Our annual collection of post-mortems rolls on with the three teams that got swept in Round One of the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs.
You can find the Western Conference non-playoff teams here, the Eastern Conference non-playoff teams here and the Wild Card losers here.
In we go, examining the seasons of teams that, for the most part, cleared the bar expected of them.
2025 in a nutshell
I’m going to distill it down to the numbers:
- Against Eastern Conference playoff teams, the Fire went 5W-9L-2D with a -10 goal differential.
- Against everyone else, they were 10W-2L-6D with a +18 goal differential.
Chicago were a good team, but not good enough – because they were a little soft and a little sloppy – to really hang with the league’s best. They proved it all year, and then they proved it again in the playoffs, first against Orlando (who they handled with ease) and then against Philly (who they fought hard against but ultimately were too error-prone to overcome).
But really, I have buried the lede: 2025 in a nutshell for the Chicago Fire was “they made the playoffs for the first time since 2017” and “they won a playoff game for the first time since 2009.” Folks, Chicago’s playoff drought had been around longer than MLSsoccer.com!
They ended up on 53 points in a brutally tough Eastern Conference; made a credible US Open Cup run; made a few good new signings (Philip Zinckernagel had one of the great individual seasons in club history) and redeemed a couple of others from the previous regime; really leaned into developing academy products; and announced plans for what might end up becoming the very best soccer specific stadium in the country when you factor in not just its design, but also its location and other accoutrements.
In all, this was the best season for this club since they won the Supporters’ Shield-US Open Cup double way back in 2003.
The Fire aren’t BACK back yet, but Gregg Berhalter’s got them well on their way.
What comes next?
A winter of roster surgery.
As I wrote following their elimination by Philly, I think it’s fair to read a bunch into how Rominigue Kouamé was subbed out midway through the first half and Kellyn Acosta never got off the bench. Kouamé’s got an option that they surely won’t exercise; Acosta’s got a guaranteed deal for 2026, which means the Fire have either got to find a buyer or a number.
Either way, that’s a lot of salary cap flexibility – the sort you need when you’re looking to jump to true contender status.
What to watch for this winter
The big questions are these:
- Will they fill a third DP slot? Hugo Cuypers and Jonathan Bamba will be back, but they’ve got some possibilities.
- Will they sell either Brian Gutiérrez or Chris Brady, or both?
Gutiérrez has mostly been very good, but Berhalter’s at times betrayed a lack of trust in the homegrown attacking midfielder, and there is definitely overseas interest (he’s on a U22 Initiative deal, for what it’s worth). There’s no lack of trust in Brady, obviously, but his age, measurables and improvement curve suggest there’s almost certainly going to be interest in him, too.
Player I’m excited for
I’ll take the risk and say Gutiérrez. I want him to stick around one more year, to mature a little bit and claim his spot as one of the best 10s in the league.
He’s shown that kind of talent. And it’d be a fitting way to bury the memory of that penalty miss against Philly in their season-ending 3-0 loss.
Notes
- Berhalter did smart work signing Jack Elliott as a free agent last winter. It wouldn’t shock me if they were free agent shoppers again this year.
- I’m still not yet sold on U22 d-mid signing Dje D'Avilla – he’s not much of a front-foot defender, which is one of the reasons the Fire were always susceptible in transition moments – but he definitely improved over his first season in Red.
2025 in a nutshell
There was the half-year during which they had Lucho Acosta. Then there was the half-year after they sold Lucho Acosta.
During the half-year with Lucho, they were one of the most disappointing teams in the league. They didn’t run for each other, they didn’t string passes together, and they… didn’t win games. A Wooden Spoon seemed as likely as a playoff appearance.
During the half-year after they got bailed out of the Lucho deal (thank you, Fluminense!), they became one of the toughest outs in the Western Conference. There was nothing elegant or aesthetically pleasing about it; just a 3-5-2 (mainly) with an emphasis on winning the physical side of the game each and every second of each and every game.
Add in a renewed commitment to pushing academy kids up and into the first team, and it felt like Dallas rediscovered their identity.
