MLS Western Conference Round-Up: Checking the Blowouts & the Wrong End of the Standings

I go with the wind, I am the wind. That is me. True story.

If all goes according to plan – and if you’re holding your breath, by the gods, I urge you to stop – I will top next week’s version of this post with Portland Timbers’ match reportage. For anyone who’s curious what that will look like, it should be something like the Eastern Conference round-up posted to this same channel last night. But also shorter. I posted earlier on the Timbers letting two points slip away versus LAFC last Saturday, but fuck it, it’s early and Portland’s in fourth place and when’s the last time that happened. For the record, this used to be the kind of thing I would look up, but The Mothership has stripped a lot of the links and connectivity out of their archived material, which makes that kind of thing a lot harder…what a bunch of assholes.

A final programming note: most weeks, I will watch whichever team the Timbers have next, but there’s no goddamn way I’m sitting through Austin FC beating the Galaxy by one damn goal when I’ve already stared at both of those teams more than anyone but their biggest fans should have to.

Right, let’s kick around what happened in MLS’s Western Conference last weekend. Just the good shit.

Seattle Sounders 3-0 Nashville SC
Why This Game?
A combination of trying to figure out what’s going on with Nashville and keeping your enemies close…

The Game, Briefly (watched 1-45)
First, both teams rested their share of regular starters, if for reasons unknown – Albert Rusnak and Jordan Morris for Seattle, and Edvard Tagseth, aka, Nashville’s Engine – and, against the even numbers in the final stats, the game was over by the 34th minute. As confessed above, I only watched the first half (fine…most of it), but I caught at least five of Nashville’s shots on goal in the full highlights and never saw them serve up anything more threatening than a kitten in a sombrero. One li’l curiosity to note: wily veteran Andy Najar played some role in at least two Seattle goals, one by commission (the first goal), the other by omission (what was he doing so far from Paul “Everyman” Rothrock on that third goal?). Pedro de la Vega got a lot of hype in the Official post-game chatter (aka, MLS Wrap Up...gotta stop watching that bilge), but even he credited Obed Vargas for teeing up his goal. The Sounders overwhelmed Nashville, no question, and took just 15 minutes to bury them. Sometimes a game just gets away from a team.

Some More About the Sounders
Seattle Sounders FC
3-3-3, 12 pts., 12 gf, 11 ga (+1); home 2-0-2, away 1-3-1
Last Results: WLDDLWW
Strength/Location of Schedule
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)

This win put Seattle on the positive side of their goal differential for just the second time in 2025 – but the edge was just as slim way back on March 8 (thanks to a 5-2 win over LAFC). No small part of that follows from a failure to score regularly – the Sounders scored two-thirds of their goals all season between the LAFC win and last weekend - but they’re softer than usual defensively, so that’s something else to watch (against that, they’re still tied for 5th-best defense in the West). Jesus Ferreira picked up an assist – his fourth of the season, fwiw – but there’s no single Sounder racking up the goals, as yet, and the score-by-committee vibe from this Nashville win looks like the norm and the style of play direct and unfussy. Seattle has started slow plenty of times and they do tend to get better as the season progresses, but I don’t see a lot of “wow” on this roster and don’t think, say, the return of Paul Arriola will make them whole. Still, put a pin in Ferreira and de la Vega.

Some More About Nashville
Nashville SC
4-4-1, 13 pts., 12 gf, 11 ga (+1); home 3-1-1, away 1-3-0
Last Results: WWWLLWL
Strength/Location of Schedule
v POR (2-0 W); @ PHI (3-1 W); v MTL (3-0 W); v CIN (1-2 L); @ CLT (1-2 L); v RSL (2-1 W); @ SEA (0-3 L)

Googling "sidekick" is funny...

Because they’ve played both Portland and Cincinnati and I scouted them twice (here and here), I’ve spent more time with Nashville in 2025 than I did over the three seasons prior. And I was both duly and rightly impressed after they got the better of the Timbers (notes here) and got even…more better of the then-unbeaten Philadelphia Union the following week. Sam Surridge finally looked checked in -and gave the closest impression of a star at Seattle – and new-guy Ahmed Qasem looked like a smart sidekick to take some of the scoring pressure of Hany Mukhtar who, at time of typing, looks pretty damn average. I lost track of them since Cincy beat them (notes here), but I did catch wind of Zimmerman taking an awful blow to the head (can’t remember when; getting more bitter about the absence of links in the Form Guide with each passing week) and know/believe that Nashville’s wheels get to wobbling when he’s not around. They get a little relief in the schedule in the weeks ahead, but starting the game without Tagseth could have slowed them a little, because that little moppet solves a lot of problems for them between the defense and the front three. Bottom line, things are...fine for Nashville, but short of good. And that's a problem in the East.

San Jose Earthquakes 3-5 Sporting Kansas City
Why This Game?
Cincy has SKC next weekend, but this was 90% about the goals and the beautiful, glorious chaos I knew I’d see.

