Why more MLS coaches aren’t on the hot seat; Benteke’s aerial expertise: Takeaways

Why more MLS coaches aren’t on the hot seat; Benteke’s aerial expertise: Takeaways

Tom Bogert and Jeff Rueter
May 13, 2024

From the promotional buildup to the 2024 season through this most recent matchweek, MLS has pushed one slogan more than any other: “You’ve never seen MLS like this.”

That might be true, unless you’re talking about the roster of head coaches. For the first time since 2018, no MLS team has changed its manager within its first 11 games.

It’s quite a change from the last three years when 22 MLS teams changed their coaches.

A lot of those 22 teams may just be giving the new guy some time, but make no mistake: this season has had plenty of teams that are underperforming for their relatively tenured coaches.

Some, like New York City FC’s Nick Cushing and Austin FC’s Josh Wolff, were retained despite some concerns after their teams missed the 2023 playoffs. Others, like Nashville SC’s Gary Smith and Atlanta United’s Gonzalo Pineda, have struggled to get perennial playoff contenders to perform up to that standard.

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The latter duo will no doubt feel increased heat after this weekend. Nashville managed just five shots and placed a pair of those attempts on target for a putrid 0.15 xG in a 1-0 loss at Charlotte. The club now owns two of the four lowest single-game xG outputs in 2024.

“From where I was sitting, it’s a nil-nil game,” Smith said afterwards. “I’ve just looked at the stats, compared the stats, very tight game, few chances either way and, you know, unfortunately, we fall on the wrong side again.”

250 miles southwest down I-85, Pineda’s Atlanta fell to D.C. United 3-2 and it wasn’t that close. The 2018 MLS Cup champion’s goals came from a first-half penalty and a second-half own goal. Atlanta is now 10th in the East, riding a six-game winless run, and their supporters made their feelings known in an increasingly empty Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“This feels very bad, honestly,” Pineda said after the game. “I feel like the players are putting everything in and giving everything they can.”

Star forward Giorgios Giakoumakis was more direct: “To be honest, it was embarrassing.”

It’s tempting to say that both Smith and Pineda will be on the hot seat given all of that, but while fans may be unhappy, there’s little indication that’s actually the case.

Middling teams’ patient approach with head coaches isn’t happening in a vacuum. With one week to go, this Premier League season is on track to have the fewest coaching changes of any campaign in a decade. Teams have found that turning things around isn’t as easy as replacing the voice on the touchline and patience can often be more frugal if not fruitful. And in MLS, all a coach really needs to do to bring a semblance of success to a season is make the playoffs and make a run once you’re there.

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It’s a copycat league. Perhaps teams are steadfastly letting processes play out before determining a coach’s fate. Maybe the almighty dollar is limiting some chief soccer officers’ freedom to make a fresh appointment. No matter the range of explanations, it has led to one of the least volatile seasons in recent memory — for now, anyway.  

Jeff Rueter

More from the MLS weekend:

Air Benteke

The biggest reason for that Atlanta loss referenced above? That would be Christian Benteke, who spent all of Saturday night dunking over whatever poor Atlanta defender tried to bother him in the air en route to a hat trick on three headers.

With Atlanta’s starting center-backs Stian Gregersen and Derrick Williams out, Benteke feasted even more than usual. He was too much for 18-year-old center-back Noah Cobb and veteran Luis Abram.

“We had a certain plan about not just winning the first header because I think it was really difficult to win the first header against Benteke,” Pineda said, “but instead to put people around him to win the second balls. Honestly, I don’t think we did a good job on that.”

Benteke won 10 aerial duels in Atlanta, and no two D.C. United players had more passes completed than goalkeeper Alex Bono to Benteke, with 11.

This game wasn’t an outlier. Benteke’s aerial prowess might be the most dominant MLS skill right now. Benteke is first in MLS in aerials won with 134. Second is Toronto center-back Kevin Long at 52. Third is D.C. teammate Lucas Bartlett at 41. Benteke has more aerial duels won by himself than 12 other MLS teams.

