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MLS Analysis

MLS Notebook: missed chances costly for Caps, Cincy, & Seattle, LAFC look strong, and more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta opens up his MLS notebook full of his thoughts on the lastest news and games, and the running theme is just how wastefull the teams have been in CONCACAF. Many have played decently, but poor finishing will prove to be costly. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
March 06, 2025
5:50 AM

THE PAST WEEK has been revealing in MLS as league play has shown that teams like the Red Bulls, Philadelphia, and Charlotte look better than expected while the Galaxy and even Atlanta have some serious problems. But the biggest stories came from the CONCACAF Champions Cup where the dominant theme was the wastefulness of many of the MLS teams that should prove to be extremely costly. 

With that, we will talk about the Champions Cup first. 

 

Missed opportunity for Cincinnati

 

FC Cincinnati and Tigres UNAL played to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday in Ohio. The result was a huge, missed opportunity for Pat Noonan’s side and it gives Tigres a big edge heading into the second leg in Mexico.

Pavel Bucha scored for Cincy in just the third minute, and it seemed as if it would be a great night for the MLS club. But Tigres settled down and righted the ship, and equalized in the 17th minute.

 

Cincinnati had a 12-6 edge in shots with a 5-4 advantage in shots on target but failed to capitalize. As is typical, MLS teams need to take advantage of big opportunities whenever facing Liga MX teams. This is because the advantage Liga MX teams have at home is still substantial. Traveling to Mexico with an even scoreline is never a good thing – although Columbus showed last year that perhaps it is not the mission impossible it used to be.

Cincinnati has plenty of talent to still advance, although there is no denying that they are now the underdog. That is not good for MLS’s representation in this tournament because Cincy is widely considered a top five team in MLS in 2025.

 

 

LAFC trounces Columbus

 

Despite playing well to start the 2025 season, the Columbus Crew will likely soon see its CONCACAF Champions Cup campaign end after a 3-0 loss to LAFC in California. With no away goals, Columbus will require a huge rally in the second leg. At this point, it’s possible but unrealistic. It would be unlikely for even the 2024 version of the Crew, but the 2025 version is not nearly as good. Cucho Hernandez, Aidan Morris, and Christian Ramirez are all gone from last year’s team and there haven’t been nearly as many quality additions.

LAFC has had good results to start the season with narrow wins over NYCFC and Minnesota, but this was clearly a big step up for Steve Cherundolo’s side. Denis Bouanga had two goals for LAFC and if he is in form, LAFC is a contender to win this competition.

 

As for Columbus, it’s not clear what the plan is. How much talent could they bleed while still expecting to be a top team in the region? Wilfried Nancy is a very good coach, but Columbus is making it hard on him.

 

Seattle squander big chances

 

The Seattle Sounders are also in a tough spot after being held to a 0-0 draw at home with Cruz Azul. Seattle played well but have only themselves to blame for needing big result in Mexico City – where Cruz Azul boasts a great homefield advantage.

Jordan Morris and Nouhou both hit the woodwork in the second half and Seattle had the better of chances but when playing against top Liga MX teams home, these chances need to be buried.

 

The saving grace for Seattle is that Cruz Azul did not score a big away goal. With that, Seattle can advance with a draw where goals are scored. If Seattle can score the opening goal in Mexico, it will get very, very interesting.

 

Other Round of 16 games

 

The defending champs, the LA Galaxy, are in a terrible spot with injuries and an overall loss of talent. Galaxy have been very poor to start the MLS season and have dropped the opening games to San Diego and Vancouver (two teams that are borderline playoff teams, at best).  On Wednesday, the Galaxy’s woes continued with a 1-0 loss away in Costa Rica.

It’ not the end of the world and the Galaxy can certainly do better at home. But this team has one goal from three games and is failing miserably to turn possession into chances that can be finished. In the loss on Wednesday, the Galaxy had 63% possession on the road but, like in their first two MLS games, was listless,

 

Vancouver and Monterrey played to a 1-1 draw in their first leg in Canada and again, it was wasteful from the MLS team which outshot their Mexican guests 21-7 with six coming on target. Of all the MLS teams to waste chances, the Caps had the worst night. It wasn’t until the 86th minute when Belal Halbouni equalized when he headed home a free kick to give Vancouver some life.

 

Finally on Thursday, Inter Miami and its travelling brand of stars is the favorite against Jamaica’s Cavalier and the goal for Miami is to romp in the first leg and not have to send Messi and Friends to Jamaica for the second leg. They would need three or four goals to feel comfortable staring reserves in the second leg.

 

Other MLS thoughts heading into Week 3

 

The Inter Miami vs. Charlotte game in Florida on Sunday is a big one. Both teams are coming off big wins and Charlotte looks tremendously improved. Wilfried Zaha’s addition might be the big ingredient that pulls everything together. One thing to watch with Charlotte, however, is that Patrick Agyemang is yet to get going. As a USMNT hopeful, it is not the start he wanted. 

People should not be as surprised as they are about the Philadelphia Union’s hot start. Last season, the Union had a +8 goal differential which is very high for a team that did not make the playoffs. It’s also more reflective of their quality. Mikael Uhre, Tai Baribo, and Daniel Gazdag are all capable of scoring 15+ goals a season and all three look hungry in the opening games.

The question comes with Bradley Carnell. His uber pressing style works well up to a point, but eventually it gets figured out. The “Red Bull” system needs to be adaptable and less rigid. The better coaches with this style can alter it over time. What will Carnell do?

Philadelphia heads to New England on Saturday and you have to like the Union’s chances as the Revs offense has been terrible to start the season. They’re still looking for their first goal and chances are few and far between.

Atlanta hosts the New York Red Bulls on Saturday in a matchup between rivals dating back to 2018. What makes this interesting is that while Atlanta has made a lot of upgrades, the team’s defense has been painfully inadequate in both of its first two games (a 3-2 win over Montreal and a 2-0 loss away to Charlotte). The Red Bulls have been very organized in the back and if they can frustrate Atlanta, their offense should have chances.

One of the big games this weekend will be LAFC hosting Seattle. Seattle has always been frustrated by LAFC in recent years but it’s hard to know what to expect as both teams could be distracted by the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

 

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