MLS Week 2 Storylines In A Ranked Order
Following MLS Week 2, when it's entirely too early to draw any conclusions about anything and few, if any, of the narratives emerging will still hold by the time we get to the fall and the sorting of clubs into playoff qualifiers and sad sack outfits that might as well shut down their teams out of shame will be complete, I have thoughts.
Consider this a companion the other rankings that exist in the world. What really matters in this competitive environment of American and Canadian soccer is which teams are better than which teams and I defer to the rankings of power when it comes to import.
But does that mean I'm not going to fire a few words at you about what I find most interesting at the moment? Of course not.
Sigue adelante.
- Baby Bulls
Julian Hall is tied for the for the Golden Boot lead after two matches (with 3 goals). The analytically-minded are waxing analytic about 16-year-old Adri Mehmeti and his shockingly mature game. Left-back Matty Dos Santos looks ready for prime time at 17. And then there's the initial success of head coach Michael Bradley in his first senior job.
I'm excited for the kids and I'm thrilled there's a club in MLS that is as committed to development and playing those kids as Red Bull. I will remain uncomfortable about the multi-club ownership model, mostly because I think Red Bulls fans deserve better than to have their club treated as the third most important soccer property in the portfolio of an Austrian energy drink company.
And I'm enough of a glass-half-empty guy to think it won't always be this good for the Baby Bulls. The real test of Bradley—and the the test I'm most excited to see him take on—is navigating the difficult times when form drops for the kids and he has to figure out how to bring them out on the other side.
If he can do that, we will be talking about Michael Bradley as the Next Great American Coaching Hope In Europe about as quickly as it can possibly happen.
- Messi, El Malvado
Messi and his Miami boys got embarrassed by Bouanga, Son, and the LA outfit in front of a massive crowd in Week 1. Messi, an inveterate competitor who might have a problem with privilege, nearly did an incident when he charged into the door that led to the hallway that led to the referees' locker room (allegedly). If there was any doubt that last year's championship calmed La Pulga's desire to make MLS bend to his will, that event put lie to the notion. It wasn't a good look and I had people telling me Messi's outburst pointed to a rapidly approaching end for the goat.
And when it started so poorly for the Herons in Orlando in Week 2, after Messi and Inter Miami when down two goals inside of the first 25 minutes, I nearly bought into that line of thinking.
Wait is Inter Miami just bad now?— Jason Davis (@davisjason.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 7:34 PM
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Then the second half happened, Messi scored twice, Miami romped to a 4-2 win, and any notion that Miami is "bad" (at least relative to everyone not named LAFC) evaporated. Even better, Messi leaned into the rivalry between Orlando City and Inter Miami with an imperious celebration in front of the OCFC faithful and a pantomime note-taking gesture towards Orlando head coach Oscar Pareja.
MLS needs the juice. Messi squeezed a Florida-made carafe-full for us on Sunday.
- A Good Galaxy
There are few teams in American sports that fall into the "the league is better when they are good" territory. Love them or hate them, the story of season is more interesting when teams like the Yankees, the Lakers, Notre Dame, etc., are contenders for championships. Sports are stories we follow year after year as our lives unfold and it makes those stories better when we can connect them to events of the past and generations that came before us. Teams with deep histories of success serve as a glue that holds the entire concept of spectator sports together.
This is why I'm really hoping the Galaxy are back. I don't think, especially missing Riqui Puig, that LA is a true MLS Cup contender, but a draw in Week 1 (that could have been a win) and a win in Week 2 (Charlotte's gift for Joao Klauss considered) means there's some hope. Remember: the Galaxy didn't win they're first game in 2025 until the last day of May, 17 games into the season.
A quick update on the world of lower division soccer.
The USL Championship season kicks off on Friday. What should be the exciting launch of a landmark for an organization planning big moves with a first division and pro/rel coming in a few years is being overshadowed by ongoing labor strike between the USL players and the league.
Last week, Jeff Carlisle reported that the members of the USLPA authorized a strike—while that doesn't mean there is a strike now or even that there will necessarily be a strike, it is a sign that the USLPA is more than just a little frustrated with the state of conversations. Jeff also reported that a federal labor mediator is involved, another ominous sign for talks.
Following that news, the USL issued a social media statement where it touted all the wonderful things it had offered the players.
The USLPA wasn't having it. In what can only be described as a work of art, the union eviscerated the league's statement line by line.
It would be silly to suggest that the USL should just hand the players everything they want, regardless of its potential impact on the financial health of its clubs. But therein lies the point of excruciating tension in American soccer: Should a club be allowed to call itself "professional", sell itself as "professional" and claim a right to exist if it can't provide the basic requirements for players to be fully and successfully "professional"?
One of the cardinal sins American soccer leagues (and to a lesser extent, their member clubs) commit is staking out a position in the hierarchy of the game/sports without doing the work necessary to merit that position. There's an entire discussion to be had around chickens and eggs in the American game (something I've been doing for 20 years, I guess) and the current of USL is once again bringing it to the fore.
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