In his near-30-year run as a head coach in the elite tier of American soccer, Bruce Arena has never claimed to be a tactical genius. In fact he has expressed open contempt for the concept, routinely brushing off well-meaning questions from journalists about formations and strategic approaches. He once memorably said that “we have a very important analytic, and that’s the score.”
It’s an attitude that’s almost wholly out of step with the way managers operate in 2026. Arena gets away with it because he wins, and he wins in large part because of the way he sets out the roles and expectations for his players. Robbie Keane, Arena’s star striker at LA Galaxy, once called him the “Sir Alex Ferguson of America.” Matt Turner, who during Arena’s tenure at the New England Revolution rose to be a USMNT starter, praised the “super powerful thing” Arena offers his players through man management.
“When you have 25 guys that are on the same page, they know their role, and they know what they can do to help the team the best, it’s a beautiful thing and it creates this energy around the locker room that boosts everyone’s play,” Turner told the New England Revolution website in 2021. “It really simplifies the game so when you’re in higher-pressure moments you can execute.”
Judging from the 2026 MLS season so far, Timo Werner may have similar things to say. The German moved to MLS at the start of this year after a couple down seasons with RB Leipzig, the club where he first made his name as one of Europe’s most in-demand strikers. He filled a cadre of roles in his career, which took him to Chelsea and later to Tottenham on loan. His Premier League stays were uneven; impressive in moments but never scoring near as much as he did in Germany, due at least in part to a lack of consistent service. In San Jose, on a team that lost their best provider, Cristian Espinoza, in the offseason, it was fair to wonder if Werner could be an effective player while transitioning to a wholly different type of league.
Those doubts seem so silly now. With his brace on Saturday against Saint Louis City, Werner now has eight goal contributions in his first eight games – one factor among many that have propelled the surprising Earthquakes to the best record in MLS. Werner has not been a starter for all of these wins as he has built up his fitness, but he hasn’t had to be – in typical Arena fashion, the Quakes are more than the sum of their parts. Still, there’s no questioning that Werner has raised the level of the group as he has rounded into match form. Because that’s exactly what was expected of him.
“[Arena] said ‘You are the top player, and I want to win something with you,’” Werner told Goal.com last month. “He always said he would be behind me. He will help me.”
It helps that he’s been put in a system where his skills as an all-around player – a lethal finisher, a quick reader of the game, and a center of gravity willing to get his teammates open looks – have been accentuated. The Earthquakes are experiencing significant contributions not just from Werner, but also wingerOusseni Bouda, striker Preston Judd, and up-and-coming playmaker Niko Tsakiris. Without Werner on the field, they have done well enough to be considered a threat. But with Werner around to calmly finish off plays as he did in St Louis on Saturday, the Earthquakes have made the leap from solid to scary. – AA
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Sporting flirts with history (derogatory)
The history of MLS is littered with awful teams and awful seasons. It’s early going yet, but Sporting Kansas City are starting to make a very good argument that they’re putting together the worst campaign in league history – especially after this weekend’s 5-0 drubbing by the Chicago Fire.
On paper alone, SKC have been staggeringly bad. After nine matches, they have but a single victory, an unconvincing, 2-1 win over an LA Galaxy side who have been navigating their own atrocious campaign. SKC are well on their way to shattering the record for worst-ever goal differential in a single season (they are currently at -18), having scored only seven goals through about a third of their campaign, a mark that also threatens the league’s all-time low.
For years, Sporting has been held aloft as a model MLS franchise, the first example of an MLS original that reinvented and rejuvenated itself. They were among the league’s most consistently competitive teams for over a decade (even if they rarely made a deep run in the playoffs), but there were signs that this downfall was coming.
They have gotten progressively worse over the past three years. No team in MLS have fewer points over that timeframe. The departure of Peter Vermes last year after over a decade with the club – Vermes was both head coach and the chief soccer officer for his entire tenure – was needed, but a leadership void naturally followed. Sporting appointed the widely respected David Lee as sporting director, but expiring contracts and declined options left the club with just 12 players entering the 2026 offseason. And the most experienced of those, forward Daniel Salloi, was soon traded to Toronto FC.
Still, there was hope that with more roster flexibility than any MLS team is likely to have without being an expansion club, Sporting would finally turn a corner and start building for the future.
Not so. SKC have rolled out something akin to a USL roster this year, though even that assessment may prove generous given they were obliterated in the US Open Cup by the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, a midtable USL Championship side. Lee, alongside first-year head coach Rafa Wicky, says the team have a longer-term plan, a roster build that will start in earnest this summer with the addition of recruitment staff that never existed under Vermes. In the meantime, what could’ve been a transitional year has turned into – as of now – the worst season in MLS history.
There are, of course, other candidates. DC United had more own goals (four) than their leading scorer, Luis Silva (three), during a staggeringly bad 2013 campaign, though that team somehow managed to win the Open Cup. FC Cincinnati put up a trifecta of awful campaigns early in their history which included a 20(!)-game winless streak in 2021. Reaching back further to teams like the NY/NJ MetroStars and Tampa Bay Mutiny feels more statistically challenging because the league lacked draws for several years and played significantly fewer matches.
Online discourse among SKC’s faithful seems to center around whether this is a coaching or talent problem. At the moment, it certainly feels like both, and however you cut it, this is by far the worst team in Kansas City’s 30-year history, by a wide margin. – PM
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USMNT goalkeeper controversy brewing?
In news that will spark either joy or heated debate (or both!) among USMNT fans, Turner is the best goalkeeper in the league right now, even as he’s expected to be a backup at this summer’s World Cup behind NYC FC’s Matt Freese.
The good news is a welcome change of pace for Turner, who was between the sticks for the United States’ 5-2 loss to Belgium last month. Though Turner didn’t cover himself in glory, his performance was far from the USMNT’s biggest problem that afternoon, with head coach Mauricio Pochettino somewhat absolving him of responsibility in his post-game remarks.
His play with New England this year unquestionably puts him among the league’s elite: using Fotmob’s algorithm, Turner has prevented just over six goals in 2026, a league best. He’s done so while facing around 2.5 shots more per game than Freese, and about a half a goal more in xG as well.
Turner also passes the eye test. His efforts against Miami last weekend – and Atlanta a week prior – were fearless, and Turner bore no responsibility for either goal he allowed in those two matches.
Which leaves Mauricio Pochettino with a call to make. Poch has clearly favored Freese over the balance of his time with the USMNT, but he’s also shown a willingness to roll out players based on current form. If that’s the math he’ll use in a little over a month when the US face Paraguay in their group stage opener, Turner feels like a better fit. – PM
