MLS offseason notebook: Ranking all 22 starting defensive midfielders
A look at the latest offseason happenings and a definitive ranking of the 22 starting MLS defensive midfielders.
U.S. Soccer isn’t exactly filling our lives with positivity at the moment. We don’t need to go over all the dumb stuff flying around — the JoGo tragedy, the lack of full-time scouts, the pointless rehashing of September’s qualifying disaster against Costa Rica — in detail.
Instead, let’s focus on our league. MLS’s offseason is chugging along toward draft season, and there’s always good, neutral stuff to talk about:
Transaction rundown
Galaxy send cash to D.C. United for rights to American defensive midfielder Perry Kitchen
Kitchen, a college soccer product who played four years in D.C., signed for LA on Tuesday after two ok seasons in Scotland and Denmark. Not long ago he was on the radar of Jurgen Klinsmann and the USMNT as a potential Michael Bradley backup.
The Galaxy had to part with $100,000 of General Allocation Money and $200,000 of TAM, which (approximately) evens out the cash LA got from DCU for the rights to Paul Arriola last summer. It’s worth it for last year’s Wooden Spoon winners, who get a proven MLS contributor to replace the dreadful Joao Pedro-Jermaine Jones double-pivot they regretfully ran in 2017.
Things are looking up in Carson now that they have a legitimate No. 6 to pair with Mexican international and future Jonathan Gonzalez (*sad emoji*) backup Jonathan dos Santos. A front four of Emmanuel Boateng or Sebastian Lletget, Giovani dos Santos, Romain Alessandrini and a top-tier non-Gyasi Zardes forward would surely be enough to push them back into the Western Conference’s top four.
That is, of course, presuming the rest of the roster (i.e., defense) avoids the two goals allowed per game pace they kept last year, which relies on new defensive acquisitions Rolf Feltscher, Jorgen Skjelvik and David Bingham playing well. No guarantees there.
Rapids coming together
Credit to new Colorado manager Anthony Hudson: he has a preferred shape and style and has taken steps to implement that in Commerce City. He hasn’t generated much buzz (or, for that matter, hope among fans) with his persistent signings of New Zealand internationals and Scandinavian midfielders, but his intention of playing three at the back was made perfectly clear by their two most recent acquisitions.
They brought in American outside defender Edgar Castillo on loan from Monterrey to play wing-back opposite Marlon Hairston, and they signed English defensive midfielder Jack Price, who reportedly has experience playing in a 3-5-2 for Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Attackers are still desperately needed, but this is progress.
Everything else that happened:
- A potential deal between the Dynamo and Veracruz that would have sent Cubo Torres to Liga MX reportedly fell through. Selling him and starting Mauro Manotas up top would be the ideal situation for Houston.
- Speaking of the Dynamo, they re-signed right-back AJ DeLaGarza. He’ll be out for a while with the torn ACL he suffered in October, but he’s solid.
- Minnesota United signed Cameroonian international attacker Franz Pangop. Not much has been said concerning his specific position, which could suggest a free second-striker-type role behind Christian Ramirez.
- Real Salt Lake have their starting right-back. They signed Welsh-American Adam Henley.
- Columbus signed 21-year-old Venezuelan midfielder Eduardo Sosa, presumably as depth.
- D.C. United sent a second-round SuperDraft pick to Vancouver for goalkeeper David Ousted. The Dane, one of the better backstops in the league over the past few years, will compete with Steve Clark for the starting job.
- Vancouver transferred defender Sam Adekugbe, who never found traction in the league, to Norwegian club Valerenga.
- The Revolution signed Syrian left-back Gabriel Somi to start opposite Andrew Farrell.
Ranking all 22 starting defensive midfielders
Like how NFL teams need a quarterback to succeed, MLS teams need to be solid at the No. 6 position. It may not be as much of a deal breaker as it is in football, but look at the top teams in this league and you’ll find a common denominator: a top-tier defensive midfielder that can win the ball, cover ground and distribute.
This is a spot that deserves more attention than it gets. We’re ranking the 22 starters in the league right now, excluding LAFC because they haven’t signed one yet.
22. Jack Price, Colorado Rapids
Defensive midfield is a position of strength in MLS. It was difficult to differentiate between the No. 7 player and the No. 17 player, which is a good thing. You’ll see some quality guys undeservedly getting punched down the list.
