SoccerWise - MLS Soccerwise | Nashville Chases History as Playoff Race Heats Up

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

Decision Day is fast approaching and the margins for error are getting smaller across the MLS playoff landscape. David Gass, Matt Doyle and Tom Bogert break down the MLS who players that stood out in this USMNT camp, Nashville’s pursuit of the single-season points record, the crowded races for position in both conferences and St. Louis’ remarkable unbeaten run as the regular season enters the home stretch.0:00 Intro6:20 USMNT’s MLS Standouts17:55 Can Nashville Break the Points Record?25:38 Battle for Home-Field Advantage in the East34:00 The Eastern Conference Playoff Bubble42:19 Vancouver & The Top of the West54:28 St. Louis Chases History Against the Galaxy59:54 The West’s Wildcard Battle1:09:00 The Games That MatterFor the sharpest coverage of American soccer, we’ve got you covered:https://linktr.ee/soccerwisehq

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Soccer Wise. David Garcia with Matt Doyle and Tommy Scoops. We are back into club action. The longest international window in history has come to a close and it is official. Guatemala has joined the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. Martinique has been relegated to USL League One to replace FC Westchester. And I think Michael Olise is potentially going to make the All-Star team next year in MLS. It has been a blast oil to live internationally once again.

for a couple weeks. Yeah, but Elise is not going to be able to be here on a DP contract. We're going to see if he is willing to take $250,000 now and $250 million next year. But it's all kind of coming together. It's really wonderful maneuvering by the league. The Galaxy should sign him. They should give him Ventura County. Just give it to him.

That's like the contract that he does. You know what? You know what's killing like watching Santy Jimenez this break. It's just like, you know, that guy is going to be in a galaxy kit on a massive DP deal 18 months from now. You just know it. And it killed me. He'll call Giovanni Dos Santos for tips of how to be the fourth DP on the LA Galaxy when necessary

and how to play out of contract and burn a little bit of money in time on the side. We've got a lot to talk about. We're getting back into the MLS swing. We are into the drive to the playoffs. And we are lucky enough here to be sponsored by Continental Tire, who are, of course, the most trusted name in tires, and they are the ones that are going to get us there. They are the sponsors of Sunday Night Soccer.

We have St. Louis, who are on the verge of history in MLS, who are going to be on the field against the LA Galaxy, who will be without Chukilo Tzano, who maybe is not as bad as Santi Jimenez, but he's been in the same territory over the last few years, and he's a DP for the LA Galaxy. So we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about where sort of the different races are.

So you can think in your head, what teams are connected, results you're watching. If you're a fan of one of these teams, who are you scoreboard watching as the weekend start? And we will talk all about where we think things will sort of end up over the next few weeks as we get ready for decision day and everything else. We're into that final sprint, Tom. And, you know, it's fall time. College football is ready. We're in playoff territory. The lights are on. It feels good. Listen, man, last night and this morning, I went outside and I could see my breath. That means playoff weather. That means we're almost here.

Nice. Playoff weather will have a new meaning in about a year from now, but that's okay. We're going to figure it out. And it feels nice. It feels right. It feels crisp. Goss,

you talked about the international break. And last night, while the United States were beating Canada, the Vancouver white cops were playing the Chicago fire. Of course. With complete Chicago Bears end zone still intact in this game. And I'm in the number of large group chats. And one of them I was making fun of,

they're going back and forth about messy, jokes. There seems to be a constant messy versus Ronaldo thing, which I don't understand how that's still happening at all time. I just feel like I have notification. The year's 2049. I don't know. I thought this would die at some point, but it never will. And anyway,

it would like the drone shows going off for Argentina and Messi's last game. What an, like the scenes up until the sponsorship was unbelievably incredible. USA is playing Canada. There's a lot of stuff going on and the chats just go crazy. So I just pipe in with like Chicago Fire 1, Vancouver, White

0 37th minute. What? I'm just keeping you guys posted on all the big soccer news tonight. And you responded, thanks, world. We'll take it from here. This one I do feel for the league of the teams. Like, this was the game that was going to be Lowndowski versus Thomas Mueller on Lowndowski's debut.

They planned it perfectly because that was going to be the first game after the World Cup break. They did that on purpose. That was not on accident. And then the Canadian wildfires smoked that blew over Chicago. that rendered the city, like you couldn't go outside. And that's why that game got delayed. And then both of those players were available to play last night.

And neither started. So it's just unfortunate. But, yeah, there was an MLS game last night while Messi was getting his send off against beneath. And the fire scored three goals and they were awesome. Like these were like some of the best goals. The lineups were pretty good. Yeah. They were.

But just like the fire were playing with like actual zip and like movement of and off the ball that looked like they were on the same page. it actually had like like they had what eight winless over the course of august in September and they just did not look like the same team and then last night it all kind of snapped into place yeah I watched the game this morning okay yes I did seek help um I'm just gonna take us fully off the rails here because you said it um it was a pretty strong team eddie or accompli wasn't there is Eddie er Campo has he surpassed alvaro barial is the best converted fullback now in MLS history He started two games, I think, internationally this week.

Good for him. You don't even want to go there. Andy Nahar is in that conversation. Is Graham Zucy in that conversation? Yeah, Graham Sussi's in that conversation for sure. He's a bit weirder, though, because he was a successful midfielder who became a fullback. All of the, what, like none of these, none of the guys I just named, well, I guess Nihar was. Andy Nahar was definitely successful.

And Barreal was more of a wingback, right? Yeah, he played wing back the same way Zavior goes. I was a wingback the first half of the season. He's a winner. Yeah. Okay, well, I'm putting Eddie Eric Campos name down on that. And if you want to write on me. Like, Eddie or Acampo is really good.

But if you're going to give this like historical take, you have to, you have to, you have to tee us up. You have to, like, prepare us a little bit. He ambushed us, Doyle. I thought, I thought you guys were big game players. I didn't realize that international. I didn't realize you golfed every day on an international break. I want an environment where you're passionate to come in and you want to be here. Speaking of, let's hit the U.S.

men's national team for a little bit. before we get into all the MLS action. We have our recap from the camp with Dunny that came out yesterday. We also have our preview of the U.S. Women's National Team Spain game with Casey White. That's coming up in that episode as well. It's a loaded month and a half of international action, which is pretty cool and probably will never happen again in our lifetimes,

although I guess. No, no, no, it's happening, well, unless it's a combo of men. I don't know the women's international schedule, but it's confirmed the next, at least the next two falls, it's going to be this combined Mando window instead of the September and then go back. But we don't know if we'll get USA versus Spain in those windows as well. But we will probably get a Gold Cup women's World Cup double header this summer at some point, which I didn't actually think about until just now.

Great. Great. David, it just occurred to David that he is not going to sleep for an entire six weeks. Also, I'm going to be like, oh, in between four World Cup games, let me see what Guatemala Haiti looks like on this other screen. I think we could all say the moment of the entire camp was Moriso Pochitino, Richie Larea hanging out on the sideline, goofing around.

