MLS Western Conference Check-In, More Words at the One-Third Mark

I'm coming for yer place, Soccer Don.

Careful readers who visited last night’s Eastern Conference check-in may notice I cribbed that preamble for this one. Fuck it. Who reinvents the wheel when he doesn’t have to? Ahem.

Welcome to this broad and necessarily shallow check-in on where things stand in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference about one-third of the way through the 2025 season. To set expectations a little:

I watch just one Western Conference team religiously – my Portland Timbers – and most of the additional (somewhat) in-depth watching I’ve done involved teams that they played the upcoming weekend. So, again, I’m not coming at any of this from some all-knowing, all-absorbing perch.

Against that, I sincerely believe that a lot of the week-to-week global coverage I see from this league (almost all of it from Official Organs) suffers from a pernicious tendency to read too much into the last game played – i.e., Content, particularly the stuff around failure and progress in players, formation shifts, etc., over-values the latest details, often at the expense of considering broader details like, say, did your team look like some hot-rod shit last weekend because they ran over the Los Angeles Galaxy (ha!) at home? All of the everything below looks at the same things, just over a longer arc. That follows for necessity, for sure, but it’s also about patterns, particularly when it comes to results, where they happened and against which teams and in what form.

Just to note it, I constructed the information boxes that top each section for each team from the (current) Conference Standings, the much-reduc’d Form Guide (still mourning the loss, contemplating egging MLS HQ…so long as that’s not a felony, because I can’t have another), and applying a filter one team at a time to the Official stats page. Just to note it, MLS has gutted its non-app content. Jesus fucking Christ, the home pages for must teams are like the shells of abandoned houses with all the copper piping and really good built-ins stripped out.

The teams below are listed in their order in the Western Conference standings and whatever comments I provide come from a combination of things I’ve read, both in the Official Organ and strays caught on Bluesky, watching highlights and longer chunks of games when I had to, or told myself I had to, and watching MLS Wrap-Up – which, to the credit of all concerned, has improved now that they have stuff to chew on.

I feel like the format speaks for itself, which leaves just one final note: the averages for goals scored and allowed are 14.67/game in the East, 15.2/game in the West, and 14.93 across the league. That’s for reference on the goals scored and allowed for each team listed. With that, away we go…

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
8-1-2, 26 pts., 22 gf, 8 ga (+14); home 5-1-0, away 3-0-2
Last 11 Results: WWWWLDWWDWW
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ POR (4-1 W); v LAG (2-1 W); v MTL (2-0 W); @ FCD (1-0 W); v CHI (1-3 L); @ TFC (0-0 D), v COL (2-0 W); v ATX (5-1 W); @ STL (0-0 D); @ MIN (3-1 W); v RSL (2-1 W)

The last time anyone asked any questions about Vancouver was when Scottish star, Ryan Gauld, limped off after…looks like the third game. Since that time, Brian White has scored in bunches, Pedro Vite picked up the slack, the ‘Caps unearthed a budding star in Jayden Nelson, and plenty of other players on the roster formed a committee to keep the goals flowing. On top of leading the whole damn league at the one-third mark, Vancouver won one for all of us MLS townies by knocking Messiami out of the CCC – and in some style. As much as the attack contributed to all the above, I’d like to direct the reader’s attention to the goals allowed side of the equation, something that goes back to a mental note I made about them after Gauld went down. I thought they’d survive Gauld’s injury because they played a system that made the team stronger than any individual player: it starts with one of the best presses I’ve ever seen [Ed. – the author watches MLS almost exclusively at this point.] and just kind of builds the dream from there. At any rate, when a team’s playing as well as Vancouver, one doesn’t have to pay much mind to the opposition, but here’s what they’ve got through the end of May: v LAFC, @ ATX, @ RSL, v MIN. If they don’t roll through that, I’ll be stunned.

