2026 MLS Flavors of the Week

I big problem is that Philly looks clueless on the field. We look like a middle school team out there. It’s not football that’s being played.

 

I’m with Man City on this one. I don’t want a 16 year old super prospect getting worn down and hurt. He just started a mid-week game against one of the best teams outside of Europe.

if he plays 1k minutes over the course of the season, that’s a ton. Even Davies was around there at 16.

 

He's started all the CCC games. Let's see who plays in Mexico City and what his MLS minutes are post-elimination in the CCC.

I've been critical of Carnell but he shouldn't be playing two games a week.

 

I highly doubt that.

If he was playing and showing signs of having problems, City would submit feedback.

You're suggesting the inverse. City dictating his mins before any negative issues appear. Clubs in City's role don't place mins restrictions on players with other clubs. They don't say so and so can't play on Sat. And if they did then you'd see Cavan just not make the bench on game day.

More often than not the situation is what is most likely. Philly just doesn't see him as a regular yet. We'll see how the season pans out. Would not surprise me if there's an option in the contract to bring him over this summer and loan him out as he can now use his EU passport.

 

Carnell's contract runs through the end of the year. They're still paying Jim Curtin to not work. The ownership group is spend thrifty. They're not going to pay TWO coaches to not work., or at the very least this scenario is HIGHLY unlikely. Now if they start league play with seven losses on the trot or they go 0-12-4 (Galaxy in 25)...... that may change the calculus.

If they are planning on bringing in a Sporting Director from outside of the current Org, they may be content with letting Carnell see out his contract and let the new person pick their own head coach.

IMO, I can't see the ownership group making a change until the situation with Ernst Tanner is resolved.

 

NE’s Peyton Miller scored his first MLS goal today.

 

They all got in the act! Giffin Yow too.

New England 6 Cincinnati 1 wasn't what I was expecting today.

The Cincinnati goal was scored by young American midfielder Valenzuela, who was then red carded in the 69th minute. This game was 4-1 before the red card.

 

2nd blowout ongoing.

Vancouver 4 Minnesota 0 AT THE HALF.

All of Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter, and Emmanuel Sabbi on the scoresheet.

 

Brian White with another.

5-0 Vancouver

TAKE A BOW MR WHITE 🔥

Brian White becomes the first player to reach 100 goal contributions in our MLS era!

Congratulations Brian! 👏#VWFC | #VANvMNUFC pic.twitter.com/KDOZO1ZsJM

— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) March 15, 2026

 

Sabbi to White
Berhalter to Sabbi

The run and the finish 😶‍🌫️#VANvMIN pic.twitter.com/djpPruUUQM

— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) March 15, 2026

Another beauty threaded through from Berhalter for Emmanuel Sabbi to make it 4 - 0 🤯#VAN 4 - 0 #MIN pic.twitter.com/5ZkraKVZ0j

— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) March 15, 2026

 

So, which team is scoring six?

 

Schmetzer could coax defensive effort out of a rock. We had some pretty deep bench players play quite a bit today to sneak that 1-0 win. The only major concern we have is that Ragen has played pretty much every minute so far this season because of our injury crisis at CB. I imagine he'll get some looks next cycle at CB for the nats as long as he stays healthy.

Also a fun stat that one of the main Sounders writers discovered (and i'm sure it'll go over great with certain people) is that Jesus Ferriera and Paul Arriola have roughly the same goals per 90 when on pitch together (in over 6k minutes between Dallas, Seattle, and USMNT) as Son and Kane did for Spurs.

 

Best Americans in MLS so far, per G+/90:

Preston Judd .31
Frankie Westfield .21
Cade Cowell .21
Justin Che .19
AZ Jackson .16
Seb Berhalter .16
Tristan Blackmon .13
Keaton Parks .13

Keepers:

Brad Stuver .69
Matt Turner .62
Andrew Thomas .31
Patrick Schulte .28
Duran Ferree .24
Chris Brady .17
Zack Steffen .09

All other American keepers have been below average to date, though all of this is a super small sample.

 

WS Team of the Week
* = 23-and-under
** = 20-and-under

Player of the Week: White(8.7) Berhalter(8.4) Thomas(8.3)
23-and-under: ALopez(8.0) McGlynn(7.8) Tsakiris(7.6) Westfield(7.6) Che(7.6)
20-and-under: Tsakiris(7.6) Westfield(7.6) Gozo(7.5)

 

Stuver's been pretty much the best keeper in the league for 5 years. Shame he didn't have the "credentials" to warrant even one call up.

