Welcome back to the Guardian’s MLS Power Rankings, where I argue with your specific team and your specific team alone.
As a reminder, these are not your standard, run-of-the-mill wealth rankings. We still rank teams from worst to first. But along with the rankings, we’re taking a deep dive into a handful of teams from around the league that are doing particularly interesting things.
Problems in the music city
29. New England Revolution
28. Chicago Fire
27. Sporty Kansas City
26. FCDallas
25. San Jose earthquakes
24. Nashville SC
The best versions of Nashville SC, the ones that reached the top half of the Eastern Conference play-off field or reached the Leagues Cup final, were built on a set of core principles. First, they were defensively compact. Second, they were sharp in the transition.
This year’s version of Nashville SC is neither. With just 14 points from 12 games, they are languishing in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. And now this year’s version of Nashville SC is without a manager: Gary Smith was fired on Thursday.
According to American Soccer Analysis, only ten teams in MLS have allowed more xG per match defensively than Nashville. Many of those chances came back in a 5-0 loss to LAFC in March, a game that kicked off a five-game winless streak. LAFC cut right through their former conference peers in a way we’re just not used to seeing.
Nashville was noticeably more passive defensively in 2024 than in 2023 and struggled to apply pressure without the ball. Last year, according to Opta, they ranked 18th in MLS in passes allowed per defensive action at 13.4. This year? They are 27th in the league with 16.2. Their line of confrontation is deeper, but that has not translated into actual compactness.
Getting Walker Zimmerman back on defense after his injury issues has helped, but Nashville used to revel in him being difficult to play no matter which eleven players were on the field. Part of that identity seems to have faded.
Nashville has had more than its fair share of injuries even outside of Zimmerman. However, these do not fully explain their attacking woes.
Nashville is not an immediate team this year. Worryingly, they are also not an effective possession team. Former MVP Hany Mukhtar is at his best without the ball rather than on it, and general manager Mike Jacobs has assembled a side almost devoid of progressive passing in central midfield. So if they aren’t particularly quick in transition and effective in possession, what are we left with? Well, we’re left with a team that is a shadow of its former self. The next manager has some work to do.
On the hot seat
23. Portland wood
22. CF Montreal
21. Orlando City
20. Seattle Sirens
19. St. Louis City
18. Atlanta United
There are a handful of hot board seats in the league, but now that Smith has been fired, none are as toasty as Gonzalo Pineda’s.
Atlanta United entered 2024 with legitimate ambitions to finish near the top of the East, but currently find themselves with just three wins through the first third of the 2024 season. Despite upgrades in midfield and in the center of the backline during the offseason to bolster their offense, which is one of the best personnel groups in the league, success has not come for the Five Stripes.
Pineda will mourn the fact that he has been without his favorite centre-back since mid-March due to injuries, but there are deeper tactical problems in Atlanta. Their press has been in shambles for a long time this year. According to Opta, Atlanta United presses more outside their defensive third than all but six teams in MLS. And yet they’ve forced the fourth fewest high turnovers in the MLS.
Sequences like the one above are the kind that would require Atlanta United’s front office members to meet the next morning to, say, talk about the team’s future.
Since arriving in Atlanta midway through the 2021 season, Pineda has done very little to build an effective tactical approach. He relies on standard shapes (usually a 4-2-3-1 in attack and a 4-4-2 defensive shape) and prefers player-dictated movements to hard and fast patterns. When his best players were available, Pineda’s team looked good. Without them they would have had a hard time. So it is difficult to conclude that the Mexican manager adds a lot of value.
With the team spiraling and the defensive structure at an all-time low during Pineda’s time in charge, it may be time for a change on the sidelines.
Former River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo appears to be available and his son plays for Atlanta United’s MLS Next Pro team. Make of that what you will.
Major accusations
17. Philadelphia Union
16. Austin F.C
15. Toronto FC
14. Houston Dynamo
13. Colorado Rapids
12. Vancouver Whitecaps
In one of the strangest stories of the 2024 season, Toronto FC manager John Herdman claimed that New York City FC manager Nick Cushing punched one of Toronto’s players “in the face.”
