MLS’s top 5 breakout performers in 2017

Here are the top five MLS players who have put together a breakout 2017 season.

There’s no award for players who “break out” in MLS. Rookies get their due, newcomers get an award and there is even a “Comeback Player of the Year” honor, but for the guys who simply saw a considerable year-to-year improvement, a formal trophy does not exist. Something like the NBA’s Most Improved Player of the Year award would be a nice addition to the yearly MLS trophy case.

Plenty of games remain, and things are far from finished, but we’re here to give those players their own recognition. This top five breakout players list does not include rookies (Jack Elliott, Julian Gressel, Jonathan Lewis, Alex Crognale), newcomers (Miguel Almiron, Yangel Herrera, Victor Vazquez, Nemanja Nikolic, Blerim Dzemaili, Bastian Schweinsteiger) or the more recognizable star players who improved this year, but remain somewhat of a star. Those include Dax McCarty, Cristian Roldan and Justin Meram.

Young players who played little the past few years and just now have picked up are not being considered. Tommy Thompson, Tyler Adams, Erik Palmer-Brown, Raheem Edwards and various RSL players fall into this category.

Here’s the list:

5. Erick ‘Cubo’ Torres, Houston Dynamo

It is very much a debatable topic whether Cubo Torres should be a long-term Dynamo contributor, and how the Houston organization should deal with their clunky forward situation. But the fact remains that under first-year coach Wilmer Cabrera, Torres has blossomed, and the Dynamo are in contention for the Western Conference title.

The Mexican-international — who played himself onto El Tri’s Gold Cup roster this summer — has 14 goals this season, one less than Sebastian Giovinco and Ignacio Piatti and good for fourth on the overall leaderboard. His five penalties helped, but remember that he’s only started 19 games due to international duty and Cabrera’s insistence on squad rotation.

Torres is a pure finishing striker, one that engages in some loose, less-physical hold-up play occasionally but generally leaves the build-up work to his teammates, preferring to poach in the box and rely on subtle, late movement. His feet are fine and his first touch is serviceable, although we rarely see him in the tighter areas necessary for a Gyasi Zardes or Jordan Morris-type bad touch. When tasked with putting a ball through in open space on a counter, he has impressed, and he can hit a pretty mean free-kick when given the chance.

4. Matt Polster (Chicago Fire)

Polster’s role with the Fire was in question heading into the season after McCarty and Juninho were brought in by Nelson Rodriguez to play central midfield, a position where Polster had been a bright spot in last year’s Chicago disaster. That uncertainty went way up again a month into the season, when Schweinsteiger was signed for a lot of cash to essentially take Juninho’s spot and push the depth chart back even more. Polster quickly became the center of trade speculation throughout the league — a lot of teams could use a young and capable defensive midfielder with a foot in the USMNT door.

Veljko Paunovic had other plans. Chicago’s Serbian manager decided to go back to a Polster positional experiment by former coach Frank Yallop that had long been thought a failure: move him to right-back.

Many (including your’s truly) figured the move futile. That turned out to be wildly false, as Polster looks to have found a permanent home at the position. He has solved what was a difficult problem for Chicago (Michael Harrington was the previous starter there) and rapidly evolved into one of the league’s best right-backs and put himself in serious national team discussion.

His activity going forward has been a defining feature. Rather than play as a relentless overlapper and high-volume crosser (like many MLS full-backs), he has found a role as more of a supporting player in combination play, overlapping when necessary but more often contributing to the Fire’s constant possession. Polster’s been able to cut into the box as well, scoring this beauty against the Revolution. In terms of actual defending, he can get beat in open space by creative attackers, but for a converted midfielder, his lateral movement and spacial awareness have been above average.