Minnesota United FC
5-2-4, 19 pts., 15 gf, 10 ga (+5); home 2-1-2, away 3-1-2
Last 11 Results: LWWDDWWDDLW
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ LAFC (0-1 L); v MTL (1-0 W); @ SJ (1-0 W); @ SKC (3-3 D); v LAG (2-2 D); v RSL (2-0 W); @ NYC (1-2 W); @ TFC (0-0 D), v FCD (0-0 D); v VAN (0-3 L); @ ATX (3-0 W)

Behold, the Anti-Sandwich

Minnesota’s sneaky, for starters – i.e., who but a dedicated Loons fan knows Tani Oluwaseyi leads them with a solid 5 goals, 3 assists? Little-ish surprises follow from there – e.g., Kelvin Yeboah hitting lower numbers than I expected (4 goals, 1 assist), Bongokuhle Hlongwane barely producing – but the big picture looks as Minnesota as 1,000 mosquito-infested lakes: average on the scoring side and better than average defensively. Anchored by the seemingly eternal Michael Boxall and Canada’s best non-ginger ale product, Dane St. Clair’s, Minnesota’s hard to beat and the attack gets good support from Wil Trapp (who grew into a better d-(ish)-mid than I thought he ever could) and, for my money, MLS’s best current utility-player, Robin Lod. They’re not quite killing it – see the draws nearly on par with the wins – but there they sit at a distant second to rampaging Vancouver. I put some of that down to the West feeling a little more wild and wide-open than usual in 2025, but I still give the Loons a decent chance to hold steady through it. Their games between now and May 31 have a kind of anti-sandwich feel, i.e., the soft stuff’s in the middle (v MIA, @ HOU, v STL, v ATX, @ VAN, @ SEA), while the rest has real potential to knock them off stride. Big thing to watch.

Portland Timbers
5-3-3, 18 pts., 21 gf, 19 ga (+2); home 2-1-2, away 3-2-1
Last 11 Results: LWLDWWDWDWL
Strength/Location of Schedule
v VAN (1-4 L); v ATX (1-0 W); @ NSH (0-2 L); v LAG (1-1 D); @ COL (3-0 W); v HOU (3-1 W); @ ATX (0-0 D); @ SKC (4-2 W); v LAFC (3-3 D); @ LAG (4-2 W); @ SJ (1-4 L)

I want to start this section by asking Timbers fans to pause and really take in the fact that Timbers are third in the West. Again, that’s third. Telling anyone they’d be that high as recently as Week 5 would have brought embarrassed silence, but some surprising things happened along the way. The young Brazilian, Antony, continued his growth spurt from the 2024 (kid leads the team in goal contributions, at least I understand the term), David Ayala took his step forward, and David Da Costa has posted good early numbers (1 goal, 5 assists) as he grew into the team. There are concerns, real ones too – e.g., can Joao Ortiz find his spot/form in the roster and, The Big One, did the defense actually improve? (those recent trends, man) – but, on the plus side of the ledger, this looks like one of the better off-season rebuilds (see, Surman, Finn), the Timbers have pipped 10 of their 18 points on the road (soft venues, tho, at least until San Jose (of all teams!) kicked their balls clean off in Week 11). To pour a little piss on the plus side, those early games turned out to be soft patch and I expect tougher tests will come later, perhaps even from surprisingly places (San Jose, for instance). The run between now and the end of May isn’t so bad (v SKC, @ RSL, v SEA, @ ORL, v COL) and here’s to hoping they make it so…and keep an eye out for slippage.