After Luraya kicked the ball at him. And you see Jesus Perez, the lead assistant for the United States, for people who don't know a lot about him, he's been Poet's right-hand man, like they are extremely close. And he doesn't say much publicly, but you kind of know that he's not a guy to mess with. when Larea kicked the ball of Pooch, and let's be honest,

it's Larea. He knew exactly what he was doing. Jesus Perez knew that Richard Lurier knew exactly what he was like. Poch had to hold back Hases Perez before he got out of hand. And then, but then the best part was he was like,

no, no, no, it's okay. But there was some like kingpin stuff there where then he's like, I'll deal with it myself. Yeah,

it was really, I thought it was really impressive from Punch because, as Tom said, in seven different ways, Richard Luray knew exactly what he was doing. right it was not like he he was he was in the midst of clearing a ball and it just happened it's like he aimed and he kicked it at poch after the whistle and people around punch and poach was like no

i got and he puts the hand up and then he comes over to richie and like they share a laugh and everything and and poach kind of like big dogs him a little bit i thought that was a that was a cool moment and it's also like the way richie handled it we love richie on this show like i thought that was it was well done from him It was a good amount of shit housing and it ultimately didn't turn into anything. And I give Pocch credit for that. And if that was Gio Raina kicking a ball of Jesse Marsh, there would still be a fight. Oh, man, you could wish for things. The other thing Pots really handled well is my Peruvian friend who said who's Jacob Schiffelberg

because of how he terrorized Peru on the weekend. And somehow Maricio Pachio was able to build a game plan to keep shit. Schaffelberg contained somewhat, which is a miracle in its own right. But we're talking full national team with Dunny. I was thinking, let's sort of go the MLS route. There was obviously a huge MLS contingent of players in this camp. Tom, who do you think stood out the most? And who do you think sort of rides that momentum back into the regular season now?

Yeah. So, Kavana Sovin is the obvious and the correct answer. He knows how to meet a moment. And he was fantastic. Julian Hall is another. one who was really good and those that it didn't like just analysis as far as the mLS guys but i think that there's a little bit of a drop off from solvin and hall to justin ellis and um we need to see if if justin ellis is injured for a little bit he soldiered on after getting kicked he was limping

pretty pretty noticeably off the ball after that happened in the first half and he stayed on he kept asking his thing on geor reyna i think like came over to the the coach who staff and said like hey he's injured like you should take him off and ellis said like no i'm fine i'm fine and he scored a goal which is always nice he's not really a nine he's not really a nine he's not really a a 10, but he showed that he was impactful this window, which was impressive, particularly his two goals, one being a header off of a free kick

and one being a tap-in off of absolutely a shot from Alex Freeman, but it worked out as a really nice as this. And Justin Ellis is a really good, a really fun, and a unique player. Backpost tap-ins and winning a header on a set piece at a senior international

level are not two of the first things that we talk about when we talk about his game. So I thought that was impressive. we'll see how that translates back to Orlando. Hopefully he's all good. He's such an important player for Orlando and it's been a super fun season for him. Myself and Henry Bushnell wrote something this week

about all 13 debutantes. Like who is ready, who needs more minutes? Like for me, Hall and Sullivan absolutely need to be on the November roster. And I only say that about those two. I wouldn't be shocked if Ellis is, right? He should be in consideration. I think Peyton Miller was on the fringe and I don't think he did enough to say.

but as for the MLS guys, like, I think it's Sullivan at Hall and like those two are clear. I'm going to disagree on Hall. Hall, really? Really good. Okay, all the stuff that he did that has gotten him 10 goals in MLS, it scales. Finding those tapins, running in behind, you know, stressing opposing back lines in that way. He's got that Wando brain. He knows where the tapins are.

He gets there. He scores. That's really good. He didn't do anything else. He really struggled to add to the U.S. in possession in any other way, which is fine because he's 18 years old and it's hard to do that in your first camp for senior internationals. But the U.S. struggled in the second half in part because Hall wasn't able to do anything with the Canadian centerbacks except run past them into space twice. Ellis was a little more rounded. And you take that, not a little,

Ellis is a lot more well-rounded as a center-forward. And I say as a center-forward, Tom, because he was actually doing the center-forward stuff as well. And we don't see him do that for Orlando because he's playing off of Greasman or D-K, he doesn't have to actually run the line and get those backposts happens. He's more of a playmaker for him.

So for him to play that role, at his club level, but then come into the national team and do the getting backpost happens, getting set piece chances, and still add to the overall stew in terms of keeping the ball and trying to create chances via possession. I actually put him a little bit ahead of Julian Hall after this camp, but we're splitting hairs here. Like both of them, like doing what they did as teenagers is super impressive. Right.

And I want to be clear, that was a good way to end it, that, you know, Like both of these guys are awesome. I'm putting Hall ahead because one, I think that what his skill set is, the verticality movement finishing all that, I think is more valuable, particularly within context of the group that like, so against Chile,

when Julian Hall started, there's basically just number tens around them. Against Mexico in that game, it's Sullivan, Raina, Tillman, and then Berhalter and Adams are the double pivot. Julian Hall is not there to drop in and check in and get the ball, because if he does that, there is nobody running in behind.

So I think that it was more about, right, how does he impact the game? He's out there to, no, he's not doing a ton like connecting passes and hold up play in the buildup, but you know what he's doing? He's getting vertical,

which gives room for Tillman Rain and Sullivan to come and get on the ball. And I think that that is more valuable, particularly with like, Balgan is obviously a much more well-rounded center forward, but Balgan's best asset to me is being able to get behind. He's added the physicality of being able to bang with the Australian centerbacks at the World Cup.

He's good on the ball. too, right? Like, he can do all that and hauled the hope is that he'll do that one day in the future. Doyle, that's the rain of Miami through the sun banging through onto my window. I'm staring at a sunny day and just rain breaking my window. Yeah, Guy Goss is moving and he just, I'm not putting away the popcorn machine yet. Yeah. But, but so like, I think that that skill is more valuable because, again, I really like Justin Ellis, and I think he should continue getting chances with the national team, but you've got all these guys

that are really good on the ball and want to be on the ball. I'd rather, and if you're playing with one forward, it is more important to me that it's what hall strengths are. God, let me ask you this. Why do you think Tom hates Justin Ellis so much? I think it's pretty obvious, you know, for Tom, UCF is his biggest rival in life as he plays for Rutgers and, you know, NCAA 27. But here's the thing I would say,

because I agree with Tom in terms of the next camp, with Peppy and Balligan and whoever else is in at the, center forward pool for the rest. The guy we're talking about is coming off the bench for the last 20 minutes, probably, of most games, or you want change of pace. And I think Hall gives that more right now than Ellis does because Ellis did more of the things that Polligan does. I don't know where Pepe falls into all of this as well.

He's a bit more. I was going to say, like, given the way Pouch looks at the roster, looks at his player pool and wants to make it clear that nobody has. a guaranteed spot on this team. I think there's a non-zero chance both these guys are ahead of Pepey now on the death chart because both these guys in this camp

looked better than Pepe has at any point under poach. I think Donnie was talking about this on the broadcast and like thinking about this will be the last camp the next one to come up that comes inside of the MLS season towards the playoffs in the same way because the calendar shifting.

And like I think we have sort of seen conversations in the past of this, this guy needs to stay with his club because they're in a playoff race. He needs an opportunity. There's just not even, there's no chance where he's so much, you know, gives a shit about that. Nor should he. Nor should he. And I can't imagine a player letting their club say that for them, knowing the history of what Potch has the way he has handled the pool and the way he has.

treated players. So my assumption is all these players, I say that, are available for the next window and we'll be there. The U.S. will be playing Haiti in a two-game window. We're not sure where the away game will be yet. Haiti not able to play home games inside of Haiti. They played an away game in Dominican Republic. That was a home game this window, which was awesome. It pissed off the DR so much that they won't let them play there. Curisau has been a remote host. It could be. It could be South Florida. Like that would make sense to me. Yeah. Or it could be it has been Jamaica at times over the last four years. I mean, it would be awesome if it was in South Florida. They played a pre-World Cup friendly at the old Inter-Miam old at the time it was current. And I don't know,

there was 25,000 people there just jumping up and down on like a Wednesday night in 500 degree weather. So I think that would be pretty cool. I've been to some Haiti games at Red Bull Arena that have danced. Yeah. If I'm being selfish, I, you know, still figuring out. I was looking forward to potentially in my first Conca Caffa Way Day. And then the United States drew the team that can't play at home.

