastic to have him behind us with his experience," said Caldwell. "He's very comfortable on the ball and strong playing out of the back. It's going to be a great experience for everybody who has the privilege to play with Julio and so far he just seems like a fantastic guy. We're all going to learn off him and it is an honour for this football club to have him play for us."

Of course, it could easily all go wrong very quickly, and should Cesar struggle, Ryan Nelsen may be pressured to keep him in the squad, thus hindering the team.

But that's the risk Leiweke took when he made so many big moves.

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The enigma that is the Colorado Rapids' coaching situation will be the club's story to watch in 2014, but what additional storylines will complete your season preview?

In part 12 of our 19-part series, we will take an in-depth look at the most intriguing plots surrounding the Rapids this season, the number and the player to watch as well as the match that should immediately be circled on your calendar.

Read on for your comprehensive guide to 2014.

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, credit all statistics to Squawka. All data collected is licensed from Opta Sports.

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The Houston Dynamo's dedication to the MLS regular season will be the club's story to watch in 2014, but what additional storylines will complete your season preview?

In part 11 of our 19-part series, we will take an in-depth look at the most intriguing plots surrounding the Dynamo this season. The number and player to watch, as well as the match that should immediately be circled on your calendar, will be delved into with great detail.

Read on for your comprehensive guide to 2014.

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, credit all statistics to Squawka. All data collected is licensed from Opta Sports.

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Frank Klopas' tenure as the new head coach of the Montreal Impact will be the club's story to watch in 2014, but what additional storylines will complete your season preview?

In part 10 of our 19-part series, we will take an in-depth look at the most intriguing plots surrounding the Impact this season. The number and player to watch, as well as the match that should immediately be circled on your calendar, will be delved into with great detail.

Read on for your comprehensive guide to 2014.

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, credit all statistics to Squawka. All data collected is licensed from Opta Sports.

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Any time a discussion about improving soccer in America is taking place, one of the most popular ideas thrown about is implementing a promotion and relegation system into Major League Soccer.

However, relegation is not a magic panacea for making America a world powerhouse in soccer and, in fact, would likely do far more harm than good.

Here's why.

The main argument behind the promotion/relegation system is that it motivates teams to put the best possible product on the field. But even a quick look at numerous examples throughout Europe prove that the rewards and punishments of such a system are not effective motivators.

One perfect example is English Premier League club Stoke City. For years, soccer purists bemoaned the style of Stoke, who relied heavily on a "park the bus" strategy under former manager Tony Pulis—a style created primarily because of the team's fear of relegation.

This season, under new manager Mark Hughes, the team is attempting to play a much more aesthetically pleasing style of football, but they are not doing it to avoid relegation, which they had done successfully for the past five years under Pulis. They are doing it because they themselves got sick of the exact style that had helped them avoid relegation.

The promotion/relegation system also causes clubs to take wild gambles with both their finances and their managerial situations. Over the past few years, the footballing world has been rife with teams that have suffered financial difficulties, in part, caused by them borrowing far more money than they could possibly repay in efforts to either earn top-league finishes to get them into European competition, or avoid relegation.

Prominent examples in England in recent years have included the financial implosion of Leeds United and, more recently, Portsmouth—who are now playing in the fourth division of English football after their financial collapse. Both teams were drawn into buying more than they could afford by the dream of playing for European glory.

Teams in relegation battles, or those who are mid-table when their board of directors or fans think they should be battling for a championship, also make changes to their management willy-nilly that often have seriously negative long-term consequences. The lack of managerial stability also causes the managers themselves to act in a manner that often does not benefit the long-term interests of the club.

Clubs in a promotion/relegation system are often forced to make a difficult choice. They can either play within their means and face being relegated to a lower tier, or take large financial risks that often don't pan out. Even teams at the top are not immune to this type of thinking. Clubs that are expected to compete for championships, or top finishes that guarantee them a place in Europe, often make horrible decisions in the January transfer window, massively overpaying for players who might get them a short-term game.