This sustains a trend from 2023 when the Belgian forward led MLS in aerials won with 241. Second place, Sean Nealis, had 140. Third place Andres Reyes had 113.

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That’s not just dominant, it’s historic. No other player who led MLS in aerial duels in any of the last seven years had more than 174 and we’re only stopping there because that’s how far back FBRef tracks aerial duel numbers.

Benteke has nearly eclipsed that benchmark in just 10 matches this season.

D.C. United has made the most of his historic skill, as has Benteke himself. The Belgian is tied for the Golden Boot lead with 11 goals in 10 matches and DCU is among the most pleasant surprises in MLS this year with 17 points after 12 matches. It was supposed to be a transition year for D.C., which named Ally Mackay their new general manager, Troy Lesesne head coach and turned over 16 players from last year’s roster heading into 2024.

One thruline amid all the change is that D.C. United has smartly dictated their style around Benteke’s valuable quality, both under Wayne Rooney in 2023 and Lesense in 2024. The coaches have vastly different ideas on tactics and skills they want around him, but both tweaked their system to maximize Benteke. There’s no sign of that changing anytime soon.

Spare a thought for the center-backs jostling with Benteke over the next few weeks, because not only is it an arduous physical task, it’s sure to be a losing one, too.

Tom Bogert

Detroit City starts a conversation

Just over a year ago, Don Garber raised his concerns about the U.S. Open Cup’s standard of operation.

“They are not games that we would want our product to be shown to a large audience,” Garber said in a U.S. Soccer board meeting last May. “So frankly I’m not all that disappointed that the audience is small.”

On Thursday night, the competition was exposed to a live audience of around 1.4 million: specifically, that of The Tonight Show on NBC.

Among that episode’s guests was Jon Glaser, a comedian known for his acting roles in “Parks & Recreation” and “Delocated.” Glaser showed up donning a hat, scarf and jacket from USL Championship side Detroit City FC, then a day removed from a major U.S. Open Cup win over the reigning champion Houston Dynamo.

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Glaser’s jubilation stood in contrast to Houston coach Ben Olsen’s comments after that game, when asked about the quality of the USL Championship (“is it really a second division,” to cite the specific wording of the question).

“It’s a second division,” Olsen said. The reporter started to follow up with a question about “the level” before Olsen added: “Yeah, it’s a second division. It’s not even close.”

Reaction has largely focused on the dismissive tone of his “not even close,” which preceded further explanation that even with a rotated lineup, his Dynamo should have been able to win. On Wednesday, Houston fell in an extensive shootout which saw cup goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell come up to make a couple of crucial saves before failing to convert the decisive attempt himself. That outcome suggests fine margins.

It should be noted that it’s generally been difficult for an Open Cup champion to defend its title. Four of the eight most recent winners failed to advance past the round of 32, including its three most recent. None of those teams even made it back to the following year’s semifinal.

Olsen later went on to say that the Dynamo could now shift its full focus onto the regular season and their first match back was encouraging for what could lie ahead.

Houston visited Sporting KC and opened the scoring with a flourish, with Héctor Herrera starting and finishing a well-worked corner kick routine. Sporting equalized in the 61st minute, but Ibrahim Aliyu reclaimed the win with a well-placed shot in transition.

The decongested schedule could help Houston in the remaining MLS season, but Herrera’s return could have a bigger impact. The Mexico international missed the Dynamo’s first seven games of the season, but Saturday saw him play more than 45 minutes for the first time this year in the league. If he can quickly replicate the kind of form that placed him on last year’s Best XI, it could see a swift rise up the standings.

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Get ready to learn Skyline Chili, buddy

An FC Cincinnati fan, tired of his team’s winless record at Columbus in the Hell is Real Derby, upped the stakes the way only a true Cincinnatian can: By promising to chug three cans of Skyline Chili.

Fortunately (?) for this guy, things went well for FC Cincy, which finally got three points at Columbus in a 2-1 win. He attempted to delete the tweet, but the internet remembers and is waiting for pics.

He seems to be taking it in stride, at least!

(Top photos: Getty Images)

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