Unfortunately. Okay. Let's dig into some MLS action fully here. And we are going to sort of set you up for what the races look like coming down the stretch in major league soccer. So in the Eastern and Western Conference, we're going to start out east.

and we're going to start with one that stands alone, which is Nashville. They are going to win the shield. They are 12 points ahead of everyone else. They're the first place team in the league. They're on 60 points with 27 games played. And Tom, the first race we want to look at is the race for a record if Nashville will finish the season with the highest MLS point total of all time.

Yeah, 74 is into Miami's record. So they need 15 points over their last seven games. and that's not easy, but that is absolutely attainable for this group with how strong they are, how many different match winners they are, and how many different ways that they can beat teams. If you go back to when Miami set that record,

they were shaky as hell down the stretch. There was a few games against, like, Atlanta, or how many times did they take the lead in the 86 minute or they're losing in the 75th minute and then get points? Like, that's not how this Nashville team is rolling. So I guess you could do it both ways. I would put more money on, having it more controlled.

And you look down the stretch, they have at, oh, God. Well, so you said 15 points. So seven games at 2.2 points per game, which is what they sit, is like. Five wins.

What? I'm saying five wins, right? Like that, oh, yeah. And I'm saying they are exactly, I mean, if you do that math, it puts you at 14.6 point.

You know what I mean? Like, let me know. It is right there between one of these games. Yeah, if they get the point six, that would be huge for them. So, they have Austin this weekend.

They play both the spoon current contenders in Sporting, D.C., Montreal. They play San Jose and Philly, who are two of the hottest teams in the league, and they close with Red Bulls and Cincinnati. So the final game of the season is on the road at Cincinnati. I hope that they mathematically clinch before that game, and they're looking very good to do so,

because the two games before that Cincinnati game right home. I want them to have the, like, we all know that they're winning the shield, but I want them to be able to physically have. have the shield there for their fans and celebrate at home. And then maybe going into the final day, trying to set a new record. This team has been awesome. And I back them to do it, particularly with over the, like they just beat Chicago 3-0

and Toronto 2-0. This is a team that dropped a couple results at the beginning of September, fixture congestion gets for everybody. Weirdness because it's MLS, all the travel, all the whatever, right? Like things that we do dedicate our lives doing shows and writing about this league. And then it's just like, yeah, no, Toronto beat. natural 2-1 on a Wednesday because that's what happens, right? And they've stabilized. And again, like, for me, I'm sitting here with the combination of the schedule and how good they are.

And the fixture congestion will ease a little bit. They only have two more midweek games the rest of the season. I would take them to set a new record. They're also healthy. And that is something that they've had to deal with throughout the year. You know, Surridge has missed time. Yazbek has missed time. They've had to juggle a little bit in central defense. And that's just not an issue for them right now. Like, they're, in the form and fitness that you want to be going down the stretch here. And I was going to add to that. They only had four players called up in this international window

because they are one of these teams where they have star players like Hani and Surridge who are stars from big countries so they don't make their national teams. Ahmed Quasam and Patrick Yazbek, it's crazy travel because it's Australia and Iraq. Shwaki played here and then it's the backup goalkeeper and Xavier Valdez. So even when you look at that November window, like that's, not an issue as much for them to juggle these players leaving traveling long distances playing fixture congestion there and then coming back this is also a good uh opportunity to clean up like brian schwalk he's another guy who impressed in this window um he didn't you know for goalkeeper

what can you judge over 135 minutes but he didn't concede a goal he had good moments he had some some questionable moments but the fact that poachitino is trusting him to start against Canada um whether it's trust or whether it's i believe that you've earned a chance or i want to give you the chance to play a full game. I thought for sure Matt Freeze was like just kind of out of respect that he was going to play a full 90 and he didn't. So Brian Schrocke is absolutely within this conversation now for the goalkeeping depth chart for the national team.

And he's somebody I forgot to highlight in our last segment. He did conceded a goal. He conceded a goal before he touched the ball. He started the second half against Chile and they hit that banger three minutes in. And he had never touched the ball at that point. Yep. Yeah.

That was Shrocky. Yeah. I mean, there's something you do about it. But he was really good yesterday. I thought his distribution. was much better than what we saw from coaching. And, you know, he had one tough save to make. He made it.

He held on to the ball and commanded his box. It was a really assured performance, like easily the best performance of the four guys in camp. And he's a big reason, if you look at the numbers for Nashville, he's a big reason why they're on a record pace. Yeah. Right. He has Matt Turner-esque shot-stopping numbers back there. and Nashville's underlyings are good, but they're not all-time great. They're not, you wouldn't look at that and say, oh, man, they're going to end up on 75 points.

It just hasn't been that overwhelming, but Swaki has saved them 10 goals on the year. And when you plop that down upon everything else, you get a team that starts to look like a juggernaut when you see the standings. So he was club teammates in Chicago with Roman Salentano. Okay. Does that does not blow your guys mind? No. You have a youth club in Chicago that has two future national team goalkeepers. And Chris Brady played at the same club.

And did Gaga Sloanina as well? I don't know about Gaga. I mean, Gaga would have been in the Chicago Academy like super young. Yeah, the sign him at 14. Like two years. Yeah. It's just a different time period. And I don't know you've got Chicago Magic.

There's other clubs in the area that people play for. I don't know where the Polish players play. I'm not allowed into those secret circles. They'll talk to me about that stuff. You can play wherever they want. Well, you never know, Tom. There's rivalry. You got to respect the family.

Like, you got to do the right things. I respect to family. So Nashville, opportunity to set the record for the most points in MLS history. They would break into Miami who broke the New England Revolution. Who broke L.A.F.C.? Who broke with the Red Bulls? Yeah, it's been set at a number of time over the last decade.

Who broke Toronto in 2016. Yeah, I don't think Toronto. Yes, because they broke the 98 Galaxy. Yeah. The 98 galaxy stood for 20 years. Yeah. And in the last 10 years it's been broken four times. This would be a fifth. I'm pretty sure every time

it's been broken, we say it'll never be broken again and then it gets broken again. We don't say that. We don't? When have we not said that? When have we said it's not going to get broken again? When have we not? It's not. Like, every single time. It's like if it's it parody is fraying in this league and it's obvious that point totals are going to keep growing, right? For for top end teams.

This will be broken by the end of like 75 points. If they end up on it, great accomplishment, it'll be broken by the end of the decade. Ooh. You think it'll be broken this year? Yeah. I kind of think Nashville is going to find a way to do it. All right. We've got Nashville setting the points record.

So they sit atop the east. They are obviously in rarefifes. and air in their own territory. Below them, though, there is a fascinating grouping from two through five. So these are teams fighting for a home advantage in the playoffs in the first round, and then would have home advantage in matchups going forward, especially to try and get that two three series, to try and be the second place team and to host all the way through to an Eastern

Conference Final. And if someone could knock off Nashville, you'd be in a spot to potentially host all the way through, including MLS Cup. This is a team. This is a grouping that ranges from the New England Revolution in second right now to Miami, Chicago, and Charlotte. In the standings, they are all three points apart.

