Matchday 5 is in the books.
What did we learn? Did the games confirm what we already knew or change the complexion of the league?
Let’s dive into some key takeaways from another weekend of MLS action.
During the offseason, St. Louis began a new era. Corey Wray, formerly of the Columbus Crew and Toronto FC front offices, was hired to lead the sporting side of the club. A month later, Yoann Damet, formerly an assistant under Wilfried Nancy with the Crew, was appointed as CITY’s head coach.
On Saturday, St. Louis collected the first win of that new era, besting the New England Revolution by a 3-1 scoreline. Though it wasn’t a perfect performance, they demonstrated many of the underlying principles expected to propel the team forward.
Playing out of a Nancy-esque 3-4-3 setup, the hosts showed great patience building through pressure, even to the point of eagerly drawing New England players to the ball to create exploitable space elsewhere.
You can see St. Louis’ skillful play under pressure in the clip below, where nearly being trapped against the sideline turns into a final third entry in mere seconds:
Of course, even the great Columbus Crew teams from earlier this decade that seem to have influenced St. Louis were headlined by more than tactics: they boasted elite talent, too.
Marcel Hartel seems to fit that description, and the German attacking midfielder scored a genuine AT&T Goal of the Year candidate to cap off the weekend’s victory.
That center back Mamadou Mbacke Fall made his CITY debut in second-half stoppage time is yet another positive for St. Louis, who find themselves building towards a brighter future.
If you were skeptical of Real Salt Lake heading into the weekend, I have some bad news for you: there’s no room to doubt them anymore. A 2-2 road draw with San Diego FC on Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire showed exactly what this Salt Lake team is made of: clear ideas and a bunch of very good soccer players.
Using an expansive 3-4-3 shape in possession and an extremely narrow, man-oriented defensive setup against the league’s best buildup team, RSL managed to out-shoot and out-create San Diego. Even without Diego Luna, Stijn Spierings, Emeka Eneli, DeAndre Yedlin, and others in the starting lineup, the visitors created six either “great” or “good” chances, as defined by MLS Analytics, compared to San Diego’s four.
What’s behind RSL’s start, one that’s seeing them average 2.0 points per game across wins over Seattle, Atlanta, and Austin, a tight defeat to Vancouver, and Sunday’s draw with San Diego? One of the league’s absolute best offseasons.
Both of the assists on Salt Lake’s goals this past weekend came from newcomers. The first arrived from Juan Manuel Sanabria at left wingback and the second from half-space attacker Morgan Guilavogui. While those two look like the biggest hits out of RSL’s winter additions, rookie striker Sergi Solans continues to produce, and the academy graduates' performances are nothing short of impressive.
The Real Salt Lake train is rolling out of the station. It’s time to hop on board.
It’s unwise to go overboard with praise after beating a shorthanded Sporting Kansas City squad, which is exactly what the Colorado Rapids did on Saturday to the tune of a dominant 4-1 victory. Still, it sure looks to me like Matt Wells’ Rapids team is growing more comfortable with his on-field principles.
So far this year, the former Tottenham Hotspur assistant coach has turned Colorado into one of the league’s most patient buildup teams. According to American Soccer Analysis’ passing data, only San Diego move the ball more patiently in their defensive third than the Rapids. Zooming out even further to look at ASA’s entire database, which reaches back to 2013, the Rapids still have the second-shortest average vertical passing distance in their own third.
So, then, Wells & Co. aren’t just halfway committed to building up. Rather, they’re historically committed to building up.
Against Kansas City, that commitment paid dividends. Colorado regularly broke out of the opposing high press with delicate passing moves, pushed play downfield quickly, and punished their hosts at the other end:
Consistency is still needed for the Rapids, as is an answer for when teams sit deeper and take away the possibility of a press break. Still, Colorado are must-see TV right now – and they’re quietly stacking results.
The award for The Weekend’s Most Dominant Victory Without A Red Card goes to... Nashville SC! They bested Orlando City, 5-0, on Saturday, showing off a slew of the tenets that make them so dangerous.
For one, the right side – headlined by Cristian Espinoza and Andy Najar, but also featuring Hany Mukhtar and Patrick Yazbek when they drift that way – punched right at the Lions on repeat. If at first Nashville didn’t succeed at finding a box entry down that wing, they tried again. And again. And again.
The result? Goals. Lots of goals.
It wasn’t just the finesse coming down a star-studded right side that broke open the game on Saturday (Epinoza, Najar, and Mukhtar were considered stars at their respective positions coming into the year, and I don’t think it will be long until we start talking about Yazbek with a roughly similar reverence from his No. 8 position).
Instead, it was also the sheer amount of athleticism at B.J. Callaghan’s disposal. With committed Designated Players, a ground-covering double pivot, and Maxwell Woledzi providing even more speed in the back than Walker Zimmerman did before him, Callaghan’s team is a hard one to defend against and equally tough to attack against at the other end.
Orlando managed to do neither of those things, while Nashville look like a top-tier trophy threat.
That’s what their performance was against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday: serious.
As Bruce Arena noted in his postgame press conference, San Jose’s 1-0 victory over the ‘Caps featured a night-and-day performance when compared to the one that led to their 4-1 defeat at BC Place last fall. “We played here last year and were embarrassed,” the manager said. “So this shows how much progress we’ve made as a team.”
While they had the benefit of facing a partially rotated Vancouver team on short rest following a mid-week Concacaf Champions Cup loss, beating even a slightly tamer version of the Whitecaps is no easy feat. According to American Soccer Analysis, on Saturday, the Earthquakes held the ‘Caps to their fourth-lowest single-game xG tally in a regular-season game since Jesper Sørensen was hired.
With more dedicated defending from the front via Preston Judd and Niko Tsakiris than San Jose enjoyed from Chicho Arango and Josef Martínez last year and a lower line of confrontation leading to fewer gaps in midfield, the Quakes have turned the tables on the defensive end.
In Arena’s first year, they were porous. So far in year two? They’ve been downright stingy.
Sitting in third in the West with 12 points through five games, discount the Earthquakes at your own peril.