I don’t know much about Price, which defaults him to last. That could change once Price plays his first game in Burgundy; we might end up with another entry into the vast world of high-quality mid-tier No. 6s.
21. Cristian Higuita, Orlando City
Higuita has faced a tough situation in Orlando, with constantly changing tactics and the presence of average stopgaps like Antonio Nocerino, but when on the field he’s shown the physical tools and ball-winning instincts to stick around as a starter. Discipline, both in terms of positional awareness and simply racking up fouls, is where his weaknesses lie.
He’s raw. Plenty of room to grow, but he needs stability more than anything.
20. Perry Kitchen, LA Galaxy
He was very good when he started for D.C. a few years ago, but I’m not comfortable putting him ahead of many of the below players having not seen him play in this league for two years.
19. Scott Caldwell, New England Revolution
This is a player you watch and think, “he must be at least in his late 20s or early 30s.” Caldwell, just 26, was so calm and clinical amid the chaos of the Jay Heaps Revolution that he gave the impression of being a Sam Cronin-esque veteran presence. That’s a compliment.
He is versatile, although not especially mobile, and he does the job every week. He’s not, let’s say, a difference-maker, though, and he won’t provide nearly as much in possession as many of the players you’ll see coming up.
18. Russell Canouse, D.C. United
Arriving in D.C. for the last 10 games of the 2017 season, the 22-year-old Canouse played well for a dead duck squad. It’s tough to really look good on a bad Ben Olsen team playing out the stretch, but the Lancaster, PA native managed it, even pulling off a USMNT call-up to the January camp roster.
We’ll have to see him playing more competitive soccer games before we throw out too many compliments. It is safe to say he looks like an answer in central midfield for DCU.
17. Aly Ghazal, Vancouver Whitecaps
Ghazal, an Egyptian-international, was good enough in late-season relief of the injured Matias Laba to force Vancouver to move on from Laba this offseason. With the Argentine nursing a torn ACL and testing the free-agent market, Ghazal looks to have solidified the starting No. 6 job.
A no-frills stopper, he is a perfect fit for Carl Robinson Soccer. Passing and moving the ball are not big features of his game, and for Ghazal, it’s less about ball-winning than it is about ball-stopping.
16. Anibal Godoy, San Jose Earthquakes
With San Jose finally establishing a team direction, the unnecessary glut of defensive midfielders that had marked them for years has gradually been eradicated. Godoy has emerged, settling into an every-week true No. 6 role under Chris Leitch and helping provide rare positional stability for a team in transition.
Like Higuita, he is raw and has a tendency to be reckless, but he grew as the season went on, particularly in his positional discipline.
15. Haris Medunjanin, Philadelphia
Philadelphia may be stuck in never-ending mediocrity, but Medunjanin, a Bosnia MNT regular, played well in his first MLS season last year. He posses one of the best diagonal switch balls in MLS (along with Michael Bradley, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Wil Trapp).
Him and young Derrick Jones would make a good midfield pairing for the Union. Knowing Philly, they’ll probably sit Jones and give Medunjanin Warren Creavalle or something.
14. Carlos Gruezo, FC Dallas
If this were written a year ago, Gruezo would be top five. Now, he is falling out of the Ecuador national team picture and playing terribly in MLS.
When FCD fell on their face in the second half of last season, Gruezo, who hadn’t played all that well up to that point anyway, went with them. He was missing marks, slower off the ball, and committing uncharacteristically careless turnovers. He needs a rebound, desperately.
13. Kyle Beckerman, Real Salt Lake
Putting a 35-year-old post-dreadlock Beckerman over Gruezo is kind of painful, but that’s where we are at right now.
Beckerman, who hasn’t technically re-signed with RSL but is reportedly training in Salt Lake, is still playing well as the backbone of a young team. Father time is catching up, though, making this a position Real have to look at upgrading sooner rather than later.
12. Samuel Piette, Montreal Impact
Piette signed for the last 10 games of last season and was a stalwart for a roller coaster Montreal team that just missed out on the postseason. He protects the backline well as a pure No. 6, and seems to have revived his career after some so-so years in Europe.
11. Carlos Carmona, Atlanta United
All of this contains an asterisk due to the rumors surrounding Carmona moving back to Chilean club Colo Colo.
