Western Conference Preview 2025: Part 1
So many teams. So many moves.
Entry for Wednesday, January 28: It’s day two of being home sick; I’m too tired to do anything other than eat yogurt, suck down Advil, and lie prone on the bed next to the dog. I’m tired of binging old comfort television. I’m definitely tired of reading the newspaper about the latest absurdities.
But the 2025 season is around the corner, so I have a duty and obligation, whether sick or in health, to write about soccer. In the event what I write below is pure nonsense, or if it happens that I predict something insane, months from now I can blame my errors on being literally enveloped in a delusional fever.1
Entry for Sunday, February 2: It’s stupid when you get the flu shot and you still get the flu and you complain to people about it and they tell you ‘yeah well they have to guess the strain every year and whoops! they guessed wrong.’ This does not make me feel better.
I do, however, feel 95% better. The Rapids open their season in 16 days! I too have made educated guess-type things that will probably prove silly upon reflection in eight months.
Austin FC
Finish in 2024: 10th, 42 pts, 11-9-14 (WTL); missed playoffs
Goals For in 2024: 39
Goals Against in 2024: 48
Key Additions: F Myrto Uzuni, F Brandon Vazquez, RW Osman Bukari
Key Subtractions: RW Sebastian Driussi, DM Alexander Ring, MF Jhojan Valencia
Got better? Or got worse?: ⬆️ Better
Rapids fans in 2024 were making fun of Austin for trying to run it back as if they were the 2022 Colorado Rapids, with an attacking core consisting of Gyasi Zardes and Diego Rubio. Yeah, not surprisingly, that didn’t work for the Verde, as Zardes finished the season with 3 goals, and Rubio with just 4. Sebastian Driussi, their high-priced DP wing forward, had his most underwhelming year of the four he spent in Texas. But Austin made good business of it, selling him to River Plate for $10 million. They also jettisoned Alexander Ring, who used to be a midfield two-way terror but was a lot less effective the past two seasons, as well as Ethan Finley and Matt Hedges.
USMNT guy Brandon Vazquez was brought in from Monterrey in Liga MX. Albania forward Myrto Uzuni joins from Granada in La Liga 2. And ‘winger that would have been perfect for the Rapids’, 25 year-old Osman Bukari, comes to them from Red Star Belgrade. They also added LAFC veteran Ilie Sanchez.
Look, 39 Goals For was the worst in the conference, and I think they’ve probably fixed that with these fancy moves. But theres a lot of new players to jell in 2025, and the backline is, to me, a little suspect. Still, this team probably did what they needed to do to get back to the playoffs.
FC Dallas
Finish in 2024: 11th, 41 points, 11-8-15 (WTL); missed playoffs
Goals For in 2024: 54
Goals Against in 2024: 56
Key Additions: RW Anderson Julio, DM Show, FB Shaq Moore
Key Subtractions: CF Jesus Ferreira, LW Alan Velasco, CB Nkosi Tafari
Got better? Or got worse?: Probably worse. ⬇️
Dallas really wasn’t good in 2025; there was no ‘there’ there. I’d watch them play and move the ball around and think ‘what am I watching? What’s the plan, man?’ And I think management saw the same thing, which is why they fired head coach Nico Estevez mid-summer and rolled with an interim in Peter Luccin till October. They recently hired Eric Quill from USL’s New Mexico United, so we’ll see what kind of identity he wants to give them.
It feels like its going to be a return to roots for Dallas. Their biggest move in the offseason was to sign seven players from MLS Next Pro team North Texas to senior team contracts, including Ricardo Pepi’s little brother, Diego Pepi. It seems likely that Dallas are going all in on their youth, which was a hallmark of the team’s ethos in the good old days of Oscar Pareja, when they won trophies like Supporters Shield and Open Cup. I think Dallas will be mediocre-to-bad in 2025. But I imagine that they might be the team everybody is talking about in 2026.
Houston Dynamo
Finish in 2024: 5th, 54 points, 15-9-10 (WTL); eliminated first round of playoffs
Goals For in 2024: 47
Goals Against in 2024: 39
Key Additions: MF Erik Dueñas, MF Jack McGlynn
Key Subtractions: MF Hector Herrera, MF Coco Carasquilla, CF Sebastian Ferreira, GK Steve Clark
Got better? Or got worse?: Worse ⬇️
The team did some good business selling midfielder Carasquilla to Pumas in Liga MX, but he was a solid attacker and string puller for the orangemen; replacing him is going to be tough. That said, Houston is overwhelmingly going with the ‘if it ain’t broke’ theory in 2025: they saw good things from newcomer Ezequiel Ponce and from second-year man Erik Sviatchenko, and so there weren’t a lot of big roster moves to shake things up. Rapids U23 guy Griffin Dorsey became an everyday player for the first time in his career. And I think some of their young guys like 19 year-old Brooklyn Raines and Dynamo 2’s Femi Awodesu might see some minutes. The addition of Jack McGlynn on February 1 in MLS’ first ever intra-league cash trade with Philadelphia Union should provide a decent replacement for Carasquilla.
