MLS talking points: How Vancouver became elite and no rest for Leo Messi

The Vancouver Whitecaps weren’t supposed to be here, perched on top of the Western Conference.

They lost Stuart Armstrong, a key Designated Player, over the offseason. Star attacker Ryan Gauld has missed the last month with a knee injury. They’re still alive in the Concacaf Champions Cup quarter-finals, and Concacaf success and regular season success don’t tend to mix well for MLS teams. And yet, here they are. On top of the West. The Vancouver Whitecaps.

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Fresh off a dominant 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, the ‘Caps are playing at an eye-catching 2.3 points per game pace, not least because new manager Jesper Sørensen has overhauled their tactical setup.

Gone are the days of Vanni Sartini’s chopped-and-changed attacking setup and risky defensive approach. Now we have Sørensen’s hyper-controlled system. With a top-five possession share (55.3%) and a balanced 4-3-3 setup, Vancouver’s attack is in the top third of MLS based on FBref’s non-penalty xG per 90 minutes metric.

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But their use of the ball isn’t just an attacking weapon – it’s a defensive one, too. No team in MLS has allowed fewer shots per 90 than the Whitecaps. With strong rest defense and one of the hardest-working spines in MLS, Sørensen’s team are an elite defensive outlet. That makes them miss Gauld (and his countryman Armstrong) less than you’d think.

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The tactics are solid in part because they’ve been effectively taught, with Vancouver far more than the sum of their parts. Players are confident in knowing where to be and when to rotate, which allows the Whitecaps to execute with ruthless efficiency on the field.

“When you have the ball, you can control the game,” Sørensen said shortly after being named the Whitecaps’ new manager. “When you don’t have the ball, you can affect the game, but you cannot control what’s going to happen. In this league, there’s a guy called Messi. You cannot control him when he has the ball, but you can try to affect him. But if you have the ball, you can … better the outcome of what’s going to happen.”

The ‘Caps have bettered their outcomes over and over again in 2025, and don’t look like slowing down any time soon. JL

Minnesota strikes

Minnesota United sit just a couple of points behind the Whitecaps at the top of the Western Conference, having been propelled in that direction by a pair of forwards perfectly suited to the style of head coach Eric Ramsay.

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It’s counterattacking, it’s taking every advantage you can get and making it count, and so far it’s been very productive. Having the lowest average possession in the league doesn’t matter when your gameplan has other strands and your forward line has Kelvin Yeboah and Tani Oluwaseyi. Both strikers are in the top six for total xG this season per American Soccer Analysis, and when filtered per 96 minutes (a per-game equivalent) among players who have played more than 500 minutes, they are second and third behind the Chicago Fire’s Hugo Cuypers.

Most teams usually have one xG merchant – a player who regularly gets big chances in front of goal and outperforms their teammates in this regard. In MLS, Christian Benteke of DC United is a prime example (though for a bad team, more on that later); Brian White of Vancouver and Denis Bouanga of LAFC are others.

What happens when you have more than one of these players in the same team, as Minnesota do? You could ask LA Galaxy, who won MLS Cup in 2024 with Dejan Joveljic, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil each benefiting from the buildup play of Riqui Puig.

Having the lowest average possession in the league is almost by design in this setup, as chances on the counterattack can be more clearcut than those eked out via lengthy buildup play. Ramsay’s 5-3-2 formation is facilitating this, and the set-piece design is helping too. They have created more Opta-defined “big chances” than any other team in the league per FotMob, with 28, while Joaquin Pereyra leads the league for big chances created with six from the left of the midfield three.

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It’s a plan falling into place with the stats to back it up, and it so far bodes well for the Loons improving on last season’s sixth-place finish in the Western Conference. JN

Christian Benteke island

MLS began 30 seasons ago in San Jose, California, with the home side (then known as the San Jose Clash) playing DC United in front of a sold-out Spartan Stadium. Eric Wynalda saved an otherwise sloppy match with a fine goal near the end. Bruce Arena, who was then DC’s fresh-faced coach making his pro debut, once said that it “remains one of the worst games ever played in MLS.”

MLS scheduled a rematch for the same day – 6 April – this year as a nod to that inaugural moment. DC United flew out many club legends from that mid-90s day, including John Harkes, Marco Etcheverry and Shawn Medved. Even Arena would still be there, but this time coaching San Jose.

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“We want to celebrate that by having a great performance,” DC head coach Troy Lesesne said before the game.

Yeah … about that. San Jose ran out 6-1 winners, and appropriately for the occasion, Josef Martínez turned back the clock by notching his first hat-trick in six years and 259 days.

The performance in front of DC’s stars of the past raises fresh questions about their star of the present, Benteke. The former Liverpool striker has been excellent in his time in MLS, scoring 43 goals in 75 appearances, including last season’s Golden Boot-winning campaign. No other player in MLS has scored more goals since the start of the 2023 season. Somehow, though, he has yet to appear in the playoffs, with DC finishing with the exact same record in both of his two full seasons in the league, and not looking all that much improved in 2025.

DC’s front office and ownership share much of the blame. The club has scarcely invested in the first team roster since Benteke’s arrival, mostly seeking to hit home-runs with intra-league deals and under-the radar international signings. The end result is a one-dimensional team that is at times comically reliant on Benteke, who contests more aerial duels himself than entire teams. One of the league’s foundation teams deserves better. AA

Biel ball

Charlotte FC midfielder Pep Biel is in such command of his game that he is even taking into account the bounce of the Bank of America Stadium pitch. On the ball in the centre circle with just one runner ahead of him, the Spaniard played a chipped pass behind the Nashville defense that held up just enough for Idan Toklomati to take a touch round Joe Willis and finish, giving Charlotte FC a fourth straight home win.

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It was a similar pass to the one Biel played against Inter Miami that led to a red card for Oscar Ustari on Matchday 3. And the one that released Brandt Bronico in on goal against San Jose on Matchday 5.

This is clearly a designed play (as pointed out by Ben Wright). While so much of the preseason focus was on Wilfried Zaha being the wide difference-maker Charlotte wanted, Biel is proving himself as the number 10 they needed.

Nobody in MLS is averaging more through balls per 90 minutes (0.6) than Biel, nor has anyone created more big chances (six) through seven games. Zaha is the only Charlotte player averaging more dribbles per 90 minutes while the 28-year-old Biel is leading the league alongside Luis Suárez for assists (five). In these numbers, Charlotte FC’s evolution under Dean Smith can be found.

Last season, The Crown’s fifth-place finish in the East was achieved through a conference-best defense and attacking threat that was in quick transition. Charlotte still have those cornerstones, but they are now doing more to break down opponents with the ball. Much of this is due to Biel. In ‘The League of 10s,’ he is standing out. GR

No rest for Lionel Messi

Stop me if you’ve heard this before – it’s a big week for Inter Miami. They had their first loss of the season on Wednesday, in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup quarter-final against LAFC, with the second leg to come this Wednesday. As such, there was hope that, if Messi and Miami’s other older stars were to play on Sunday night v Toronto, they wouldn’t have to do so for long against one of the East’s worst teams.

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No such luck. Toronto put forth their best performance of the season, and Messi had to play the full 90 along with Jordi Alba in a 1-1 draw.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we wanted, which was to win and be in the best shape possible for Wednesday,” Miami head coach Javier Mascherano said afterward. “But these are players who have been playing every three days all their lives. They’re fine. They’re used to it.”

Toronto’s defensive performance frustrated Miami enough that, when Messi finally scored just before half-time, he celebrated with a powerful and seemingly cathartic fist-pump. LAFC will hope he won’t have the energy for more of those in Wednesday’s second leg. AA