The moment we’ve all been waiting for is almost here.

In just six days, Rio Grande Valley FC and the Tacoma Defiance will kick off the 2019 USL Championship campaign at Cheney Stadium. The following day, 32 more teams will join the fray in a frenetic opening weekend of action across the league.

But before we get to the meaningful matches, I want to take this opportunity to make the most of silly season while it lasts.

For teams around the league, preseason provides the opportunity for coaches and players to get up to speed for the coming year, but for writers like myself, it presents the opportunity to go out on a limb and make predictions that I’ll either look back on with pride or quickly come to regret. Probably come to regret…

Without further ado, let’s get silly.

Here are my 19 predictions for the 2019 season:

1. After claiming the Championship’s Golden Boot with a record-setting 25 regular-season goals last season, Cameron Lancaster will stake an early claim for the award in 2019. An opening-day hat trick against Loudoun United FC will raise expectations through the roof for the new Nashville SC forward, who won’t quite reach the lofty benchmark he set for himself – and the rest of the league – last season.

2. Lancaster wasn’t the only player to hit the 20-goal plateau in 2018, as Daniel Rios (North Carolina FC) and Thomas Enevoldsen (Orange County SC) found the back of the net with ease during their debut seasons in the Championship. While moves to new clubs will make it difficult for that trio to repeat the feat in 2019, I can see Adam Jahn (Phoenix Rising FC), Deshorn Brown (OKC Energy FC) and Michael Seaton (Orange County SC) stepping into those shoes as 20+ goal scorers.

3. If Brown’s going to bag 20 or more goals, then I’ve clearly got Energy FC making a return to the USL Cup Playoffs in 2019. As you may have seen last weekend, I’m already on the record for that as well as Las Vegas Lights FC and the Tampa Bay Rowdies earning postseason berths. To make things more interesting, I’m going to double down on Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, North Carolina FC and San Antonio FC joining the bounce-back brigade.