Our annual collection of post-mortems rolls on with the three teams that got swept in Round One of the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n
You can find the Western Conference non-playoff teams here<\/a>, the Eastern Conference non-playoff teams here<\/a> and the Wild Card losers here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In we go, examining the seasons of teams that, for the most part, cleared the bar expected of them.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to distill it down to the numbers:<\/p>\n Against Eastern Conference playoff teams, the Fire<\/a> went 5W-9L-2D with a -10 goal differential. Chicago were a good team, but not good enough \u2013 because they were a little soft and a little sloppy \u2013 to really hang with the league\u2019s best. They proved it all year, and then they proved it again in the playoffs, first against Orlando<\/a> (who they handled with ease) and then against Philly<\/a> (who they fought hard against but ultimately were too error-prone to overcome).<\/p>\n But really, I have buried the lede: 2025 in a nutshell for the Chicago Fire was \u201cthey made the playoffs for the first time since 2017\u201d and \u201cthey won a playoff game for the first time since 2009.\u201d Folks, Chicago\u2019s playoff drought had been around longer than MLSsoccer.com!<\/p>\n They ended up on 53 points in a brutally tough Eastern Conference; made a credible US Open Cup<\/a> run; made a few good new signings (Philip Zinckernagel<\/a> had one of the great individual seasons in club history) and redeemed a couple of others from the previous regime; really leaned into developing academy products; and announced plans<\/a> for what might end up becoming the very best soccer specific stadium in the country when you factor in not just its design, but also its location and other accoutrements.<\/p>\n In all, this was the best season for this club since they won the Supporters\u2019 Shield-US Open Cup double way back in 2003.<\/p>\n The Fire aren\u2019t BACK back yet, but Gregg Berhalter\u2019s got them well on their way.<\/p>\n A winter of roster surgery.<\/p>\n As I wrote following their elimination by Philly, I think it\u2019s fair to read a bunch into how Rominigue Kouam\u00e9<\/a> was subbed out midway through the first half and Kellyn Acosta<\/a> never got off the bench. Kouam\u00e9\u2019s got an option that they surely won\u2019t exercise; Acosta\u2019s got a guaranteed deal for 2026, which means the Fire have either got to find a buyer or a number.<\/p>\n Either way, that\u2019s a lot of salary cap flexibility \u2013 the sort you need when you\u2019re looking to jump to true contender status.<\/p>\n What to watch for this winter<\/p>\n The big questions are these:<\/p>\n Will they fill a third DP slot? Hugo Cuypers<\/a> and Jonathan Bamba<\/a> will be back, but they\u2019ve got some possibilities. Guti\u00e9rrez has mostly been very good, but Berhalter\u2019s at times betrayed a lack of trust in the homegrown attacking midfielder, and there is definitely overseas interest (he\u2019s on a U22 Initiative deal, for what it\u2019s worth). There\u2019s no lack of trust in Brady, obviously, but his age, measurables and improvement curve suggest there\u2019s almost certainly going to be interest in him, too.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll take the risk and say Guti\u00e9rrez. I want him to stick around one more year, to mature a little bit and claim his spot as one of the best 10s in the league.<\/p>\n He\u2019s shown that kind of talent. And it\u2019d be a fitting way to bury the memory of that penalty miss against Philly in their season-ending 3-0 loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n Berhalter did smart work signing Jack Elliott<\/a> as a free agent last winter. It wouldn\u2019t shock me if they were free agent shoppers again this year. There was the half-year during which they had Lucho Acosta. Then there was the half-year after they sold Lucho Acosta<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the half-year with Lucho, they were one of the most disappointing teams in the league. They didn\u2019t run for each other, they didn\u2019t string passes together, and they\u2026 didn\u2019t win games. A Wooden Spoon seemed as likely as a playoff appearance.<\/p>\n During the half-year after they got bailed out of the Lucho deal (thank you, Fluminense!), they became one of the toughest outs in the Western Conference. There was nothing elegant or aesthetically pleasing about it; just a 3-5-2 (mainly) with an emphasis on winning the physical side of the game each and every second of each and every game.<\/p>\n Add in a renewed commitment to pushing academy kids up and into the first team, and it felt like Dallas<\/a> rediscovered their identity.<\/p>\n The big-ish options they have to exercise (or not) are for veterans Sebastian Ibeagha<\/a>, Anderson Julio<\/a> and Sebastian Lletget<\/a>. Ibeagha\u2019s still a starter, but the other two aren\u2019t. Read into that what you will.<\/p>\n Even if all three of those options are exercised, Dallas actually have a lot of roster flexibility this winter with multiple open DP and, potentially, U22 slots to use.<\/p>\n What to watch for this winter<\/p>\n Even though Dallas played better without Lucho \u2013 and hence without a true No. 10 \u2013 during the second half of the season, this is still a team that\u2019s largely built to have a No. 10 as the creative engine. And this doesn’t mean head coach Eric Quill has to scrap the very effective blueprint he hit on, of Logan Farringon<\/a> partnering Petar Musa<\/a> up top with flying wingbacks supporting them.<\/p>\n It would, in fact, be pretty simple to keep that basic structure and slot a No. 10 underneath them to pull the strings (and create the chances).<\/p>\n Something like 12g\/9a from Farrington next year would not shock me at all.<\/p>\n With Maarten Paes<\/a> having been beaten out in goal by Michael Collodi,<\/a> it seems reasonable to expect some outgoing transfer business this winter. In some ways, the best season Austin<\/a>‘s had \u2013 one that left them with a playoff appearance for just the second time in club history, and inches from a trophy for the first time in club history.<\/p>\n In other ways, a worrying entry in their young history, as they again finished with both a negative goal differential and tough underlyings in a conference that was relatively weak outside the top five teams (and isn\u2019t likely to stay that way next year). At no point did they look like a team that had spent a reported $30 million on attackers (even before Brandon Vazquez<\/a> got hurt) over the two transfer windows leading directly into the 2025 season, and it\u2019s unlikely they\u2019ve got $30 million more to spend to fix that.<\/p>\n And folks, things were getting worse by the end of the year:<\/p>\n That\u2019s a five-alarm fire. Four wins in the final three months of the season, and they never looked like they were in it against LAFC<\/a>.<\/p>\n Virtually all of their defenders are 30 or older, as is d-mid Ilie S\u00e1nchez<\/a>. Sporting director Rodolfo Borrell got the squad younger by adding center back Mateja Djordjevic<\/a> on a U22 deal in the middle of the year, but he barely played. And when he did, you could see why.<\/p>\n An even bigger concern has to be the lack of playmaking from attacking midfield, which was glaring (and one of the reasons those $30 million attackers struggled, as someone smart and handsome might have predicted<\/a> in his season preview). Owen Wolff<\/a> was awesome, but he\u2019s not a 10, and neither were new signings Besard Sabovic<\/a> nor Nicol\u00e1s Dubersarsky<\/a> (who, to be clear, were not awesome). Academy product Micah Burton<\/a>, who had a good year in MLS NEXT Pro<\/a>, never got a look with the first team.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t make up for that by becoming any sort of effective pressing team. Basically, if they weren\u2019t scoring on the counter or set pieces, they weren\u2019t scoring at all.<\/p>\n What to watch for this winter<\/p>\n Obviously, I feel pretty strongly that Austin should find a midfield chance creator! Or at least the type of progressive passer who could put the attackers into position to create chances for themselves.<\/p>\n They\u2019re locked into three DPs (unless they find someone willing to take one of these guys off their hands, or they\u2019re willing to use a buyout), but they have one open U22 slot and lots of mid-tier contracts they could decline to open up cap space if necessary.<\/p>\n The most fun part of the year was when CJ Fodrey<\/a> burst onto the scene as a late-game super-sub to create havoc \u2013 and goals \u2013 with his size, motor and physicality. Real 2012 Quakes<\/a> energy.<\/p>\n He should be in line for at least 1,500 minutes in 2026.<\/p>\n While Brad Stuver<\/a>\u2019s overall numbers were excellent (he\u2019s been the team MVP five years running as far as I\u2019m concerned), his underlyings slipped in the second half of the year. I think it\u2019s just noise, but he didn\u2019t look like himself.
\nAgainst everyone else, they were 10W-2L-6D with a +18 goal differential.<\/p>\n
\nWill they sell either Brian Guti\u00e9rrez<\/a> or Chris Brady<\/a>, or both?<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m still not yet sold on U22 d-mid signing Dje D’Avilla<\/a> \u2013 he\u2019s not much of a front-foot defender, which is one of the reasons the Fire were always susceptible in transition moments \u2013 but he definitely improved over his first season in Red.<\/p>\n
\nA Godfather offer for Musa could happen, though I haven\u2019t heard any reporting to that effect.
\nOsaze Urhoghide<\/a> had a fine first year in the middle of that backline despite a tough series vs. Vancouver<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nThat trophy they came close to was the US Open Cup<\/a>, the final of which they lost in second-half stoppage time at Q2 Stadium. Home finals don\u2019t come around often, folks. That one\u2019s gonna sting for a while.<\/p>\n