No wins, two losses, one draw. Doesn’t sound great. Sounds pretty bad, actually – the type of skid that sees a team fall out of Supporters’ Shield contention, or sees a coach land on a slightly warm seat.
It’s also the combined record of the three MLS entrants – Inter Miami CF, Seattle Sounders FC and LAFC – in this inaugural edition of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup after one round of Group Stage games. And if you want to just look at the record, you could argue you’re seeing the tale of three teams out of their depth and over their heads.
I think you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you did that, though. The results are ultimately what matters, of course; I’m not going to argue that. But the way the games played out gives us plenty of data for where these teams stack up on the world stage, what they need to work on going forward and hopefully what’s to come.
In all three games, the MLS team played better ball in the second half than in the first.
In Inter Miami’s case, I’d call it “much, much, much better ball.” They basically didn’t show up for the first 45 minutes against Al Ahly in the tournament opener on Saturday night, and only through the grace of the soccer gods and an Óscar Ustari blinder – including a saved PK against the Egyptian side’s star winger, Trézéguet, just before the break – did this one stay scoreless.
Miami were, I thought, the marginally better team after the half. Getting Tomás Avilés off the field was a big part of that, as the 21-year-old center back continues to be a liability (he was lucky not to see red).
The bigger adjustment was one I’ve been waiting some time for: Lionel Messi dropped deeper into midfield to get more touches as an orchestrator and playmaker, rather than as just a pure attacker. At the same time, both center forward Luis Suárez and the wingers released a little higher and earlier.
If you want to put numbers to it, it’s the difference between a 4-4-1-1, which is what I’d call Miami’s shape in the first half, and a 4-2-1-3, which is what I’d call what they trotted out in the second.
This is, I think, the path forward for Miami over the rest of this tournament and the rest of this season. Their biggest issues in this game came from the gap between Messi/Suárez and the central midfield duo of Sergio Busquets and Federico Redondo. Tightening that up means both a better rest defense and an attack that isn’t so reliant on Messi to put the ball in the net.
Changes for Game 2
Got to drop Avilés for good and go with that 4-2-1-3 with Messi as more of a midfielder. That’s the only way for this team to exert real pitch control.
The Sounders were actually pretty good in the first 45 against the Copa Libertadores champions, Botafogo. And I’ll make the point here that I made on BlueSky:
- Botafogo reportedly spent $25 million on new players last week.
- Seattle have reportedly spent $40 million on players in their entire history.
When we talk about the financial disparities in the modern game and the mountains MLS teams must climb, we usually think about it in European terms. That misses what’s been happening in Brazil post-COVID, as a new wave of ownership has invested at levels unprecedented in the Americas.
For Botafogo, that doesn’t just mean buying guys on their way back from Europe (like wingers Artur and Matheus Martins), or the best players from elsewhere in Brazil (like Jair, the 20-year-old center back from Santos who opened the scoring), but also shopping in MLS. Over the past four windows, they’ve bought three of the best MLS No. 10s in Jefferson Savarino, Thiago Almada and Santi Rodríguez. Santi had 16g/6a for NYCFC last year; for Botafogo, he is a squad player.
They are, essentially, a team with 15 DPs. And when you’re playing against a team with that kind of firepower, you can’t:
- Give them free looks or
- Fail to take your chances.
Those are the cardinal sins, and the Sounders were guilty of both. A needless Nouhou reaction to Artur’s provocation just before the half-hour mark gifted Botafogo the set piece (off the still-magical left foot of Alex Telles) that Jair headed home. Fifteen minutes later Stefan Frei was stuck in the mud as Igor Jesus made it 2-0 on a header that should have been saved. Concede like that in a tournament like this and you’re cutting your own throat.
“We could not handle Seattle in the second half.”
That’s a quote from Botafogo’s manager Renato Paiva, and his players echoed that thought in the mixed zone: they spent the entire second 45 chasing the game, as Seattle made a more concerted effort to play on the front foot and get the kinds of wide overloads they’ve thrived on. Subbing out Nouhou and Kim Kee-Hee at halftime for Reed Baker-Whiting (clean in possession and dangerous on the overlap, including a 1v1 moment where he broke Vitinho’s ankles) and Jon Bell (reliable covering in behind as the Sounders pushed their line higher) was key, as they gave the home side a little more diversity and unpredictability in attack.
