Soccer <\/p>\n
We\u2019re now just two weeks from first kick.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Most of the heavy lifting in the transfer market has been done, most of the roster holes have been filled, and every team has been in camp for almost a month. One \u2013 San Diego FC<\/a> \u2013 has already kicked off the competitive portion of the year\u2019s events, hammering LIGA MX grandes Pumas UNAM, 4-1<\/a>, on Tuesday night in the Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n There were no questions about San Diego heading into the season; they already knew who they were, and man, did it show. But for a bunch of other MLS clubs, real questions around formation and tactical approach remain. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for today.<\/p>\n Here are a few of the teams I\u2019m keeping an eye on at the moment. Eastern Conference coming tomorrow, Western Conference is below.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Does the Marc Dos Santos era mean a shift to the 4-3-3?<\/strong><\/p>\n Three things I think we all should understand here:<\/p>\n And all indications are that LAFC<\/a> will shift to a 4-3-3 as their primary formation this year under Dos Santos, who replaces the now-departed Steve Cherundolo<\/a>. This isn\u2019t a massive switch \u2013 LAFC played a ton of 4-3-3 last year before injuries crushed them in midfield, and they were good at it. That huge, $10 million win<\/a> over Club Am\u00e9rica in the FIFA Club World Cup<\/a> qualifier? 4-3-3. Their commendable performance at the Club World Cup itself? (Mostly) a 4-3-3. Their absolutely electric second-half performance against Vancouver<\/a> in last year\u2019s Audi MLS Cup Playoffs? 4-3-3.<\/p>\n The juggernaut-level version of LAFC we saw once Son Heung-Min<\/a> arrived, though? 3-4-2-1. And it wasn\u2019t just a team playing in a different shape; it was a team playing in a different shape, hitting different types of passes (they were much more direct, which is befitting a team with the hyper-mobile duo of Son and Denis Bouanga<\/a>) and, as a knock-on effect, measurably less possession-oriented.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a club Dos Santos will keep in the bag for 2026 and beyond, no doubt. But the main club they\u2019ll be using is, I\u2019m pretty sure, that front-foot 4-3-3. As I said above, they\u2019re already very good at it. If, on top of what they\u2019ve already got, they\u2019re able to sign Canadian men\u2019s national team<\/a> midfielder Stephen Eust\u00e1quio, as has been rumored<\/a>? Then they\u2019ve got the type of regista who can pull strings and move the entire game around in a way that\u2019ll turn all that possession into penetration.<\/p>\n And with Son and Bouanga getting onto the end of all those sequences, a mother lode of goals will likely follow.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The end of “Ramsay Ball” in Minnesota?<\/strong><\/p>\n Minnesota United FC<\/a> defied expectations last year by climbing almost to the very top of the West and then spending basically the entire season in the top four of the conference, before eliminating Seattle Sounders FC<\/a> in Round One of the playoffs (in frankly hilarious fashion). And they did it without ever completing more than three passes in a row.<\/p>\n Ok, that is a slight exaggeration for effect. The Loons actually had some sequences where they showed the ability to play pretty soccer and used possession well from time to time.<\/p>\n But overall, they were mostly allergic to the ball, a team defined by their love of long throws, set pieces<\/a> and open space to counterattack into. They ended the season with just 39.2 percent possession, the lowest number for an MLS team in the Opta database (which goes back more than a decade). Their field tilt \u2013 the share of final third passes each team hits \u2013 was also a record low, at 37.3 percent. They had the lowest (as in, closest to their own goal) average defensive intervention location in the league.<\/p>\n As with LAFC, there\u2019s a new coach in town: Cameron Knowles<\/a> has replaced the departed Eric Ramsay<\/a>. Knowles had three games as Minnesota\u2019s temporary head coach in the weeks before Ramsay started the job back in 2024, and two years as head coach of the Loons\u2019 MLS NEXT Pro<\/a> affiliate before that. In that time, his sides were just as comfortable with the ball as they were without it.<\/p>\n Given Knowles\u2019 proclivities and the personnel on hand at the Allianz (including\u00a0the potential arrival of a true No. 10<\/a> who would definitely move the needle towards more possession), I\u2019m expecting a pretty big shift in the blueprint.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll still be killers on restarts, to be clear. That shouldn\u2019t go away. But in between, I think they\u2019ll be on the ball more, using it to create chances that someone, hopefully, will be in the box to finish off.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Can San Jose defend from the front?<\/strong><\/p>\n The\u00a0Quakes<\/a> parted ways with both their starting forwards from last year, Chicho Arango<\/a> and Josef Mart\u00ednez<\/a>. The pair produced 27g\/9a as San Jose scored 60 goals on 64.1 xG. Both marks were good for fourth in the West, while their xG differential of +7.3 was good for fifth.<\/p>\n The Quakes finished 10th. They conceded 63 goals, which was much worse than their mark of 56.8 xG allowed. So some of this was very obviously due to poor shot-stopping, a glaring weakness that still needs to be rectified.