San Diego FC
5-4-2, 17 pts., 21 gf, 15 ga (+6); home 3-1-2, away 1-3-0
Last 11 Results: WTWTLWWLLLW
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ LAG (2-0 W); v STL (0-0 D); @ RSL (3-1 W); v CLB (1-1 D); @ ATX (1-2L); v LAFC (3-2 W); v SEA (3-0 W); @ COL (2-3 L); @ CLT (0-3 L); v RSL (1-3 L); v FCD (5-0 W)

The expansion wet-dream (not using that image) looked real as recently as Week 7 (giving the ol’ one-two LAFC and Seattle and running up three goals/game!), but gravity called them back to Earth in the weeks after and with a lot of goals allowed during re-entry. That doesn’t diminish all the things that are working – e.g., star players like Chucky Lozano (4 goals, 6 assists), Anders Dreyer (4 goals, 5 assists), and Onni Valakari (3 goals, 5 assists) guided them out of the gate better than expected and I’ve heard good things about their style. My only actual impressions come from highlights and watching Charlotte turn that style of play against them, so I think the smart thing to do here is respect the accomplishment so far and otherwise treat San Diego as a team with, y’know, 11 games’ worth of history in MLS. With that, I’ll sit back and see what they do between now and the end of May (@ STL, v COL, v SKC, v LAG, @ SEA, v ATX)…which looks promising enough on paper to turn the mind to either bribery or conspiracy. Watching they do with that should be REALLY interesting.

Los Angeles FC
5-4-2, 17 pts., 17 gf, 16 ga (+1); home 4-1-1, away 1-3-1
Last 11 Results: WWLLWLLWDDW
Strength/Location of Schedule
v MIN (1-0 W); v NYC (1-0 W); @ SEA (2-5 L); v ATX (0-1 L); @ SKC (2-0 W); v SD (2-3 L); @ HOU (0-1 L); v SJ (2-1 W); @ POR (3-3 D); v STL (2-2 D), v HOU (2-0 W)

I don’t think LAFC has impressed anyone much this season, a thought that makes me gossipy curious about what that’s done to their psyches. No less to the point, there a caveats all over the top-line numbers – e.g., they’re not doing great on either side of the ball (even Denis Bouanga’s numbers look a bit down; 4 goals, 3 assists) and those five wins don’t look so big. The off-season additions they made – e.g., Jeremy Ebobisse, Igor Jesus, Mark Delgado, Nkosi Tafari – probably haven’t yet filled the holes left by the departures (mostly thinking Mateusz Bogusz and the steadying foot of Ilie Sanchez), but they may get there. The lineup’s stable (too stable?) in eight positions, give or take, and they have a couple youngsters pushing for minutes in attacking roles in Nathan Ordaz and David Martinez, both of whom have some early production (2 goals, 1 assist, and 3 goals, respectively). Fifth in the West isn’t so bad, particularly for a team with ambition, resources and a world-famous locale for a selling point, so I don’t mean to sell some tale of struggling underdogs, but I think one can make a fair case that LAFC’s early season slumming plays some role in the West’s unsettled vibe. If they need some wins to salve their bestarred egos, their schedule through the end of May sets out a pretty moderate path, if after a climb to start it (@ VAN, v SEA, @ LAG, @ MTL, v SKC, v COL).

Austin FC
5-5-1, 16 pts., 7 gf, 13 ga (-6); home 3-2-1, away 2-3-0
Last 11 Results: WLLWWWDLWLL
Strength/Location of Schedule
v SKC (1-0 W); @ POR (0-1 L); v COL (0-1 L); @ LAFC (1-0 W); v SD (2-1 W); @ ATX (1-0 W); v POR (0-0 D); @ VAN (1-5 L); v LAG (1-0 W); @ HOU (0-2 L); v MIN (0-3 L)

Notice he is not alone in this image...

Austin’s brain trust looked pretty smart after that upswing through the second half of March, and five wins in eleven goes pretty far in this league, but an unmistakable pattern points to the ceiling they keep bumping against. Despite heavy/hyped investment in the attack, the Verde have just one multi-goal game in 2025 (stay classy, San Diego) and those investments – Brandon Vazquez (with two) and Mytro Uzuni (with one) – have combined for a measly three goals. I’ve watched Austin enough (dammit) to flag one problem: no clear avenue for feeding the forwards (which I know Vazquez needs). With just seven goals in the bank, yeah, those 16 points constitute a miracle that rhymes more than a little with the fishes and loaves thing. Fortunately, it doesn’t take a long look behind the curtain to explain this one: pull the losses (at home!) to Vancouver and Minnesota out of the sample and you get a defense that gave up a miserly four goals in over nine games. One way to look at that: Austin does fine against “peer teams,” but less so against the West’s more ascendant powers (which, in this argument includes the Portland). And what does that do but make one wonder about where they’ll be by the end of May (@ CIN, v ATL, v VAN, @ MIN, v RSL, @ SD). Were I betting man, I’d put my money on seeing slip go lower, but the games will come….