New England are on 46 tied with Miami. Chicago are on 45 and Charlotte are on 43. All of them now are on equal games played because Chicago had the victory against Vancouver on Tuesday night. We talked a little bit about Chicago going into that game. so we went into them in depth a bit more with Embaqaze back and what it means. But Doyle, how do you sort of look at this four-team race and where these teams stack up? Miami are in a tier of their own because of messy.

And it might not matter in the regular season, but I'm not going to pick against Miami in the postseason, even though their midfield's a disaster and their back line is kind of a mess and they can't protect the lead. They can't win at home. It doesn't matter. It's still Miami. It's going to be one of the last trophies Messy competes for in his career. And I think that we've seen

how that plays out. I mean, just ask Chris Azul, look at what happened two weeks ago in Campionis Cup. That is a trophy that nobody really cares about. But then you see how... He played like it, right? And you can say about,

like, we've talked a lot about how joyless a lot of this Miami experience has been, but they can. care. They really, really I would rather watch this than Stephen Gerard, you know, walking through 75 minutes. All right.

In Carson. You know, so Miami, look, National's going to win the supporter shield. I'm picking Miami to win MLS Cup because of the guy who wears number 10. But this group, it's tough.

None of them have been consistent. The revs, I thought last week like oh they're they got it they got it all figured out then they go to rsl who haven't won since april and lose three nil and this wasn't a particularly weak revs group now but it was a weekend group international break yeah it was um but like they still had carly's heel they still had other options and they looked terrible um fire the fire were dead and buried well the last two games they've looked great charlotte i'm writing off entirely because They only have plan A, right?

And we know what happens to Charlotte in the playoffs. They just cannot generate attack. The most dangerous group, most dangerous team in this group is just outside the group in sixth place. And that's Philadelphia. Honestly, I feel, I feel better about them. Dole, can I hit you with Miami stat? They have not beaten an MLS team not named C of Montreal since July 22nd. It's 11 games.

Yeah. get scared and for obvious reasons, for good reasons, but like this team is just too easy to play against. I don't know if the new man, like Suarez has been very productive and very good. The balance of the team is better when it's one of him or messy. And when it's one of messy and anybody, the answer is messy. And like it's not necessarily like Swarres's fault, but this team is better as they proved in the playoffs last year when they're, the two of them aren't always on the field together because you're defending nine versus 11. which exacerbates all the other individual problems

because the backline, they keep on shuffling players in and out. None of them work. Casamiro is in the backline. I hate that. I don't know why Ambrose Club continued to get legendary, somewhere between legendary and elite midfielders at the end of their career from Europe and then just be like, you know what we need to do? Make them a centerback.

There's just too many questions. Miami team. So, Tommy mentioned Miami not beating anyone besides CF Montreal. That will be very relevant to this race. So the three matchups left between these four teams. The revs host Chicago on October 17th. So in two games. The revs host Minnesota.

Sorry, Minnesota. The revs host Miami on November 1st and then Miami host Charlotte on the last game of the season. So the last two weeks of the season, Miami goes to New England and then hosts Charlotte. So if any of this is within three points, those could be the two games that decide this. And Miami will technically control their own destiny. in that, but also will need to prove that they can beat these teams around them. Are we entirely sure Miami wants to play at home because they seem cursed at New Stadium?

I mean, it's hot there. So I wouldn't. I'd rather play in New England or Charlotte or wherever else. Look, they want to play at home and Mikhail is coming back. Like, he should be healthy now these last few games, right? Is that what I saw? Because he did, he played 20 minutes in the last game before the break. And he hasn't played.

again since then. But I don't know. If he's healthy, that moves the needle big time. That probably moves Casamiro back into central midfield. Now, they do have to worry about Janik Bright, who had a nasty injury. But it's like, man, it's messy when games matter. And we talk about tactics and we talk about, you know, roster builds and we talk about all these things.

And sometimes it comes down to it's messy when games matter. We saw it down the stretch last year. This time last year, we were talking about. talking about how weak and vulnerable Miami looked. And then they, you know, Javier Mascherano changed the, the lineup and changed the tactical approach a little bit. They got hot down the stretch and they fucking killed everybody in the playoffs.

Mikhail played 90 in the last game against Columbus in the international break. It was 20 off the bench in the Campionis Cup. So has been fully back now for them and could give them a big opportunity. So those are the games to know in terms of those are the 14. all within three points of each other, fighting for these playoff spots for these home seeds, as well as potential home matchups. So do we need to add a take?

Because I gave my take. I think of this group, Miami is the one that is most likely to knock Nashville off their perch in spite of the fact that Nashville has absolutely owned them this year. I need you guys to give takes, too. I will agree with that, but I would be, I would bet that New England finishes on top of Miami.

me in the stand. What about NYCFC? Because you're still a big NYCFC guy, right? Inner Circle elite contender for when NYCFC beats Miami in the opening round of the playoffs after winning a playing game, Atlanta United style Doyle, I'm going to slap that back across your face. So get ready for it. But I'm, I will take the revs to finish. I think above them. I think the revs have the highest floor right now of these teams and are the most consistent. Although Mbocase Chicago, as we talked about last time, could change my mind. I just haven't seen. that and Levantowski, Chicago combined, really. So that's like a whole new element that we're going to figure out over the course of the next few weeks.

Is Tom supposed to say something now? Or can we move? He did. He said Chicago. Oh, there you go. Let's go into, so Philly, Doyle mentioned them for a second. Philly not going to get talked about today because they are kind of outside of both conversations. They sit on 39 points in sixth place.

So they're four points behind Charlotte in the race in front of them. they're five points ahead of Orlando and the race behind them. So we're going to leave Philly to the side. But here's the note. They play RSL this weekend. They are 12 games unbeaten currently. They have the chance to have the most points in a 12 game span if they beat RSL on the weekend. Obviously, they'll have Neil Pierre and Kevin Sullivan and everyone else returning to them.

They got a big victory over Orlando without those guys at the start of the international break. But now, let's go to our Continental Tire drive to the playoffs. segments and this is the meat. This is the good stuff right here. From 7 through 13 in the Eastern Conference, it is a, I wish I could have done my math. 5 point gap. I'm nailed that one as I set it up perfectly.

Orlando City and 7th on 34 points and Toronto FC and Columbus tied on 12th and 13th on 29 points. So that's the gap between all of them. it's currently red bulls and nycfc in the final two playoff spots tied on 33 Cincinnati one spot out on goal differential on 33 as well dc a spot behind cinci on 30 points with a game in hand so they have the potential to jump up into that 33 point tie but would probably have a worst goal differential if they got there and then you have columbus and toronto tom i'll start you with this Columbus and toronto are they legitimately

part of this conversation. I think Columbus is, we've seen what they're seeing as though they have the Open Cup final. And the Open Cup final on a Wednesday comes after playing Cincinnati on the Sunday prior. So they'll have to deal with that, which makes it more difficult

to be fully focused on the playoff race because they're going to need every point available to them. But this is a team that has Sanctu Rodriguez, Bryce Mendez, and a number of high-level players with a coach, Laurent Coutre, that I think we all respect here. So I would put,

them ahead of DC and Toronto. Cincinnati have four points on them, but Cincinnati has had a whole host of problems that I don't even know. These 64 goals conceded, 64. Like that's, funnily enough as much as Orlando. But that's 10 more than Montreal, right? Like, this is, I have no idea.