The Game, Briefly (watched 10-42, 75-90)
My main point of interest was when the goals were scored. The only answer that matters: SKC made it 5-2 before San Jose pulled back a late, very pointless penalty kick through the now-suffering Cristian Arango. Not unlike Nashville, the ‘Quakes suffered a Five-Minute Fall-Apart when SKC scored three goals between the 18th and 24th minute. Daniel Salloi was the meat in that goal sandwich – and what a touch on that goalkeeper assist by John Pulskamp – but Manu Garcia’s goal almost certainly hurt the worst. Lucas Ndenbe’s opener followed from a pile-on of pressure and that, along with can only be described as a collapse of form by the 'Quakes, surely has Bruce Arena asking himself why he didn’t just fucking retire. Josef Martinez (helluva finish) and Arango dragged San Jose back into it – small surprise because gods know SKC has, and continues to suck defensively – but those two can only do so much when the rest of the team (including players I have liked (see below)) does so little. I don’t expect much from either of these teams this season, but I’m glad to celebrate their pratfalls while I have the time to do it.

Some More About the ‘Quakes
San Jose Earthquakes
3-5-1, 10 pts., 19 gf, 17 ga (+2), home 2-3-1, away 1-2-0
Last Results: LLLTWLL
Strength/Location of Schedule

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)

It took some doing to erase the six goals San Jose dropped on DC (I still regret missing the chaos), but they did it. Likely related, the last time I put any time into watching the ‘Quakes, I came away impressed by Rodrigues, but his assist on Martinez’s goal aside, he was bad Saturday – crucially when he lost all of Salloi on SKC’s fourth. Mark-Anthony Kaye’s stock has been dropping since he left LAFC and his failure to track Garcia on SKC’s third won’t do much to raise it. As some Bluesky rando noted, Arena has quietly moved most of his old New England roster to San Jose (Noel Buck, incoming!) and it’s already worth questioning the wisdom of all that. I appreciate they’re missing Daniel (regular ‘keeper) and their (frankly middling) young DP Hernan Lopez won’t be back until summer, and I also appreciate that the five goals SKC dropped on them cranked up their goals-against numbers, but I don’t see a lot of meat in the center of midfield and they just got run the fuck over by SKC? At home? Trends ain’t good, and pour a couple out for Arango and Martinez.

King.

Some More About Sporting KC
Sporting Kansas City
2-6-1, 7 pts., 15 gf, 19 ga (-4); home 1-3-1, away 1-3-0
Last Results: LDLLWLW
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ 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)

MLS fans will always have and cherish the Peter Vermes “fuck off” clip, but the dude was years past his sell by date and, hey, maybe (finally) moving on from him gives Sporting KC the boost they need to escape the cellar they’ve ducked in and out of since 2020. I do like their (for now) front three and think they have one hell of a reserve in Erik Thommy (set up Salloi’s second, in fact) and Manu Garcia looks like he has a good Tagseth-esque engine, Khiry Shelton presents as a smart experiment at right back…but, Lord, the inexperience this team has in key positions. Jansen Miller got fucking destroyed by the Timbers and Jacob Bartlett gives off the odd lost-little-lamb vibe. This team got younger this season by full and total necessity, that will involve a learning curve and that fucker could be steep.

Wrapping Up the West
As noted up top, the only noteworthy thing about the Galaxy’s loss at Austin was the ongoing comedy of LA’s tragedy, and maybe Mytro Uzuni’s crap penalty kick. I covered Charlotte FC putting San Diego to the sword in my Eastern Conference wrap up (short version: the took a couple body parts along with the head), which leaves…kind of a whole lot of status quo ante Week 9 stuff. Maybe if they weren’t already limping around Real Salt Lake giving Toronto FC its first win of 2025 surprises me a little more, but I can hear that second heavy stop all the way from Oregon. Olaf Mellberg’s St. Louis side lives to kill joy, so what else could they do but knot Vancouver at 0-0? Minnesota’s doing all right this season – just one loss in the opener (@ LAFC, fwiw), but they’re rarely a team that lights up the scoreboard, so small wonder to see them go scoreless versus FC Dallas. Whore for goals that I am (i.e., if they ain’t scorin’, I ain’t watchin’), that leaves Houston’s 2-2 home draw versus Colorado to kick around. The headline news on that one was Houston’s new No. 9, Ondrej Lingr scoring his first goal (a penalty kick) for the new team he has been cursed to improve, but I got a little tingle out of seeing the Dynamo’s wee attackers (Sebastian Kowalczyk and Amine Bassi) combine to score the opener. Against that, Colorado’s Rafael Navarro came damn close to winning it for the Rapids and that would have been what constitutes a shake-up in MLS Week 9. Low bar, folks.

As much as I kick around Austin, they’re doing the proverbial business, slapping that ass as they ride. The same goes for Minnesota and Vancouver, if for slightly different reasons, and do you know what the top three teams in MLS’s Western Conference have in common? Single digits for goals allowed. Which is to say, St. Louis CITY FC could be doing something if they could score a fucking goal more than once a lunar cycle. For what it’s worth, I feel better about Minnesota and Vancouver staying up there than I feel about Austin (see their goals scored), so it will be incumbent on teams like, say, the Timbers to tighten up their defense when the results start to matter more.

That’s it for this one. Expect the conflict between wanting to tighten up the prose and tighten up the time I spend on these posts to continue, until something breaks (or I just break). Till next week, in whatever form it takes.