Preston Judd? ok

 

Yeah, he's been pretty good. I don't think he was on the same level as Turner when Turner was killing it, but I do think US Soccer has been very hesitant with older keepers when they shouldn't.

Judd is somewhat the product of how G+ thinks about things. One, it is a small sample size (tonight's game wasn't in it), but vertical attackers get a couple of benefits in the way they allocated value that I'm not entirely sure is well enough differentiated.

Passes into strong attacking positions provide a ton of value -- through balls are really your highest percentage play in run of play situations. G+ rightfully allocates some value to the passer and some to the player making the run ... but I think it's somewhat of a standard split and perhaps a bit slanted to the one making the run. Preston Judd with worse passers behind him probably doesn't have this value.

He does make good runs and that is valuable, but it's probably overstated, at least in terms of being differentiated value.

The other piece is that, IIRC, G+ doesn't really grade finishing ... so if a striker gets good shots off but actually isn't much of a finisher, it doesn't hurt them. I think Judd's pretty on target here but it can benefit some players.

I don't expect Judd to stick up there, but he is a pretty effective player in MLS.

 

Yeah Judd's alright. But my bias is he's a poor man's Wondo crossed with a poor man's Lenhart, so blech.

 

G+ does love guys who get the ball in dangerous places. Morris and White have had huge receiving scores over the years. I tend to think it’s legitimate value added though. Everytime I watch Judd he manages to get himself into prime real estate with the ball. He doesn’t have the highest conversion rate but the skill of getting there is legit. If a guy who shoots like Jesus could get open in the box like Judd or White, he’s a MVP candidate.

 

I think it's weird, though that he's gotten only 27 total minutes of league play but they let Defence Force kick the crap out of him for 90.

 

I think a set rotation between league and CCC makes sense to me, in general. I really do think Philly, Cavan and Man City are probably pretty logically united in a general minutes target for the year and not running him out for big minutes in any week. And that's great for his long term health, I think.

I think people are very eager to see him and put that impatience under the bucket of "development" but lots of guys don't have 3,000 first team minutes at 16 and turn our amazing. Messi wasn't anywhere close to breaking through at this point, for example. Cristiano Ronaldo debuted at 17 and a half and didn't play 2,000 minutes until two years later.

I don't think there's any compelling evidence that getting even as low as 1,000 minutes this year actually stunts development. And I think he'll get more than that.

If he starts this week, I think it's pretty clear that the early season plan was that -- he's starting CCC and that's the primary focus.

What I don't quite know is where that sits in priority, and what will happen to his minutes when Philly bows out ... which is also probably this week.

Will he then get a decent number of starts with Philly? There's zero chance, I think, he's an everyday starter for the next 30 games or whatever. I don't think they should run him out for 3,000 minutes.

But will Carnell use him as more than a late and occasional sub? How often will he get a start?

Philly needs some creation, and I think that while he's definitely got some raw edges in terms of decision making right now, getting him comfortable is part of the solution to that issue.

And frankly, if the team is basically done in terms of major regular season goals ... phasing him in so you can maybe make a Leagues Cup or playoff run (or prep for next year if he sticks around) is not a bad idea. The Shield is gone.

 

Also....................Sullivan is still going to school this time of year.

I was reminded of this watching an interview with Declan Rice about Max Dowman. He said the last time he had talked to Max, the kid was wearing his school uniform. Because even when you're a wonderkid at Arsenal, you're still going to school

But anway, Cavan will likely get 1500 minutes or so this season. I'm not really worried about it. Philly is also playing in the Leagues Cup this summer with an opening group of Necaxa, Cruz Azul, and Santos Laguna. Plenty of games on the horizon.................................

It'll be interesting to see if he's involved with any USYNTs as well.

 

Some people act as if 16 year olds playing Top Division professional sports is a regular thing............

Remember Leonard Prescott? Bayern's 16 year old goalkeeper that will be featuring for them tomorrow night?

Bayern Munich need a government permit to play him tomorrow. Not a football permit. A labour law permit. Welcome to the world of Sports Lawyers..

Leonard Prescott cannot… pic.twitter.com/tvtqgvOA8r

— Ajoje⚽⚖️ (@israel_ajoje) March 16, 2026