Like, they have a four point lead over Columbus and Cincinnati or below the playoff line on a tiebreaker. But like, I think that they're closer to that group. And I think Columbus have the ability, but not a lot of, room for error and not having room for error plus having an open cup final that they obviously will be prioritizing over trying to get to ninth place and being in a wildcard game or playing

game whatever we're calling it now um i think they have the ability though it is a long shot but less of a long shot i think than toronto and dc because they have much more quality yeah i think i think columbus um play the best soccer of this group and their issue is they have not always played consistent soccer. I think Laurent Cortois has mostly done a good job, though the month that he decided to play a 4-4-2 instead of the

3-4-2-1 might have ended up costing this team a playoff spot. But I think the upside of this group is the highest of Columbus, it's the highest of this group. That said, if, you know, I don't know, if, since he just figure out how to stay

compact and that's it. And then they could just win the next four games because they have Evander and they have Dankei and they have two wingbacks who run their asses off and sometimes that's enough. But they haven't figured out how to be compact and they haven't figured out how to be

dynamic on one side of the ball and not gap beyond the other. It's at Tom's point. 64 goals allowed. That's crazy. Which is like they're on track to set the single season record for most goals allowed. Which like, And we're talking about them as a playoff team.

Yeah, it's usually a wooden spoon thing. And Orlando's right there as well. And Orlando have been, you know, they've been on a pretty good run in terms of results. But their underlying defensive numbers are still a mess. And the big concern for me is like Robin Yanson has clearly lost a step. And he's one of my favorite centerbacks in the league, maybe in league history.

I just love watching the guy play. But you watch him defend in space and he's not the same guy he was two years ago. And they have not figured out how to account for that at all. So they are just making Maxim Crip Poe stand on his head week after week after week. I don't like any of these seven teams. So as you'd expect with so many teams, there's like a thousand six pointers coming up. Like everyone plays everyone. The fascinating one is this weekend you have Orlando Columbus, which is a rematch of the Open Cup semifinal that we just saw where Columbus pretty hang.

I think, well, I wouldn't say pretty handily, but it felt like deflated the Orlando bubble at least, right? Orlando had been on this run. Now they have the shot at the semi-final. Greasman's here, all of this. Greasman gets hurt. They lose, and that then shifts back into MLS play for Orlando

and a bit of a dip in form to pull them back into this conversation. Columbus has that game. And then Sunday night soccer on October 18th is hell is real. Incency. So like you then have that six-pointer if either of these teams can get themselves into a playoff spot. But no matter what, you have the rivalry game towards the end of the season in which one of these, not both of these teams are not making the playoffs.

Like it's going to be one of them in Columbus you're saying? No, I'm saying Sincy and Columbus. I just don't think both of them are making it. And I think you come down to if one of them can take three points in the head-to-head matchup, it might be the three points that gets them out over on top. But Columbus plays Toronto still. They play D.C. They play Sinci.

They play Orlando, right? Like, you have the chance against everyone. Toronto has four home games left because they had sort of the stretch to start the season. And then you've got the New York teams in the middle. Doyle, we've got, we already did our inner circle conversation. We love a circle here. Where do the Red Bull stand right now coming into this whole thing? Better in a better position than they did three weeks ago because I admire what Michael Bradley's done all season long,

playing the kids trying to play this sort of dynamic, expensive front foot attacking style. and they took some bumps. And now it's the end of the season and they're fighting for their playoff lives and he has dropped the line and put numbers behind the ball the past couple of games, they've been around 40% possession

and said, okay, you're going to have to break us down and we're going to hit on the break. And it's worked and they've won a couple of games. And there's a good amount of pragmatism. They've played really good soccer at times. Now they're just trying to grind it out, which is very MLS coded. And I don't know, the vibes seemed good after that.

And I'm not sure they should make the playoffs just based on overall talent and experience. But it kind of feels like they will after the past two weeks. They have. No, I agree with you. So they have next week on Wednesday. They have D.C. on the road. Then they play Toronto at home. Sandwich between San Diego and Inter Miami.

If they can just hold off the teams underneath them, but they don't have to be wins, right? If you draw in two of those games, if you draw on one, win one. you're probably in a really clean spot to make the postseason. I think the counter attacking stuff also makes sense with Rubalcaba. It makes a ton of sense with Kate Cowell. Like you have the talent to fit into a bunch of that. But then

you watch the St. Louis game, which I know is an international break, and it just felt like a defeated team. Like culturally it felt defeated. And that Shupa Motang and fours work like that's different guys technically but it just felt sloppy. Yeah. And it feels really hard

to believe that this is a group that can get themselves into a postseason conversation with that style inside of them and having a matchup like that where you're playing against the hottest team in the league and Daniel Edelman's coming home and you know what Simon Betrick can do and all of that and they kind of fell asleep in a ton of the big moments and then never really stressed St. Louis in that game. But this is going to be our weekly conversation now going forward through the end of the year. It's going to be this race at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, these seven teams that all have an opportunity at this and it's MLS, right?

We all know that D.C. is going to be mathematically out with two weeks to go and be one of the ones that makes it. That's what makes this fun and makes this league absolutely ridiculous. And that's why Decision Day is one of the best days of the year for us as we head towards November and then into the playoffs as well. So that's our drive to the playoff segment, sponsored by Continental Tire. Let's move to the Western Conference. Don't worry.

We'll talk Montreal. We'll get to the spoon. Don't worry. Well, let's start with the race at the top of the West. So Vancouver had been fairly comfortable most of the season at the top of the West. It has gotten a little bit tighter as we get towards the end here. So Vancouver is sitting on 50 points in first place. They are now equal games played because of that Chicago match this week.

St. Louis on 47, FC Dallas on 47, San Jose on 45. All equal games played a five-point gap at the top of the Western Conference. And Doyle, I think you could argue. I mean, St. Louis, the hottest team in the league. San Jose have been one of the hottest teams since Lovin got there. You could argue Vancouver is maybe in the worst spot of all these teams from what we've seen over the last few weeks. They have a losing record since the World Cup break. And it's not like just a little bit underwater.

Like they are fully underwater now. And it's weird because, look, Sebberhalter is a great player. But I think Ali LaRaz has actually been pretty good. You know, they have dynamic wingers. They have answers in, you know, along the backline with Ralph Prezio, it's Matthias Laborta, and Tristan Blackman, who we all think are really good players. But they've just become really easy to play through in a way that they weren't at any point

in the year and a half leading up to this sort of. Claucera that we're playing here. I don't know whether it's structural. Like I've looked at it and I don't see that like these are, you know, this is a team that gets out of shape and, you know, goes chasing the ball. Like I don't see that as part of it. It just seems like they're maybe they're only playing at 80%. Like the challenges aren't coming in as fast.

They're not winning the ball. They're not closing down lanes. Those fire, those goals, the fire scored last night. I mean, they were just dicing through Vancouver. and it was beautiful high level soccer but usually that's what we're used to Vancouver doing to someone else I don't know exactly what's gone wrong and I haven't seen anybody sort of reported out

or do the data on it or do like the film study on it and I'm a little bit lost because I'm like that I really thought at mid-season this was the best team in the league and they have been anything but over the past two and a half months To open up September, they lost 3-1 to St. Louis at home. They then beat the Galaxy. They then lost to Austin. They played a Canadian championship game that they lost to Montreal.