3. Justen Glad, Real Salt Lake

Glad, still just 20, started 27 games last year at center-back and looked very good. This year, in 12 starts, he has looked even better, and sparked discussion of putting him on a roster for crucial USMNT World Cup qualifiers. Injuries and his appearance at the U-20 World Cup have held back his number of starts in MLS this year, but since he made his season debut on June 17, he hasn’t missed a minute, and has played close to Defender of the Year-caliber.

In the 12 games with Glad, RSL gave up 14 goals. In the 16 games without him, they gave up 34. That tells you all you need to know about his on-field impact for this team.

A US U-20 starter, Glad is extremely mature on the field. He communicates well, he recognizes runs and gaps early, and he is efficient and mistake-free when intervening, rarely getting caught jumping in. His aerial ability is close to unmatched in MLS, shown by his presence in the box on crosses near both goals (he scored one at the U-20 WC). Glad needs to add muscle to fill out his skinny frame — you can bet RSL’s strength and conditioning staff will be all over that this offseason — but his athleticism, awareness, and leadership make him effective as a pure ball-stopper despite this.

Passing nuance is there as well. He can play right-back if needed (he started there at the Homegrown Game this summer) and in both spots, he has shown an ability to be aggressive and complete ambitious forward passes without leaving his team exposed.

Next: The best under-20 player on every MLS team

2. Marky Delgado (Toronto FC)

Toronto FC, arguably the best team in MLS history, have more depth than any team this league has ever seen. In 2016, that depth was used much more rotational than this year, which has seen Greg Vanney find a consistent starting XI and stick to it aside from the necessary resting and replacements for injuries, suspensions and international absences. Central midfield in the era of Victor Vazquez has especially transitioned from a group of Michael Bradley surrounders to one clear starter: Delgado.

A Chivas USA Homegrown, the SoCal native Delgado has played over 1,000 minutes every year since 2013, appearing 28 times last season in Toronto as part of a rotation that also featured Jonathan Osorio, Armando Cooper, Benoit Cheyrou, Tsubasa Endoh and Jay Chapman. As TFC have transitioned full-time to the 3-5-2, Delgado has locked down one of the coveted midfield spots, quickly rocketing him to the top-tier of young American No. 8s, alongside Kellyn Acosta and Cristian Roldan.

He is not a dynamic mover or passer, and does not accumulate a ton of shots or key passes, but his ability to shield the ball and literally never commit any turnovers at all is Darlington Nagbe-esque. Delgado provides a link between the active workhorse d-mid Bradley and the high-volume chance-creator Vazquez, who then connects with Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco.

Rarely do you see him fill the box score and even hear his name called by the broadcasters. But his calmness on the ball, intelligence to patiently cycle possession and ability to pick the exact right moment to put the ball forward onto the feet of an attacking skill player is subtle yet incredibly impressive for a 22-year-old just bursting onto the scene as an MLS elite.

1. Ike Opara (Sporting KC)

The best defender on one of the best defenses in league history deserves some recognition here. Ike Opara, currently sprinting way out in front of the Defender of the Year field, heads Sporting KC’s dominant backline after seven injury-filled, underachieving seasons with SKC and the San Jose Earthquakes.

Opara, whose career high in starts was 16 prior to 2017, showed talent and promise throughout various appearances since entering the league in 2010, but never did he prove himself to be anything more than a raw, injury-prone central defense contributor who could be good for occasional stretches.

This season, that’s changed. Opara has harnessed all of his athletic capabilities — you’d be hard-pressed to come up with an MLS center-back better than Opara at tracking attackers vertically at speed — into a calm, intelligent leader. His awareness in space is top-tier, especially when dealing with combination play, and not only does he stop the ball at an elite level, but he almost never takes a misstep when moving out of the backline.

SKC’s high-energy and condense-the-field version of pressing results in Peter Vermes playing one of the league’s highest defensive lines, and that is perfect for Opara. On a team with three more really good defenders, a solid defensive midfielder and a league-best goalkeeper, Opare has finally avoided injury and put all of his talent together. The USMNT could use him right about now.