What comes next?
The big-ish options they have to exercise (or not) are for veterans Sebastian Ibeagha, Anderson Julio and Sebastian Lletget. Ibeagha’s still a starter, but the other two aren’t. Read into that what you will.
Even if all three of those options are exercised, Dallas actually have a lot of roster flexibility this winter with multiple open DP and, potentially, U22 slots to use.
What to watch for this winter
Even though Dallas played better without Lucho – and hence without a true No. 10 – during the second half of the season, this is still a team that’s largely built to have a No. 10 as the creative engine. And this doesn't mean head coach Eric Quill has to scrap the very effective blueprint he hit on, of Logan Farringon partnering Petar Musa up top with flying wingbacks supporting them.
It would, in fact, be pretty simple to keep that basic structure and slot a No. 10 underneath them to pull the strings (and create the chances).
Player I'm excited for
Something like 12g/9a from Farrington next year would not shock me at all.
Notes
- With Maarten Paes having been beaten out in goal by Michael Collodi, it seems reasonable to expect some outgoing transfer business this winter.
- A Godfather offer for Musa could happen, though I haven’t heard any reporting to that effect.
- Osaze Urhoghide had a fine first year in the middle of that backline despite a tough series vs. Vancouver.
2025 in a nutshell
In some ways, the best season Austin's had – one that left them with a playoff appearance for just the second time in club history, and inches from a trophy for the first time in club history.
In other ways, a worrying entry in their young history, as they again finished with both a negative goal differential and tough underlyings in a conference that was relatively weak outside the top five teams (and isn’t likely to stay that way next year). At no point did they look like a team that had spent a reported $30 million on attackers (even before Brandon Vazquez got hurt) over the two transfer windows leading directly into the 2025 season, and it’s unlikely they’ve got $30 million more to spend to fix that.
And folks, things were getting worse by the end of the year:
That’s a five-alarm fire. Four wins in the final three months of the season, and they never looked like they were in it against LAFC.
What comes next?
Virtually all of their defenders are 30 or older, as is d-mid Ilie Sánchez. Sporting director Rodolfo Borrell got the squad younger by adding center back Mateja Djordjevic on a U22 deal in the middle of the year, but he barely played. And when he did, you could see why.
An even bigger concern has to be the lack of playmaking from attacking midfield, which was glaring (and one of the reasons those $30 million attackers struggled, as someone smart and handsome might have predicted in his season preview). Owen Wolff was awesome, but he’s not a 10, and neither were new signings Besard Sabovic nor Nicolás Dubersarsky (who, to be clear, were not awesome). Academy product Micah Burton, who had a good year in MLS NEXT Pro, never got a look with the first team.
They didn’t make up for that by becoming any sort of effective pressing team. Basically, if they weren’t scoring on the counter or set pieces, they weren’t scoring at all.
What to watch for this winter
Obviously, I feel pretty strongly that Austin should find a midfield chance creator! Or at least the type of progressive passer who could put the attackers into position to create chances for themselves.
They’re locked into three DPs (unless they find someone willing to take one of these guys off their hands, or they’re willing to use a buyout), but they have one open U22 slot and lots of mid-tier contracts they could decline to open up cap space if necessary.
Player I’m excited for
The most fun part of the year was when CJ Fodrey burst onto the scene as a late-game super-sub to create havoc – and goals – with his size, motor and physicality. Real 2012 Quakes energy.
He should be in line for at least 1,500 minutes in 2026.
Notes
- While Brad Stuver’s overall numbers were excellent (he’s been the team MVP five years running as far as I’m concerned), his underlyings slipped in the second half of the year. I think it’s just noise, but he didn’t look like himself.
- That trophy they came close to was the US Open Cup, the final of which they lost in second-half stoppage time at Q2 Stadium. Home finals don’t come around often, folks. That one’s gonna sting for a while.
Jáder Obrian – a winger – played 35 games across all competitions. He didn’t score a single goal. Head coach Nico Estévez has got to be more willing to move on from underperforming veterans and give the kids a chance.