<\/p>\n But even when San Jose\u2019s goalkeepers were performing well, the games were always spinning off the rails because the midfield was constantly chasing the play. And the reason it was like that is because the Quakes got nothing from Chicho and Josef (especially Josef) defensively. Neither guy worked to shut down passing lanes or keep opposing midfielders in their cover shadows, and as a result, one team after another was able to eliminate the first line of San Jose\u2019s defense and force the remaining eight field players into a scramble.<\/p>\n Nobody looks good defensively in a structure like that. In the modern game, you can survive one forward who doesn\u2019t defend. But two? Impossible. Teams are too smart, and film is too readily available.<\/p>\n In comes new Designated Player (DP)\u00a0Timo Werner<\/a>, and I\u2019ll be shocked if he doesn\u2019t fix a big chunk of this all on his own. Werner\u2019s been one of the best defensive forwards in the world for a decade \u2013 a demon in the press and uber-responsible when forced to defend in a mid-block. San Jose\u2019s midfield will look more connected and better-organized against the ball simply by having Werner out there.<\/p>\n If they add another good two-way forward alongside him (remember, they have two open DP slots right now and are definitely not done adding big pieces), then it’s suddenly reasonable to expect San Jose\u2019s xG allowed number to drop by 10 or 15 goals, and individual matches to feel more controlled.<\/p>\n That alone would be enough to get San Jose back into the playoffs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Will we see a free-flowing, possession-based scheme?<\/strong><\/p>\n From the middle of 2023 onwards, there was a tug-of-war in\u00a0St. Louis CITY<\/a>‘s front office between a faction that wanted to play what I\u2019d call a City Football Group (Manchester City, basically)-inflected type of possession game and a more attritional German approach. The CFG contingent eventually won out, and former sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel<\/a> was shown the door last summer.<\/p>\n In his place comes Corey Wray<\/a>, late of CF Montr\u00e9al<\/a>, but before that, an assistant GM in Columbus<\/a> during the Wilfried Nancy era. Before that, he was an assistant GM in Toronto<\/a> during the Greg Vanney era. What do those two teams have in common?<\/p>\n Yeah, they both won MLS Cup. In each case, they did so by getting on the ball a ton and controlling games with it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s Wray\u2019s lineage, and he went out and hired Yoann Damet<\/a>, a head coach who comes from the same stock. His last two jobs? Assistant under Nancy in Columbus, and before that, assistant under Vanney in LA.<\/p>\n He\u2019d run some hard yards before that as an assistant and, at times, an interim head coach. But what\u2019s come through in all of that is he wants his teams to keep the ball and use it to disorganize the opponents.<\/p>\n This makes sense for a team in a city that\u2019s always produced classy, ball-playing talent on every line. Tim Ream<\/a>? St. Louis born-and-bred. Steve Ralston? St. Louis. Josh Sargent? St. Louis. Patrick Schulte<\/a>, perhaps the league\u2019s best goalkeeper with the ball at his feet? St. Louis.<\/p>\n There is a sense of alignment now between how the club wants to play and the type of player they can and hopefully will start rolling through their academy. It might not all work out immediately \u2013 playing with the ball is harder than playing against it \u2013 but there\u2019s a long-term theory that works, and I bet we see some of it on the pitch from Matchday 1.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Will RSL shift to a 3-4-2-1 with wingbacks?<\/strong><\/p>\n Real Salt Lake<\/a> are one of two teams in MLS who\u2019ve made the playoffs for the past five years (Orlando City<\/a> are the other). It doesn\u2019t really seem that way, though, because for so long it\u2019s felt like they were scrambling to identify a first-choice XI, a team shape and a formation. Rarely were they able to bring a game model from one year into the next. So even while making the playoffs, they\u2019d have wild swings from 2024\u2019s 59-point season to last year\u2019s 41-point endeavour.<\/p>\n Another year means another set of adjustments, and in this case, that includes the parting of ways with two DPs (Rwan Cruz<\/a> and Diogo Gon\u00e7alves<\/a>), as well as veterans in midfield and along the backline.<\/p>\n The biggest arrivals thus far:<\/p>\n Also reportedly<\/a> on the way is Juan Manuel Sanabria, a Uruguayan international who\u2019s in his prime and likely headed to the FIFA World Cup<\/a> this summer. Can he play as an overlapping left back in a back four? Absolutely. Is he at his best as a pure wingback, though?<\/p>\n Yup.<\/p>\n Now, will the formation change make for a material change in how they play, or their outcomes? That I\u2019m not too sure about \u2013 as I said way back at the top, formations are flexible things, and tactics can be adapted from one to the next with some effort. But RSL\u2019s roster moves point toward a shift to a 3-4-2-1 with true wingbacks, even if it\u2019s framed as \u201cflexibility.\u201d\u00a0Whether that actually changes their on-field identity or just repackages the same tactical uncertainty that\u2019s defined them for years is still very much an open question.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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