The 2021 MLS season gets underway on Friday night with a pair of matches, Saturday sees the Canadian derby between Toronto and Montreal played in Florida, and Sunday see's Vancouver host the first Cascadian derby of the season against Portland in Utah. It's going to be that kind of year.

There will be a lot of unpredictableness along the way in typical MLS fashion, but this is shaping up to be an entertaining season and already feels like a wide open one in the quest to raise the MLS Cup. We have you covered all the way from start to finish here at AFTN and to get you even more in the mood our latest daily episode this week previews the action ahead this season in both the Western and the Eastern Conferences.

Are there any favourites? Which teams have made the best offseason acquisitions and which sides have been surprisingly quiet? Can the Galaxy turn things around under Greg Vanney and how will TFC fare without him? Will the Sounders make it to yet another MLS Cup? Who will be the surprise packages in both conferences? We delve into all of that and a lot more, with audio from some of the players and coaches from around the league.

In the West, on the coaching side we hear from LAFC's Bob Bradley, LA Galaxy's Greg Vanney, Sporting KC's Peter Vermes, and Seattle's Brian Schmetzer, while on the playing side we have audio from Chicharito, Johnny Russell, and Mark Anthony Kaye.

In the East, we hear from Philadelphia's Jim Curtin, TFC's Chris Armas, and Montreal's Wilfried Nancy on the coaching side and from Atlanta United defender Brooks Lennon.

Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode:

01.22: Intro and football cards chat

09.50: MLS Western Conference preview and audio

67.16: MLS Eastern Conference preview and audio