One needs to look no further than the 2011 winter transfer window for one of the most prominent examples of this type of transfer-window madness. The last-minute transfers of Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll cost their teams £50 million and £35 million, respectively. For their investment, Chelsea has gotten 19 league goals out of Torres in over three seasons of play and Carroll has scored 13 league goals over that same time.

The battle at the top of the table for both the league championship and a place in Europe—with its reward of lucrative television contracts—has also created a lack of competitiveness in many leagues. In most leagues throughout Europe, this means that only the richest clubs can afford to truly compete at the top of the table.

The last time a team other than Real Madrid or Barcelona won La Liga was 2004. In the same 10-year period, the EPL has had only four different champions and Serie A three. The Bundesliga has been the most competitive over that time period, with five different champions, but there's no doubt that Bayern Munich has been the most dominant team. The promotion/relegation system has entrenched much of European football into caste systems.

Over the same 10-year period that La Liga has had only two different champions, MLS has had seven.

One reason for MLS's competitiveness is its oft-criticized single-entity system, which allows the league a great deal of control over each team's signings and trades. While that system might seem antithetical to competition, it, in fact, creates a similar effect to that of the National Football League's salary cap—namely, a league in which any team can win the championship in any given year.

The NFL's salary cap has helped create a level of competitiveness in American professional football that has made the league America's most popular professional sport. In contrast to the relative lack of competition in many European soccer leagues, the NFL has had eight different champions over the past 10 years.

MLS's current setup also makes investing in the league safer. It was originally created, in part, because no one was sure whether professional soccer would succeed in America. Now, the league has become such a safe financial investment that new franchises in the league sell for up to $100 million. Introducing relegation would destroy that financial stability.

Finally, a promotion/relegation system doesn't do what it claims to, namely encourage teams to be the best they can be. Does anyone really believe that the fear of relegation would have made Jorge Vergara act any differently than he did over the past year with Chivas USA? Vergara did what he did because he believed that was the best path for the club. Who suffered as a result? The fans. Would Chivas USA being relegated from MLS have deterred him from making those exact same decisions? No.

D.C. United is another great example. A year after playing for the conference championship in 2012, United was an absolute disgrace in 2013, finishing with only 16 points from 34 games. The collective wisdom of those favoring a promotion/relegation system would say that D.C.'s punishment should have been relegation to lower-tier league and that the lack of such a punishment would lead D.C. to simply continue its losing ways.

However, looking at United's offseason activity, it is obvious that it isn't true. United has been one of the most active teams in the 2014 offseason, signing MLS veterans Davy Arnaud, Sean Franklin, Bobby Boswell, Eddie Johnson, Fabian Espindola and Jeff Parke. The team didn't do it because of a fear of relegation, they did it because they knew they needed to make changes.

The promotion/relegation system is an antiquated structure whose rewards and punishments don't provide the benefits they claim to. It's a relic of the Old World that should stay exactly where it is.

Follow me on Twitter @JohnDHalloran

Follow me on Facebook www.facebook.com/AmericanTouchline

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The Major League Soccer season is a week and a half away from beginning and excitement is starting to grow across North America for the 2014 campaign. 

Before the season begins, it is time for all of us to channel that excitement into a debate on who is the best striker in the league entering this season. 

MLS contains plenty of star forwards like Thierry Henry, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, but there are also some fresh young faces that must be included in the discussion as well. 

Continue reading to see which 20 goalscorers made their way on to this best of list. 

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A new identity for the San Jose Earthquakes will be the club's story to watch in 2014, but what additional storylines will complete your season preview?

In part nine of our 19-part series, we will take an in-depth look at the most intriguing plots surrounding the Fire this season. The number and player to watch, as well as the match that should immediately be circled on your calendar, will be delved into with great detail.

Read on for your comprehensive guide to 2014.

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, credit all statistics to Squawka. All data collected is licensed from Opta Sports.

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