I really enjoy Ben Olsen as a coach. He’s a guy with something of a tactically identity. ‘Benny ball,’ as they call it used to be defensive-minded possession, but now I think it’s just possession-minded possession; not in a Peter Vermes ‘they can’t score if they don’t ever get the ball’ kind of way, but more in a ‘we will have the ball and find a way through, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll find another way through.’ It looks similar to Robin Fraser’s system to me, and I always liked Fraser’s system, even if Fraser’s man-management and talent-evaluation skills were not so good.
This doesn’t look like a team that will contend for MLS Cup, but they’ll be top six again; so kind of a recent MLS iteration of Tottenham. They played in the maximum number of tournaments in 2024 – Leagues Cup, CCL, Open Cup, and MLS Playoffs – and didn’t make any headway in any of them. But they are remarkably consistent; finishing 4th in 2023 and 5th in 2024. So maybe a lack of moves is nothing to worry about. Houston also made most of their moves midyear in 2024; maybe that’s the play this year, too.
LAFC
Finish in 2024: 1st, 64 points, 19-7-8 (WTL); Made it to Conference semi-finals
Goals For in 2024: 63
Goals Against in 2024: 43
Key Additions: CB Nkosi Tafari, CF Jeremy Ebobisse
Key Subtractions: MF Mateusz Bogusz2, DM Ilie Sanchez, DM Eduard Atuesta
Got better? Or got worse?: Worse ⬇️, but it probably doesn’t matter.
LAFC are becoming MLS’ true ‘it’s like rooting for laundry’ team: don’t get too attached to a player, because they won’t be there forever. Carlos Vela was as close to an installation in Exposition Park as possible, as he spent five seasons in black and gold. Most of the other notable or identifiable Angels – Gareth Bale, Adama Diomande, Latif Blessing, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Diego Rossi, Walker Zimmerman, Kellyn Acosta, Georgio Chiellini – each got just one or two years and were sent on their way. Ricky Bobby may piss excellence, but he ain’t much for loyalty.
Ilie Sanchez and Eduard Atuesta were team anchors with 3+ years with the black and gold, but now they’re out, and without them in 2025, it’s unclear what the midfield is gonna look like. I liked LAFC when they played an upbeat, whizzing and whirring 4-3-3 a few years, but apparently under Stevie Cherundolo they’re now going to a 5-3-2, which is a reason for bringing in Nkosi Tafari, a centerback I love.
I’m kind of hemming and hawing and saying ‘gee I don’t know.’ But the reality is this:
A) any MLS team with Dennis Bouanga, Jeremy Ebobisse, Olivier Giroud, and Hugo Lloris is gonna be good and fun to watch. Ditto Ryan Hollingshead, who at his best plays left back like a coke-fueled grizzly bear.
B) LAFC always finishes top 4.3 Betting any other way is just stupid.
C) LAFC always start the year with a rumor of an electric player that will join in summer. Gareth Bale, Gergio Chiellini, Olivier Giroud. This year its Antoine Griezmann, who was legit my favorite striker to use in the FIFA 2018 video game. There are probably two or three other medium-large summer moves for LA.
Can the Rapids beat them over two legs in the CCC4 first round on February 18 and February 25? It is not impossible. Won’t be easy, though.
LA Galaxy
Finish in 2024: Won MLS Cup. 2nd in Western Conference, 64 points, 19-7-8 (WTL)
Goals For in 2024: 69 (most in W.Conf)
Goals Against in 2024: 50
Key Additions: D Sean Davis, GK JT Marcinkowski
Key Subtractions: Gaston Brugman, Jalen Neal, Dejan Joveljic(?)
Got better? Or got worse?: Stayed the same (except their best player is out for the season)
LA Galaxy were just unholy terrors in 2024 with Gabriel Pec, Josef Paintsil, and Riqui Puig murdering everyone, every week. I mean, sure that’s an exaggeration - but this was, to me, an LA Galaxy we hadn’t seen in terms of effectiveness since Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane were running the show.
Slight pause and digression: it is completely ridiculous that LAG has had Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Chicharito, Steven Gerrard, Giovani and Jonathan Dos Santos, and Romain Alessandrini over the past decade and yet none of them WON ANY TROPHIES. Zlatan was damn fun, though, wasn’t he?
Puig went out with a torn ACL in the Conference Finals and LA still won the final against NYRB, 2-1 by simply being clean and applying pressure. NY made mistakes, LA won their sixth cup.
LA have to deal with not having Puig all year, but all their DP slots are taken, so there’s not a lot they can do here other than hope Marco Reus and Diego Fagundez can reproduce some of Puig’s qualities in the aggregate [editors note: they can’t]. Also, word is striker Dejan Joveljic might be sold to Tigres in Liga MX has been sold to Sporting Kansas City in MLS, so who replaces his 15 goals, 5 assists, and 1927 minutes is a good question.
I mean, I wish I had these problems. But they are problems. LA probably won’t be the same this year, but 2024 was a hell of a ride, and the hangover is probably worth it.
