The growth of Major League Soccer was evident with just one loop around BMO Stadium on Saturday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles.
Black and gold filled the park adjacent to the stadium, taco stands lined the sidewalk, fans walked by with tall-boy Modelos and Pepas played over the loudspeakers of a DJ’s set. The scene on a sunny California day was the gold standard of MLS: a beautiful downtown stadium in a major market with a sellout crowd for two of the best teams in the league.
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That scene also tells a broader story about a league that has built up its infrastructure over the last decade with stadiums and training facilities springing up around the country. Fan bases and team valuations have grown. MLS fills buildings now from coast to coast, from LA to Charlotte, Portland and Seattle to Miami and Atlanta and even “smaller” markets like: Nashville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbus and Austin, among others.
The question now is what MLS is going to build on that foundation.
LAFC beat the Galaxy, 2-1, on Saturday evening. The game featured some of the better players and stories in MLS. Top-rated designated players, like LAFC’s Denis Bouanga — considered by the majority of MLS team executives to be the best player in the league not named Lionel Messi — and the LA Galaxy’s Riqui Puig, Joseph Paintstil and Gabriel Pec. It also had a U-22 star in the Galaxy’s Dejan Joveljic.
But even with those players, the reality is that MLS has plenty of room for improvement. The stage has been set. It’s a matter now of what MLS puts up for its fans to watch.
“The more good teams we have like this, the better the league will get,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said in the postgame press conference. “I’ve always been a proponent of trying to make things better, make our football better, make games more exciting for fans, try to win fans overseas. But the only way to do that is to increase the quality on the field, not with advertising or anything like that. The only thing that matters is the quality on the field, and we need to continue to improve that. And I will always, always fight for that.”
The chance to start growing the league will happen just a few miles down Figueroa Street from BMO Stadium this week. There, MLS’s owners will sit for a Board of Governors meeting in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. They are expected to pass a set of changes to the roster rules meant to start propelling the league into a new phase of growth.
Those rule changes vary from smaller details to substantive alterations. The league is not overhauling the rules, but there will be noteworthy increases to player investment. It could be just the start of more extensive changes to the rules.
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As MLS executive Todd Durbin said in February after the league’s sporting and competition committee met to discuss alterations: “I’m confident that when we get to the end of (the process, it) will yield some substantial and important changes.”
The changes will include allowing teams to have three U-22 slots no matter how they use their designated player slots, as previously reported by The Athletic’s Tom Bogert. That’s not an insignificant change. Some teams have felt as if the third DP spot was essentially eliminated by making it contingent on the number of U-22 slots.
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Making changes in the middle of the season is never ideal, but the reality is that MLS is on the clock. Time is ticking down on Lionel Messi’s time in the league and down toward the 2026 World Cup — an event that could be a springboard for the league, if it uses it as such. The decisions made this week and at the end of this year will be critical in deciding the league’s trajectory.
The scenes on the weekend at BMO Stadium and in stadiums around the league make it clear as ever that MLS is ready to grow. The question now is just how far and how fast the league wants to take it. – Paul Tenorio
Porter, Revs win ‘El Promisico’
On the face of it, a regular season game in April between the New England Revolution and Charlotte FC isn’t a huge tilt, but it nonetheless had big stakes for Revs head coach Caleb Porter.
Porter, who is under heat from fans for a winless start in MLS play, guaranteed a win during a radio interview on Thursday.
“We’re going to win Saturday,” Porter said. “I promise that.”
Charlotte FC head coach Dean Smith didn’t love the proclamation.
“He shouldn’t make promises he might not be able to keep,” Smith said during his media availability on the same day.
By the end of 90 minutes, Porter had lived up to his word, as the Revs pulled through with a 1-0 win, courtesy a Carles Gil goal.
Porter did try to walk back that statement on Friday, saying “it was a throwaway” and “a poor word choice on my part,” via Blazing Musket’s Seth Macomber.
“To be honest, I used the wrong word and it was totally out of context,” Porter said after the match. “I would never promise or guarantee a win. … I told Dean that before the game. You can never guarantee a win (in this league). It was me telling our guys that I hope we win, but I used the wrong word. I would never promise a win or disrespect their team or coach, it’s not what I’m about.”
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Carles Gil’s goal in stoppage time was all New England needed to make that promise come true. It was a big result for the Revs, who failed to win any of their first five MLS matches of the season in Porter’s first season. They navigated fixture congestion with CONCACAF Champions Cup, winning against El Salvador side Independiente and Costa Rican outfit Alajuelense. They are on the verge of elimination after a 4-0 leg on loss at home to Club America in the quarterfinals.
The Revs are still staring up in the standings, bottom of the Eastern Conference with four points after six matches, but some pressure has been alleviated after their first win. – Tom Bogert
Whitecaps and Red Bulls top the table
Seasons aren’t won in the early weeks, but a good start can set the tone for one. And so far, it looks like it’ll be a good one for the two MLS teams with a color in their names; A pair of hot starts have the New York Red Bulls and Vancouver Whitecaps surprisingly atop their respective conferences.
