New_york_red_bulls_-_asn_top_-_youth_-_2-28-26
MLS Analysis

MLS: Youth is served with RBNY & RSL, Montreal is awful, USMNT update, & more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta is here to offer up his thoughts on the week in MLS
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
March 02, 2026
1:10 PM

THE SECOND WEEK OF THE MLS season is in the books and while this league has been tough to predict, many expected preseason storylines are holding true. Lionel Messi can still win games by himself. LAFC, San Diego, and Vancouver are all good. The Galaxy are improved. Meanwhile, Montreal is frighteningly bad. We saw all of that coming.

But there are also surprises which are good. The biggest story is that young players are making a surprisingly big impact in the league. Red Bull New York is leading the way as a teenage trio has led the team to six points from two games. RSL meanwhile is playing well.

As I often say, learning to win is a big part of development.

Meanwhile, San Jose has six points from two games – which many (including myself) didn’t see coming.

On the other side, Philadelphia, Orlando, Charlotte, and Columbus have all stumbled out of the gate in disappointing fashion.

With that said, here are some thoughts on the weekend in MLS.

 

Play Your Kids: RBNY

 

The Red Bulls now have six points from the first two games. First it was a 2-1 win over Orlando and then on Saturday it was a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution. All three goals this season have been scored by Julian Hall, the 17 year old forward from New Jersey.

But along with Hall, left back Matthew Dos Santos, 17, and midfielder Adri Mehmeti, 16, have also made significant contributions. Mehmeti might be the most impressive young player in the league through two games given his ability to help control the middle of the field along with his two assists.

In the only goal against the Revolution, Dos Santos swung in a cross that was flicked on by Mehmeti and finished by Hall.

New head coach Michael Bradley deserves a ton of credit for taking the risk to play young players. Here is what he said.

 

"They have their football and they have personality," Head Coach Michael Bradley said. "They are really talented young players. They have really good mentalities. They come every day ready to train, ready to work, ready to push themselves. We're really happy with the progress that they're making, we're really happy for them, that now, as they've gotten opportunities, they've showed how good they are. We're going to keep pushing them. We understand that with any young player, with any player in general, not every weekend is going to be perfect, not every game is going to be their best, but we're going to continue to find the right ways to help these guys and make sure they continue to take the next step."

It isn’t hard to play young players, but the challenge is to win with them. Fans are not going to turn up to watching a losing team just because it plays young players. Also, playing young players as a built in excuse for losing doesn’t work. Playing young players is good, but it must result in wins.

 

It can be done. Obed Vargas helped Seattle win the CONCACAF Champions Cup at 17 years old. Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie were key players for Philadelphia in a Supporters Shield win.

Yes, there will be tough learning lessons ahead for the Red Bulls, and they should be patient in their development. But remaining in the playoff hunt is critical.

On another note, it is going to be very exciting to watch these players develop with youth national teams in the years ahead.

 

Play your Kids: RSL

 

The other hot spot of the youth movement in the league is in Utah with Real Salt Lake which defeated Seattle 2-1 on Saturday.

Aiden Hezarkhani, 18, scored the first goal. Zavier Gozo, 18 assisted on the second goal. Luca Moisa, 17, started and played 63 minutes.

 

RSL lost to a very good Vancouver team 1-0 in Canada in the opening week and then defeated Seattle at home in the second week. They are also missing USMNT playmaker Diego Luna.

Overall, these are all players who should feature for the U.S. youth national teams in the near future. But the fact that they are learning not just how to play, but to win, is huge for their development.

 

CF Montreal is alarming

 

Before talking about anything else positive. We need to talk about Montreal, which lost 3-0 to Chicago over the weekend. In the season opener, Montreal lost 5-0 to San Diego. Sure, both games were on the road against good opponents, but the early signs are that this Montreal team could be very, very bad.

Right now, it just looks like a team where there is disengagement from ownership. The Saputo family seems far more interested in Bologna these days and Montreal is an afterthought. When watching Montreal, you get the feeling you’re watching the old Chivas USA towards the end.