They beat R.S.L. who have been lifeless. They gave up three at home to DC United in a 3-3 drop. And then they lost 3-1 to Chicago. So it's two or plus goals against pretty much everyone besides RSL in that run. And teams that we have consistently seen Vancouver get results. against them the hope was Ryan Gould's back and Thomas Mueller's healthy and Brian White's healthy and I think the hope was the goal scoring would get there and you see that in a

three three draw with DC but it is definitely feels like a different team that it has three three home draw with DC is like that is a that is a that is a disaster that's a that's a red flag that that that's a red flag I just I just went through their their schedule five wins eight losses, five draws since the resumption of play back in July. Like, I, it's, it's bad for Vancouver. I don't want to be like boring,

but like how much of this is just a team that's kind of been there. They won a bunch of Canadian championships. They get to the Concep Champions Cup final. It's the M. West Cup playing three games a week, basically this whole time. Yeah. When your best player is Thomas Mueller,

who's in his late 30s or mid to late 30s, who had been your best player who's been injured basically most of the last two years he's obviously been back for a couple months andres kubas is somebody who relies on physicality

he's not been in the last three games Brian White is somebody Tristan Blackman even last year what I think he played 25 games when he won defender of the year I still think that this is a team just get through this stretch

and when we get to the end of the year whether they're top of the West second or third that I'll still feel really good about them going into the playoffs or are we good? Like, that's how I feel. But then their hindsight's always 2020. If they don't recover it when they get back to playing once a week

or mostly once a week, then it'll be like, oh, yeah, like that we should have known by that DC game or we should have known by that Austin game. I still think it's more about it's really hard. It's a lot of travel, particularly for the Vancouver White Cups, because of where they're geographically located.

They have a lot of veteran players and players who are playing on international duties, like Andre's school buses. And it's just like, yo, we're going to be fine, right? They're still figuring out the post-Beralter era.

You're right. La Razza's been good, but Sebastian Berlter was the best midfielder in the league over the first half of the season. It was best Aladdin last year, right? Like, just being good, that's still a pretty vast drop-off.

And that's no disrespect to La Raz. It's just how good Burralter's been. I just still really trust this team, even if I can't explain some of these results. The thing that worries me is, this is exactly how I felt this time last year, about the Columbus crew. And at the end of the year, they were like, you know what?

We played a lot of games over the past couple of years. And it wore us out. And we just didn't have anything left when it came to the second half of the season. And then they went out pretty meekly in the playoffs. And like if anything, that's what this Vancouver team is reminding me of. I think that's an interesting comp because of the way that they play and the, the respect that we have for the coaching staff of just like, oh, no, they'll figure it out. things would be all right.

Like, well, for Nancy, he didn't. And then went to sell to a game. Also, only 10 months ago, which is insane. Selling, you know, your best player or one of your best players in the middle of the run, you know. And two middle, bro, specifically. The one difference I would say between Columbus and Vancouver where it stands is Columbus was a three to five year span that they had been in that space where Vancouver, we're talking about 18 months.

It doesn't feel as long. But to Tom's point, they rotated teams and lost to Austin and St. Louis around the Canadian championship. although they the XG in that Austin game if you remember where Christian Ramirez scored twice was 3.3 to 0.6 so like also sometimes ball going sometimes ball doesn't

and overall Vancouver's had a lot of the trust I extended this one down to San Jose Tom but not to Houston so Houston are in fifth on 44 points San Jose are on 4th on 45 because it feels like those two teams are trending in the opposite direction and San Jose have shown already this season that they can go on these hot runs.

Yeah, it's, it's, Houston's been a weird team to kind of take in and we, the three of us have all struggled with trying to particularly contextualize. They had that really good winning streak. And they are where they are for the, for a reason. But I also think it's the right call for them to not be lumped with definitely not Vancouver and St. Louis.

You could make an argument with the San Jose Dallas, but like I do think in particular San Jose is above them. Maybe Dallas, I'll just keep doubting and be wrong about. But I think there is a clear demarcation for Houston, even if like you said, they're one point below San Jose, three points below Dallas and St. Louis.

Theoretically, they could, perhaps not more than theoretically, they could absolutely play themselves back into the top four and get a home around in the first round of the playoffs. And it's pretty jumbled there. And MLS can be weird, but they have Minnesota coming up, one win in five here.

even on the winning streak, wasn't particularly convincing. Duncan McGuire just hasn't been very good. It hasn't been impactful in anyway. You guys called this pretty immediately. I was willing to give it more time. I was speaking to somebody. I think Duncan McGuire has like a total of like four shots since he arrived.

Nope. Under. Oh, it's under that? My God. Yeah, that's. Guys, he has he has one shot. What? He has one shot in 500 minutes.

coming in to replace Ezeko Ponce, who was not good. And yeah, not ideal. Lyle Foster, I don't know if he's debut. He's like international science. It took a little bit for him to get there.

But he's obviously not at 100% yet. I don't know if he will be right now. He's had a lot of time now to train for the international break, or unless he was on international duties, I don't ever. Regardless, at least he's playing and not training by himself. And that's their idea. Like he's on a $7 million purchase option.

That's a potential. DP forward and if that's if if if he comes in and hits and that's a big if it's not easy for anybody that's a deadline day signing that has the visa trouble not trouble but just a visa delay to then jump into a team that's not doing super great and then hit the ground running and be the piece that solves it um if he does then i think houston are back up into like the san ozate tier and the dallas tier but i think that that's too many ifs for me to be comfortable with it is um it will be fascinating down the stretch. So we have Wednesday, October 14th, Vancouver at St. Louis, and then October 24th, San Jose at FC Dallas. That's the only two matchups between these four teams.

So you're going to have to do your work against the other opponents. You're going to have to stack results, which Doyle to you said, you have belief San Jose can do that of these maybe four teams. I mean, they've shown the ability to do that. When they were healthy at the start of the year, they had what nine wins and 10 games i think they set the the league record for for best 10 games start and then their dudes all got hurt and they weren't as good and they have actually less depth than i think anybody else in the league at this level anyway um and they look like the worst team in the league and now the guys are healthy again and they're winning games again so it's it's it's you know pretty straightforward math in my opinion um like if timo verner and pressing judd

Nico Chakiris stay healthy. This team is probably going to win a lot of games. I still question whether they're going to be tight enough defensively. Because even as they've won games in the second half of the season, they've allowed chances that weren't there in the first half of the season. And even though Anga's gun has been better the past four or five games, he still does not look like the tight. of goalkeeper who can make like really physical dynamic saves.

So there are questions about San Jose, but I think they have upside here. Whereas Dallas, because of their game model, like they're very similar to like a Charlotte. They're going to absorb a lot of pressure. They don't do it quite as well, but they have more weapons and a little bit more variety going forward. I know Eric Quills tried to build that. It's still a work in progress. and they don't really have other than Petermusa,

they don't really have that second high-level match winner. And then on top of that, we all think that Logan Farrington and Petermusa are two of their best players, but it's not clear how they fit together in an 11 that Eric Quill actually wants to play. And so if the team you're putting out in these big games is a team that is missing one of your two best players, then you're not necessarily maximizing the talent that you've got on hand. And these are weird questions for a good team to have to face at this point in the season. And it's just something that St. Louis just does not have to deal with at all. St. Louis right now look far and away, the class of the Western Conference.

Let's talk about them. Let's go into our Continental Tire Sunday Night Soccer match, which is going to be St. Louis against the L.A. Galaxy, the Klaus Bowl, the Klaus off, the Santa Claus, whatever you want to call it. And it is a big moment for St. Louis. They have the potential to tie for the longest undefeated streak in all competitions in MLS history. They, if they hit the 20 game mark, they would draw up against Columbus from the early

2000s and FC Dallas in 2016. Doyle, they are on this historic run that Yohan Demet has powered and fueled and they've changed players in and out big name players big pieces and they continue to roll on and now they get the galaxy on the weekend yeah they they look like a juggernaut and what it's built around first and foremost is just being awful to play against like they do not let you come up from for air for even a second and we saw that against the red bull's reserves really are r v ny2 um in that 3-0 the last time out like red red bulls spent a lot of time just not being able to get out of their own end.

