Armchair Analyst: Matt Doyle<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n MLS\u2019s journey at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup<\/a> is in the books, and for this league of ours, it was a tournament of validation and, for lack of a better word, demarcation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n All three participants \u2013 Seattle Sounders FC<\/a>, LAFC<\/a> and Inter Miami CF<\/a> \u2013 earned a legit amount of respect for their performance on the global stage, providing solid data that the league\u2019s top end can absolutely hang (unless you\u2019re facing a motivated Paris Saint-Germain in an air-conditioned building).<\/p>\n Miami\u2019s run to the knockout rounds featured two historic results and drew eyeballs; LAFC\u2019s backline held firm throughout and helped them register a point in the final group stage game; and while Seattle lost all three games they played in the Group of Death, they looked like a team that\u2019s been here before, because they have.<\/p>\n In a tournament that often exposes the soft underbelly of developing leagues, the MLS entrants showed backbone, won some fans, and probably over-delivered on expectations in eight of 10 outings. That matters.<\/p>\n But if you were hoping for a 2012 Corinthians-style fairytale, or a 2025 Al Hilal-esque flex, you might\u2019ve come away feeling slightly underfed. Each of the MLS sides hit a hard ceiling, and that ceiling was built not just by the likes of PSG and Chelsea, but by clubs from Brazil, Egypt and Tunisia. Tactically, technically and especially in defensive transition, the trio of MLS sides were good, but not ruthless and precise enough to turn advantage into goals. You can drill build-out play. You can even coach up your pressing triggers and cause real problems for some of the best teams in the world.<\/p>\n But the final 20 yards of elite soccer? That\u2019s Jan Oblak stuffing Danny Musovski<\/a> on the doorstep. That\u2019s David Mart\u00ednez<\/a> slightly overcooking a cross. That\u2019s the line of demarcation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n This isn\u2019t a \u201cburn it all down\u201d moment. It\u2019s more of a \u201ctighten the bolts\u201d checkpoint. All three MLS reps showed tactical maturity, structural coherence (I remain shocked that this was the case from Miami, who are so often so gappy in league play), and individual quality.<\/p>\n The building blocks are in place, and there were long stretches where you didn\u2019t have to squint to see the vision: LAFC\u2019s counter-slicing through a scrambled Chelsea defense, or Seattle\u2019s midfield triangle closing shop against wave after wave of Atleti attackers. Leo Messi<\/a> dropping deep to get on the ball while Telasco Segovia<\/a> ghosted across the box to finish a gorgeous, flowing movement against Porto.<\/p>\n But the best teams don\u2019t just flash; they sustain. And while that proved to be a bridge too far for the MLS sides, it wasn\u2019t for the cadre of clubs from Brazil. They\u2019ve become a mirror MLS should keep gazing into because of the way they\u2019ve blended their age-old commitment to building from within (nobody takes #PlayYourKids more seriously than Brazilian sides) with a very recent commitment to going toe-to-toe with European giants in the transfer market.<\/p>\n That is this league\u2019s next rung.<\/p>\n So, glass half full: MLS sent three teams to the Club World Cup and each played like they belonged, especially on tactical and structural levels. I remain very, very encouraged by that (I like when things confirm my priors).<\/p>\n But glass half honest? There\u2019s a gap. It\u2019s narrower than it used to be, but it\u2019s still there and it\u2019s still meaningful. The challenge now is what it\u2019s always been: get sharper at the top of the roster, get deeper in the middle and bottom, and keep stacking reps in meaningful international competitions. Because the next time this tournament rolls around, the goal can\u2019t just be to show well. It has to be to take a step forward. And you only really do that when you win.<\/p>\n Winner:<\/strong> Seattle\u2019s academy-to-first team pipeline<\/p>\n When I wrote above how the challenge now is to \u201cget deeper in the middle and bottom\u201d of the roster, this is what I mean. The Sounders have the blueprint and are liberal in applying it to high-upside local kids, SuperDraft picks, or unpolished gems they\u2019ve scouted.<\/p>\n Doing so keeps the floor high.<\/p>\n Loser:<\/strong> Pedro de la Vega and Nouhou Tolo<\/p>\n De la Vega<\/a> is a DP, which means he\u2019s supposed to raise the ceiling and win the Sounders the occasional game. He doesn\u2019t and hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Part of that might be the way he\u2019s deployed (I would love to see this guy finally get a start at left wing), but at some point, he\u2019s got to deliver goals and assists if he\u2019s going to justify the outlay.<\/p>\n I think Nouhou<\/a>, meanwhile, straight-up cost Seattle a result against Botafogo with his petulant first-half yellow that led to the Copa Libertadores champions\u2019 opener. He got benched the next time out, and I wouldn\u2019t be shocked if he falls out of the XI for most of the rest of the season (though he\u2019ll be back in the lineup this weekend).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Winner:<\/strong> John Thorrington\u2019s player acquisition policy<\/p>\n LAFC rely upon signing guys in their prime, and those guys almost uniformly looked good (even the few who\u2019ve aged out of their prime, like defenders Ryan Hollingshead<\/a> and Aaron Long<\/a>). Sergi Palencia<\/a> at right back, Mark Delgado<\/a> and Timothy Tillman<\/a> in central midfield\u2026 none of them found themselves in over their head.<\/p>\n Nor did Igor Jesus<\/a>, the 22-year-old Brazilian d-mid who I thought was LAFC\u2019s best player. He\u2019s the one young guy Thorrington bet big on this winter, and he more than justified that wager.<\/p>\n All of this happening in conjunction with Olivier Giroud\u2019s ineffectiveness and eventual exit<\/a> makes me think that the next DP coming through the door will be on the right side of 30. And I think that bodes very well for the Black & Gold for the rest of the decade.<\/p>\n Loser:<\/strong> The inflexibility of LAFC\u2019s game model<\/p>\n The two games where MLS teams disappointed were Miami\u2019s first half vs. PSG and LAFC\u2019s loss to ES Tunis. A good chunk of the focus on that ES Tunis loss went to Denis Bouanga<\/a>\u2019s late PK, which was saved, and fair enough \u2013 a player of Bouanga\u2019s stature in that moment is supposed to bury it and give his team the point.<\/p>\n But more telling, I thought, was LAFC\u2019s inability to gash the Tunisians out of midfield, or to create anything via possession. Delgado and Tillman are both good players, but neither picks locks when the opponents are sitting in a little bit, and that was most of the story of this game.<\/p>\n LAFC have to get some creativity back into the center of the park and be willing to use it. Otherwise, it\u2019s just all Bouanga, all the time, and that\u2019s not the right recipe.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Winner:<\/strong> Miami\u2019s academy products<\/p>\n The Herons are building out a Seattle-like floor for this squad. Fray, Allen and Cremaschi are huge parts of it.<\/p>\nWHAT’S NEXT?<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
WINNERS & LOSERS<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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