Hello again, you lovely flock. Storylines here, and I must admit that I’m feeling sympathy pains for our soccer-loving Canadian brothers and sisters. Maybe it’s the fact that my family bloodline has some French Canadian roots. Maybe it’s just my knack of rooting for the underdog, especially when that underdog is rostering my favorite MLS club’s starting goalkeeper and leading goal scorer. Or, maybe it’s simply being a fan of the beautiful game, and being impressed by newly-appointed Coach Jesse Marsch and Les Rouges making a Cinderella run through Copa América. But, alas, Messi and the mighty Argentines would cause maple-flavored tears to flow, and now, there’s just one more third-place match-up for Dayne St. Clair and Tani Oluwaseyi come this Saturday, which means that two of the Loons’ most important players return to the team is imminent. While that whole third-place match thing isn’t ideal for the Loons’ matchup against the Houston Dynamo this weekend, the impending return can serve as a pivot point for a club desperately looking for some light at the end of this six-loss tunnel we've been enduring.

Obviously, not having your top scorer and main netminder for any stretch of time is a difficult reality to overcome. But for Coach Eric Ramsay and squad, getting these key pieces back into the mix is about re-galvanizing a group of players that was gelling quite nicely through the earlier months of the 2024 season. Coach Ramsay has proven he can adapt a game plan or strategy to fit the available talent. But, at this moment in time, I believe that getting back to positive results isn’t necessarily about Ramsay’s abilities to change things up. More importantly, it’s about recapturing the confidence of working with a roster of familiar faces, training together, and getting back to each player knowing what their teammates are bringing to the table, day in and day out. Does the return of key players alleviate every issue the Loons have encountered during this rough stretch? I doubt that. But with a summer transfer window on the horizon and the club expecting to be extremely active in the market, this feels like a restart to the development that was stifled when injuries and tournament absences came into play.

Last Sunday’s loss to the LA Galaxy was certainly a gut punch we didn’t need. However, seeing a player of Teemu Pukki’s stature recapture his scoring mojo upon his return from injury was encouraging. After witnessing Pukki’s frustrations with finding the net earlier in the season, his second-half goal against LA felt like a glimmer of hope at the end of that six-game tunnel I mentioned earlier. The impending return of our Canadian heroes can only embolden the feeling that these Loons can regain their early-season groove sooner rather than later.

I may be slightly biased, but I do consider myself a tragic optimist when it comes to sports. I felt that way before the 2024 season even kicked off, when almost every MLS pundit was predicting doom for the Loons. How did they respond to all that noise? By galvanizing as a team, trusting the process, and performing well beyond those dire expectations to sit near the top of the Western Conference standings for an extended period. Now, with Copa nearly complete and a transfer window of possibilities soon to open, I believe this squad can stand together, further solidify the development we saw at the start of the season, and finish strong enough to surprise the naysayers again in the home stretch of the 2024 season.

Hopefully, the surprising turnaround to this season kicks off this Saturday in Houston.