And I think two of the three goals for St. Louis came off of high turnovers. But then the other aspect of this is when they do get on the ball, they can knock it around. They stretch you out. They use both wing backs. You see a lot of, you don't see like a lot of like wing back to wing back goals like Wilford Nancy's Columbus crew used to do. But one wing back will get forward and then the other will drop into a half space on the opposite side and it ends up on Totland's foot.

or Volum's foot. And it just ends up being different geometry for teams. And you end up forcing them to chase. When you have that on top of Afin Navarro, Simon Becher being one of the hottest forwards in the league, Carlo Holza and Alexandre Matan, who looks like a man reborn. Like it's just strength piled on top of strength, piled on top of strength. It's been a lot of fun to watch and frankly unexpected.

I thought this team would be good because I like Yoan de May's. philosophy on the game. I did not think they would be this. They look unreal right now. They're headed to the Open Cup final as part of that 19 game unbeaten streak. That is the all competitions they've played in. They have that game coming

up on October 21st in Columbus, which is a huge moment for them as a club. Tom, but then they have the chance to make history this weekend against the LA Galaxy team that has been in better form. They're currently sitting in a playoff spot, but Chuky Lozano, who's been a piece of that,

goes down in the Mexico camp. Yeah, the Galaxy are a team that's just, I don't know, trying to tread water. They are in ninth place. They do have a four point cushion over the teams below them, but they have played one extra game. So hypothetically, Portland, Rial South Lake San Diego or Austin win a game.

They are within striking distance of the galaxy. And this is a team that I think that they're just going to come down in the final day or the final days around that wildcard spot because they look good when they beat Colorado. And then there's the injuries that happened with Chouca Luzano, like you said. Klaus has been, like he started off well for the Galaxy and he was out for a long time. Royce, you never exactly know how much you're going to get from, especially during fixture congestion. This game against St. Louis is like Yon D'May and Greg Vanny, they worked together.

Yon Domei was the Galaxy 2 head coach for a brief time. And then Vanny brought him to the first team. They respect each other a lot. They still have a good relationship. Yohan DeMay went to MLS Cup in 2024 when the Galaxy won because the relationship's there and Vanny and everybody.

Yohan DeMay's team, I think, is what the Galaxy hoped they would be, this team would be under Vanny by this point and probably by a couple years ago. They did get MLS Cup, but it's just been so up and down. And this year has been so indicative of that. They've got good players

and they've got options and there has been injuries. Sergei Roberto has been good for this team and I think he fits really well for what Greg Vanny wants to do. Justin Hack and Jacob Glessis, like there should be better in defense. There's just a lot with this team where they can look really good one week.

And then they can have two weeks where they're just, they don't look anywhere near a playoff team. And that's why they're sitting in ninth. I think that's kind of perfect for this team because, like, I don't, I don't think that they're going to make any noise in a playoffs. They have to make the playoffs.

That's a pretty low bar for them to clear, given the talent and the money that they have in this team. And Lazzana going and down certainly doesn't help. Pablo Ruiz and Sergio Roberto, the two editions, sort of at the end of the window. The Pablo Ruiz one has gone under the radar just because he's been hurt for so long. But yeah, if he could be who he was, it's a huge addition.

The galaxy have a tendency to pick up guys on name to say if they are who they were, we'd be great. And then in two years, we'll give up anything to get off this contract and can we get this player out the door. But this game is going to be, the story is going to be St. Louis, chance to set the record to do so at home in a big matchup and then set you up for a big week, as I said, because then next Wednesday you host Vancouver, which is your chance to grab

six points and move potentially to the top of the Western Conference, which is not something we thought we'd be saying about this St. Louis team in 2026. It will be our Sunday night soccer game sponsored by Continental Tire. We appreciate Continental Tire. and time you mentioned it, let's finish up with the playoff race at the bottom of the Western Conference. It is not as spicy as the Eastern Conference. So you have right now, Colorado and the LA Galaxy is the last two teams in the postseason. There is then a huge gap to Portland right now who are on 42 points, 42 points. 32. That would be nice for them. They were on 42 points,

who are four points behind them and it is basically must win every single week now for all the teams further down in the Western Conference. Yeah, I mean, it is and it should be. But maybe I'm getting cynical because we've done this a long time

and we've done the bottom of the conference playoff races. Bro, if Portland loses two games in a row and then they win their last four, they're going to make, like what is the number of these teams to make, because do you trust the Galaxy and the Rapporteurs? Well, run away. I don't.

Here's the one opportunity. So Portland plays SKC this weekend. Andre Luis, the most important player for the playoff race across the board. Portland then plays at LA Galaxy home to the Colorado Rapids. So they have two six pointers coming up in the next, what is this, nine days? Because you have midweek next week. Yeah. And they have the chance to draw a little bit closer.

So I get your point, but also it doesn't feel like any. After this weekend. Nothing matters is what it feels. The inverse is true. If they win the next two games, do you trust them to stay above the playoff line? I don't. Like, look at the form guide for 10th place,

Portland Timbers through 14th place, Minnesota United. Those are five teams. Combined for those five teams over their last five games, 25 games, three wins. Three. Yeah, that's rough. The thing I will say, though, after the galaxy

lose to St. Louis City this weekend, four of their final five games are six-pointers. The galaxy have Portland at home. They have San Diego at home. Then they play across town at L.A.F.C. Who are safe. But not good. Then they host Austin FC.

Then they finish up on Decision Day at R.S. And I don't trust the galaxy, even though three of those games are at home. I don't trust the galaxy to shut the door. So I think that this is going to go right up to the very end. Yeah. And let me set that stage for everyone, by the way. I said Portland on 32, R.S.L.

are on 32. San Diego are on 32. Austin are on 31. So it's not just Portland. They just, they have the games coming up. They currently sit in first place. Um, or sorry, first place at the top of that. First place of the non-flip teams on four of those teams.

All of those teams have a game in hand on the galaxy. Correct. So, and that's always for four and a half years, the LA Galaxy have played one more game than everyone else. I don't know if they start the year with the game already played. It feels ridiculous. And like that's the thing. Like I don't want to be dismissive.

And like this isn't a great way to tell fans that like, yeah, the stretch run means a lot. But like I've just the playoff races are fun, right? They are. And weird things are going to happen. Shoot, Atlanta United beat Into Miami after Inter Miami set a new record. But like I've come to just be, I am much more interested in like the race for second versus third or fourth versus fifth than I am.

in the 8, 9, 10 range. Let me say this. So I think one of the things for me is some years, it's new group, new roster, new build, trying to get in and do that first thing. These are all teams that had higher expectations. That's a good point. And it's not clear what the future looks like.

And so it makes it harder to be excited about what a last second playoff clinching spot means. But the other thing I would say, is I wouldn't be shocked if a lot of these teams could beat FC Dallas or San Jose in a playoff series. So if you can get in in the West and you can find your feet and you have the right matchup, that's the other side of this is San Diego could go further this year than they did last year if they can just find their feet and get into the playoffs. San Diego went to the Western Conference final.

So they could make MLS Cup if they could get right and get into the playoffs. That's that's to me because of where the West stands. You said LAFC will have them been great. Seattle haven't been great. Houston have a center forward. It was taking one shot in two months. San Jose starts me as a backup centerback in case something happens and have no depth. FC Dallas are playing a half empty stadium for the next 16 years.