For now, Carmona is the starter next to Darlington Nagbe. He got better throughout the 2017 season as a No. 8 next to Jeff Larentowicz. He fits well in Tata Martino’s high-energy system.
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10. Felipe, New York Red Bulls
Felipe took over as the full-time No. 6 last season following the Dax McCarty trade, and while he’s not the most, let’s say, elegant player, he gets the job done.
A true “protector” in every sense of the word, Felipe is rough on the tackle and is among the kings of MLS gamesmanship. The Red Bulls are better for it.
9. Juan David Cabezas, Houston Dynamo
The Houston Dynamo’s turnaround this season and run to the Western Conference finals was fueled more by the presence of a solid No. 6 like Cabezas than their core of talented attackers. Their sit-deep-and-counter style suffocated teams late in the season despite a multitude of backline injuries, thanks primarily to the play of Cabezas, who is one of the best spacial protectors in the league.
His distribution isn’t much to write home about, but it didn’t have to be in Houston.
8. Sam Cronin, Minnesota United
It’s no coincidence that after Cronin was traded to Minnesota on March 31 of last year the Loons went from allowing an average of 4.5 goals per game in their first four matches to allowing just 1.75 on average in their next four (still not great, but a clear improvement). He was a stalwart for the rest of the season, and his 2016 domination with Colorado is still fresh in our minds.
Cronin’s unassuming nature on the field should not take away from how much of an influence he has on his teams.
7. Ilie Sanchez, Sporting KC
Looking for a consummate representation of Peter Vermes’s Sporting KC? Ilie is exactly that.
Acquired before the 2017 season to replace the out-of-favor Soni Mustivar, he has lived up to the SKC identity, which emphasizes physicality, fitness and irritableness. Sanchez is a workhorse, playing 33 games and not missing a minute, and he doesn’t stop moving.
6. Diego Chara, Portland Timbers
There’s an argument to be made that Diego Guzman is the real No. 6 in Portland and that Chara has functioned more as an 8 with him in the fold. Chara counts as a d-mid here because it’s a double-pivot system and he has the qualities of a No. 6: he’s an energetic and athletic presence that can stop the ball and effectively push it forward.
His appearance on this list marks the beginning of the “elite” class.
5. Alexander Ring, NYCFC
Without an elite passing center-back running things out of the back, Alex Ring was a centerpiece of NYCFC’s build-out-of-the-back ethos. Along with solidifying the traditional No. 6 area as a lone d-mid, Ring was tasked with dictating NYC’s possession. He did a great job of it, starting 29 games and leading a midfield often without Yangel Herrera to great heights.
The Light Blues failed again in the postseason, but they played pretty soccer and finished second in the Supporters’ Shield standings. Ring was a big part of that.
4. Ozzie Alonso, Seattle Sounders
Injuries knocked Alonso out of the Sounders’ playoff run. Thanks to Gustav Svensson, Seattle didn’t miss a beat as they would have any of the previous years that Ozzie was anchoring their midfield. His social media tantrums don’t speak well of his future in the Pacific Northwest, but he remains elite in this league.
3. Wil Trapp, Columbus Crew
One would be hard-pressed to find a player in MLS as ingrained into the culture of their team and city as Columbus’s Wil Trapp, the 24-year-old Homegrown player and captain. Trapp hasn’t missed a minute since March 11 (he started all 34 games this season, plus the Crew’s five playoff games) and he is the heartbeat of a team facing adversity from all directions.
He’s one of the best possession players in MLS (yep) and he was at his best for the Crew this season, especially in October and November.
2. Dax McCarty, Chicago Fire
Protecting the space next to an aging Bastian Schweinsteiger while simultaneously playing a huge role in a system based around midfield possession buildup is not easy work. That’s what McCarty did in 2017, leading Chicago to third in the Eastern Conference.
Without Dax, the Fire wouldn’t have been able to maximize the abilities of Schweinsteiger, who despite his age and physical decline was very good last season. McCarty is arguably the most valuable player on his team among d-mids.
1. Michael Bradley, Toronto FC
The flack Bradley gets from USMNT fans is way overblown and undeserved. He’s deservedly revered in Toronto for his MLS play, which should have put him in the best XI.
Bradley, an on-field leader who has has amazing control over the pace of the game, is a machine, and one of the most important components of the treble-winning Reds.