Welcome back to winter, you Loons. The squad is wrapping up its first preseason trip to California this weekend, opting to take their training to the domes and brave the polar vortex. In their defense, it did rain a day or two while the team was in California. Terrible weather; I can’t even imagine!
Enough about the weather, though. Following their first full week of training in the Golden State, Head Coach Cameron Knowles sat down with the media, offering insights into how things are going so far, how the team is coming together, and what the priorities are ahead of the 2026 MLS season. This week’s Preseason Report is coming almost entirely from his mouth, so get ready for a dose of perspective from the new(ish) Loon in charge.
Building a Base
First and foremost, Coach Knowles emphasized the fitness-building component of this first trip. While the players came into camp in generally good condition, preparing the body for the demands of an entire MLS season is no small undertaking, requiring a mixture of planning, commitment, and monitoring that simply can’t be done alone.
“It's about building the volume and that capacity of work for the guys, building in that fitness,” Knowles said. “We've been able to really push them a little bit while we've been down here, which has been good. We don't have any games against any opposition. So we've been focusing on the training, doing some 11v11 within ourselves. And we'll finish the same way on Saturday, just trying to build minutes into guys, and then within that, trying to start dripping some of the tactical ideas as well.”
If your ears perked up when you heard “tactical ideas,” you’re not alone. Those who followed the team during Knowles’ interim stretch in 2024 may recall that he lined the team up in a 4-3-3 formation when he was at the helm last, earning a positive result in every match with what was a generally balanced approach to the game. After spending the better part of two seasons learning alongside Coach Eric Ramsay, though, it’s likely that the team identity will carry remnants of the highly-defensive style that we’ve grown used to seeing from the Boys in Black and Blue.
But it won’t be exactly the same.
“We haven't changed a great deal in terms of that structure,” Knowles told the media. “I think the initial thought is how we play within that structure, and I think that's what we're working through right now. How can we get the guys to understand their roles within that structure as that lends itself to having more of the ball, and how can that structure change to allow us to press a little bit differently? How can we defend a little bit higher up the field? These are subtle changes, subtle evolutions, but similar to how we talked about playing right from day one.”
Along with evolutions in the tactical realm, the club is also undergoing an evolution in roster construction as well. As is the case during most offseason transfer windows, players have been coming in and out of the club, reshaping the squad at Knowles and his coaching staff’s disposal. Just this week, the club added young Colombian winger Mauricio González, yet another exciting option up front. With an intriguing mixture of veterans and youngsters, the new head coach is excited to see what they can do when they’re all on the same page.
“I think we have a really good group of different guys pushing it at different times,” Knowles said about the intensity in training. “We've got experienced guys that know what it takes, driving a standard every day for the group. Those returning players, Michael Boxall, Wil Trapp, Julian Gressel, these guys that have been here, that know how you need to approach an MLS preseason, how important every training session is. We've got young guys that are really energetic, enthusiastic, and excited about the opportunity. We have seven or eight of the second team players with us right now, we have new faces and guys that maybe were on the outside looking in last year that have a clean slate. I think it's just a really good energy within the group. There's a really good push every day to work hard and train hard. We don't need to drive the standard because they're driving it from within, and that's ideally what you want as a coach.”
Another week of training stands between the Loons and their trip to the Coachella Valley Invitational, where the squad will have a chance to play against three MLS teams ahead of the season’s start. As sessions begin to shift focus from fitness-building to tactical clarity, the next few weeks will be absolutely crucial to defining how this team is going to play this season. Whether it’s -15 degrees and sunny or somewhere in the mid-40s in southern California, the Boys in Black and Blue will need to get after it every day if they want to hit the ground running.