Like there are huge question marks in this conference. So I think to me that's the flip side of this, which is. So I appreciate that that is a better way to talk. And it's probably a more accurate way to. And Doyle, you made the point of like the cycles of where these teams are, these teams that are building or these teams that are coming. Like St. Louis, if they were in this mix, I think we'd all be really.

I think in April, that's what we thought was going to happen. And they just obviously blew up. St. Louis, San Jose, we would have felt fine about in this space. Yeah. But so last year, the Chicago fire came on late and they ended up finishing in the wildcard game, but they finished in eighth. Granted, it was 53 points. I don't see any of these teams getting anyone near 50.

three points over the last seven games, right? But is there a team from, let's say, even if you want to lump in Seattle, which I don't, like, let's Colorado all the way down. Like, I think Colorado is the only team or maybe Portland, depending on what you think about Marty Se Fuentes. But like, with Colorado, it is the first year of Matt Wells. And we, like, maybe we've been a little bit critical. We have been critical of them, but we do have to remember it is the first season with

the new coach, new players this summer, because Alfa Navajo leaves, Morgan Whitaker and others come in. And like, they're the only ones that kind of feel like really at the beginning of a cycle because we also like just feel, you know, completely stuck in them in the middle of a maze. No idea where they're going. San Diego peaked last year with like with this group kind of thing. It's weird to say about a team in their second ever season. Austin are on the down swing before they start building up. Like there are no teams here that really feel like they're on the way up.

And I don't know if Colorado qualifies, but if anyone does, it would be called. I think Colorado definitely is the one that stands out. they're since the the return to play after the World Cup break they actually have the second best underlying numbers in the league I believed in their game model basically since since week two my big issue with them is I don't think that Matt Wells has done a good job of developing players I think that the young players other than Lucas Harrington who didn't really develop he was there for 15 minutes and they sold him haven't like they haven't none of them have really taken in a step forward. But now they've gone out and they've spent $12 million on Morgan Whitaker and they've gotten other veterans added in. Abu Farkey looks like a freak. He looks awesome.

He's very high on my U-22 list. He is behind Donovan Philip in on my two hundred twenty two hundred twenty two. I really do. But like, I, if you take a good game model and you add good veterans, it should work. and I think that that's what's going to happen with Colorado, but also Colorado's already in eighth place.

So they're like, they're not technical, they're not particularly far above the fray, but I have Colorado mentally in a different sort of bin than I have the Galaxy, Portland, R.S.L, San Diego, fair.

And, like, of those teams I mentioned, I do think that the Galaxy on paper have the best talent. but I just don't have any belief that that's going to matter. I was going to say speaking of annual traditions of them having more games played, like of the like, well, the galaxy they have,

you know, Gabriel Peck and Joseph Pace like in the past. Now it's like, well, you know, if Chugia Luzano, it's a biceps injury. Like,

well, we don't know the severity of it. Oh, maybe he's back. You know, look, they've got all this surgery bird knows really good. And,

oh, Marco, Marco, Margo, Roy's John Klaus. And then it's, then it's like, what was the year,

what it happened both, What was the year where they were playing Houston Dynamo when the Dynamo were in like the bottom of the conference and just need to win at home to get into that. That was 2018. It just feels like another thing that's happened several times. It's like, oh, yeah. 39 year old Oscar Boniac Garcia being the most important player on the field. By the way, the galaxy have the worst underlying numbers in the league since the World Cup break. The Hartman Miller generation has been.

I actually have this up. They have negative 12 and a half goal difference since the World Cup break. second or worse is Austin at negative 8. So that's by a magnitude of four goals. Yep. Okay. Which is to say that J.T. Marsenkowski has been really, really good. He has.

Good job by that. He got a new contract. Yep, deserved it. As a reward for that. Okay. So going into the weekend, a lot of these teams matching up, a lot of big games. Orlando versus Columbus, we mentioned Charlotte FC Dallas. So a crossover of two teams that are fighting for top four spots in each conference.

Chicago against NYCFCFC. could be a future MLS Cup, you know, face off because NYCFC or that could, they could shift to the West, Red Bull style and come back and make it to MLS Cup. Miami, D.C. United, as D.C. still try and stay alive in the playoff race, and Miami push a little bit higher. And then Colorado, San Jose, that big one in the West. As you said, do I agree, I think Colorado are outside this fray a little bit, but at the same time, there's a tough game against a big team, and you lose and other teams win, and now all of a sudden things get a little bit tighter going into midweek.

The one I want to mention before we get out of here is LAFC against Vancouver. Obviously Vancouver, a lot to play for. And L.AFC have a new coach. They fired Mark Dos Santos coming into the international break in that final game. And they have appointed as interim. I completely forgot. Javi Javi. Javi. Javi. Javi T. Do we have any thoughts about what we want to see from L.A.F.C.

Or what this means or how any of this was. Just try to play a tackle. attacking soccer, for the love of God, don't start six. Thomas thoughts. But it's, we've done this for a couple years. And like, they were, you can, you can defend it when you're being successful. You can defend it when there are more moments from Denny Belong and Sun Jungman just being themselves. And they had some of that under, they had plenty of that under Tarundalo, though.

It got more and more conservative until he leaves. And then Dos Santos comes in and it stays conservative. And it gets even, even more away. you've broken a league record transfer fee to sign son young men Denny Buonga has been I don't know does he have the most goals in the league over the last four years because he's just 20 goals a year every year and he can play basically every minute and he can sprint whether it's the first minute or the eighth minute and stop at it's time you have these players you have a midfield that has a lot of MLS respected and qualified and successful players

and at every turn you're just trying to play counterattack soccer you're just trying to play counter attacking soccer. You're trying to defend and play boring. You're trying to shrink the game because of how good Bwanga is in transition and not playing brave and not playing entertaining. You're a giant of a club and you're playing like a minnow and that has been the knock for years. Right. And with the 27 million spent on Sunyang Min to play like a moneyball team on the field, it's embarrassing. So

So that's, it's a low bar to clear of like just show a little bit, a little bit of attacking courage, just a little bit. Yeah. They're going to get an opportunity against the Vancouver team, as we said, that has conceded a bunch of goals over the last few weeks. That's going to be a fun one to close out Saturday night. And then the lone game on Sunday is Sunday night soccer, St. Louis hosting the LA Galaxy. We'll be back on Monday. We will have your full recap as we do 10 a.m. Eastern time. We will talk through all these games and then midweek.

So we'll have the full midweek reactions, get you set up for that. And then pretty much half these teams are either going to be in or out of the playoffs in like seven days. And then we'll have another month and a half until Decision Day. So it's going to be a fun stretch. Thank you to you guys for being here with me. If anyone has any recommendations, I'm going to be driving from Miami to Long Island via Columbia, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina. It's very wrecks of places to stop along the way besides Brick, New Jersey. let me know if you know of any good stuff.

And I'm going to be a bit of a road show over the next week or so, but I'm excited for it. And we have a lot of good content. We have the U.S. reactions. We have the U.S. women's national team previews. We had Lisa Carlin, sideline reporter for Ion sports, on the end of a sales show alongside World Cup winner, Saskia Weber, to deep dive on Angel City.

We're having the best run in their club's history. And we've got all your MLS action that we're getting tooled up for as well. Subscribe to Tactics Free Zone. if you don't already. Doyle did all my grades for me last night that I read in bed while I fell asleep. So it's the best place for USM&T coverage. It's the best place for MLS coverage as well. And I don't know, Tom already plugged himself and Henry Bushnell.

So I don't have to do it for him because he's never walks alone. You know where to find me. He's a great team. You know where to find me. All right. We'll talk to you all again very, very soon.