Seattle Sounders FC
4-3-4, 16 pts., 17 gf, 13 ga (+4); home 3-0-2, away 1-3-2
Last 11 Results: TLWLDDLWWDW
Strength/Location of Schedule
v CLT (2-2 D); @ RSL (0-2 L); v LAFC (5-2 W); @ STL (0-1 L); v HOU (0-0 D); @ SJ (1-1 D); @ SD (0-3 L); @ FCD (1-0 W); v NSH (3-0 W); @ COL (1-1 D); v STL (4-1 W)

I hope Timbers fans will forgive the blasphemy, but some credit for the chaos in the West very likely follows from Seattle’s early stumbles. The fact that the blowout win over LAFC in Seattle looked like a wild-hair anomaly spoke volumes to the early read on Brian Schmetzer’s team. The Sounders fed the impression by laying some rancid eggs (see 10 points dropped in venues where other, maybe even lesser teams have won; see above, make your own call, but that’s mine), but the stagnant scoring picked up over the past non-calendar month (9 goals in 4 games, if with some bloat at the end), the defense tightened up (if against a roster of struggling teams), and that has Seattle back in the hunt and pundit heads flapping. One dirty/quietly promising secret comes with how much they’ve ridden bargain players – e.g., Danny Musovski (leading scorer at 4 goals, 3 assists) and Paul Rothrock (2 goals, 2 assists), and to peg a rising star outside the scoring spotlight (not like that, jeez!), Obed Vargas – to what success they’ve had. Albert Rusnak’s chipping in (3 goals, 3 assists) and Jordan Morris has made the most of limited minutes (3 goals in just two starts), and Seattle has veterans to build a house on in Cristian Roldan, Yeimar, Nouhou and Jackson Ragen, and that has helped the noobs shine, no doubt. The question is where it goes from there. The Sounders have plenty of attacking potential on the board – e.g., fucking new guy Jesus Ferreira hasn’t scored, but I just noticed his five assists – and, maybe when pigs fly one day, Pedro de la Vega will give them real minutes and production. In the meantime, we’ll have to wait and see what Seattle makes of between today and the end of May (@ HOU, @ LAFC, @ POR, v FCD, v SD, v MIN) with the players they have right now. To offer an opinion, they have some work cut out and I’d call this a smart trend to watch.

Colorado Rapids
4-3-4, 16 pts., 15 gf, 16 ga (-1); home 2-1-2, away 2-2-2
Last 11 Results: TTWWLWLWDDL
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ STL (0-0 D); v FCD (3-3 D); @ ATX (1-0 W); @ SJ (2-1 W); v POR (0-3 L), v CLT (2-0 W); @ VAN (0-2 L); v SD (3-2 W); @ HOU (2-2 D); v SEA (1-1 D); @ DC (1-2 L)

What to call them? MLS’s perennial wild card? The domestic top flight’s Rocky Mountain High? Where are we? Eighth place? Shit. Ahem. When the Rapids succeed, even partially, they crash into the West like a chaos agent and 2025 is both no different and different. Colorado is a team that can lose (and pretty badly) to Portland one week and beat a then-red-hot Charlotte the next, all without leaving the state – and even that detail explains the way all that chaos reverts to the mean in their goals for/goals against numbers. In sum, the Rapids are average, but reach that state by reconciling two opposing poles. Think of it as a balance between two steady attacking players – Rafael Navarro (who often plays better than his five goals and 1 assist) and the crafty/worth-his-price, Djordje Mihailovic (5 goals, 3 assists – too little production from the players around them (Cole Bassett dropped off, man) and a defensive collective that lacks the chops, both in talent and fire, to make the most of 15 goals. Their run through the end of May (v SJ, @ SD, v RSL, v STL, @ POR, @ LAFC) has some potential to reveal a truer version, but, Colorado being the Rapids, etc.