What is unfortunate about this is that Montreal is a great city. When CF Montreal, or the Montreal Impact, were competitive in the past, their games were fun. The atmosphere at the stadium was terrific.

Like in any league, there are bad teams in MLS every year. But Montreal seems like the furthest away from getting back on track.

 

Messi brings Miami back

 

Even when Inter Miami is playing poorly, Messi can just deliver wins through individual moments of brilliance. Such was the case when Miami fell behind Orlando 2-0 and scored twice to turn the deficit into a 4-2 win.

Messi won this game by himself, and he will do that several times this season. But the problem for Miami is that that aside from Messi, things are not clicking with the new supporting cast.

Last year, Javier Mascherano did well as a head coach by letting well-established veterans do their thing. This year, more coaching is required and we will learn more about him. He has work to do.

 

Quakes go to 2-0

 

It’s not surprising that San Diego, LAFC, and Vancouver have six points from 2 games. It is surprising that the Quakes are based on where they have been the past several years.

People familiar with the league know you can’t bet against Bruce Arena. But even for him, the Quakes is a tough assignment. Even during the last offseason, they lost Cristian Espinoza and only brought in Timo Werner.

The Western Conference has a lot of talent, and some very good coaches, so it was worth being concerned about whether Arena had the resources to turn the Quakes into a winner.

On Saturday, the Quakes defeated Atlanta United 2-0 and this came on the heels of a 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City in the opener. That is not a high level of competition, and both games were at home, but these wins have helped given the team momentum.

On the flip side, Arena seems to believe in the talent he has – and he would know – and Werner should be a very good forward in this league.

If I were a Quakes fan, I would be cautiously optimistic.

 

Disappointments

 

Lots of disappointments to talk about and Charlotte tops the list. A 3-0 loss to the Galaxy leaves them at just one point from two games (after a lackluster 1-1 draw with St. Louis in the opener). Both games have been on the road, but Charlotte is not playing well and new signings such as Luca de la Torre are not playing well. Meanwhile, Father Time is catching up to Tim Ream – quickly.

The Philadelphia Union don’t have any points after losing to DC United and then 2-1 at NYCFC at home on Sunday. Philly lost a ton of talent in the offseason – Tai Baribo, Kai Wagener, Mikael Uhre, Jacob Glessnes, and others. There was always going to be hard adjustments but Bradley Carnell has a lot to fix, quickly. Just as things got away from him quickly in St. Louis in his second year (after a great first year), he needs to avoid the same fate in Philly.

Orlando lost to a bunch of teenagers in week one at home against RBNY and now let Messi run wild in a comeback in week 2. Orlando’s  defense is a hot mess right now. That won’t improve even if they sign Antoine Griezmann. Orlando DP’s always seem to play well. It’s the supporting cast.

Columbus also only has one point from the first two games. They’ve scored four goals but have conceded five. Losing Darlington Nagbe’s composure in possession hurts and makes them vulnerable after turnovers. The Crew’s problem’s are fixable, it comes down to new head coach Henrik Rydström figuring out the solution.

The old saying goes that you can never go home again. Tata Martino might be finding that out the hard way. Atlanta United remain bad.

 

On the rise

 

San Diego was given an easy schedule to start the season, and they have taken advantage with a 5-0 win over Montreal, a 2-0 win over St. Louis, and next up is Sporting KC. These are just practice games for Toluca. Meanwhile, I am loving my pick as Luca Bombino being one of the top young American players in MLS this season.

From a national team perspective, Sebastian Berhalter is not letting up after his big 2025 season. He was good again for Vancouver in its 3-0 win over Toronto. Here’s to hoping  the relocation talks for Vancouver end with some sort of resolution. This team is good and Vancouver is another great soccer city.

The Galaxy are not the most fun team to watch in the league, but their improved backline along with Joao Klauss as a center forward have given the team a lot more than just top wingers in Joseph Paintsill and Gabriel Pec. They pounded Charlotte 3-0.

Post a comment