MLS Western Conference preview: One new team, and a lot of questions
By Chuck Booth
MLS’ Western Conference may lack the quality of the East in 2018, but it makes up for it with a lot of unpredictability. Here’s what to expect.
In 2017, for the second straight year, the Seattle Sounders stumbled through the regular season and still emerged out of the Western Conference in the playoffs, only to be sacrificed at the altar of Toronto FC.
Two consecutive trips to the MLS Cup final makes them the team to beat by default, but a perplexing offseason may see them left behind the rest of the crowd. Jordan Morris will be absent for the season with an ACL tear, leaving most of the scoring load on Clint Dempsy and Will Bruin.
While Seattle stood pat, the LA Galaxy retooled to come back bigger and stronger than ever by shaking up their lineup, bringing in Ola Kamara, David Bingham, Perry Kitchen and more. The Galaxy will also have a healthy Sebastian Leggett to complement a fearsome starting XI.
The Western Conference as a whole looks like a crapshoot. It lacks the top-tier teams of the Eastern Conference, but the margins are thin between each team, which should result in a fascinating race to see who can finish above the red line.
The cream of the crop
Portland Timbers
Portland finished first last season, but were promptly knocked out by Houston in the conference semifinals. The underachievement cost Caleb Porter his job. His replacement, former Cosmos manager Giovanni Saverese, seems like a good hire.
As for the team, Diego Valeri is a fine wine that only gets better with age, and Sebastian Blanco will be more dangerous entering his second year in the league. Darlington Nagbe is gone, but 23-year-old Andy Polo, on loan from Morelia in Liga MX, is an intriguing replacement.
In their first five games, the Timbers face four playoffs teams from last season and the Galaxy. It’s usually better to play the good teams early, so if Portland start well they’ll have a cushion atop the conference that could be very important later in the season.
Sporting Kansas City
With the best defense in MLS by a long shot, Sporting Kansas City will be back in the thick of things as they usually are, but with new faces roaming the field. Latif Blessing, Benny Feilhaber and Erik Palmer-Brown are gone, but in come new DP Yohan Croizet and talented underachiever Khri Shelton.
While the defense will be remain good as advertised, SKC will be held back until they’re able to add a top-notch striker. If one comes during the summer, this team could be the best in the West. Until then, they’ll have to settle for a seat at the table.
LA Galaxy
Finally healthy and with competition from LAFC in town, the Galaxy knocked the offseason out of the park. Perry Kitchen and Ola Kamara are the headline signings but the Galaxy have revamped the team from top to bottom.
With Servando Carrasco on board, the Galaxy enter the year with two starting-quality central defensive midfielders — this after Jermaine Jones was the only recognized defensive midfielder on the roster last year — and Romain Alessandrini is a dark horse MVP candidate.
With Sigi Schmid at the helm, they won’t miss the playoffs two years in a row.
FC Dallas
FC Dallas endured a collapse unlike any other to miss the playoffs in 2017, but with Mauro Diaz healthy to begin the season and Maxi Urruti coming off a career-best season, Dallas have the makings of a superb attack.
The big question concerns the form of Kellyn Acosta and Jesse Gonzalez. They both need to take steps forward for Dallas to get back to the top of the conference. If players like Carlos Gurezo decide to take the second half off again, Paxton Pomykal and others are ready to step in and offer a different option.
Seattle Sounders
The Sounders have had a weird offseason, but if you make the MLS Cup final two years in a row, you qualify as a contender. Without Morris for the season, Seattle are in dire need of depth at striker, but they have quality options throughout the rest of the attack.
Magnus Wolff Eikrem will be key to shaking up the attack, but it is Bruin, who scored 11 goals in 31 appearances last season, will also have a big role to play. Then, of course, there’s Nicolas Lodeiro, who had seven goals and 12 assists in 33 games in 2017. He’ll be the main man again.
New signing Kim Kee-hee addresses the biggest concern, center-back depth, but what the Sounders need is for Ozzie Alonso and Dempsey to find the fountain of youth. If they can fight off father time, this team should be pretty good. If not, their playoff streak may end at nine.
Ready for improvement
Real Salt Lake
Near the end of last season, Real Salt Lake were one of the most fun teams to watch in the league, as Mike Petke got their blend of youth and veteran experience firing on all cylinders. If it wasn’t for San Jose sneaking into the playoffs, RSL would have made it.
Albert Rusnak is one of the top creative players in MLS, but Luis Silva and Yura Movsisyan left much to be desired in the striking department. Enter Alfredo Ortuno, purchased from Cadiz CF in the Spanish second division, who will offer much-needed competition to Silva.
The defense will be where RSL hang their hats. A full season from Justen Glad will be huge and while Kyle Beckerman may have a new haircut, he’ll be there to provide the cover the backline needs. This could be the year that RSL returns to the playoffs.
Taking a step back
Houston Dynamo
Cubo Torres is free! Except he’s been sold to PUMAS in Liga MX to give the Dynamo much-needed cap flexibility. His departure places all the goalscoring load on Mauro Manotas this season. Manotas offers more flexibility than Torres did, but has a lot of responsibility.
Last season, Houston were only dangerous on the counter and on set-pieces, so they’re looking to build the team around new young DP Tomas Martinez. Martinez is an unproven commodity; if he hits, the Dynamo could improve in a big way, but that’s a big if.
Houston could break either way this season, but given the improvement of some teams that finished below them, regression seems more likely.
LAFC Spotlight
There’s a shiny new team in Los Angeles, as LAFC begin play this year. With Bob Bradley in charge and Carlos Vela as their DP, expectations are high for expansion team. Still, it seems unlikely they’ll be able to match Atlanta’s performance from last season.
The front three will be interesting, with Vela playing alongside Marco Urena and Diego Rossi. The hope is that Bradley can develop Latif Blessing for the point forward spot. If he doesn’t, LAFC could be on the market for a striker sooner rather than later.
Benny Feilhaber is an experienced creator and young DP Joao Moutinho oozes potential, while Laurent Ciman and Walker Zimmerman form a solid center-back partnership. The difficulty, as with all expansion teams, is how it fits together.
Bradley’s done this before of course, but the league has changed significantly since he led the Fire to the MLS Cup in 1998. The foundation is there for a successful franchise, but LAFC will experience their share of growing pains in their inaugural season.
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Other things to watch
In Colorado, we could be seeing the last of Tim Howard as a starter. In CONCACAF Champions League games, Howard’s age is beginning to show and with Zach MacMath waiting in the wings, the Rapids could make the change sooner rather than later as new manager Anthony Hudson looks to put his stamp on this team.
This is also make or break year for Adrian Heath. While the Loons were great in attack thanks to Christian Ramirez and Kevin Molino, they allowed an MLS-record 70 goals — not good. A healthy Sam Cronin can help, but Heath needs to find a way to instill organization into this team.
If he can’t, he’ll meet the same end he did in Orlando. If Minnesota finish outside the playoff spots, but show signs of improvement and establish a clear identity, Heath should be fine. If not, it’s likely the Loons look in a new direction.