But the real star was Cristian Roldan at d-mid. He was the best player on the field, and I’m not the only one who felt that way, as Paiva mentioned him specifically, while FotMob named him their man of the match. It wasn’t just the goal he scored, but the way he bossed central midfield and tilted the pitch.
In the end, both the match momentum graphic and the xG totals tell a pretty accurate tale:
And in the end, the Sounders had their chances. DP winger Pedro de la Vega came on and had a couple of very good looks, one of which was blocked and another of which he scuffed. Paul Rothrock came in on the other side and created constant danger against a Botafogo defense that was, by that time, pressed into its own 18-yard box and holding on for dear life.
But they committed both cardinal sins, conceding too easily at the start and letting the visitors off by failing to put great looks away at the end. They did almost everything else right – controlling things through central midfield, keeping a true No. 9 out there even when they were starved for service, and making aggressive, front-foot subs.
The game, however, is won or lost in the box.
Changes for Game 2
Baker-Whiting and Bell took advantage of the chance they got in the second half. The decision to start Bell, in particular, is an easy one – Kim’s clearly not fit.
It’s tougher with Nouhou since Seattle will be playing against the ball so much in the next two outings. But that indiscipline from him arguably cost the Sounders the game, and at some point, he’s got to sit for it.
Now seems a good time to send that message.
This Chelsea side is probably the best opponent any MLS team has faced in an official match. There’s been plenty of crossed swords against teams of this caliber in friendlies – some of which have ended in famous MLS wins (the old MetroStars vs. Bayern Munich in 2001, Sporting KC vs. Manchester United in 2010), and plenty of which have ended in one-sided losses.
I think this one fits snugly into the “respectable loss” column. LAFC didn’t look off the pace and were comfortable building from the back (Aaron Long, Sergi Palencia and Igor Jesus were all really, really good). They were down around 35% possession throughout the whole game, but never felt overwhelmed.
The issue was that when they broke lines and got the ball into central midfield, they lacked the creative spark they needed to gash Chelsea’s backline and get into the final third with a numbers advantage. That’s not to say they lacked chances – Denis Bouanga had a few, one of which forced a pretty great save from Robert Sánchez; Nathan Ordaz got into good spots pretty consistently before being subbed with a concussion; David Martínez was always dangerous, but lacked that final touch.
And that’s the biggest difference between the very best teams in the world (which is a group that includes Chelsea, despite Chelsea also being a meme team) and the rest. LAFC’s structure was good and their game plan was excellent; they had their chances on the break. There were times when it felt like 1-1 was more likely than 2-0.
But it became 2-0 because of the quality Chelsea could bring to bear in the final third, and the way players of that quality punish mistakes. That’s where the gap really showed itself.
The gap then became an abyss over the final 20 minutes when Liam Delap came on. Chelsea’s new No. 9 was a game-changer – his movement was brilliant, consistently opening up LAFC’s backline and compromising their shape in a way Nicolas Jackson hadn’t quite managed (which is not to say Jackson was/is bad; he’s very good at what he does, but seems to be a more linear type of center forward than Delap was on the day).
This is always the blueprint against a team that’s sitting in comfortably, as LAFC were for most of the game.
Changes for Game 2
LAFC were organized and hard to break down, but the thought of play felt slow any time they broke through the first line of Chelsea pressure (which they almost always did). Instead of pressing the issue, they seemed scared to get closed down and didn’t know where they wanted to go.
Part of that was Jeremy Ebobisse having a shocker – he was justifiably subbed at halftime. I could see Olivier Giroud getting the start against ES Tunis, with Martínez in for Ordaz (who hopefully will be ok going forward).
They will need to be more decisive in those moments where they’ve created an advantage if they’re going to advance.
And while I’m not expecting it, they really do have a shot. It would be a hell of a statement if they took it.