FC Dallas
4-4-3, 15 pts., 14 gf, 19 ga (-5); home 1-3-0, away 3-1-3
Last 11 Results: WDLLWWDLDWL
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ HOU (2-1 W); @ COL (3-3 D); v CHI (1-3 L); v VAN (0-1 L); @ RSL (1-0 W); v SKC (2-1 W); @ ATL (1-1 D); v SEA (0-1 L); @ MIN (0-0 D); @ MIA (4-3 W); v SD (0-5 L)

Historically, Dallas are MLS Kings of Fits, Starts & Maybe Strasbourg. Season after season (except the real bad ones), they have their moments – the 4-3 win at Miami in Week 10 feels like a good fit for that Pantheon – but the moments pass and they get to thinking about moving back to the trailer park, maybe getting a good job at the hardware store, maybe see if they can’t parlay that into a management gig at the Home Depot they’re building on the edge of town, that kind of thing. Tale as old as the automobile in Texas. 2025 MAY set up a little differently. Road wins are great and all, but I don’t see a “wow-me” win outside the Miami game, Luciano Acosta’s still adjusting (just 3 goals so far), I think they just lost Petar Musa for a spell (3 goals, 3 assists, fwiw) and the rest of what tracks as the Plan A for their attack (e.g., Anderson Julio, Sebastian Lletget, Logan Farrington) trails around 300 minutes behind pace for full participation. How much will them coming back change things? Saying it can’t hurt feels right, but, by my count, they have two games between now and the end of May (v RSL and v HOU) to figure it out before the run into a what looks an awful lot like a buzzsaw (i.e., @ SEA, @ CIN, v PHI).

San Jose Earthquakes
4-6-1, 13 pts., 24 gf, 20 ga (+4), home 3-3-1, away 1-3-0
Last 11 Results: WWLLLTWLLLW
Strength/Location of Schedule
v RSL (4-0 W); @ SKC (2-1 W); v MIN (0-1 L); v COL (1-2 L); @ CLT (1-4 L); v SEA (1-1 D); v DC (6-1 W); @ LAFC (1-2 L); v SKC (3-5 L); @ CLB (1-2 L); v POR (4-1 W)

The concept and its lived reality.

Between the results and the league-leading haul of goals they’ve scored in them, the Earthquakes have given their fans one hell of a roller coaster ride in 2025…if only to strand them 500 yards from the exit platform, aka, in 10th place. For every ass-kicking dished out to DC or Portland (assholes!), they bend over to take the same from Sporting KC at home, but it’s the points dropped in the games between the peaks and valleys that have killed them. San Jose fans know the obvious positives – the ‘Quakes front three of Cristian Arango (7 goals, 2 assists), Josef Martinez (6 goals, 1 assist) and Cristian Espinoza (4 goals, 7 assists) have done their jobs at a league-leading level – but I wanted to point to one that in the results that gets lost a little in the shuffle, but that may soften the blow of lurking on the wrong side of the playoff rope: several of San Jose’s losses came against MLS’s better teams – e.g., Minnesota, Charlotte, Columbus (here, the Timbers do not count in this group). Maybe that buys them time to sort out the defense between now and the playoffs, maybe not, but they haven’t played the easiest schedule…and they won’t actually get one until late May (up next, @ COL, v MIA, @ NE, v HOU, @ LAG, @ STL).

