MLS Footnotes: Sporting Kansas City peaking, could challenge New England and Seattle for MLS Cup
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
Editor's Note: MLS Footnotes takes you inside the major talking points around the league and across American soccer.
The games are coming thick and fast, as the 2021 MLS regular season draws to a close.
On Wednesday, 23 of the league’s 27 teams were in action — 11 MLS games and CF Montreal in the Canadian Championship. One night earlier, shorthanded LAFC stunned the then-Western Conference-leading Seattle Sounders 3-0. The postseason picture is coming into sharper focus almost by the day.
What’s already clear is that the New England Revolution is the best team in MLS regular-season history. The Revs, front and center in this space last week, clinched the first Supporters' Shield in the club’s 26 seasons when Seattle lost to Sporting Kansas City last weekend.
Wednesday night, New England topped the visiting Colorado Rapids 1-0 on Tajon Buchanan’s second-half goal, increasing the Revs' 2021 haul to a record-shattering 73 points. The Revolution can also set a new wins mark by beating Miami for their 23rd dub on Decision Day.
Any talk about how the Revs benefited from a weak East this season, or how their latest victory was their 18th by a single goal, is just silly. You play the opponent in front of you. It’s not how, it’s how many. Whatever cliché you choose, Bruce Arena’s team is the GOAT, period. And if the Revs do win their finale and finish with 76 points, that record could stand for an awfully long time.
MLS FOOTNOTES
1. Goal of the year?
Before we get to anything else, take a moment to marvel at Lucas Zelarayán’s otherworldly strike in Columbus’ 3-2 win over Orlando:
You won’t see a ball hit more sweetly than that in any league in the world.
2. Empty cup
Records and regular-season titles are nice, but for every team, the ultimate domestic honor is MLS Cup. And since we’re taking a history lesson today, it’s important to point out that MLS Cup history is not on New England’s side.
Just five Supporters' Shield holders have gone on to take MLS Cup in the same season. Toronto FC was the last team to pull off the "double" in 2017, the only time it has happened in a decade.
3. Sixth time the charm?
The Revs made five MLS Cup finals during the first quarter-century of their existence — and lost them all, including three straight from 2005 to 2007. They fell to the LA Galaxy in extra time in 2002 and 2014. That 2002 final was still special, with the Revs packing more than 60,000 fans into Gillette Stadium on a beautiful Sunday in October. Only the 2018 (in Atlanta) and 2019 (in Seattle) deciders drew more fans.
This year’s title match is Dec. 11. You can be sure that if New England returns to MLS Cup, every seat will be sold in Foxborough despite potentially freezing temperatures.
4. Riding the bike
It wasn’t as pretty as Zelarayan’s goal, and it was definitely helped by some borderline amateurish goalkeeping, but Dairon Asprilla’s bicycle kick from outside the box in Portland’s 2-0 triumph over San Jose on Wednesday was also a thing of beauty:
Both strikes are in the conversation for GOTY, as is this 75-yard solo run and finish by Seattle’s Joao Paulo earlier this month.
But all three will be hard-pressed to beat out this screamer from Philly’s Jakob Glesnes back in June.
Then again, it’s hard to predict. Glesnes probably should have won the 2020 award for this one:
5. Great Scot
Kansas City leapfrogged the Sounders into first place out West with a rain-soaked 2-0 win over the Galaxy. The hero, once again, was Scottish national teamer Johnny Russell, who scored both for SKC. Russell now has 14 goals this season and on current form, is the hottest player in the league, having converted in eight consecutive games. Sporting has the best record in the league (6W-2L-0T) during that span.
Johnny Russell nets two goals in Sporting KC's 2-0 victory over LA Galaxy
6. Sporting chance
One gets the sense that KC –– at or near the top of its conference for most of 2021 –– is peaking at exactly the right time. New England and Seattle are still the favorites but don’t bet against Peter Vermes’ veteran squad, which has had repeated bad playoff luck since winning it all in 2013. This year, KC is due.
7. Walking wounded
At this stage of the season, games can look more like wars of attrition. Teams are banged up. The ones that stay relatively healthy — or get healthy when it counts the most — usually go on the deepest runs.
Both LAFC and Seattle were comically depleted on Wednesday. But with multiple players deployed in unfamiliar positions by coach Bob Bradley out of necessity, LAFC deserves a ton of credit for Tuesday’s lopsided upset. Ted Lasso and Roy Kent sure seemed to enjoy it:
The question is, can the 2019 Supporters' Shield winner and last year’s CONCACAF Champions League runner-up ride those good vibes and eke into the playoffs in its final two contests? LAFC sits just one point behind Real Salt Lake for the seventh and final spot in the conference.
If LAFC gets in, and as injured players begin to return, it’s not hard to imagine Bradley’s side going deep in a single-elimination tournament — especially with former MLS MVP Carlos Vela back on the field. After struggling with a hamstring injury, Vela came off the bench for LAFC in the second half, his first appearance since Aug. 21.
8. Keeper’s clincher
In the one non-league game involving an MLS team, CF Montreal advanced to the Canadian Championship final on Wednesday by beating Ontario-based Forge FC in a wild penalty shootout. Facing elimination, backup blue-blanc-noir backstop Sebastian Breza stopped Forge keeper Triston Henry’s spot kick in the 10th round before stepping up and slotting the winner past Henry.
CFM will meet the winner of next week’s other semi between its blood-rival Toronto and Pacific FC for a spot in next year’s CONCACAF Champions League.
9. U-20 USMNT coach close
U.S. Soccer is close to hiring a permanent coach for the U.S. under-20 national team. Multiple sources have told me that it probably won’t be someone well-known to MLS fans. An announcement could come by the end of next week.
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