Herdman shared the allegation following Toronto FC’s 3-2 loss to NYCFC last weekend, stating that the incident occurred after the teams met in March. Cameras in the tunnels of Yankee Stadium, where the incident is said to have occurred, have not documented an attack and Cushing has denied these allegations. “I categorically deny any involvement or incident in which I struck or assaulted any Toronto FC player or staff member,” he said. “Personally, I am shocked. I am angry about the accusation.”
According to reports, NYC FC had already sent MLS and Toronto FC videos of his half-time incident during their March meeting and believed the matter was closed. That is, until Herdman’s postgame comments on Saturday night.
In a postgame fight over the weekend involving players, staff and the head coaches, Herdman charged toward Cushing and the two had to be separated.
The whole thing is bizarre and the future is murky at best. These types of accusations should be taken very seriously, as should the decision to make them at all. MLS is now investigating this situation, although it’s hard to imagine they will receive much more evidence than they did after their initial review almost two months ago.
For now we wait. Herdman was suspended for one game for his involvement in the post-match scuffle, but he and Cushing remain in charge of their teams.
The Zlatan-ification of Christian Benteke
11. DC United
10. Charlotte FC
9. NYCFC
8. LA system
7. New York Red Bulls
6. Minnesota United
More than perhaps any player in MLS history not named Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimović changed the way his team played. During his time with the LA Galaxy, Zlatan won a string of aerial duels, launching and finishing attacks. Of course there were useful players around the Swedish legend, but he used to be the LA Galaxy of five years ago.
Christian Benteke is currently that player for DC United. He has a Zlatan-like impact – not just in front of goal, where he is tied for the Golden Boot this year with 11 goals, but in terms of Troy Lesesne’s tactical approach.
DC plays some of the most direct football in the MLS and ranks third in the league in direct attacking speed according to Opta. Why do they attack so directly? Because of Benteke. According to FBref, the Belgian averages no less than 13.5 successful aerial duels per 90 minutes. The next closest player throughout the MLS? They gain 5.2 antennas per 90.
I really can’t emphasize enough how absurd that number is. It’s as if Benteke is playing a completely different sport than any other forward in the league as he leads the charge for this new DC United team. There is no center back in MLS who can match his physicality, both in set pieces and in open play.
He scored a hat-trick of headers against Atlanta United on Saturday, continually running over the back shoulder of opposing centre-backs to meet a teammate’s serve inside the six-yard box. He is also an asset in the build-up, giving his teammates a good outlet to advance the ball. He is truly unique.
There is no one else in this league who can do what Benteke does. And as a result, there is no other team in MLS that can punish its opponents as quietly as DC United.
The rich get richer
5. LAFC
4. Real salt lake
3. Columbus crew
2. FC Cincinnati
1. InterMiami
A not insignificant part of me thinks Matias Rojas has broken MLS.
In the Paraguayan international’s first 247 minutes in the competition since arriving last month, he has already scored three goals and an assist. And these aren’t just the regular, standard target contribution rates. No, there are target contributions and they are still there contribute to the goal. These were the last.
Allow me to present Rojas’ first goal for Miami, which came in the form of an absolute bull’s-eye against the New York Red Bulls:
And then there was his most recent goal, a free kick against CF Montreal that certainly made Messi proud.
The 28-year-old’s assist for Inter Miami’s match-winner on Saturday was another peach, with Rojas weigh a ball perfectly in the path of Benjamin Cremaschi.
After a dispute with his former club, Corinthians in Brazil, over image rights payments, Rojas was able to sign anywhere in the world. With Argentinian Gerardo “Tata” Martino at the helm of the ship and the best of all time in the squad, Inter Miami became Rojas’ favorite destination.
As the above plays illustrate, he is an incredible addition to this Miami team.
Facundo Farías’ injury in preseason left them light on left-sided attackers. But with Rojas’ cultivated left foot and penchant for the last ball in place, there is still a huge attacking threat on the front line, along with Messi and Luis Suárez. He has made it even more difficult for opponents to put pressure on Inter Miami, not with linear movements off the ball, but with precise ball contacts in the build-up. In the final third he gets Miami another lockpicker.
Rojas’ tendency to drop rather than extend puts extra pressure on Martino’s central midfielders to provide verticality. But as Cremaschi discovered Saturday, Miami pianists do a very good job of rewarding their piano bearers.
With Rojas coming to life in Miami and another DP spot opening up for the club as roster rules change in the summer, this team is only going to get better.