Minnesota United
Finish in 2024: 6th, 52 points, 15-7-12 (WTL); Made it to W. Conf. semi-final
Goals For in 2024: 58
Goals Against in 2024: 49
Key Additions: CB Nicolás Romero, MF Ho-yeon Jung
Key Subtractions: CB Miguel Tapias, W Franco Frangapane, MF Hassani Dotson (?)
Got better? Or got worse? Better ⬆️
Minnesota are the mystery box of the 2025 season, the way Colorado or San Jose were in 2024.5 There are some new players here, and maybe they’re fantastic and everything comes up good (the 2024 Rapids). Or maybe Minnesota spent on some DPs that aren’t quite right and its a train wreck (San Jose).
Minnesota brought in striker Kelvin Yeboah and midfielder Joaquin Pereyra during the Summer window last year, and each got to start their MLS careers. But 2025 will be the first full season of them. In 709 minutes, Yeboah had 7 goals. Pereyra, in 409 minutes, was less effective, putting out an unremarkable 1.1 xG+xA, but the team paid a $3.3 million transfer fee for him, so it is assumed they think he’s going to be the man.
If these two hit, and Robin Lod is great again (7 goals, 13 assists in 2024), and Bongi Hlongwane is solid, and the new CB Romero clicks, and Korean import Jung hits, then Minnesota will be singing Wonderwall all summer long. However, thats four unknown new additions jelling, all while they don’t miss a beat if midfield swiss army knife Hassani Dotson leaves, as reported. So I do think there’s a world where the backline isn’t up to it and Yeboah doesn’t have the support and Lod loses a step and it doesn’t work. I mean, this is a team that relied on Michael Boxall (35 years old)and Wil Trapp (31 years old) for 5,000 minutes last year.
Tea leaves are very cloudy on this one.
Portland Timbers
Finish in 2024: 9th, 47 points, 12-11-11 WTL, eliminated in Playoff Wild Card round
Goals For in 2024: 65
Goals Against in 2024: 56
Key Additions: CF Kevin Kelsy, DM Joao Ortiz
Key Subtractions: CM Erik Williamson, CF Mason Toye
Got better? Or got worse?: Better, I guess. ⬆️ They’re going for ‘score 70 goals, ship 70 goals,’ but hey it’ll be fun at least.
It’s a toss-up for me which I hated more in 2024: Chappell Roan’s ‘HOT TO GO!’ or the Portland Timbers. But for different reasons.
‘Hot to Go’ was an inoffensively cute pop song for a few weeks and then all of a sudden I could not fucking stand to listen to it one more time. Portland Timbers were a mediocre football team that, for no apparent reason, simply battered the Rapids to pieces every time we played in embarrassing ways. They beat us in the seasoner opener, 4-1, in a game that was all but over in minute 14. Then they beat us 4-0 in the Leagues Cup Opener. We did beat them, 2-1, in September though. And they juuuust squeaked into the playoffs, and then Vancouver murdered them 5-0, which was really the best proof text for why a wild card matchup for MLS playoffs is dumb.
Portland were kind of ‘open’ and ‘fun’ in 2024, which is why they conceded 56 goals. So if I were their GM, I might shore up the midfield and defense. Nope! Portland spent $6 million to buy him from Shaktar Donetsk, who had him loaned out to FC Cincinnati in 2024. That’s a lot of flair for the Timbers, who already have Brazilians Evander and Antony in the attack. With Felipe Mora, Diego Chara, Kamal Miller, and Santiago Moreno coming back this year, that means there’s a lot to like about this team.
Phil Neville managed this team in 2024, and I guess the leadership figured he deserved another year to demonstrate that he has a plan and a system that can deliver results. Neville previously managed the England Women’s team and Inter Miami, with little to show from either experience. I’m not really sure from all I’ve seen that he has a clear tactical style or plan other than ‘let the lads have a go.’ If the betting apps have a ‘first MLS manager fired in 2025’ option, I’d put $50 on Neville without batting an eye.
This is my 11th year doing a Western Conference preview. Please send the edible arrangement to my home, not office.
I will not miss Mateusz Bogusz, who was sold to Cruz Azul for $9 million. That was like the hardest name to spell in MLS history. OK, second hardest next to Kacper Przybyłko.
Yeah I know in 2020 they finished 7th - but Covid, so whatevs. In 2021 they finished 9th and it cost Bob Bradley his job.
I’m trying to remember its Champions Cup, not Champions League. But I’m gonna screw this up like twenty more times this year.
You might not remember the Rapids as a mystery box to start 2024. They were.
The 2023 season was the worst in team history. Djordje Mihailovic was coming back from Europe, where he didn’t do much. Sam Vines was coming back from Europe, where he was injured frequently, then relegated to the bench. Kevin Cabral had been an expensive disaster for LA in 2022 that the Rapids took a chance on, with mixed results, in 2023. Zack Steffen had failed to stand out for Manchester City or Middlesborough or the USMNT enough that none of them really wanted him. Padraig Smith was doing his ‘Distressed Assets FC’ thing and hoped maybe it’d pan out.