With 2024 quickly approaching, it’s time to take a look at the top five best strikes from the 2023 Major League Soccer season.
It seems like every week there was a new Goal of the Year contender in MLS, and it was anything but easy to try to narrow down the list to just five fantastic goals from the 34 game regular season.
We’ve got strikes from players from all positions on the field, showing that anything can happen during any given matchday in MLS.
Here are the top five goals from the 2023 MLS season.
Dairon Asprilla brought out the bicycle. ? pic.twitter.com/gXyPBl62Aj
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 16, 2023
This is an insane strike, as Asprilla didn’t have much time to react but leapt in the air in the blink of an eye to finish with a stunning bicycle kick.
In most seasons, this would be the the number one goal of the season or at least in the top two. But 2023 was just a different animal in terms of crazy goals scored around the league, as the list only gets better from here.
OMG Thiago Almada! ?
Absolute world-class strike. pic.twitter.com/cxnCYD0Rky
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 19, 2023
Arguably the second-best player in the league was on fire to start the campaign, as he notched this insane free kick from well outside the Timbers’ penalty area.
Atlanta will hope that their No. 10 will hang around for at least another half-season in their push for a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference, but it wouldn’t surprise many to see him finally get his dream move to Europe in the winter transfer window.
JOSE MARTINEZ! ?
What a stunner for his first MLS goal! #DOOP pic.twitter.com/lpREjFGNiU
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 22, 2023
This has to be one of the best ways, if not the best, to score your first goal in MLS.
The technique used by Martinez here is otherworldly, as he not only smashes the ball first-time but also hits it on the half-volley to ensure that Orlando’s Mason Stajduhar was unable to get a hand to it.
OMG they really pulled this off. ?
Miguel Trauco connects with the Cristian Espinoza corner kick from a full volley at the top of the box. #Quakes74 pic.twitter.com/9U1HHQpmXt
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 13, 2023
Look away Seattle Sounders fans, your team is on the list again — conceding another cracking goal.
Throughout the 2023 season, Miguel Trauco tried time and time again to score this exact goal from the same area, and he finally pulled it off to stun the fans at PayPal Park.
Unfortunately for the San Jose fans, they won’t be seeing Trauco score another stunner in 2024 as the club decided to opt against his contract option for the coming season.
Pablo Ruiz scores from his own half. ? #RSL pic.twitter.com/uDft9GoRkD
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 18, 2023
There was no other way another goal was getting put in front of Pablo Ruiz’s jaw-dropping halfway strike vs D.C. United.
Ruiz didn’t have much time to tee off his shot, but did so in impressive fashion with his preferred left foot at Audi Field in the nation’s capital. D.C.’s Tyler Miller was backpedaling like an American football cornerback, but it wasn’t enough to keep out Ruiz’s long-range lobbed effort.
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