Real Salt Lake
4-7-0, 12 pts., 12 gf, 17 ga (-5); home 2-3-0, away 2-4-0
Last 11 Results: LWLWLLWLLWL
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ SJ (0-4 L); v SEA (2-0 W); v SD (1-3 L); @ HOU (2-1 W); v FCD (0-1 L); @ MIN (0-2 L); v LAG (2-0 W); @ NSH (1-2 L), v TFC (0-1 L); @ SD (3-1 W); @ VAN (1-2 L)

If it weren’t for the team immediately below, I’d call RSL’s 2025 a good case study in a failure to launch. No one on the roster outside Diego Luna (6 goals, 1 assist) has managed to get anything going and the results – e.g., the absence of consecutive wins – track that, if with a tilt into the negative due to their all-but-more-often-nothing record of seven losses to four wins. They are the American hostility to draws in team form and, who knows, maybe that’s a team culture thing (see, Mastroeni, Pablo) that eschews practical considerations in an Ahabic pursuit of winning every game. [Ed. – That last point is largely concocted, but I liked the riff too much to cut it.] I don’t have a great sense of who or what can improve their situation, but suspect Plan A went out the window when Pablo Ruiz went down early (again; third time?) and see that they called Willy Agada over from Sporting KC to kick-start the attack. He’ll join a roster with a core of six players (Rafael Cabral in goal, Justen Glad, Braian Ojeda, Emeka Eneli, Luna and Diogo Goncalves), who provide the firepower you’d expect (probs not enough), so asking what comes next seems fair. In terms of games between now and the end of May, it looks like so: @ FCD, v POR, @ COL, v VAN, @ ATX, @ LAG. For what it’s worth, I see points in there for a team up to taking them.

Sporting Kansas City
3-7-1, 10 pts., 17 gf, 21 ga (-4); home 2-3-1, away 1-4-0
Last 11 Results: LLLDLLWLWLW
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ ATX (0-1 L); v SJ (1-2 L); @ DC (1-2 L); v MIN (3-3 D); v LAFC (0-2 L); @ FCD (1-2 L); v STL (2-0 W); v POR (2-4 L); @ SJ (5-3 W); @ CIN (1-2 L); v LAG (1-0 W)

Sporting KC looked dead out of the gate and there’s a better than even chance they’ll never escape the Suburbs of the Damned in MLS’s West in 2025. Defense has been an issue, clearly, and that has followed from throwing a couple young’uns into the fray (Jansen Miller and Jacob Bartlett), and head coach Peter Vermes gave way to interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin just a few weeks ago, so they’re working through some shit; moreover, all you have to do, dear reader, is look below and just two places above to see current and potential neighbors in the Suburbs of the Damned. SKC is a team I’ve been doomed to watch more than most, particularly during their late improvement and I’ve seen some things to like – e.g., I rate their attacking players (Dejan Joveljic (5 goals, 1 assist), Daniel Salloi (4 goals, 2 assists), Shapi Suleymanov (who looks scarier than his 1 goal and 3 assists), and Manu Garcia (1 goal, 4 assists) and some combination of desperation and confidence. That only goes so far against all the impediments, as well as the neighborhood where they still reside, so we’ll see what the do in the run of games between today and the end of May (@ POR, @ STL, @ SD, v NE, @ LAFC, @ HOU), aka, and in a phrase, holy fucking road games, Bartman.

St. Louis CITY FC
2-5-4, 10 pts., 8 gf, 12 ga (-4); home 1-2-2, away 1-3-2
Last 11 Results: DDWWLLLLDDL
Strength/Location of Schedule
v COL (0-0 D); @ SD (0-0 D); @ LAG (3-0 W); v SEA (1-0 W); @ PHI (0-1 L); v ATX (0-1 L); @ SKC (0-2 L); v CLB (1-2 L); v VAN (0-0 D); @ LAFC (2-2 D); @ SEA (1-4 L)