The Whitecaps in particular are playing with a similar verve as last season, but to much more consistent results. Vancouver welcomed Toronto FC to BC Place on Saturday with a point to prove, and made it with Brian White and Fafa Picault putting the hosts at a 2-0 advantage before the half-hour mark, before Ryan Gauld and Ranko Veselinović doubled their margin of victory after the 80th minute.
It was a comprehensive Canadian clubbing — one that Vanni Sartini hopes viewers won’t soon forget.
“We showed we are the best Canadian team and we have been for the past two to three years,” Sartini said after the match. “I don’t know why we have to remind everyone. Maybe we need to remind the Canadian media and (Canadian TV channel) OneSoccer.”
Generally, teams like Vancouver that qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup struggle in the season’s early weeks as they balance two competitions while still getting up to game speed. Although Vancouver won’t fondly remember its series with Tigres, which saw the club fall 5-1 on aggregate, it did conclude its Champions Cup run two weeks before the regular season opener. At worst, those games could be considered a higher-level alternative to the preseason friendlies their Western rivals were playing.
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Vancouver has made the playoffs in two of three seasons since Sartini took over midway through 2021. In that span, CF Montréal has also made a pair of postseasons, while Toronto is in the midst of a three-season drought despite spending far and away the most on its roster of the trio.
In short: Sartini has a point.
Out East, the New York Red Bulls overcame an early FC Cincinnati goal to win 2-1 at the home of last year’s Supporters’ Shield winners. Lewis Morgan’s Golden Boot rivals will take solace that the Scot missed a penalty, but Frankie Amaya and Dante Vanzeir came up with a pair of goals to flip the result and keep the Eastern Conference red for another week.
Although the Red Bulls are more possession-agnostic than ever under Sandro Schwarz, this iteration does bear further differentiation from bygone versions of the team. The team is far less reliant on shooting from set pieces (13.6% currently, down from 20.6% under Gerhard Struber and Troy Lesesne in 2023), presses less feverishly (13.31 passes allowed per defensive action, less feverish than last year’s 9.44 clip) while also forcing teams to shoot from less dangerous situations (0.08 xG per shot allowed, down from 0.14). It isn’t a facsimile of the “energy drink soccer” from the past ten years, but rather a modification of that formula into something more sustainable.
At week’s end, Vancouver will also take pride in leading the West despite having a game in hand over the Galaxy, RSL, and LAFC. The Red Bulls don’t have a similar luxury — second-place Philadelphia has one in hand and is two points back. New York hosts Chicago next week, while the Whitecaps welcome the Galaxy in a pivotal early season six-pointer.
Historically, the Whitecaps and Red Bulls have seldom synchronized their strong seasons. The two clubs have finished in their conferences’ top-four places just once since Vancouver debuted in 2011. That came in 2015, when newly installed Jesse Marsch led New York to a Supporters’ Shield while Pedro Morales and Octavio Rivero catalyzed the ‘Caps to a second-place showing. – Jeff Rueter
A worrying trend for San Jose, Kansas City
In a conference as congested as this year’s West, you need to hold onto every point you’ve earned. While the gap between last year’s 1st place finisher (St. Louis, if you forgot so soon) and its 11th (Minnesota, which you certainly forgot) was 15 points. The same margin between Cincinnati and New York City in the East was 28 points.
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With that in mind, San Jose and Kansas City are being awfully kind to the rest of the conference. On Saturday, San Jose built a 2-0 lead away at Austin before ultimately losing 4-3 on a last-second stunner by Sebastian Driussi — raising the 2022 conference runners-up above the playoff line at matchweek’s end.
DRIUSSI DOES IT IN STOPPAGE 😱 pic.twitter.com/SJux5syuZk
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 7, 2024
It was the fourth time in the young season where Luchi Gonzalez’s side scored first and ultimately landed in the wrong side of the scoreline.
Kansas City hosted the league’s Sunday matinée, storming to a 3-0 halftime lead against the Portland Timbers. It was as comprehensive as beatdowns get in this league: a brace from Willy Agada with a Dany Rosero header nestled in between. The second half seemed poised to sustain that trend until Agada missed a penalty to the left in the 61st minute. It was the invitation that Phil Neville’s side needed, with Evander converting a penalty of his own three minutes later and Felipe Mora placing a shot in the 66th minute.
Eric Miller completed the comeback in the 81st on a second-chance shot. It was the first MLS goal for the defender, who was drafted 5th overall in the 2014 SuperDraft and has since logged 13,416 minutes in league play.
WE'RE LEVEL!!
This game is crazy. 🍿 pic.twitter.com/qz99MRcbPt
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 7, 2024
Miller’s celebration came at Kansas City’s expense, although the home team avoided a total capitulation by clinging to a point in the final minutes.
The three MLS teams that have dropped the most points from an early lead are all in the West. Those games are likely must-watch for neutrals, but an opening goal will do little to ease the nerves of these teams’ fans.
One weird thing
Of all the Player of the Match trophies out there, this is definitely one of them.
Tonight’s Player of the Match! 🍿 pic.twitter.com/QvQLv8mhJ7
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) April 7, 2024
This was allegedly in response to Charlotte FC’s social team tweeting the popcorn emoji after Porter’s comments covered above. But we prefer it to exist as it was presented: entirely without context.
(Top photos: Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports; Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports)