{"id":323178,"date":"2025-11-30T23:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T23:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/323178\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T23:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T23:48:08","slug":"what-now-new-york-city-fc-san-diego-fc-fall-in-conference-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/323178\/","title":{"rendered":"What now? New York City FC, San Diego FC fall in Conference Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our annual collection of post-mortems rolls on with the vanquished Conference finalists: a New York City FC<\/a> side that seems to have finally found the right coach, and a record-setting expansion side from San Diego<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Western Conference non-Audi MLS Cup Playoffs teams HERE<\/a>
\nEastern Conference non-playoff teams HERE<\/a>
\nWild Card losers HERE<\/a>
\nTeams that got swept in Round One HERE<\/a>
\nTeams that made it all the way to Game 3 HERE<\/a>
\nThe losing East semifinalists HERE<\/a>
\nThe losing West semifinalists HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

In we go, examining the seasons of two teams that achieved a ton in 2025, and are well within their rights to dream even bigger in 2026.<\/p>\n

Remember Santiago Rodr\u00edguez? Is it weird that his excellent MLS career \u2013 which only ended about 12 months ago, and culminated with a near-club-record transfer<\/a> to then-Copa Libertadores champions Botafogo \u2013 seems now like it was from a different lifetime?<\/p>\n

Anyway, that\u2019s how the 2025 NYCFC season began: with Rodr\u00edguez sold, the managerial post unfilled, and expectations\u2026 muddled, I guess? There was hope that they\u2019d go big in replacing their playmaker; it just wasn\u2019t a certainty.<\/p>\n

But NYCFC aren\u2019t Miami<\/a> or LAFC<\/a> or even Vancouver<\/a>. There was no big-name replacement immediately in the door for Rodr\u00edguez, and the new coach would be little-known Pascal Jansen (in that sense, I guess they’re kind of like Vancouver), whose r\u00e9sum\u00e9 was promising but not exactly overwhelming.<\/p>\n

And so Pigeons fans waited, perhaps a bit more patiently than they\u2019d have liked, for things to come together. It took a while: the early season was tough, and then things got tougher when Keaton Parks<\/a> was sidelined in May. While the homegrowns on the roster (guys like Tayvon Gray<\/a>, Jonathan Shore<\/a> and especially Justin Haak<\/a>) were blossoming, neither of the young wingers Jansen was ostensibly brought in to unlock, Agust\u00edn Ojeda<\/a> and Juli\u00e1n Fern\u00e1ndez<\/a>, seemed any closer to fulfilling expectations.<\/p>\n

NYCFC were, simply put, a well-structured mid-table team that lacked attacking dynamism.<\/p>\n

Then the summer transfer window opened, and they finally got their Santi replacement in Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau<\/a>. Just like that, it all clicked into place.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s individual numbers aren\u2019t exactly overwhelming \u2013 just 5g\/2a in about 1,500 minutes \u2013 but he\u2019s both a relentless off-ball runner and a through-ball artist, and that\u2019s the most additive combination of skills in the game. He\u2019s a force magnifier whose skill set resonates with and amplifies the guys around him, which is why he can play on the wing, as a No. 10, or even as a false 9. Some solutions are better than others, but it all works to a good degree.<\/p>\n

After Fern\u00e1ndez’s arrival, NYCFC went 10W-5L-1D in MLS competitions, and their goals scored jumped from 1.3 per game to 1.63. Attacking dynamism was achieved despite missing star No. 9 Alonso Mart\u00ednez<\/a> for portions of the back half of the schedule.<\/p>\n

Combine that with the structure and an improving defense (along with Haak’s ascendance, the continued excellence of Thiago Martins<\/a> and Matt Freese<\/a>, and the mid-season addition of d-mid Aiden O\u2019Neill<\/a>), the \u201cman, this team\u2019s going to be dangerous come tournament time\u201d pieces all fell into place.<\/p>\n

The next thing to happen is, hopefully, something that should have happened months ago: a big, long-term contract for Haak.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s 24 years old, can play either d-mid or center back at a high level \u2013 I\u2019m talking \u201cdeep into the playoffs with intent to win\u201d level; guys like that are rare \u2013 and has been part of this club from its inception. Even with the front office in flux (sporting director David Lee took the Sporting Kansas City<\/a> job back in September<\/a>, and no, I don\u2019t think<\/a> he\u2019ll be bringing Haak with him), I\u2019m flummoxed that they\u2019ve let him get this close to true free agency. Seriously, the start date is Dec. 10, and unless they get a deal with Haak done between now and then, he\u2019s the clear No. 1 on my big board.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think this one should be at all complicated. Developing players of Haak\u2019s caliber from your academy is an ideal outcome, and whoever the new decision-maker is needs to take advantage of that. This is \u201cplug and play and worry about filling that spot in 2033\u201d type stuff.<\/p>\n

What to watch for this winter<\/p>\n

With Mart\u00ednez likely hurt for most of next season \u2013 he reportedly tore his ACL at the start of November; I doubt we\u2019d see him before, say, next September \u2013 the only center forward on the roster who\u2019s played first-team minutes is homegrown Seymour Reid<\/a>, who doesn\u2019t turn 18 until March. I would absolutely love to see them give him a chance to win the job, but even if he does, they need to reinforce that position. Depth is required.<\/p>\n

Know who\u2019d be a perfect fit, both in terms of tactical flexibility and budget? Former NYCFC II man Taylor Calheira, who followed up an excellent 2024 in MLS NEXT Pro with an even better 2025 in the USL Championship with FC Tulsa. As I\u2019ve written a million times over the past year, we\u2019re starting to get a pretty significant block of evidence that says goal-scoring at those levels translates up to MLS, and if I were to pick one USL No. 9 who seems ready to follow in the path of guys like Brian White<\/a>, Tani Oluwaseyi and Danny Musovski<\/a>, it\u2019s probably Calheira.<\/p>\n

The other spot that needs work is central midfield. Between Parks\u2019 history of long-term absences and the gruesome leg injury Andr\u00e9s Perea<\/a> suffered in the Game 3 win at Charlotte FC<\/a>, there\u2019s a lack of depth even if Shore takes a big step forward next season.<\/p>\n

They have premium roster slots available. But after big spending in the 2024 transfer windows (a reported $25 million on five players, none of whom has developed into a starter and three of whom are already gone), one gets the impression they\u2019re now moving more deliberately.<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t a lot of teenage strikers who get to start in MLS, but I think Reid will go into preseason camp with a chance to win the job. I\u2019d love to see it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got to mention the ageless Maxi Moralez<\/a>. He doesn\u2019t look ready for retirement to me, and I\u2019m hoping he\u2019s got another two years in him so he can be on the field from Game 1 when Etihad Park opens in 2027. If the Argentine No. 10 does retire, that injects more urgency into this offseason and becomes a clear place to use a DP slot.
\nWe haven\u2019t seen Malachi Jones<\/a> in nearly one and a half years. He\u2019d beaten out both Ojeda and Juli\u00e1n Fern\u00e1ndez for a starting job on the wing before his gruesome injury in the middle of 2024. If he\u2019s back in 2026\u2026 man, this dude was relentless hunting space behind the backline. I\u2019d bet the farm that he and Nico instantly click.<\/p>\n

I got it completely wrong!<\/p>\n

I will say straight-up that I loved the vision sporting director\/general manager Tyler Heaps and head coach Mikey Varas described to me, in detail, when I was out in San Diego last year for the Expansion Draft. I\u2019m paraphrasing here, but it was all the stuff you\u2019ve heard all year long: we want to have the ball, we want to avoid duels, we want to play backwards to play forwards, we will be brave at all times on all parts of the pitch, etc.<\/p>\n

It was music to my ears, but also a tune I’ve heard before. So many MLS coaches have said so many similar things over the years, and here’s the question I always have for them: What happens when you lose three straight games? What happens when playing it out of the back goes wrong?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when most coaches \u2013 with the CSO\u2019s blessing \u2013 close up shop and start playing against the ball. It\u2019s easier to destroy than create, right?<\/p>\n

Heaps and Varas swore that wouldn\u2019t be them. But I looked at their personnel and their ambition, and\u2026 picked them to finish dead last in the Western Conference. I was skeptical that the vision they\u2019d talked about would be the vision they were able to implement in Year 1. Tell me it\u2019ll happen over the course of two or three years? Yeah, that makes sense. But right out of the gates?<\/p>\n

By the end of Matchday 1, they had beaten the reigning MLS Cup champs on the road. By the end of March, I was already eating a big old pile of crow. By the end of April, they\u2019d faced that three-game losing streak and come out the other side with their game model intact and a 5-0 win<\/a> over FC Dallas<\/a> to right the ship.<\/p>\n

San Diego had an ideology \u2013 the exact ideology Heaps and Varas had described to me; by some measures<\/a>, they were more committed to using the ball than any team in the world \u2013 and they were sticking to it. Period.<\/p>\n

Along the way, they played and developed more young players than anyone in the league, turned Anders Dreyer<\/a> into a Landon Donovan MLS MVP candidate (and back into a Danish national teamer again), won the Western Conference, and set a new record for most points (63) by an expansion team. Then they backed that up by winning two playoff rounds.<\/p>\n

They were wildly fun to watch, all season long. None of it was a mirage.<\/p>\n

Heaps and Varas were as good as their word. I couldn\u2019t be more delighted to have been so wrong.<\/p>\n

Part of the plan Heaps and Varas described was building a team that\u2019s brave about using the ball, while the other part is building a culture that\u2019s brave about promoting and integrating young players. We saw it all year long, with guys pulled from the SuperDraft, or out of other MLS academies, or from Barcelona\u2019s B team. At one point, they started a four-man defense with a combined age of 80, which\u2026 I mean, I have no way of checking this for sure, but that might be the youngest backline to start a game in the history of top-flight soccer. Not just MLS, but anywhere. Ever.<\/p>\n

Because of that ethos, this is a team with a lot of answers and depth, and not many holes. Which means they can be targeted, rather than desperate, with their acquisitions this winter.<\/p>\n

I would expect center forward to be a position of particular interest. Just about the only mistake Heaps made this year was letting Milan Iloski<\/a> \u2013 who came in on loan from Danish sister club Nordsjaelland and scored 10 goals in 500 minutes \u2013 walk when they couldn\u2019t find a number that worked for both parties. Iloski now plays for the Philadelphia Union<\/a>, and man\u2026 I still think that if San Diego had kept him, they\u2019d have won the Supporters\u2019 Shield. And maybe MLS Cup, too.<\/p>\n

Neither of the guys who closed out the season sharing No. 9 duties, Marcus Ingvartsen<\/a> and Corey Baird<\/a>, produced much. It\u2019s the obvious spot for Heaps to focus on.<\/p>\n

What to watch for this winter<\/p>\n

Besides center forward, I\u2019d expect them to look at central midfield a bit. They already have some succession planning done with the addition of Pedro Soma<\/a> \u2013 the former Barca B player and hopefully their No. 6 of the future \u2013 and they\u2019re trying to find the right number to get Luca de la Torre<\/a> back on a permanent deal.<\/p>\n

Two areas of potentially bigger impact:<\/p>\n

Is Hirving Lozano<\/a> happy?
\nHas Manu Duah<\/a> played himself into a massive transfer to a European club?<\/p>\n

Chucky was very good this year, but not quite a Best XI-caliber show-stopper in the way Dreyer was. He also missed a bunch of time via both injury and international duty, and then in early October had a reported spat with Varas about being subbed at halftime during a win at the Houston Dynamo<\/a>. Lozano eventually apologized via social media and got back on the field come the playoffs, but it feels pretty notable that he didn\u2019t start any of those games.<\/p>\n

As for Duah, well, if you\u2019re great at talent ID and player development, you\u2019re eventually going to develop players who catch the eye of the world\u2019s biggest and richest clubs. Duah, last year\u2019s No. 1 overall SuperDraft pick, is exceptional and the type of guy who could break the record for an outbound fee for an MLS center back if the right club comes calling.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be surprised if they weren\u2019t prepared for that exact eventuality.<\/p>\n

Can I say Cruz Medina<\/a>? I\u2019m being a little bit cheeky here \u2013 Medina\u2019s in San Jose<\/a>, not San Diego \u2013 but Heaps and Varas have aggressively collected players from the 2023 US U-17 World Cup squad, and he was the No. 10 for that team. There were five from that group in this past year\u2019s SDFC roster, and with Medina playing well in MLS NEXT Pro but lacking a clear path to first-team playing time for the Earthquakes\u2026 natural fit, right?<\/p>\n

Or what about the No. 9 from that team, Keyrol Figueroa? He\u2019s doing well with Liverpool\u2019s U-21s, but isn\u2019t exactly on track to break into the first team there. San Diego, though, do need a center forward. Can they get him on loan for a year? Can they get both guys?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m recklessly speculating and connecting dots here. Just to be clear.<\/p>\n

I guess my overall point is that developing players remains, to me, the most exciting thing MLS teams do, and nobody did that better than San Diego in 2025. So I\u2019m more excited for more of that than I am for any one particular player.<\/p>\n

Tverskov was one of my ~five favorite players to watch in MLS this year. Every time he\u2019s on the ball, I get a tingle of anticipation for the pass he could hit that I wouldn\u2019t see coming. It was Sergio Busquets<\/a>-like.
\nAs expected, they\u2019ve already permanently<\/a> acquired left back Luca Bombino<\/a> from LAFC<\/a>. He, along with Duah, is one of their two biggest developmental wins this season.
\nThey\u2019ve got a TON of General Allocation Money (GAM) left over, and given how well they did in last year\u2019s SuperDraft \u2013 Duah with the No. 1 pick, and then Ian Pilcher<\/a> at No. 24 \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t be at all surprised if they aggressively traded into the top five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our annual collection of post-mortems rolls on with the vanquished Conference finalists: a New York City FC side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[8769,118354,30071,6868,403,99],"class_list":["post-323178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-armchair-analyst-matt-doyle","tag-new-york-city-football-club","tag-san-diego-fc","tag-sendtonews","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}