When I posted my off-season review/previews, I got harder, louder pushback on the loose guesses I made about St. Louis than I did on any other team. Those people pointed, correctly, to their team’s upswing with the arrival of Marcel Hartel (hey, that rhymes) and Cedric Teuchert (less so) toward the end of 2024. They provided some other reasons, most of which made sense, if just as theories…and yet there sits St. Louis, way the hell down at 13th place and dull as watching knitting as a real-time spectator sport. Because a lot of my voluntary viewing gravitates towards games with goals, I haven’t watched St. Louis much this season (caught the road draw at LAFC), so most of what I know comes from chatter about Olaf Mellberg’s overly-conservative approach – which, per the above, works on one side of the ball, but not so well on the other. Taking players’ total minutes as a guide, it looks like the injury bug has done some nibbling – e.g., Eduard Lowen has been about 50% present (think missing Ostrak has hobbled ‘em a bit too) – but there’s no mistaking the big-picture problem: a team can only go so far if it can’t score goals. Austin has worked the same formula a little better by turning close games into wins (against St. Louis too), so there’s still clearly something rotten in St. Louis. At any rate, here’s their schedule to the end of May – v SD, v SKC, @ MIN, @ COL, v SJ – which gives them some real opportunities to turn things around, but consider this an invitation to St. Louis fans to explain what’s wrong.

Houston Dynamo
2-5-4, 10 pts., 10 gf, 16 ga (-6); home 2-3-1, away 0-2-3
Last 11 Results: LLDLDLWDDWL
Strength/Location of Schedule
v FCD (1-2 L); v MIA (1-4 L); @ CLB (0-0 D); v RSL (1-2 L); @ SEA (0-0 D); @ POR (1-3 L); v LAFC (1-0 W); @ LAG (1-1 D); v COL (2-2 D); v ATX (2-0 W); @ LAFC (0-2 L)

God bless, Ben Olsen. No, really. I love his “fundamentals-first” approach and find his teams fun to watch on that level – if, in fairness, I don’t get dragged through it week after week. It hasn’t got Houston as far as it has in the best – and that’s probably down to the personnel changes (e.g., losing HH and Carrasquilla). When I scouted the Dynamo ahead of the Timbers game, I saw the same issue that played out when they actually played them: starting Amin Bassi and Sebastian Kowalczyk makes them small up top, effectively stranding Ezequiel Ponce who’s…maybe making the most of what he has (3 goals, 1 assist)? Houston has since added Ondrej Lingr and he already accounts for 20% of their total goals for 2025 and Griffin Dorsey’s posting good early numbers (4 assists), but the record’s the record and it’s only good for 14th. The lineup’s basically stable down to eight places, and that includes using new-guy Jack McGlynn to create and he’s good at certain things (set pieces, work-rate), but not others (actually operating close to goal), so maybe that’s in the cards for later. They have some soft spots between today and the end of May – v SEA, v MIN, @ FCD, @ SJ, @ NYC, v SKC – and the last five results have been…tolerable, so maybe they’re ready to start digging out?

Los Angeles Galaxy
0-8-3, 3 pts., 8 gf, 21 ga (-13); home 0-4-1, away 0-4-2
Last 11 Results: LLLDDLLTLLL
Strength/Location of Schedule
v SD (0-2 L); @ VAN (1-2 L); v STL (0-3 L); @ POR (1-1 D); @ MIN (2-2 D); v ORL (1-2 L); @ RSL (0-2 L); v HOU (1-1 D); @ ATX (0-1 L), v POR (3-4 L); @ SKC (0-1 L)

Flipping the old “worst to first” cliché on its head. Who says the soccer gods don’t have a sense of humor? Everyone knew the Galaxy would struggle with all the off-season changes (e.g., Mark Delgado and Dejan Joveljic) and without Puig, but no one expected 2024’s sexiest team to just sort of lie there motionless over the first third of the season. They have bestirred themselves a couple times – getting Joseph Painstil back helped (see versus Portland) – but the sense of desperation that hung all over them that game speaks to where this team is more clearly than I can by flogging the details. 15th in the West and dead last in the league sums it up nicely too.

All done. On to the next third of the season! (Though, factually, I’ll probably do this again by the end of May.)